Master of Crows

Grace Draven — 2009

What would you do to win your freedom? This is the question that sets bondwoman, Martise of Asher, on a dangerous path. In exchange for her freedom, she bargains with her masters, the mage-priests of Conclave, to spy on the renegade sorcerer, Silhara of Neith. The priests want Martise to expose the sorcerer's treachery and turn him over to Conclave justice. A risky endeavor, but one she accepts without hesitation—until she falls in love with her intended target. Silhara of Neith, Master of Crows, is a desperate man. The god called Corruption invades his mind, seducing him with promises of limitless power if he will help it gain dominion over the world. Silhara struggles against Corruption's influence and searches for ways to destroy the god. When Conclave sends Martise as an apprentice to help him, he knows she's a spy. Now he fights a war on two fronts—against the god who would possess him and the apprentice who would betray him. Mage and spy search together for a ritual that will annihilate Corruption, but in doing so, they discover secrets about each other that may damn them both. Silhara must decide if his fate, and the fate of nations, is worth the soul of the woman he has come to love, and Martise must choose continued enslavement or freedom at the cost of a man's life. And love...

Reviews

Sade A@bitterblue

Jan 19, 2023

Silhara and Martise were great..

Meagan@meaganreads

Aug 31, 2021

First off, Silhara is a WONDERFUL and sexy name for a man. I've always been swwoned by long haired men in books as well. It took me a couple of chapters to really get going but when I did, I didn't stop. I read this book within 24 hours. There were a few times within the book I thought I would start to dislike it. I'm usually not a fan of repeat sacrifice-myself-for-my-love over and over in a book, but this one was charming. It has well developed supporting characters and a strong plot. I love when authors don't make their characters beautiful and perfect. Thank you Draven for such a lovely book ❤

Ingrid Marquardt @randomlibrarians

Aug 7, 2021

** spoiler alert ** Spoilers ahoy!! Ya girl has got to vent.I started Master Of Crows after seeing it recommended on #BookTok Here is a list of my strongest thoughts: 1. The main character's name is Martise. Not Martine. Not Maryse. Martise?? I read it wrong every time. 2. He keeps *audibly and noticeably* sniffing her and saying she smells of [insert something nice-smelling here] "and warm female." Just say she has B.O. and go. 3. Ya guy is very gaslight, gatekeep, girl boss exacerbated by the fact that he's one bad day away from being the host to a god hell-bent on ruling/destroying the world. Like, he's supposed to be mentoring her in this magic ish but keeps losing control and... eating her Gift? Or something? And then telling her it's her fault? For having magic that's uncontrolled?? (Update! Apparently the point of her magic, and the women who have had magic like hers in the past, is to strengthen a man's magic? Often through r@pe and torture??? F all the way off wtf) 4. HERE'S THE BIG UN. I just read a scene where he hires a sex worker and then CHANGES HER APPEARANCE TO LOOK LIKE MARTINE (GD IT MARTISE) because that's apparently romantic and not effed beyond measure. 5. If we could have less threats of sexual violence in fantasy novels in general, that'd be cool. Like, author mine, you have enough creativity to create a complicated, bonkers magical system and political landscape, but you can't come up with other ways to show how dangerous and gritty your fictional world is? (Martise does magically hit Silhara between the legs at one point, which is a boss move to be fair) TLDR: I rage read this book PDQ but do not recommend