Customer Reviews

Master of None

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

While this book wasn't great, it's good enough I'd recommend it. I wont go into the plot b/c other reviewers have.

The Good: Donatti is a likable lead and it's refreshing to see a male main character in this genre, and I liked that he wasn't portrayed as the stereotypical super-human alpha male dripping sex appeal. Ian is also a well-written character whose development from the mysterious nasty genie to the gruff but willing mentor felt natural. There's real humor in this story, in particular from Donatti and Tory. The story is original, and though at times uneven, was engaging enough to keep my interest.

The Bad: Most of the secondary characters were one-dimensional, including the villians, and there aren't so many characters in this book that they couldn't have been rounded out. There were several "are you kidding me?" moments in this book; i.e. Jazz just found the remains of her charred sister & Donatti is hitting on her (artificially placed sexual tension); Ian let a misunderstanding cloud an ally's opinion of him for centuries for no reason that makes sense (artificially placed dramatic tension). Some the dialogue was too cheesy and there was more than one occassion where characters did inexplicably stupid things.

Overall, I liked this book. It was a quick read and definitely has the potential to be an interesting new series.

If you took parts of the Arabian Nights and remade them in an urban fantasy mold, one of the stories would come out something very similar to Sonya Bateman's Master of None. Gavyn Donatti, a professional thief, is hired to steal a small item for a local crime boss, but somehow Gavyn manages to lose the item before handing it over to his employer, and this bit of bad luck ends up sending Gavyn on the run. He is saved along the way by a Djinn named "Ian." When circumstances outside of their control lead them into a contentious partnership, they must learn to work together in order to save their loved ones and maybe the world.

I loved the concept of the book. I've not yet come across an urban fantasy that involves genies. There are plenty of things to like in Master of None: unique concept, humor, and interesting characters. Sonya Bateman does a nice job of making her characters believable with their own personalities. The genies themselves are very cool characters -- not like any genie you'd expect. Their powers are limited and are not at all "wish" based. I would have liked to explore more of the Djinn world (we only get a small taste of it), but I'm guessing this will be explored in later books.

Sonya Bateman is also quite capable of writing intense action. The action scenes were probably the second most endearing thing to me besides the story concept itself. The action was realistic, intense, and almost never resolved in a way I expected. Complex and daring plans tended to end with mixed results, much like they would in the real world. There were plenty of moments in Master of None that had me anxious to turn the page.

"Wow sounds great Justin!, but why only 2.5 stars?" Funny you should ask, because I'm about to tell you. There were many moments in the story that felt awkward. First, the opening was very hard to swallow. I know one of the toughest things to do in urban fantasy is to make your magical world fit into reality, but since that's what pretty much defines the genre, it's important to pull it off smoothly -- and Sonya Bateman doesn't. Gavyn buys being tossed into a world that has genies just a little too quickly. I had to mentally set that aside in order to make the story work. There were also moments in the dialog that were out of place. Here's an example in the form of a multiple choice question:

Q: The love of your life has just been witness to the aftermath of a loved one having been skinned alive. You're in the car heading away from the scene. What do you do?
A. Offer consoling words of love and support
B. Vow revenge on the perpetrator
C. Get all hot with passion at the site of your lover's resolve
D. All the above

Well, if you're the main character in Master of None, you choose option D. Talk about awkward. "Hey babe, sorry about Jenny being skinned alive, I'll kill the bastard who did this. My god, that perfume you're wearing... it's so hot!" Okay, it wasn't quite that bad, but it was still a moment that stuck with me throughout the whole story.

Secondly, the magic system was annoyingly inconsistent. At the beginning of the story, Ian is capable of making Gavyn's needs appear. He gets thirsty, he somehow ends up with beer. He needs a smoke, all he has to do is check his pocket. Then you get towards the end and everybody is dying of thirst... suddenly genies are no longer able to generate anything useful. Beer and smokes are fine, but water is out of the question? That's just poor planning on the author's part. There were many of these little inconsistencies throughout the book. Taken individually they seem small, but added together I couldn't overlook them.

Over all, I still recommend giving Master of None a try, especially if you're getting tired of the monster hunter stories that currently saturate the urban fantasy market. Sonya Bateman's story has a lot of potential, and there's a good chance she'll hit it out of the park with the sequel because everything she needs for an amazing series is there. I'm anxious to see if she pulls it off in a second book.

Justin from FantasyLiterature

Gavyn Donatti's talent for getting into and out of hairy situations is unparalleled. Bad luck follows him around, but it's his partners who suffer the consequences.
That's why he's attempting his next coup without any backup and of course, everything that can go wrong, does. Have you ever heard of a thief loosing his loot? No? Gavyn is sure his client hasn't either and crime boss Trevor isn't one to mess around with.
Then a trenchcoated, bare-chested grumpy man appears and saves Gavyn's unlucky behind from execution. Apparently even modern day genies draw the line at shirts and this one has attached himself to Gavyn. Ian has to help the thief to fulfill his life's purpose and staying alive is only the first step.

Where to start? MASTER OF NONE is the start to a new urban fantasy series, featuring an unlucky thief and genies. Sonya Bateman tells a lively, fast paced story that mixes humor with suspense. Donatti has a fresh voice (1. person POV) and his occupation and bad luck get him into interesting situations. Genies aren't all over Urban Fantasy like vampires and werewolves, so that's interesting as well.
However. Emotion heavy writing is fine - as long as the emotion befits the situation. In MASTER OF NONE it often does not.
In order to get out of his mess, Gavyn needs to work with an old flame. Most of the time their relationship is portrayed well, but there are several scenes where they get hot and heavy and really shouldn't. In one his (ex)girlfriend learns that her sister got burned alive by their enemies and shortly thereafter they are kissing and panting in their car. Gavyn gets tortured for hours and when he sees her the first thing that comes to his mind is how hot she is.
Then there is the humor. I happen to love humor and Gavyn is a funny smartass, which I enjoyed in the beginning. But there are scenes, when it gets too much, like in the torture scene I mentioned earlier. Gavyn has to witness the torture of his friend Ian and gets tortured himself (several broken bones, six or seven torn out fingernails, flesh wounds,...). The situation seems hopeless, but every time he opens his mouth he cracks a joke. I know a thing or two about pain and you can joke about it in self defense, but there's a line where all wisecracks are left behind. And yes, sooner or later everyone cracks under pain. Gavyn saying and believing that he won't, annoyed me and the story stopped being believable to me.
The inconsistent magic system adds to the lack of believability. In Bateman's world genies are very powerful and can pretty much do whatever they want as long as they have the required energy (fly, change shapes, create portals, affect the minds of humans ...). They can store the energy and (should) husband it carefully. However what is said to be wasteful, is non issue in another situation, what is requires enormous amounts of energy can be performed by a depleted genie and the regeneration periods vary a lot. Also, they don't use their powers wisely and seem to prefer an intricate route to a direct one.

Despite some dark undertones MASTER OF NONE is a light and fast read and I'm sure that it will find its audience. I'm not going to pick up the next in the series tough.

While I started by giggling along with our hero Gavyn, by the end I was on the edge of my seat rooting for many characters that stole my heart. We start with Gavyn Donatti who makes his living as a thief - a thief that has lost something very important to his employer and is now in big trouble. Gavyn was suppose to steal a knife and hand it over to Trevor, now the knife is gone, and Trevor has sent his goons out to make Gavyn pay. Just as Gavyn thinks he is done for, a mysterious man appears claiming Gavyn is his and he is not to be harmed. After witnessing this man get hit with bullets and not even be phased, Gavyn realizes something not normal is at play.

Ian is a djinn, or a genie, sent to watch over Gavyn until he fulfills his life's goal - whatever that may be. Ian is cranky that the person he is now in charge of is a low life thief. Gavyn never asked for a genie to follow him around and has enough complications in his life without a foul tempered genie to get in his way. But it is not long before Trevor's men show up again. When Gavyn's ex-girlfriend Jazz, for whom he still has feelings for, enters the picture, with a very surprising admission, Gavyn is going to need all the help he can get to keep those he loves safe.

I loved Gavyn's voice and he had me cracking up throughout the entire book. It was fun to read an urban fantasy in the POV of a male - you don't get that often.


Who knew I would fall for a cranky-ass genie? And while Ian was a bit of a mystery to begin with, as he tells his story and the history of his kind, he becomes a well developed character and one that broke my heart. His situation in life is not just to follow around Gavyn. There is so much more to his story (best to be revealed as you read) that will have you rooting and cheering for him at the end. Sonya Bateman does a nice job portraying Ian's pain, through the point of view of Gavyn.

Jazz, Gavyn's ex-girlfriend plays a big role and is the more rough and tough part of the relationship. This isn't a very mushy romantic book, but there are definitely residual feelings on both sides. I liked that Jazz was the alpha in the relationship. Gavyn doesn't like violence or making the decisions. Which is another reason this book really grabbed me - Gavyn is such a different type of hero. Besides the humor and Ian's story, Trevor is a villain you don't want to mess around with. I thought he was very evil. When he is torturing and you think, oh he is not really going to rip off that person's fingernail - and then he does! EVIL!


I wished at some points Ian's powers would have been a bit more concrete. For example, at first we are told he becomes invisible when he turns into a dog, but then later he is also invisible as a human. I felt like the rules could have been a bit more clear. I also think the story slows down when the history and back story of the djinns is introduced. That being said, Master of None is a book that will take you on a surprising journey. You will laugh, cheer and root along with these vibrant characters.

Gavyn Donatti is the world's unluckiest theif - then he finds himself saved by a djinn who insists Gavyn is his master, but that doesn't mean the Genie, Ian, has to like it. Gavyn is a thief with a heart of gold and Ian, the Djinn is a cranky magical being with secrets that will change Gavyns life if they don't kill him first.

This book ticks all the boxes in the character and magic departments that should make a good read. However, I found the characters did not leap off the page and the magic while interesting seemed to lack a sense of wonder to it. Plus all the torture scenes, while great for establishing who the bad guy of the story was left me feeling a bit off about the story. I'd class this as a semi-romance novel. It's not full of throbbing passionate sex scenes (thankfully) though at the core it is a story of relationships, it's just unfortunate that they don't really seem to gel.

This was a pleasant surprise! It's told from a male POV, and that's very refreshing. There are very few urban fantasy novels with male protagonists. In fact, Harry Dresden is the only one that comes to mind right now.

Gavyn Donatti (or Houdini, as his ex girlfriend calls him) is a lone thief - pretty much anybody who ever came close to him got screwed over in an instant. The problem is, Donatti never does this on purpose, accidents just happen around him. Apparently, Murphy's law is the only law he lives by.
During one of his disasterous adventures, he gets into trouble and ends up being saved by an extremely pissed off djinn. It turns out that the djinn, Ian, had no choice but to save him - Gavyn is his only descendant and he needs to stay alive or the realm in which the djinn exist will be destroyed. The story that follows is fast paced, sometimes moving and often very funny.

I liked Ian, he is a great character. He reminded me a lot of Grouchy Smurf. He was always angry about something, always growling and threatening Donatti.
Most of all, I liked Gavyn and his way of handling new information: a healthy dose of humor, a not-so-healthy dose of self-deprecation, all spiced with heavy sarcasm and lots of love for his family. Despite his criminal background and his constant avoidance of responsibility, Gavyn is essentially a very positive character. He is extremely likeable and if I continue reading this series, it will be solely because of him.

If you don't mind a little violence and love luckless thieves with attitude, this is your book.
This really blew me away. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was looking forward to reading about genies (sorry, that should be Djinn!). This book just got better and better. The more I read, the more addictive it became.
The Djinn are particularly awesome in this book. There is no polishing of lamps and granting three wishes. These Djinn have attitude and plenty of magic and lore. The Djinn customs and world is fascinating, and the relationships so well thought out.
Our luckless thief, Donatti, is such a strong and likeable character. His humour is very well written and his relationship with, well, just about every other character is superb.
Jazz is one hell of a woman and with a fiery attitude to boot. It's nice to see such a strong female in a fantasy novel. She'll give any of the monsters in this book a run for their money.
I can't wait to read the sequel.
A highly recommended read, full of violence, attitude, magic and magnetic characters. A real gem of a book.

For me, this was a great fantasy story to read. Sonya Bateman has taken the genie character and made it her own. I tend to look at her Djinn's more like Shift-Shifters with magical powers. The difference is Sonya Bateman's Djinn can't die unless you destroy their tether. Master of None is about Donatti an unlucky thief and how things change once he meets up with Ian, a Djinn. This story has action and a set of great misfit characters. The pace of this book had me turning page after page. One of my favorite scenes was when they hit up a Walmart at two in the morning to get supplies. Between Ian making a spectacle of himself and Lark and Tory arguing over motor oil, it was funny stuff. Master of None was a blast to read. I would recommend it to anyone look for a fast, funny, action based read.

Gavyn Donnati is a thief, and definitely not a lucky one. Hired to steal a very specific knife, he's now running from his employers because - you guessed it - he's lost the knife. While on the run from the goons, a strange, tall man jumps infront of Gavyn, taking the bullets being fired in his direction. After a quick getaway and a very confusion conversation, Gavyn has his very own genie - Ian. Ian and Gavyn are tied together, and must work together to save themselves and their loved ones from the evil djinns, and Gavyn's old boss.

I may have an obsession with conmen. I also enjoy human characters being thrown into a fantasy or paranormal world, and discovering there's more to the world, and maybe themself, than they knew. So it really isn't a surprise that I fell in love with "Master of None." Gavyn and Ian were fascinating characters, each with their own little quirks. Gavyn constantly checked for escape routes, should he need to make a quick getaway. Ian had.. well, excellent phrasing, and I just loved his attitude. The two men have been through a lot in their lives, and have to go through even more in the course of this book. It was beyond a pleasure to be able to read it and follow along on their journey.

There are some very powerful scenes in this book, and I would say "Master of None" has one of the best written torture scenes I've ever read. I was literally wiggling in my seat, biting my lip, and making little gasping noises just in reaction to what was being done to Gavyn and others. And the ending (no spoilers) just made me so.. happy, and proud. I cannot wait until the next book comes out, so I can see how Gavyn and Ian's journey continues. This is definitely a series for fans of Urban Fantasy, Paranormal Fiction, and Science Fiction/Fantasy to pick up! A great author, and an excellent series to keep an eye on.


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Master of None was SOOO much fun to read!

Gavyn Donnatti steals for a living, but that doesn't make him a bad criminal. He doesn't believe in murder and almost never hurts anyone. The fact that every job he plans falls apart (none of the complications are his fault) endears him even more to the reader.

Take his last job for example. Gavyn lost the item his ex boss hired him to steal. The boss thinks Gavyn's lying and plans to extract the item or information of its whereabouts from Gavyn's hyde.

Things get even more interesting when Gavyn discovers he has his own personal djinn (don't call him a genie!). The situation is ironically hilarious because Gavyn has the worst luck ever...which explains why he and his djinn can't stand each other.

Unfortunately for them, Gavyn and Ian are stuck together until they discover Gavyn's purpose in life. Considering his choices in life to this point, finding an answer might take awhile.

Gavyn and his djinn must find a way to resolve their differences and work together because if they don't, a terrifying enemy threatens to destroy everything and everyone they both hold dear.

I love Sonya Bateman's voice!!!

Gavyn's character is an amusing blend of light-hearted, wise-cracking guy speak and identifiable pop culture.

Ian is a cynical world-weary djinn, but at heart a man of integrity. His humanized character traits mesh with his amazing djinn abilities in a complementary pairing.

Master of None hits the ground running, and the plot screams forward at a break-neck pace. My advice: strap in and enjoy the ride!