What do you think?
Rate this book
D.O.D.O. #2
Master of the Revels
The fast-paced sequel to the near-future adventure The Rise and Fall of D.O.DO. In this history-bending adventure, the ragtag team of ex-D.O.D.O. agents must traverse time and space to stop the powerful Irish witch Gráinne from reversing the evolution of all modern technology. From Jacobean England to the ancient Roman Empire, Mel Stokes and her fellow outcasts must untangle the knotted threads of history while the diabolical Gráinne jumps from timeline to timeline, always staying one step ahead – or is it behind?Historical objects disappear, cities literally rise and fall, and nothing less than the fate of humanity is at stake. Will they be able to fix the past—in order to save the future?
560 pages, Paperback
First published February 23, 2021
514 people are currently reading
4180 people want to read
About the author
Nicole Galland
16 books457 followersNicole Galland writes critically-acclaimed novels in several different genres. She is mostly know for historical fiction, but recently teamed up with Neal Stephenson to write the New York Times bestselling, time-travel-themed The Rise And Fall of D.O.D.O. (HarperCollins, 2017). She'll be releasing its sequel, Master of the Revels, in February of 2021.
Her historical novels (all published by HarperCollins or imprints) include: The Fool's Tale; I, Iago; Revenge of the Rose; Godiva; and Crossed: A Tale of the Fourth Crusade. Her debut, The Fool's Tale, was a "Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers" selection.
Nicole has written two contemporary comic novels, Stepdog, and On The Same Page.
With a collective of six other authors (including Neal Stephenson and Greg Bear) Nicole co-authored the Mongoliad Trilogy (published by 47N), and under the pen name E. D. deBirmingham, also wrote the Siege Perilous, a Mongoliad sequel.
Galland is a "Shakespeare nerd" at heart. With actress/director Chelsea McCarthy she is the co-creator of Shakespeare for the Masses at the Martha's Vineyard Playhouse, and writes a tongue-in-cheek column for the Martha's Vineyard Times.
Her historical novels (all published by HarperCollins or imprints) include: The Fool's Tale; I, Iago; Revenge of the Rose; Godiva; and Crossed: A Tale of the Fourth Crusade. Her debut, The Fool's Tale, was a "Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers" selection.
Nicole has written two contemporary comic novels, Stepdog, and On The Same Page.
With a collective of six other authors (including Neal Stephenson and Greg Bear) Nicole co-authored the Mongoliad Trilogy (published by 47N), and under the pen name E. D. deBirmingham, also wrote the Siege Perilous, a Mongoliad sequel.
Galland is a "Shakespeare nerd" at heart. With actress/director Chelsea McCarthy she is the co-creator of Shakespeare for the Masses at the Martha's Vineyard Playhouse, and writes a tongue-in-cheek column for the Martha's Vineyard Times.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 401 reviews
March 3, 2021
I'm going to pull a Cursed Child and just mentally disregard this. I didn't think it was very good! Here are the narrative choices I did not enjoy. (No spoilers beyond what's on the front flap and the prologue, which was released as promo material.)
- Lots of focus on new characters and not enough on the characters we already knew from the first book. I was here for more personal development and relationship growth among the existing crew. I wanted to see people grow and change as part of shadow DODO. There was little of this.
- Lots of weirdly abandoned character arcs at the end of the book. Several characters, I'm not sure about their mental state or allegiance anymore--or even if they're alive at all. Maybe this is setting up a third book. I don't care for it.
- Ironically, here's a complaint I normally have about Stephenson's works, which is that you can tell what's been obsessing him during the writing process. Memes (Snow Crash), orbital mechanics and epigenetics (Seveneves), code breaking (Cryptonomicon), the entire multiverse and everything in it (Anathem), etc. Research isn't bad, of course, but each of these books have moments where the plot lags so Stephenson can make a point about his current topic. Galland gets pointlessly obsessed about a topic in this book, and that topic is Shakespearean London.
- A callous disregard for supposedly beloved characters, shown by both the characters and Galland herself. I'm talking about the Frank subplot, the total lack of urgency in helping him the same way other characters were helped in both this book and DODO, and the fairly stupid setup for splintering Rebecca into her own course of action. (Although Tristan and Chira were both treated pretty poorly as well, in their own ways.) It felt out of character all around, Rebecca maybe excluded.
- Somehow, the story just felt smaller and less fun. DODO was witty, sarcastic, leveraged each communication form to do things that couldn't be said in any other way, and had a broad reach. This felt claustrophobic.
All that said, if you're into historical fiction about Shakespeare and court intrigue, you might like this. If you wanted a DODO sequel to see Mel, Tristan, and the rest of the gang on the offensive, learning new things about the world, and getting to know each other better, maybe skip it.
- Lots of focus on new characters and not enough on the characters we already knew from the first book. I was here for more personal development and relationship growth among the existing crew. I wanted to see people grow and change as part of shadow DODO. There was little of this.
- Lots of weirdly abandoned character arcs at the end of the book. Several characters, I'm not sure about their mental state or allegiance anymore--or even if they're alive at all. Maybe this is setting up a third book. I don't care for it.
- Ironically, here's a complaint I normally have about Stephenson's works, which is that you can tell what's been obsessing him during the writing process. Memes (Snow Crash), orbital mechanics and epigenetics (Seveneves), code breaking (Cryptonomicon), the entire multiverse and everything in it (Anathem), etc. Research isn't bad, of course, but each of these books have moments where the plot lags so Stephenson can make a point about his current topic. Galland gets pointlessly obsessed about a topic in this book, and that topic is Shakespearean London.
- A callous disregard for supposedly beloved characters, shown by both the characters and Galland herself. I'm talking about the Frank subplot, the total lack of urgency in helping him the same way other characters were helped in both this book and DODO, and the fairly stupid setup for splintering Rebecca into her own course of action. (Although Tristan and Chira were both treated pretty poorly as well, in their own ways.) It felt out of character all around, Rebecca maybe excluded.
- Somehow, the story just felt smaller and less fun. DODO was witty, sarcastic, leveraged each communication form to do things that couldn't be said in any other way, and had a broad reach. This felt claustrophobic.
All that said, if you're into historical fiction about Shakespeare and court intrigue, you might like this. If you wanted a DODO sequel to see Mel, Tristan, and the rest of the gang on the offensive, learning new things about the world, and getting to know each other better, maybe skip it.
March 30, 2021
Wow Nicole Galland is a great writer! This book had me time travelling, believing in witches (good and bad), pondering anachronisms and parallel universes, rooting for the good guys and trying to outfox the bad. The English major in me loved the Shakespearean world and ancient Italy was equally enthralling.
I loved the variations in storytelling: sometimes straight narrative (from different characters), sometimes letters, diary entries, work logs, transcripts of conversations...it never got old.
I never read The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. but never felt confused. The author brings you into that world and up to speed effortlessly.
Not only were plot and technique terrific, Galland's writing is really a joy to read.
If you enjoy time travel or Shakespeare this is really a 'do-not-miss' book!
I loved the variations in storytelling: sometimes straight narrative (from different characters), sometimes letters, diary entries, work logs, transcripts of conversations...it never got old.
I never read The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. but never felt confused. The author brings you into that world and up to speed effortlessly.
Not only were plot and technique terrific, Galland's writing is really a joy to read.
If you enjoy time travel or Shakespeare this is really a 'do-not-miss' book!
March 5, 2022
It's funny, because I was saying with D.O.D.O. book #1 how Stephenson's crazy was probably reined in by Galland's co-authoring. But after reading D.O.D.O. #2, it seems that Stephenson may have been keeping Galland from going too deep into the nerd-hole.
If you loved the characters from DODO1, you're going to hate DODO2 (maybe Stephenson owns the rights to them?). There were moments I enjoyed, like the Italy jumps, but the Shakespeare jumps were way too long, frequent, and boring.
When it come to modern witches time traveling to Shakespearian times, check out "Book of Life" by Harkeness (Discovery of Witches series book/TV). She did it first/better.
If you loved the characters from DODO1, you're going to hate DODO2 (maybe Stephenson owns the rights to them?). There were moments I enjoyed, like the Italy jumps, but the Shakespeare jumps were way too long, frequent, and boring.
When it come to modern witches time traveling to Shakespearian times, check out "Book of Life" by Harkeness (Discovery of Witches series book/TV). She did it first/better.
June 18, 2021
This book is entirely different from the first, and I had a boat-load of issues with it. (Think I only finished it because I'm a masochist and knew that I'd never come back to it if I stopped reading before the end.)
TLDR: Time travel, the story, and the characters are all illogical, and the author just geeks out on 1606 London.
1. Original characters were mostly ignored - Tristan was absent from 90% of the book, because... you know, there's not really a good explanation. He was Sent to 1606, but Erzsebet must have forgotten the destination time, since for most of the book no one knows when/where Tristan is supposed to show up. Maybe it's lazy writing? Mel wasn't used much. Frank gets no action at all and buys the farm in the first chapter. Rebecca does nothing (though this isn't too different from the first book). There's some IT nerd named Mortimer, but he's largely ignored. Mostly the book is about Robin's adventures in London with the Shakespeare boys.
2. Most of the book is a history nerd geeking out on Shakespeare - Chapter after endless chapter is devoted to describing "fascinating" lives of Shakespeare and the King's Men acting troupe. Lots of descriptions of boring and inconsequential minutia, what kind of drapes are used, all sorts of random non-events keep being mentioned (oh, the Master of the Revels answered an inconsequential question from a random assistant, gotta note that!), descriptions of bars and taverns and what kinds of songs are being sung, etc. None of it moves the story forward. Remove 400 pages from this book and you won't have missed anything of importance.
3. The epistolary nature of the book doesn't really work - The book is written as a series of letters/reports/transcripts, which kind of made sense when the main characters worked at DODO and fed boring everyday nonsense to the Chronotron, to improve its predictive powers. But Rogue-DODO doesn't have a Chronotron, so it makes little sense for Robin's reports to be as mind-numbingly detailed as they are. She includes a list of items in a storage closet as part of a report! GTFO of here with that! (Yeah, yeah, the list later ends up being sort of relevant, because one of the items on it doesn't get invented. But Robin didn't have to include the entire list (how did she remember it all in the first place?) to bring up the fact that Leonardo da Vinci doesn't exist on a particular Strand. And the da Vinci angle is handled accidentally, because a double-agent at DODO grows a strange conscience and decides that this one particular slave MUST BE SAVED.)
4. Shakespeare boys are terrible characters - Shakespeare brothers have no lives or friends and are eager to take up random causes suggested by strangers claiming to be time travelers. Umm, that's pretty much it. As soon as Tristan and Robin show up, Shakespeare boys are all in on the preposterous plans. They also seem to have no friends, hobbies, or obligations aside from helping Robin. One can suspend disbelief over time travel, but this is just preposterous, or, once again, lazy writing.
5. The villain's master plan is idiotic - See, Grainne has this master plan to prevent magic from being snuffed out. Magic was destroyed when some scientists took a picture of a solar eclipse from an observatory in Prussia. So the "logical" solution is for Grainne to ensure that the observatory gets built away from the path of the eclipse. Because if the observatory is not in the way of the eclipse, *obviously* no one will get the bright idea to TAKE A FUCKING PICTURE OF THE ECLIPSE. What was the author thinking?
6. The villain's master plan is a minor plot point - Mel is tasked with keeping the observatory's location the same, but this is a plot point that doesn't get a lot of focus until the end of the book, and even then most of the time we're just learning inconsequential details of life in 4th century Italy, like what women wear to exercise and their thoughts on men. Most of the book has to do with Shakespeare and the performance of "Macbeth".
7. Most of the book is devoted to stopping a villain's idiotic side plan - Grainne relies on DODO agents for her master plan (moving the observatory), but she herself is deeply and personally involved in her "side" plan of embedding a spell into "Macbeth". We get to see this plan from at least two points of view: first, Grainne writes a long-ass letter to a future witch (a witch we never even meet, which means that all those letters are mostly just setting up the action of the third book), detailing this side plan and every boring detail of its execution and ultimate failure; second, Robin writes up her own overly detailed reports about stopping the side plan.
8. The villain's side plan succeeds, and NOTHING CHANGES - At the beginning of the book we see what happens when Grainne's side plan succeeds: Robin watches a performance of Macbeth when an empty seat in the audience bursts into flames. That same night there were 4 other such spontaneous combustion events, Robin learns through online sleuthing. AND THAT'S IT. Grainne's side plan succeeded, the "worst spell" got inserted into one of the most popular plays in the world, and the impact on the world over the last 400 years was... half a dozen fires that all happened on one single night in the 21st century. Nothing changed between 1606 when the play premeried (or 1623, when the text of the play was published) and 1851 (when magic is destroyed), but somehow half a dozen witches-who-don't-know-they're-witches were able to cast magic in the 21st century, without an ODEC. If that's all that the side plan was meant to accomplish... I don't know, maybe concentrate on other stuff, like saving Tristan, or checking up on Frank?
9. Robin sucks at saving Tristan - Robin spends most of the book talking about how saving Tristan is this important goal and she must do this because they're siblings and blah blah blah. It may have been helpful to find out exactly *when* Tristan is supposed to pop up in London, but I suppose *talking with your coworkers* is just too difficult. So we go through this whole boring adventure of going undercover and getting hired to itemize the supply closet (seriously!) and all manner of nonsensical drivel. Then we get to the end of the book, the Scottish play is presented with the fake spells (mission accomplished), and Robin has two final little tasks to accomplish: destroy the manuscript with the real spells, and stop Grainne from vaporizing Tristan. What does Robin do? Does she rip the manuscript to shreds right there and then? No. Does she toss it into the closest fire? No. Does she leave the theater to go on a winding tour of London in order to throw the manuscript into the Thames? Yup! Robin abandons her dear brother Tristan in order to... take half an hour to throw the manuscript into a river. Then she's surprised when she gets back to the theater to find Grainne vaporizing her brother. Surprised I tell you! (Lazy writing!)
10. The villain is selectively Vader or a storm trooper - In the first chapter of the book, Grainne plans and spring a trap on Frank, vaporizing his ass in ancient Japan. After that, it all goes downhill, as Grainne is unable to keep control of DODO (she mind-controlled the director in the first book), and can't take out an unprepared time-traveling actor. Grainne has the advantage here: Robin has no idea what Grainne looks like (because no one supplied her with a fucking photo!), while Grainne clearly picks up on the fact that this random Londoner is related to Tristan. Oh, and Grainne is witch at a time when magic STILL WORKS! But despite the one-sided situation, Grainne's attacks on Robin are ridiculously ineffective, even by Wile E. Coyote standards (she even tries to drop a chandelier on Robin!). (Lazy writing!)
11. Grainne has a brand new super-power that we are only now learning about, Wending - I'm not sure she uses it, as her plans still end up in the trash. So what's the point?
12. Tristan is killed, but a previously-evil witch saves the day by replacing him with some random different Tristan from a far away strand - Rebecca's penchant for tea is well known, so if Tristan comes from a world where she makes coffee, what other larger changes are present? Did Tristan just bring a novel disease with him? Is the next book going to focus on a biological apocalypse and be *even more* devoid of time travel?
13. DODO is incredibly dysfunctional - senior leadership keeps asking questions like "WTF are we doing in 4th century Italy?" and don't raise any alarm bells when these questions aren't answered. At my job, I can't make a one-line change without creating a bookkeeping task and getting sign-off from a coworker, are you telling me that this bureaucratic organization would prep and send people back in time without the slightest amount of paperwork and oversight?! And when the director stonewalls the other leaders, they just accept it without comment?
14. The name of the book is the title of a bureaucrat who's tangentially involved in the villain's side plot - Not a lot more I can say about this. It just seemed weird to name the book after this random nonsensical character.
TLDR: Time travel, the story, and the characters are all illogical, and the author just geeks out on 1606 London.
1. Original characters were mostly ignored - Tristan was absent from 90% of the book, because... you know, there's not really a good explanation. He was Sent to 1606, but Erzsebet must have forgotten the destination time, since for most of the book no one knows when/where Tristan is supposed to show up. Maybe it's lazy writing? Mel wasn't used much. Frank gets no action at all and buys the farm in the first chapter. Rebecca does nothing (though this isn't too different from the first book). There's some IT nerd named Mortimer, but he's largely ignored. Mostly the book is about Robin's adventures in London with the Shakespeare boys.
2. Most of the book is a history nerd geeking out on Shakespeare - Chapter after endless chapter is devoted to describing "fascinating" lives of Shakespeare and the King's Men acting troupe. Lots of descriptions of boring and inconsequential minutia, what kind of drapes are used, all sorts of random non-events keep being mentioned (oh, the Master of the Revels answered an inconsequential question from a random assistant, gotta note that!), descriptions of bars and taverns and what kinds of songs are being sung, etc. None of it moves the story forward. Remove 400 pages from this book and you won't have missed anything of importance.
3. The epistolary nature of the book doesn't really work - The book is written as a series of letters/reports/transcripts, which kind of made sense when the main characters worked at DODO and fed boring everyday nonsense to the Chronotron, to improve its predictive powers. But Rogue-DODO doesn't have a Chronotron, so it makes little sense for Robin's reports to be as mind-numbingly detailed as they are. She includes a list of items in a storage closet as part of a report! GTFO of here with that! (Yeah, yeah, the list later ends up being sort of relevant, because one of the items on it doesn't get invented. But Robin didn't have to include the entire list (how did she remember it all in the first place?) to bring up the fact that Leonardo da Vinci doesn't exist on a particular Strand. And the da Vinci angle is handled accidentally, because a double-agent at DODO grows a strange conscience and decides that this one particular slave MUST BE SAVED.)
4. Shakespeare boys are terrible characters - Shakespeare brothers have no lives or friends and are eager to take up random causes suggested by strangers claiming to be time travelers. Umm, that's pretty much it. As soon as Tristan and Robin show up, Shakespeare boys are all in on the preposterous plans. They also seem to have no friends, hobbies, or obligations aside from helping Robin. One can suspend disbelief over time travel, but this is just preposterous, or, once again, lazy writing.
5. The villain's master plan is idiotic - See, Grainne has this master plan to prevent magic from being snuffed out. Magic was destroyed when some scientists took a picture of a solar eclipse from an observatory in Prussia. So the "logical" solution is for Grainne to ensure that the observatory gets built away from the path of the eclipse. Because if the observatory is not in the way of the eclipse, *obviously* no one will get the bright idea to TAKE A FUCKING PICTURE OF THE ECLIPSE. What was the author thinking?
6. The villain's master plan is a minor plot point - Mel is tasked with keeping the observatory's location the same, but this is a plot point that doesn't get a lot of focus until the end of the book, and even then most of the time we're just learning inconsequential details of life in 4th century Italy, like what women wear to exercise and their thoughts on men. Most of the book has to do with Shakespeare and the performance of "Macbeth".
7. Most of the book is devoted to stopping a villain's idiotic side plan - Grainne relies on DODO agents for her master plan (moving the observatory), but she herself is deeply and personally involved in her "side" plan of embedding a spell into "Macbeth". We get to see this plan from at least two points of view: first, Grainne writes a long-ass letter to a future witch (a witch we never even meet, which means that all those letters are mostly just setting up the action of the third book), detailing this side plan and every boring detail of its execution and ultimate failure; second, Robin writes up her own overly detailed reports about stopping the side plan.
8. The villain's side plan succeeds, and NOTHING CHANGES - At the beginning of the book we see what happens when Grainne's side plan succeeds: Robin watches a performance of Macbeth when an empty seat in the audience bursts into flames. That same night there were 4 other such spontaneous combustion events, Robin learns through online sleuthing. AND THAT'S IT. Grainne's side plan succeeded, the "worst spell" got inserted into one of the most popular plays in the world, and the impact on the world over the last 400 years was... half a dozen fires that all happened on one single night in the 21st century. Nothing changed between 1606 when the play premeried (or 1623, when the text of the play was published) and 1851 (when magic is destroyed), but somehow half a dozen witches-who-don't-know-they're-witches were able to cast magic in the 21st century, without an ODEC. If that's all that the side plan was meant to accomplish... I don't know, maybe concentrate on other stuff, like saving Tristan, or checking up on Frank?
9. Robin sucks at saving Tristan - Robin spends most of the book talking about how saving Tristan is this important goal and she must do this because they're siblings and blah blah blah. It may have been helpful to find out exactly *when* Tristan is supposed to pop up in London, but I suppose *talking with your coworkers* is just too difficult. So we go through this whole boring adventure of going undercover and getting hired to itemize the supply closet (seriously!) and all manner of nonsensical drivel. Then we get to the end of the book, the Scottish play is presented with the fake spells (mission accomplished), and Robin has two final little tasks to accomplish: destroy the manuscript with the real spells, and stop Grainne from vaporizing Tristan. What does Robin do? Does she rip the manuscript to shreds right there and then? No. Does she toss it into the closest fire? No. Does she leave the theater to go on a winding tour of London in order to throw the manuscript into the Thames? Yup! Robin abandons her dear brother Tristan in order to... take half an hour to throw the manuscript into a river. Then she's surprised when she gets back to the theater to find Grainne vaporizing her brother. Surprised I tell you! (Lazy writing!)
10. The villain is selectively Vader or a storm trooper - In the first chapter of the book, Grainne plans and spring a trap on Frank, vaporizing his ass in ancient Japan. After that, it all goes downhill, as Grainne is unable to keep control of DODO (she mind-controlled the director in the first book), and can't take out an unprepared time-traveling actor. Grainne has the advantage here: Robin has no idea what Grainne looks like (because no one supplied her with a fucking photo!), while Grainne clearly picks up on the fact that this random Londoner is related to Tristan. Oh, and Grainne is witch at a time when magic STILL WORKS! But despite the one-sided situation, Grainne's attacks on Robin are ridiculously ineffective, even by Wile E. Coyote standards (she even tries to drop a chandelier on Robin!). (Lazy writing!)
11. Grainne has a brand new super-power that we are only now learning about, Wending - I'm not sure she uses it, as her plans still end up in the trash. So what's the point?
12. Tristan is killed, but a previously-evil witch saves the day by replacing him with some random different Tristan from a far away strand - Rebecca's penchant for tea is well known, so if Tristan comes from a world where she makes coffee, what other larger changes are present? Did Tristan just bring a novel disease with him? Is the next book going to focus on a biological apocalypse and be *even more* devoid of time travel?
13. DODO is incredibly dysfunctional - senior leadership keeps asking questions like "WTF are we doing in 4th century Italy?" and don't raise any alarm bells when these questions aren't answered. At my job, I can't make a one-line change without creating a bookkeeping task and getting sign-off from a coworker, are you telling me that this bureaucratic organization would prep and send people back in time without the slightest amount of paperwork and oversight?! And when the director stonewalls the other leaders, they just accept it without comment?
14. The name of the book is the title of a bureaucrat who's tangentially involved in the villain's side plot - Not a lot more I can say about this. It just seemed weird to name the book after this random nonsensical character.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 26, 2021
I loved this.
But three caveats for would be readers:
1) You have to have read the previous book, The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. or this one will make little sense.
2) It’s a bit slow to get started. So patience is necessary.
3) It might not be everyone’s cup of tea. But if
you enjoy fantasy novels about time travel, firmly
grounded in different historical eras, you will
probably find this delightful. Especially if you’re a Shakespeare buff, as Shakespeare’s England is the centerpiece of the tale.
In the last book the key personnel of D.O.D.O.,
the Department of Diachronic Operations,
a government agency concerned with time travel,
all abruptly left the agency. (Were some fired? I don’t remember).
These key people are Frank Oda, the elderly genius physicist who has devised most of the equipment for time travel and data recording (especially the ODEC, a small enclosed chamber one enters to be sent to another time); his wife, stoic New Englander Rebecca East-Oda; Tristan Lyons, ex-military; Melisande Stokes, an historian and linguist; Mortimer Shore, a techie jack of all trades; Erzsebet, a haughty, petulant, and somewhat narcissistic Hungarian witch, who is irritating but very talented at sending people to other times and places and at figuring out probabilities of success and number of attempts needed for each DEDE (Direct Action for Diachronic Effect), which are performed by DOers (Diachronic Operatives).
These talented people all defected from D.O.D.O. because of the ascension of Grainne, a very evil Irish witch whose goal is to eliminate all technology from the world. This is because in 1851, magic left the world because of the rise of technology. That is,
after 1851, witches can no longer perform magic outside of an ODEC (which makes magic possible again). (Certain exceptionally powerful witches like Grainne and Erszebet do seem able to do some magic outside of an ODEC). Grainne is a very powerful, nasty, and unscrupulous witch who will stop at nothing to accomplish her goals. She has murdered numerous people. She has the odious Dr. Blevins, who runs D.O.D.O., under her thumb, using flirtation to manipulate him.
The defectors from D.O.D.O., who totally oppose Grainne and her goals, have formed a semi-secret “Rogue D.O.D.O.”, operating out of the Odas’ house.
They no longer have access to the expensive equipment and data at D.O.D.O., but they jerryrig their own. The also have more limited resources than D.O.D.O. They have the backing of the mysterious and powerful banking family, the Fuggers, and certain elements of the government. D.O.D.O. views this rogue group as enemies, but their powerful connections protect them.
There are a few new DOers in this book. The rogue group has several moles inside D.O.D.O. Their best is Chira Yasin Lajani, a Syrian Kurd immigrant.
Rogue D.O.D.O. is strapped for resources to recruit new agents. So when Tristan’s little sister Robin shows up for a visit, they send her back to Shakespearean England to rescue Tristan, who’s in trouble. She’s actually the perfect person for the job, being an actress, a recent graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, and a Shakespeare nerd. In spite of being untrained, she does quite well. She’s smart and resourceful.
Anyway, the DEDEs in this book are full of adventures, both humorous and tragic, chock full of historical details which the DOers relate in their After Action Reports. The venues are as various as Shakespeare’s England, 1397 outside Florence,
fourth century Sicily, and Namonaki, Japan (outside Kyoto) in 1450. In all of these the rogue DOers struggle to undo the damage done by the diabolically clever Grainne and her D.O.D.O. subordinates.
The title “Master of the Revels” refers to the little known but important Sir Edmund Tilney. His job was organizing and seeing to all details of plays and masques. He was the man behind Shakespeare’s success. He reported first to Queen Elizabeth, then to King James and Queen Anne. Robin, having studied Shakespeare’s time, had heard of him. He gives her a job.
The audio was full cast and very well done. My only complaint would be that whoever read the chapter headings for Mortimer kept pronouncing his name “Mortimore”.
But three caveats for would be readers:
1) You have to have read the previous book, The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. or this one will make little sense.
2) It’s a bit slow to get started. So patience is necessary.
3) It might not be everyone’s cup of tea. But if
you enjoy fantasy novels about time travel, firmly
grounded in different historical eras, you will
probably find this delightful. Especially if you’re a Shakespeare buff, as Shakespeare’s England is the centerpiece of the tale.
In the last book the key personnel of D.O.D.O.,
the Department of Diachronic Operations,
a government agency concerned with time travel,
all abruptly left the agency. (Were some fired? I don’t remember).
These key people are Frank Oda, the elderly genius physicist who has devised most of the equipment for time travel and data recording (especially the ODEC, a small enclosed chamber one enters to be sent to another time); his wife, stoic New Englander Rebecca East-Oda; Tristan Lyons, ex-military; Melisande Stokes, an historian and linguist; Mortimer Shore, a techie jack of all trades; Erzsebet, a haughty, petulant, and somewhat narcissistic Hungarian witch, who is irritating but very talented at sending people to other times and places and at figuring out probabilities of success and number of attempts needed for each DEDE (Direct Action for Diachronic Effect), which are performed by DOers (Diachronic Operatives).
These talented people all defected from D.O.D.O. because of the ascension of Grainne, a very evil Irish witch whose goal is to eliminate all technology from the world. This is because in 1851, magic left the world because of the rise of technology. That is,
after 1851, witches can no longer perform magic outside of an ODEC (which makes magic possible again). (Certain exceptionally powerful witches like Grainne and Erszebet do seem able to do some magic outside of an ODEC). Grainne is a very powerful, nasty, and unscrupulous witch who will stop at nothing to accomplish her goals. She has murdered numerous people. She has the odious Dr. Blevins, who runs D.O.D.O., under her thumb, using flirtation to manipulate him.
The defectors from D.O.D.O., who totally oppose Grainne and her goals, have formed a semi-secret “Rogue D.O.D.O.”, operating out of the Odas’ house.
They no longer have access to the expensive equipment and data at D.O.D.O., but they jerryrig their own. The also have more limited resources than D.O.D.O. They have the backing of the mysterious and powerful banking family, the Fuggers, and certain elements of the government. D.O.D.O. views this rogue group as enemies, but their powerful connections protect them.
There are a few new DOers in this book. The rogue group has several moles inside D.O.D.O. Their best is Chira Yasin Lajani, a Syrian Kurd immigrant.
Rogue D.O.D.O. is strapped for resources to recruit new agents. So when Tristan’s little sister Robin shows up for a visit, they send her back to Shakespearean England to rescue Tristan, who’s in trouble. She’s actually the perfect person for the job, being an actress, a recent graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, and a Shakespeare nerd. In spite of being untrained, she does quite well. She’s smart and resourceful.
Anyway, the DEDEs in this book are full of adventures, both humorous and tragic, chock full of historical details which the DOers relate in their After Action Reports. The venues are as various as Shakespeare’s England, 1397 outside Florence,
fourth century Sicily, and Namonaki, Japan (outside Kyoto) in 1450. In all of these the rogue DOers struggle to undo the damage done by the diabolically clever Grainne and her D.O.D.O. subordinates.
The title “Master of the Revels” refers to the little known but important Sir Edmund Tilney. His job was organizing and seeing to all details of plays and masques. He was the man behind Shakespeare’s success. He reported first to Queen Elizabeth, then to King James and Queen Anne. Robin, having studied Shakespeare’s time, had heard of him. He gives her a job.
The audio was full cast and very well done. My only complaint would be that whoever read the chapter headings for Mortimer kept pronouncing his name “Mortimore”.
April 7, 2021
꧁ 3.5 stars ꧂
ok look: this book met all my expectations, and i was invested in the plot. however, it was so long. the format and writing style just made it drone on and on and i spent weeks trying to get through the first 10%. even though it's only 560 pages long, it felt so much longer.
HOWEVER: if you enjoy semi-accurate shakespearean self-insert stories, i think you would love this series! there's a lot of time travel (they give an explanation in quantum physics, but i didn't understand most of it) and some witchy things. there's a lot of terms, people and acronyms to remember, so it's definitely a time investment. also, for any DODO newbies, it's completely written in diary entries, after-action reports, random pieces of writing, emails, etc. i found the format really interesting when it's from people i liked reading about, but it gets boring if it's from the pov of someone random.
so this book takes place mainly in shakespearean london (a whole lot goes down there) and partially in ancient rome. the "present day" parts are mostly wholesome found family moments (with a group of 30-somethings and an elderly couple so... not my typical demographic but it's fine cuz i love them) and some povs from the antagonists. GRAINNE NEEDS TO GO TF AWAY. SOMEONE TRIGGER DIACHRONIC SHEAR ON HER PLEASE :)
the romance is pretty scarce and far between, but mel and tristan are ADORABLE TOGETHER and also i lowkey love
so in summary: i liked most of the book. the plot and the characters were interesting, but the pacing was too slow for my taste. erzsébet deserved a bigger role in this, and also died for nO REASON. I AM SALTY.
ok thanks for reading my review. it was a bit all over the place but i hope you got the gist! also, thank you morrow group for the eARC; all thoughts and opinions are my own.
꧁ find me at my socials ꧂
insta | tiktok | youtube | twitter | blog
(from february:)
there's a book 2?? february just got 100% better!! i adored DODO so much, and i'm super excited to read about the next part of tristan, mel and gráinne's journey!
ok look: this book met all my expectations, and i was invested in the plot. however, it was so long. the format and writing style just made it drone on and on and i spent weeks trying to get through the first 10%. even though it's only 560 pages long, it felt so much longer.
HOWEVER: if you enjoy semi-accurate shakespearean self-insert stories, i think you would love this series! there's a lot of time travel (they give an explanation in quantum physics, but i didn't understand most of it) and some witchy things. there's a lot of terms, people and acronyms to remember, so it's definitely a time investment. also, for any DODO newbies, it's completely written in diary entries, after-action reports, random pieces of writing, emails, etc. i found the format really interesting when it's from people i liked reading about, but it gets boring if it's from the pov of someone random.
so this book takes place mainly in shakespearean london (a whole lot goes down there) and partially in ancient rome. the "present day" parts are mostly wholesome found family moments (with a group of 30-somethings and an elderly couple so... not my typical demographic but it's fine cuz i love them) and some povs from the antagonists. GRAINNE NEEDS TO GO TF AWAY. SOMEONE TRIGGER DIACHRONIC SHEAR ON HER PLEASE :)
the romance is pretty scarce and far between, but mel and tristan are ADORABLE TOGETHER and also i lowkey love
so in summary: i liked most of the book. the plot and the characters were interesting, but the pacing was too slow for my taste. erzsébet deserved a bigger role in this, and also died for nO REASON. I AM SALTY.
ok thanks for reading my review. it was a bit all over the place but i hope you got the gist! also, thank you morrow group for the eARC; all thoughts and opinions are my own.
꧁ find me at my socials ꧂
insta | tiktok | youtube | twitter | blog
(from february:)
there's a book 2?? february just got 100% better!! i adored DODO so much, and i'm super excited to read about the next part of tristan, mel and gráinne's journey!
September 18, 2021
4.5 stars, rounded to 5. This was brilliant, although maybe a little long winded, but when you get attached to the characters as in this series, that's actually quite desirable. Also, bonus points for if you're a Shakespeare nerd! You'll love it.
Oh, and I listened to the audiobook (on the Bookbeat subscription service). The full cast did a brilliant job. Incredible quality audio.
Can't wait for the next one.
Book Blog | Bookstagram | Bookish Twitter
Oh, and I listened to the audiobook (on the Bookbeat subscription service). The full cast did a brilliant job. Incredible quality audio.
Can't wait for the next one.
Book Blog | Bookstagram | Bookish Twitter
October 19, 2025
Rec. by: A previous teamup (together, they fight time!), and the Bellingham Public Library
Rec. for: Originalle practitioners of the Artes
All is chaos.
Gráinne is a powerful witch, working tirelessly and throughout time to restore magic to the world. A noble goal, one would think, at least in the abstract... but remember the universal maxim: time travel screws everything up.
Gráinne's also the bad guy, or at least the antagonist, in Nicole Galland's novel Master of the Revels. Her opponents are the good guys, our returning heroes Melisande Stokes and Tristan Lyons, the power couple from The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O.... but in Galland's solo sequel, Mel and Tris have become fugitives, while Gráinne has wormed her way, behind the scenes, into running D.O.D.O., the bureaucratic Department of Diachronic Operations that originally brought agents Stokes and Lyons together.
That may be all you need to know about Master of the Revels—and it's rather more than I knew about the book, going in. I put this book on my to-read list as soon as I saw it in the public library in Bellingham, Washington, during a lovely visit to that Northwest city.
But I do have a few further observations.
Back in 2017, I mentioned in my review of The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. that
I may need to reassess that opinion, though. Nicole Galland's Master of the Revels leans hard into the interoffice memos and other correspondence—structurally, it's more of a scrapbook than a novel—and has a whole slew of cutesy acronyms of its own.
This contributes to the chaos.
There's also rather a lot about the Bard of Avon in Master of the Revels... you will want to be familiar, at least in passing, with William Shakespeare's work (and with one play in particular) before picking up this novel. Much of Galland's book is set in London, in 1606 A.D. King James has replaced Queen Elizabeth, and Shakespeare's Scottish play is to be performed for the Scottish king... a man upon whose head uneasy lies the crown, an insecure man who very much hates witches.
Enter the Master of the Revels himself, Sir Edmund Tilney. Tilney too was a real historical figure, a courtier to both monarchs, and his function was to review and approve—or censor—English dramas. What the three witches are to say in Shakespeare's play is of particular interest to Tilney—and to Gráinne.
Galland even includes a very nice description of "Original Practice" Shakespeare, on p.130—OPS being an (also very real) 21st-Century revival of (some of) Shakespearean theater's original practices. I've been an enthusiastic follower of Portland, Oregon's own OPSFest for more than a decade now, so I can attest to both the accuracy and the relevance of Galland's depiction.
Master of the Revels turns out to be surprisingly (well, maybe not so surprisingly?) horny in places, too—this ain't no kids' book. See, for example, "The Song of Edmund and Robin; or, Mend Thy Words" on pp.222-226, which includes these lines (that I'll put behind a "spoiler" tag to shield sensitive eyes from their depravity):
I regret to report, though, that Master of the Revels has a rather disappointing conclusion... very little is actually concluded, in favor of leaving matters open for a sequel which (so far, at least) does not yet seem to have materialized. Perhaps in another Strand...
If you are okay with loose ends and unfinished series, though, and if you enjoyed The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O., then I can at the very least recommend Master of the Revels as an entertaining installment!
Rec. for: Originalle practitioners of the Artes
All is chaos.
Gráinne is a powerful witch, working tirelessly and throughout time to restore magic to the world. A noble goal, one would think, at least in the abstract... but remember the universal maxim: time travel screws everything up.
Gráinne's also the bad guy, or at least the antagonist, in Nicole Galland's novel Master of the Revels. Her opponents are the good guys, our returning heroes Melisande Stokes and Tristan Lyons, the power couple from The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O.... but in Galland's solo sequel, Mel and Tris have become fugitives, while Gráinne has wormed her way, behind the scenes, into running D.O.D.O., the bureaucratic Department of Diachronic Operations that originally brought agents Stokes and Lyons together.
That may be all you need to know about Master of the Revels—and it's rather more than I knew about the book, going in. I put this book on my to-read list as soon as I saw it in the public library in Bellingham, Washington, during a lovely visit to that Northwest city.
But I do have a few further observations.
Back in 2017, I mentioned in my review of The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. that
{...}the things about The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. that differ from co-author Neal Stephenson's usual output seem (to me, at least) to be good differences. The novel was still too long by half (I suspect Stephenson there), and it could have used more lively banter and fewer cutesy acronyms (and interoffice memos)—but despite all that I did still really like it.
I may need to reassess that opinion, though. Nicole Galland's Master of the Revels leans hard into the interoffice memos and other correspondence—structurally, it's more of a scrapbook than a novel—and has a whole slew of cutesy acronyms of its own.
This contributes to the chaos.
There's also rather a lot about the Bard of Avon in Master of the Revels... you will want to be familiar, at least in passing, with William Shakespeare's work (and with one play in particular) before picking up this novel. Much of Galland's book is set in London, in 1606 A.D. King James has replaced Queen Elizabeth, and Shakespeare's Scottish play is to be performed for the Scottish king... a man upon whose head uneasy lies the crown, an insecure man who very much hates witches.
Enter the Master of the Revels himself, Sir Edmund Tilney. Tilney too was a real historical figure, a courtier to both monarchs, and his function was to review and approve—or censor—English dramas. What the three witches are to say in Shakespeare's play is of particular interest to Tilney—and to Gráinne.
Not to be all Shakespearean about it, but "something wicked this way comes" is now an understatement.
—Robin Lyons, p.89
Galland even includes a very nice description of "Original Practice" Shakespeare, on p.130—OPS being an (also very real) 21st-Century revival of (some of) Shakespearean theater's original practices. I've been an enthusiastic follower of Portland, Oregon's own OPSFest for more than a decade now, so I can attest to both the accuracy and the relevance of Galland's depiction.
Master of the Revels turns out to be surprisingly (well, maybe not so surprisingly?) horny in places, too—this ain't no kids' book. See, for example, "The Song of Edmund and Robin; or, Mend Thy Words" on pp.222-226, which includes these lines (that I'll put behind a "spoiler" tag to shield sensitive eyes from their depravity):
Shakespeare (even Edmund) these verses are not... but they do have a certain verve, do they not?
—p.224
I regret to report, though, that Master of the Revels has a rather disappointing conclusion... very little is actually concluded, in favor of leaving matters open for a sequel which (so far, at least) does not yet seem to have materialized. Perhaps in another Strand...
If you are okay with loose ends and unfinished series, though, and if you enjoyed The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O., then I can at the very least recommend Master of the Revels as an entertaining installment!
June 2, 2022
There are some pretty interesting things going on in this sequel. It continues the witches-are-time-travelers motif, of course, with different factions spending some time in modern times but a lot more in Elizabeth (and Jacobian) England. And when I mean England, I mean we spend a lot of time around Shakespeare and the whole milieu.
Unfortunately, a lot of this novel revolves around a lot of nothing much happening but if you're a fan of the times and a fan of Shakespeare, it does have its charms. The action does come on near the end, however, and that was worth it.
Is it as good as the first D.O.D.O? Honestly, not really, but I had a mixed reaction with that one, too.
It was, IMHO, firmly okay. I read it for the curiosity factor and kept reading for the Shakespeare.
Unfortunately, a lot of this novel revolves around a lot of nothing much happening but if you're a fan of the times and a fan of Shakespeare, it does have its charms. The action does come on near the end, however, and that was worth it.
Is it as good as the first D.O.D.O? Honestly, not really, but I had a mixed reaction with that one, too.
It was, IMHO, firmly okay. I read it for the curiosity factor and kept reading for the Shakespeare.
January 10, 2021
Who would have dreamed that when historical-fiction prankster Nicole Galland teamed up with Neal Stephenson for the original D.O.D.O. novel, she'd plan for a sequel set in Shakespeare's Jacobean England within a matter of months? Indeed, judging by the cliffhanger on which this book ends, who'd guess that this would turn into a multi-volume franchise about time-traveling witches working with U.S. intelligence agencies? The fact that Stephenson is not involved in this novel means that there is just a hint of his leavening missing, and the fact that this will soon turn into a rough-and-tumble series requiring a certain commitment to witches toying with multiverse collapses of probability waves means that one must be prepared for a series of paradoxical traps at times (even dreaded "diachronous shears," and one doesn't want that). But that's only enough cautionary flags to take this second D.O.D.O. volume to a high four-star ranking. In the end, who could resist a tense and horror-filled story told in slapstick Monty Python fashion? If Galland wants to keep this up for a while, she can count me in!
It's hard to talk a lot about this book without revealing spoilers, so I'll use some of the substitution ciphers employed in the Byzantine mosaics featured in the book to explain something of what's going on. In the original Stephenson/Galland collaboration, the reader was introduced to the Department of Diachronous Operations, or D.O.D.O., a US intelligence agency that learned how to revive a forgotten art of time travel. Through accidental encounters with witches, the agents within this bureaucracy learned that it is possible to make very small changes (butterfly-wing-effect sort of stuff) to history by going back in time and monkeying with small details. One mustn't go for too large an effect, however, or large disruptions in the space-time continuum known as diachronous shears result. The purpose of the intelligence agency is to make tiny changes to Earth that serve U.S. imperial interests. Or at least that was the original D.O.D.O. charter.
The modern time travelers learn that witches in a variety of cultures use a calculating device that is something like a mashup between an abacus, a cat-o'-nine-tails, and a macrame candleholder, to determine how to change a probability wave from one possible universe (a "strand") to another. What we interpret as witches "casting spells" is the simple re-orientation of probability-wave collapse so that one thing happens instead of another. A painting might be subtly changed, for example, or a family tree might be altered to allow for another daughter. One wouldn't want Christopher Marlowe to die at a different point than his formerly dedicated fate, however, or diachronous shear would result -- and not even witches want that.
At the end of the first book, we learn that many of the witches of past centuries are pretty pissed off because magic essentially died in 1851 as photography was perfected. It was not until the advances of technology allowed for different types of time travel that the two worlds of witchcraft and spycraft come together. At the first novel's end, one particular Irish witch, Grianne, has put it upon herself to destroy the advancements of technology so that witchcraft might survive in the 21st century. Because of her methods, she is cast as the evil one throughout the first two books. But you can almost hear Galland asking the reader which side is really evil -- though she doesn't come to her own conclusions, even as she paints Grianne as quite the nasty character.
As in the first novel, Galland uses a fragmentary writing style using diary entries, government documents, handwritten letters and the like to weave a story in a disjointed and multimedia way. I happen to love the technique, and find that she uses it effectively. Others may find it off-putting, and decide that the D.O.D.O. series is not for them. The warning I would provide is that if they can't handle Galland's methodology, they'll be lost in wilder multimedia speculative-fiction experiments like Mark Danielewski's Familiar series.
Master of the Revels centers on the weeks in which William Shakespeare is preparing an initial production of Macbeth, initially for the Globe Theater, but later for a more intimate premiere of the play in the court of King James. The protagonists in the first book have all left D.O.D.O. because the director of the agency has fallen under the spell of the witch Grianne, and fails to realize that placing her in charge of missions could endanger all post-19th-century technologies on the planet. Thus, the founding members of the intelligence agency are operating in amateur rogue fashion using DIY technologies and alliances of witches who remain uncertain which visitors from the future they should aid or hinder.
The critical ur-text for Shakespeare is the spell of the three witches in Macbeth, and the person responsible for approval of the text of Shakespeare plays is not the bard himself, but the Globe Theater's Master of Revels Edmund Tilney, a man who is part special-effect production manager and part censor. As various time travelers try to monkey with Shakespeare's texts across centuries, modern folios of Shakespeare's work suddenly become fuzzy or illegible right around that "Double double toil and trouble" line.
As if this isn't enough to simultaneously befuddle and amaze the reader, there are subplots involving mosaics being placed on the floor of a Roman villa in the fourth-century era of Constantine, the appearance of a "Schrodinger's Cat" lacquer box in Kyoto in 1450 A.D., and the possible kidnapping or rescue of a Tartar slave in Florence in 1397. And did I mention the notorious Fugger banking family? They figure prominently here as well. Of course, no one but a history buff like Galland could pull this off, particularly in the salty and ribald way in which she tells the tale.
Another caution -- if a fragmentary tale of time-travelers wasn't enough to confuse some readers, it's important to mention that reading this novel without its predecessor would increase the confusion exponentially. Galland has given readers a prologue and plenty of clues throughout the book, but D.O.D.O. is meant to be read from its first book, as a fantasy series still in gestation. Installment 2 is wild, fast-paced, scary, and ridiculous, all at once, and Galland has made clear that she can handle the ongoing epic without the continued help of Neal Stephenson.
It's hard to talk a lot about this book without revealing spoilers, so I'll use some of the substitution ciphers employed in the Byzantine mosaics featured in the book to explain something of what's going on. In the original Stephenson/Galland collaboration, the reader was introduced to the Department of Diachronous Operations, or D.O.D.O., a US intelligence agency that learned how to revive a forgotten art of time travel. Through accidental encounters with witches, the agents within this bureaucracy learned that it is possible to make very small changes (butterfly-wing-effect sort of stuff) to history by going back in time and monkeying with small details. One mustn't go for too large an effect, however, or large disruptions in the space-time continuum known as diachronous shears result. The purpose of the intelligence agency is to make tiny changes to Earth that serve U.S. imperial interests. Or at least that was the original D.O.D.O. charter.
The modern time travelers learn that witches in a variety of cultures use a calculating device that is something like a mashup between an abacus, a cat-o'-nine-tails, and a macrame candleholder, to determine how to change a probability wave from one possible universe (a "strand") to another. What we interpret as witches "casting spells" is the simple re-orientation of probability-wave collapse so that one thing happens instead of another. A painting might be subtly changed, for example, or a family tree might be altered to allow for another daughter. One wouldn't want Christopher Marlowe to die at a different point than his formerly dedicated fate, however, or diachronous shear would result -- and not even witches want that.
At the end of the first book, we learn that many of the witches of past centuries are pretty pissed off because magic essentially died in 1851 as photography was perfected. It was not until the advances of technology allowed for different types of time travel that the two worlds of witchcraft and spycraft come together. At the first novel's end, one particular Irish witch, Grianne, has put it upon herself to destroy the advancements of technology so that witchcraft might survive in the 21st century. Because of her methods, she is cast as the evil one throughout the first two books. But you can almost hear Galland asking the reader which side is really evil -- though she doesn't come to her own conclusions, even as she paints Grianne as quite the nasty character.
As in the first novel, Galland uses a fragmentary writing style using diary entries, government documents, handwritten letters and the like to weave a story in a disjointed and multimedia way. I happen to love the technique, and find that she uses it effectively. Others may find it off-putting, and decide that the D.O.D.O. series is not for them. The warning I would provide is that if they can't handle Galland's methodology, they'll be lost in wilder multimedia speculative-fiction experiments like Mark Danielewski's Familiar series.
Master of the Revels centers on the weeks in which William Shakespeare is preparing an initial production of Macbeth, initially for the Globe Theater, but later for a more intimate premiere of the play in the court of King James. The protagonists in the first book have all left D.O.D.O. because the director of the agency has fallen under the spell of the witch Grianne, and fails to realize that placing her in charge of missions could endanger all post-19th-century technologies on the planet. Thus, the founding members of the intelligence agency are operating in amateur rogue fashion using DIY technologies and alliances of witches who remain uncertain which visitors from the future they should aid or hinder.
The critical ur-text for Shakespeare is the spell of the three witches in Macbeth, and the person responsible for approval of the text of Shakespeare plays is not the bard himself, but the Globe Theater's Master of Revels Edmund Tilney, a man who is part special-effect production manager and part censor. As various time travelers try to monkey with Shakespeare's texts across centuries, modern folios of Shakespeare's work suddenly become fuzzy or illegible right around that "Double double toil and trouble" line.
As if this isn't enough to simultaneously befuddle and amaze the reader, there are subplots involving mosaics being placed on the floor of a Roman villa in the fourth-century era of Constantine, the appearance of a "Schrodinger's Cat" lacquer box in Kyoto in 1450 A.D., and the possible kidnapping or rescue of a Tartar slave in Florence in 1397. And did I mention the notorious Fugger banking family? They figure prominently here as well. Of course, no one but a history buff like Galland could pull this off, particularly in the salty and ribald way in which she tells the tale.
Another caution -- if a fragmentary tale of time-travelers wasn't enough to confuse some readers, it's important to mention that reading this novel without its predecessor would increase the confusion exponentially. Galland has given readers a prologue and plenty of clues throughout the book, but D.O.D.O. is meant to be read from its first book, as a fantasy series still in gestation. Installment 2 is wild, fast-paced, scary, and ridiculous, all at once, and Galland has made clear that she can handle the ongoing epic without the continued help of Neal Stephenson.
April 13, 2021
I was such a fan of the first book and was so excited to hear that there was a second book being published in the series. And it absolutely pains me to say that this book could barely keep my attention. The plot itself is fine, if not tedious, but why on earth was the focus of most of the book on two new characters while the main characters from the first book are sidelined? I wanted to know more about the characters that kept me riveted through nearly 800 pages of the original novel, see how they developed, etc, and instead they are shoved to the side for a new character and a minor one.
I found myself in serious skim mode about halfway through and had mostly lost interest by the end. Disappointing sequel.
I found myself in serious skim mode about halfway through and had mostly lost interest by the end. Disappointing sequel.
May 1, 2021
Light-hearted and entertaining, but 100 if not 150 pages too long. And it looks like it will spawn another sequel...
Want to read
October 8, 2020I sincerely hope this book has all the things I loved about the first one (time travel and fun characters and scheming witches) and none of the machinations of DODO and the gimmicky presentation. Give me straight up narrative!
June 10, 2022
OK, let’s get one thing straight at the outset of This Particular Book Report: I am a fangirling all over the place about Nicole Galland this afternoon. Love, love, love her. Googled her, read her entire website, and creeped her Facebook page. Because I am A Lady Of A Certain Age I didn’t think about checking other social media sites, but will remedy that here shortly.
Anywhoodles, the point is, it just might kill me to do anything other than gush, gush, gush about Master of Revels (D.O.D.O. #2). Because I quite literally planned my whole life around reading it. I mean, I adulted and work-worked like crazy for weeks after I had checked the book out of the library so that I had no other “outside obligations” for a stretch and thus could immerse myself in it for two days. AND I broke out a pretty little reporter’s notebook and went back through my google search history after each session with the book and handwrote out every word/term/place/whatever that I had looked up in the course of reading.**
Y’all? That’s commitment right there, it is.
And, I did enjoy Revels. I enjoyed it a whole awful lot. But I owe it to myself to be honest, because otherwise how can I come back to Goodreads as a reference resource and rely on it?
So. Here it is, then, the cold, hard, truth: This book wasn’t as good as the first in the series. It really suffered from A Serious Lack Of Tristan. Also, Gráinne was nowhere near as charming this go-around, and not just because she’s the bad guy, so to speak. She just didn’t seem to have as much depth/intellect/wit this time. (Although I did love how she would refer to The Blevins in her correspondence.) Think more could’ve been done with the Fuggers.
Also, things got a little convoluted-y with some of the various time-travel subplots in Florence and Sicily, and if you’ve read enough of these Book Reports over the years, you _know_ how much I hate me some convoluted-y.
Did really like the new character Robin, Tristan’s sister. Still a big fan of Rebecca. Also still a big fan of the format, and the mockery of military-industrial complex agency-speak.
And actions.
Tangential but still germane: I have to wonder why Ms Galland’s website and Goodreads author page haven’t been updated to reflect that this has been published? And why there doesn’t seem to be anything out there regarding what I fervently hope will be the third book in the series?
I’ll kinda-sorta wrap this up by saying that if I could give Master of Revels 3.5 stars I would (THANKS AS USUAL FOR NOTHING, GOODREADS). Five stars for keeping the series going and the term “else-when,” 2.5 stars for some of the convoluted-y-ness and Serious Lack of Tristan. Four for Robin. Probably my math is off, but my gut isn’t—this felt like a typical second-in-a-series book.
**SERIOUS NERD ALERT
I looked up a total of 82 words/terms/places/translations/what all ever else over the course of two days with and 542pp of this book (Glossary included; a glossary which, btw, did not included the acronym MUON—Multiple-Universe Operations Navigator—which seems like quite a serious oversight, IMHO). That comes out to one word every 6.6 pages. And I know for a fact my math is right this time; I used a calculator.
Some were things I was pretty sure I knew given the context (saketini) but wanted to confirm; some were words I’ve looked up before but failed to really retain (eldritch); lots had to do with language circa 1600s England (carbuncle, halberd, fenny); others were words and phrases in either Latin or Japanese. I’m gonna cut myself a little bit of slack on the latter, given that I’m a middle-aged white female who’s spent the majority of her life in the Deep South of the United States, but have to confess to being kind of appalled that I haven’t mastered Latin phraseology any better than I have after all the Ben Aaronovitch Rivers of London books I’ve read.
Which brings me to this point: I sure do wish I’d done this exercise of writing down things in my own hand when I was reading the Rivers books, because for sure I would’ve retained a lot more of what I learned from them (Latin, Shakespearean language, architectural terms, geography) if I’d done so. There’s just no substitute for that mind-body connection that putting pen to paper provides. Rest assured I plan to engage in this exercise with Mr Aaronovitch’s books going forward. Probably wouldn’t hurt me to do it with every book, but let’s not get carried away, am I right?
OK, final note: In my dream world, Nicole Galland and Neal Stephenson AND Ben Aaronovitch team up to write something. OOOOOOOOOOO!!! AND KATE ATKINSON!!! (The British writer, not the Australian actress.) Omigosh, y’all.
[Finding no better way to conclude, excuses self to go explain vision to Non-Schrödinger Cats.]
Anywhoodles, the point is, it just might kill me to do anything other than gush, gush, gush about Master of Revels (D.O.D.O. #2). Because I quite literally planned my whole life around reading it. I mean, I adulted and work-worked like crazy for weeks after I had checked the book out of the library so that I had no other “outside obligations” for a stretch and thus could immerse myself in it for two days. AND I broke out a pretty little reporter’s notebook and went back through my google search history after each session with the book and handwrote out every word/term/place/whatever that I had looked up in the course of reading.**
Y’all? That’s commitment right there, it is.
And, I did enjoy Revels. I enjoyed it a whole awful lot. But I owe it to myself to be honest, because otherwise how can I come back to Goodreads as a reference resource and rely on it?
So. Here it is, then, the cold, hard, truth: This book wasn’t as good as the first in the series. It really suffered from A Serious Lack Of Tristan. Also, Gráinne was nowhere near as charming this go-around, and not just because she’s the bad guy, so to speak. She just didn’t seem to have as much depth/intellect/wit this time. (Although I did love how she would refer to The Blevins in her correspondence.) Think more could’ve been done with the Fuggers.
Also, things got a little convoluted-y with some of the various time-travel subplots in Florence and Sicily, and if you’ve read enough of these Book Reports over the years, you _know_ how much I hate me some convoluted-y.
Did really like the new character Robin, Tristan’s sister. Still a big fan of Rebecca. Also still a big fan of the format, and the mockery of military-industrial complex agency-speak.
And actions.
Tangential but still germane: I have to wonder why Ms Galland’s website and Goodreads author page haven’t been updated to reflect that this has been published? And why there doesn’t seem to be anything out there regarding what I fervently hope will be the third book in the series?
I’ll kinda-sorta wrap this up by saying that if I could give Master of Revels 3.5 stars I would (THANKS AS USUAL FOR NOTHING, GOODREADS). Five stars for keeping the series going and the term “else-when,” 2.5 stars for some of the convoluted-y-ness and Serious Lack of Tristan. Four for Robin. Probably my math is off, but my gut isn’t—this felt like a typical second-in-a-series book.
**SERIOUS NERD ALERT
I looked up a total of 82 words/terms/places/translations/what all ever else over the course of two days with and 542pp of this book (Glossary included; a glossary which, btw, did not included the acronym MUON—Multiple-Universe Operations Navigator—which seems like quite a serious oversight, IMHO). That comes out to one word every 6.6 pages. And I know for a fact my math is right this time; I used a calculator.
Some were things I was pretty sure I knew given the context (saketini) but wanted to confirm; some were words I’ve looked up before but failed to really retain (eldritch); lots had to do with language circa 1600s England (carbuncle, halberd, fenny); others were words and phrases in either Latin or Japanese. I’m gonna cut myself a little bit of slack on the latter, given that I’m a middle-aged white female who’s spent the majority of her life in the Deep South of the United States, but have to confess to being kind of appalled that I haven’t mastered Latin phraseology any better than I have after all the Ben Aaronovitch Rivers of London books I’ve read.
Which brings me to this point: I sure do wish I’d done this exercise of writing down things in my own hand when I was reading the Rivers books, because for sure I would’ve retained a lot more of what I learned from them (Latin, Shakespearean language, architectural terms, geography) if I’d done so. There’s just no substitute for that mind-body connection that putting pen to paper provides. Rest assured I plan to engage in this exercise with Mr Aaronovitch’s books going forward. Probably wouldn’t hurt me to do it with every book, but let’s not get carried away, am I right?
OK, final note: In my dream world, Nicole Galland and Neal Stephenson AND Ben Aaronovitch team up to write something. OOOOOOOOOOO!!! AND KATE ATKINSON!!! (The British writer, not the Australian actress.) Omigosh, y’all.
[Finding no better way to conclude, excuses self to go explain vision to Non-Schrödinger Cats.]
June 26, 2025
I'm so glad I took my own advice and got the Audiobook for the second installment of D.O.D.O
This felt like a totally different book from the first. All the characters I came to care for were either not there at all, or pushed aside so much that they became inconsequential.
I didn't like the new character, and it felt like we only ever travelled to one place - one I didn't care for.
And the ending was such a disappointment I can't even think how to articulate my feelings about it.
This felt like a totally different book from the first. All the characters I came to care for were either not there at all, or pushed aside so much that they became inconsequential.
I didn't like the new character, and it felt like we only ever travelled to one place - one I didn't care for.
And the ending was such a disappointment I can't even think how to articulate my feelings about it.
May 17, 2021
This is the literary equivalent of Speakerboxx/Love Below. If you loved Outkast, do you like Big Boi on his own? What about Andre 3000? It's rare we get the opportunity to see X + Y, followed by Y or X by itself (herself). If you're a Nicole Galland fan, maybe you'll like this. If you're a Nicole Galland + Neal Stephenson fan like I was with DODO...maybe you will? I discovered that I continue to be a Stephenson fan, but this will be my last Galland novel. If there had been a synopsis, I'd have put the book down 2/3 of the way through after . But there wasn't a synopsis, so I read it through because I'm a completionist that cared about the first book's characters. Even still, it wasn't worth the effort.
I could go into detail about all the ways Galland abused creative techniques in the first book (full well I could) and completely ignored the science, but it'd all be spoilers. You either like X, Y, or X + Y, so it wouldn't be helpful. I personally found this book to be a garbage waste of time, so it gets the 1 star.
I could go into detail about all the ways Galland abused creative techniques in the first book (full well I could) and completely ignored the science, but it'd all be spoilers. You either like X, Y, or X + Y, so it wouldn't be helpful. I personally found this book to be a garbage waste of time, so it gets the 1 star.
February 7, 2024
It's been years since I read the first one in this series but that didn't hamper my enjoyment of this novel. It's got time travel, witches and Shakespeare; wonderful. Yes, there are probably faults to pick but I thoroughly enjoyed this piece of escapism.
March 3, 2021
3.5 stars
This review is based on an ARC book received for free from Goodreads. I am not being paid to review this book and what I write here is my own opinion. My rating scale is below.
review
Master of the Revels is by no means a bad book, and on its own, without the specter of its predecessor, The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. (written with Neal Stephenson), it would even be a quite good book. Unfortunately, there would be too much for it to explain and unpack for it to stand alone, and so it is overshadowed in several ways. The story is told the same way as the first book, which is to say journals, transcripts, letters, and the like, but more than a hundred pages in (in fact, after two hundred pages, as well) there are still giant infodumps catching the reader up on the first book. Honestly, it would be simpler to have a disclaimer saying that this book is not meant to be read on its own than to force readers through multiple catch-up sessions.
I rather expected there to be less science fictional cleverness and more interpersonal focus in this book, with the loss of Stephenson as a collaborator, but I do find myself disappointed by it. Likewise, there was more humor in the first book, but this book is not without its humor. Clearly heaps of historical research went into the writing of this book, particularly about Shakespearean theatre, but I would have liked to read more detail about more varied eras and locales (yes, we also catch the tiniest glimpse of Sicily in the 1400s and a slightly broader glimpse of Rome, but there is significantly less historical detail).
The shifts of narrative perspective make me wonder if, in the previous book, there were characters Galland did not quite get a feel for, and so has chosen to neglect in order to lean more heavily on more easily-written characters. For example: D.O.D.O. opens with the mystery of how Mel ended up trapped writing her memoirs in 1851 and Revels opens with a terrible tragedy, but there is no mystery to the tragedy, and so the book loses a good deal of urgency. There is no mystery to how things come to this point, nor apparent effort made to prevent its occurrence, which makes the whole affair seem like an unnecessary tragedy.
If it seems like I am constantly comparing this book to its prequel and finding it wanting, well, that is so, but it can hardly be helped when one is reading the second book in a series that is really far too complicated to stand on its own (excessive catch-up explanatory sections notwithstanding). I have no doubt that Galland intends there to be a sequel, and I shall probably read it, but Stephenson’s wit is noticeably absent from this book, and I confess that I hope the third book will be the last.
rating scale
1 star - I was barely able to finish it. I didn't like it.
2 stars - It was okay. I didn't dislike it.
3 stars - It was interesting. I liked it.
4 stars - It was excellent. I really liked it.
5 stars - It was extraordinary. I really hope the author wrote more things.
This review is based on an ARC book received for free from Goodreads. I am not being paid to review this book and what I write here is my own opinion. My rating scale is below.
review
Master of the Revels is by no means a bad book, and on its own, without the specter of its predecessor, The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. (written with Neal Stephenson), it would even be a quite good book. Unfortunately, there would be too much for it to explain and unpack for it to stand alone, and so it is overshadowed in several ways. The story is told the same way as the first book, which is to say journals, transcripts, letters, and the like, but more than a hundred pages in (in fact, after two hundred pages, as well) there are still giant infodumps catching the reader up on the first book. Honestly, it would be simpler to have a disclaimer saying that this book is not meant to be read on its own than to force readers through multiple catch-up sessions.
I rather expected there to be less science fictional cleverness and more interpersonal focus in this book, with the loss of Stephenson as a collaborator, but I do find myself disappointed by it. Likewise, there was more humor in the first book, but this book is not without its humor. Clearly heaps of historical research went into the writing of this book, particularly about Shakespearean theatre, but I would have liked to read more detail about more varied eras and locales (yes, we also catch the tiniest glimpse of Sicily in the 1400s and a slightly broader glimpse of Rome, but there is significantly less historical detail).
The shifts of narrative perspective make me wonder if, in the previous book, there were characters Galland did not quite get a feel for, and so has chosen to neglect in order to lean more heavily on more easily-written characters. For example: D.O.D.O. opens with the mystery of how Mel ended up trapped writing her memoirs in 1851 and Revels opens with a terrible tragedy, but there is no mystery to the tragedy, and so the book loses a good deal of urgency. There is no mystery to how things come to this point, nor apparent effort made to prevent its occurrence, which makes the whole affair seem like an unnecessary tragedy.
If it seems like I am constantly comparing this book to its prequel and finding it wanting, well, that is so, but it can hardly be helped when one is reading the second book in a series that is really far too complicated to stand on its own (excessive catch-up explanatory sections notwithstanding). I have no doubt that Galland intends there to be a sequel, and I shall probably read it, but Stephenson’s wit is noticeably absent from this book, and I confess that I hope the third book will be the last.
rating scale
1 star - I was barely able to finish it. I didn't like it.
2 stars - It was okay. I didn't dislike it.
3 stars - It was interesting. I liked it.
4 stars - It was excellent. I really liked it.
5 stars - It was extraordinary. I really hope the author wrote more things.
May 22, 2021
I'd put this just a bit below the first volume but it's still very good. I would have liked a bit broader scope and I'm not sure the events in this volume accomplished a ton, but I really enjoy this world and characters. Looking forward to volume 3!
June 25, 2024
This was fun! I read a 500+ page book over the span of 2 days which is unusual for me. I laughed out loud at it a whole bunch. Excellent fast, fun summer reading.
That said, this book is more or less the same experience as watching the Shakespeare episode of Dr. Who intercut with various other plot points, and far more people are having sex in both the Shakespeare episode and the rest of the book (seriously, for a book that takes its time travel decontamination policies very seriously, why is no one worried about STDs? Or all the kinda sketchy consent situations??)
This book is a solo author doing the work that was done in the first book by a duo, and that is kinda obvious, because it fixes a lot of things that were issues in the first book but also lacks a lot of the crazy off-the-wall innovation that the first book made reasonable. Like I said, the time travel plot in this one is scarcely more complex than the average Dr. Who episode. On the other hand, the middle of the first book DRAGS and this book (200 pp shorter) does not have that issue.
Yet, at what cost? This book is clearly not intended to wrap anything up--it ends on a massive cliffhanger, and the "overarching plot" hasn't progressed much at all from the first book. Given the amount of change on massive scales that happened across the 700 pages of the first book, I was expecting something with more oomph to it. Besides which, one of the sub-plots had a truly interesting moral dilemma, and a lot of the consequences of the main plot should have had really interesting interpersonal character relationships, but these relationships largely were not explored. The moral dilemma gets "solved" but none of the characters that were causing it in the first place have to actually think critically about their actions. Characters fucking DIE (which did not happen, at all, in Book 1) and the emotional impact is pretty muted.
Of course, all of this makes it very nice for a fun fast summer read that one shouldn't take too seriously, but for once I want a slightly more serious tone because if you're going to start upping the stakes with murder and opening moral cans of worms then you'd better be actually prepared to deal with the consequences of that, and this book did not appear to be.
For all my critiques, I evidently enjoyed it. But for all my enjoyment, I have a lot of technical critiques.
That said, this book is more or less the same experience as watching the Shakespeare episode of Dr. Who intercut with various other plot points, and far more people are having sex in both the Shakespeare episode and the rest of the book (seriously, for a book that takes its time travel decontamination policies very seriously, why is no one worried about STDs? Or all the kinda sketchy consent situations??)
This book is a solo author doing the work that was done in the first book by a duo, and that is kinda obvious, because it fixes a lot of things that were issues in the first book but also lacks a lot of the crazy off-the-wall innovation that the first book made reasonable. Like I said, the time travel plot in this one is scarcely more complex than the average Dr. Who episode. On the other hand, the middle of the first book DRAGS and this book (200 pp shorter) does not have that issue.
Yet, at what cost? This book is clearly not intended to wrap anything up--it ends on a massive cliffhanger, and the "overarching plot" hasn't progressed much at all from the first book. Given the amount of change on massive scales that happened across the 700 pages of the first book, I was expecting something with more oomph to it. Besides which, one of the sub-plots had a truly interesting moral dilemma, and a lot of the consequences of the main plot should have had really interesting interpersonal character relationships, but these relationships largely were not explored. The moral dilemma gets "solved" but none of the characters that were causing it in the first place have to actually think critically about their actions. Characters fucking DIE (which did not happen, at all, in Book 1) and the emotional impact is pretty muted.
Of course, all of this makes it very nice for a fun fast summer read that one shouldn't take too seriously, but for once I want a slightly more serious tone because if you're going to start upping the stakes with murder and opening moral cans of worms then you'd better be actually prepared to deal with the consequences of that, and this book did not appear to be.
For all my critiques, I evidently enjoyed it. But for all my enjoyment, I have a lot of technical critiques.
April 18, 2021
What an exciting and entertaining second installment in the story of DODO! This time around we’re treated to the misadventures of not only Mel and her company, but also Will Shakespeare and his. Abbreviations abound and hilarity ensues and no one is safe from any of it!
I was a bit worried when I realized that Stephenson did not coauthor on this book, but Nicole Galland absolutely killed it on all counts. Not only did she bring her epic-nerd-level Shakespeare, but also great historical acumen and inventive character weaving as well. I hope we won’t have to wait as long for Book the Third!
I was a bit worried when I realized that Stephenson did not coauthor on this book, but Nicole Galland absolutely killed it on all counts. Not only did she bring her epic-nerd-level Shakespeare, but also great historical acumen and inventive character weaving as well. I hope we won’t have to wait as long for Book the Third!
March 19, 2021
This was a lot of fun. Compared to The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O., which Nicole Galland coauthored with Neal Stephenson, Master of the Revels is much more playful. I think it's fair to say that's a difference between Galland and Stephenson. Stephenson has a sense of humor, but he is apt to leap into a 50-page treatise on orbital mechanics on any plausible provocation. That's OK -- I enjoy it -- but Galland's "We're just having fun!" attitude is refreshing.
You will notice that the story here is about women and told by women. Two important male characters from the first book, Frank Oda and Tristan Lyons, are shuffled off the stage almost immediately and remain so for most of the book. The main characters are Melisande, Gráinne, Chira, and Tristan's sister Robin Lyons. The first three appeared in The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O., but Robin, the real star, is new. Chira and Mel also have adventurous stories in past times. Gráinne surreptitiously (and sometimes openly) causes trouble for everyone.
There are two more important male characters. Robin spends most of the novel in early 17th century England, where she interacts with two historical Edmunds: Edmund (Ned) Shakespeare, William Shakespeare's younger brother, and the man who lends the novel its title, Edmund Tilney, who holds the title of Master of the Revels under King James. Despite his star billing, Tilney is a second-tier character. Ned Shakespeare becomes Robin's main squeeze in the 17th century.
Ned is a lot of fun. He writes a post-action report on one of Robin's missions in poetry. It is called “The Song of Edmund and Robin; or, Mend Thy Words”, and is a delight.
You will notice that the story here is about women and told by women. Two important male characters from the first book, Frank Oda and Tristan Lyons, are shuffled off the stage almost immediately and remain so for most of the book. The main characters are Melisande, Gráinne, Chira, and Tristan's sister Robin Lyons. The first three appeared in The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O., but Robin, the real star, is new. Chira and Mel also have adventurous stories in past times. Gráinne surreptitiously (and sometimes openly) causes trouble for everyone.
There are two more important male characters. Robin spends most of the novel in early 17th century England, where she interacts with two historical Edmunds: Edmund (Ned) Shakespeare, William Shakespeare's younger brother, and the man who lends the novel its title, Edmund Tilney, who holds the title of Master of the Revels under King James. Despite his star billing, Tilney is a second-tier character. Ned Shakespeare becomes Robin's main squeeze in the 17th century.
Ned is a lot of fun. He writes a post-action report on one of Robin's missions in poetry. It is called “The Song of Edmund and Robin; or, Mend Thy Words”, and is a delight.
October 18, 2021
I am sorry this book was a hot mess, which is SO disappointing because the first DODO is one of my all time favorites!
I have many many issues and frustrations about this book, but my primary one — that perhaps someone here can answer for me — is WHY does one of the main characters just....disappear for 95% of the book? And even when he comes back, we don't get his own after action report?! Instead we get everything second hand?! What is going on over there?! I want to scream.
I have many many issues and frustrations about this book, but my primary one — that perhaps someone here can answer for me — is WHY does one of the main characters just....disappear for 95% of the book? And even when he comes back, we don't get his own after action report?! Instead we get everything second hand?! What is going on over there?! I want to scream.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 5, 2025
I liked the first book quite a bit and maybe it was because I listened to the audiobook this time, but I mostly felt a bit meh about it. The story was still fun but not anything more to me.
I know some people think it's because the other author wasn't involved but I read something else from him and I don't think that would have made that much of a difference to me.
I know some people think it's because the other author wasn't involved but I read something else from him and I don't think that would have made that much of a difference to me.
March 18, 2021
I was really excited to dive into this because I remember the first book being such a fun ride. The first few pages made me put this down and move to another book first because I realized that as much as I enjoyed the first book, I barely remembered any of the specifics (and there are A LOT of acronyms here). For those of you in the same position, don't worry because the authors catch you up and you get all the background you need when it's pertinent. This started off fun and fast paced but lost steam around the middle and limped to a finish. I was very disappointed by the treatment of character deaths; the sidelining of all the characters we were familiar with; and the decision to set things almost entirely in Shakespeare's London. The setting made senses and there were a lot of fun bits, but it felt like the book gave short shrift to the political intrigue of Rogue D.O.D.O.
Major spoilers under the tag.
Despite my complaints, this was mostly enjoyable and I'll be waiting on the conclusion.
Major spoilers under the tag.
Despite my complaints, this was mostly enjoyable and I'll be waiting on the conclusion.
February 10, 2021
TL;DR
Master of the Revels by Nicole Galland is a welcome return to the world of D.O.D.O. This fun story recaptured all the joy D.O.D.O. brought us. New missions, new characters, and more Erzsébet Karpathy make this a must read for D.O.D.O. fans. Highly recommended.
Disclaimer: I was provided an eARC of this book by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
< a href=https://primmlife.com/2021/02/09/revi... this and more reviews, please visit my blog at Primmlife.com
Review: Master of the Revels by Nicole Galland
Time travel is a staple of speculative fiction. When done wrong, it’s infuriating. When done right, it’s fun, and I’m all in. When I first picked up The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O., I didn’t know what to expect. But soon I was all in for the ride. It’s focus on office mundanity, mixing witchcraft with science, and a distinct cast of characters won me over as a fan. So when I saw that its sequel, Master of the Revels by Nicole Galland, was coming out. I had to get it into my hands as fast as possible. Galland succeeded in furthering the adventures of the time traveling team. Master of the Revels puts D.O.D.O. operatives on the path to fixing the changes in reality their meddling caused.
Master of the Revels picks up soon after Tristan Lyons, Melisande Stokes, Frank Oda, Rebecca East-Oda, Erzsébet Karpathy and Mortimer Shore leave the official D.O.D.O. This small resistance group creates a rogue D.O.D.O. to thwart Gráinne’s plans. The main plot of the story is a battle between Gráinne and rogue D.O.D.O. to influence the creation of William Shakespeare’s MacBeth. Tristan’s sister, Robin, is brought into replace him when he goes missing. Her knowledge of theater and its history make her an apt, if untested, agent. Her role is to befriend William Shakespeare and seek employment with the master of revels, Edmund Tilney. But Gráinne has multiple plots going. One involves a tiled floor in a Roman city, and another takes place in 1397 Florence around the freeing of a Tartan slave.
I loved The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. It was a solid story told in a unique way. It took the form of epistolary fiction, i.e. diary notes, emails, and persistent chat logs. Master of the Revels keeps up this same form, and it worked just as well for me this time. The history suffuses the plots but doesn’t over shadow the action. In fact, I’d say this book was a bit more focused than its predecessor. The Shakespeare mission receives most of the page time, and it was fun. The other two missions were a little more straight forward but went off the rails more quickly than the Shakespeare mission. I thought there was good balance between the three; the mix kept me turning the pages.
Characters
Master of the Revels maintains the same strength that I loved in The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O., the characters. Erzsébet is my favorite character hands down, and she gets a little page time here, not enough, but I really enjoyed her few moments. In addition to the carryover characters, we get new D.O.D.O. operatives, new historical characters, and the bard, himself, William Shakespeare. Master of the Revels has a broad cast of characters that all seem distinct. Whether its Roman sisters or a Florentine wagoner, even the minor characters are distinct and memorable. Too often, minor characters can fade into the background, but in Master of the Revels, they stand out without overshadowing the plot.
History
Much of Master of the Revels takes place in the past. There is a lot of excellent historical detail in here. How much is real and how much is made up for the story? I have no idea, and I think that’s great for alternate history fiction. I loved the settings, but of the three, the England of King James felt the most flushed out. Florence and Sicily had enough details to satisfy but not enough to be immersive.
Robin
Master of the Revels succeeds or fails based upon a new character, Robin Lyons. Robin is Tristan’s sister. She’s a theatre nerd who likes the history of English theatre. While she is different than Tristan in many ways, she has his same determination and quickness of thought. Seeing her go through Elizabethan England, we learn that she’s as much a survivor as Tristan. Her transition from innocent theatre nerd to Rogue D.O.D.O. operative is quick but enjoyable. Frankly, she was the more interesting choice to follow through the staging of MacBeth. I don’t think Tristan would have had as many adventures as his sister. Master of the Revels succeeds because Robin is likable, smart, and able to navigate a world foreign to our own.
Gráinne
In this book, we get a number of letters from Gráinne to a potential ally, who happens to be in the employ of the Fuggers. I loved this insight into Gráinne and her plans. Throughout much of the book, she seems like an extremely powerful force, and yet she’s not all powerful. Her advantage of initiative is countered by D.O.D.O.’s ability to operate as a team. Where Gráinne has to ensure the main D.O.D.O. branch and their operations conform to her plans, Rogue D.O.D.O. is able to dedicate multiple minds to various plans, which gives them better solutions and better operational work.
Gráinne is an excellent villain because we understand – though don’t agree with – her reasoning for sabotaging technology. Her letters might be my favorite, non-Erszebet parts of the book. Part of it is the view into her process, but part of it is her reaching out to a fellow witch, seeking one of her kind in a foreign world. Those letters made her seem isolated in a way that I don’t think I got from the first book.
Fuggers
I love the Fuggers. They are so mysterious, and they are playing some sort of hand in the background that we don’t get to see. This multi-generational banking company is somehow the mediating force in present day Boston between Rogue and Gráinne’s D.O.D.O. operations. We got some explanation in the last book, but I feel like there’s more there. I’d love to know more about the Fuggers. Are they witches? Do they have some sort of magical role to play? Or are they just like other bankers, controlling the flow of information in order to profit? Hopefully, if there’s more books, we learn more about this organization and how they’re able to enforce a neutrality in Boston’s present.
Conclusion
Nicole Galland’s Master of the Revels is a fun and welcome return to the odd world of D.O.D.O. The lovable cast of characters gets expanded in a book that heavily features historical missions. Master of the Revels left me wanting more D.O.D.O.
Master of the Revels by Nicole Galland is available from William Morrow on February 23rd, 2021.
7.5 out of 10!
Master of the Revels by Nicole Galland is a welcome return to the world of D.O.D.O. This fun story recaptured all the joy D.O.D.O. brought us. New missions, new characters, and more Erzsébet Karpathy make this a must read for D.O.D.O. fans. Highly recommended.
Disclaimer: I was provided an eARC of this book by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
< a href=https://primmlife.com/2021/02/09/revi... this and more reviews, please visit my blog at Primmlife.com
Review: Master of the Revels by Nicole Galland
Time travel is a staple of speculative fiction. When done wrong, it’s infuriating. When done right, it’s fun, and I’m all in. When I first picked up The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O., I didn’t know what to expect. But soon I was all in for the ride. It’s focus on office mundanity, mixing witchcraft with science, and a distinct cast of characters won me over as a fan. So when I saw that its sequel, Master of the Revels by Nicole Galland, was coming out. I had to get it into my hands as fast as possible. Galland succeeded in furthering the adventures of the time traveling team. Master of the Revels puts D.O.D.O. operatives on the path to fixing the changes in reality their meddling caused.
Master of the Revels picks up soon after Tristan Lyons, Melisande Stokes, Frank Oda, Rebecca East-Oda, Erzsébet Karpathy and Mortimer Shore leave the official D.O.D.O. This small resistance group creates a rogue D.O.D.O. to thwart Gráinne’s plans. The main plot of the story is a battle between Gráinne and rogue D.O.D.O. to influence the creation of William Shakespeare’s MacBeth. Tristan’s sister, Robin, is brought into replace him when he goes missing. Her knowledge of theater and its history make her an apt, if untested, agent. Her role is to befriend William Shakespeare and seek employment with the master of revels, Edmund Tilney. But Gráinne has multiple plots going. One involves a tiled floor in a Roman city, and another takes place in 1397 Florence around the freeing of a Tartan slave.
I loved The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. It was a solid story told in a unique way. It took the form of epistolary fiction, i.e. diary notes, emails, and persistent chat logs. Master of the Revels keeps up this same form, and it worked just as well for me this time. The history suffuses the plots but doesn’t over shadow the action. In fact, I’d say this book was a bit more focused than its predecessor. The Shakespeare mission receives most of the page time, and it was fun. The other two missions were a little more straight forward but went off the rails more quickly than the Shakespeare mission. I thought there was good balance between the three; the mix kept me turning the pages.
Characters
Master of the Revels maintains the same strength that I loved in The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O., the characters. Erzsébet is my favorite character hands down, and she gets a little page time here, not enough, but I really enjoyed her few moments. In addition to the carryover characters, we get new D.O.D.O. operatives, new historical characters, and the bard, himself, William Shakespeare. Master of the Revels has a broad cast of characters that all seem distinct. Whether its Roman sisters or a Florentine wagoner, even the minor characters are distinct and memorable. Too often, minor characters can fade into the background, but in Master of the Revels, they stand out without overshadowing the plot.
History
Much of Master of the Revels takes place in the past. There is a lot of excellent historical detail in here. How much is real and how much is made up for the story? I have no idea, and I think that’s great for alternate history fiction. I loved the settings, but of the three, the England of King James felt the most flushed out. Florence and Sicily had enough details to satisfy but not enough to be immersive.
Robin
Master of the Revels succeeds or fails based upon a new character, Robin Lyons. Robin is Tristan’s sister. She’s a theatre nerd who likes the history of English theatre. While she is different than Tristan in many ways, she has his same determination and quickness of thought. Seeing her go through Elizabethan England, we learn that she’s as much a survivor as Tristan. Her transition from innocent theatre nerd to Rogue D.O.D.O. operative is quick but enjoyable. Frankly, she was the more interesting choice to follow through the staging of MacBeth. I don’t think Tristan would have had as many adventures as his sister. Master of the Revels succeeds because Robin is likable, smart, and able to navigate a world foreign to our own.
Gráinne
In this book, we get a number of letters from Gráinne to a potential ally, who happens to be in the employ of the Fuggers. I loved this insight into Gráinne and her plans. Throughout much of the book, she seems like an extremely powerful force, and yet she’s not all powerful. Her advantage of initiative is countered by D.O.D.O.’s ability to operate as a team. Where Gráinne has to ensure the main D.O.D.O. branch and their operations conform to her plans, Rogue D.O.D.O. is able to dedicate multiple minds to various plans, which gives them better solutions and better operational work.
Gráinne is an excellent villain because we understand – though don’t agree with – her reasoning for sabotaging technology. Her letters might be my favorite, non-Erszebet parts of the book. Part of it is the view into her process, but part of it is her reaching out to a fellow witch, seeking one of her kind in a foreign world. Those letters made her seem isolated in a way that I don’t think I got from the first book.
Fuggers
I love the Fuggers. They are so mysterious, and they are playing some sort of hand in the background that we don’t get to see. This multi-generational banking company is somehow the mediating force in present day Boston between Rogue and Gráinne’s D.O.D.O. operations. We got some explanation in the last book, but I feel like there’s more there. I’d love to know more about the Fuggers. Are they witches? Do they have some sort of magical role to play? Or are they just like other bankers, controlling the flow of information in order to profit? Hopefully, if there’s more books, we learn more about this organization and how they’re able to enforce a neutrality in Boston’s present.
Conclusion
Nicole Galland’s Master of the Revels is a fun and welcome return to the odd world of D.O.D.O. The lovable cast of characters gets expanded in a book that heavily features historical missions. Master of the Revels left me wanting more D.O.D.O.
Master of the Revels by Nicole Galland is available from William Morrow on February 23rd, 2021.
7.5 out of 10!
Read
December 16, 2024Master of the Revels is the sequel to Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland's The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. , a fun and inventive time-travel adventure story told in a uniquely modern epistolary fashion.
Master of the Revels picks up where D.O.D.O. left off, with the Department of Diachronic Operations under the sway of the 17th-century witch Gráinne, and only a few rogue operatives standing in her way to prevent the elimination of modern technology and the resurgence of magic. The primary action of Master of the Revels centers around Jacobean-era London as Gráinne attempts to embed a real spell in William Shakespeare's Macbeth that will cause havoc centuries later.
As with D.O.D.O., one of the most distinct aspects of Master of the Revels is how it's presented — written in the form of emails, Slack messages, after action reports, letters, scrolls, sonnets, and more, Master of the Revels is just pure fun to read. It also contains some of the best time travel "rules" I've come across in the genre. If you're a theater nerd (and fan of Shakespeare), you'll get A LOT of enjoyment out of this one. And, the action isn't limited to 17th-century Jacobean England — there are multiple "DEDES" that must occur simultaneously in Renaissance-era Florence and fourth-century Sicily.
Nicole Galland co-wrote D.O.D.O. with Neal Stephenson (clearly the more famous of duo) and he didn't return for Master of the Revels. Stephenson's absence can be felt in the lack of info dumps. bureaucratic humor, and process-focus "action" scenes, but, for the most part, Galland does a great job of keeping the form and function of D.O.D.O. humming along nicely.
My only complaint with Master of the Revels is the handling of a primary character's death (which occurs in the prologue) that doesn't really appear to impact the other characters — or the plot — in a significant way. Also, the ending feels a little unnecessarily messy and it sets for a sequel (that hasn't been announced yet).
Overall, though, Master of the Revels is another fun blend of historical fiction, science fiction, and fantasy that distinguishes itself in its unique formatting and twisty time-travel adventures.
Master of the Revels picks up where D.O.D.O. left off, with the Department of Diachronic Operations under the sway of the 17th-century witch Gráinne, and only a few rogue operatives standing in her way to prevent the elimination of modern technology and the resurgence of magic. The primary action of Master of the Revels centers around Jacobean-era London as Gráinne attempts to embed a real spell in William Shakespeare's Macbeth that will cause havoc centuries later.
As with D.O.D.O., one of the most distinct aspects of Master of the Revels is how it's presented — written in the form of emails, Slack messages, after action reports, letters, scrolls, sonnets, and more, Master of the Revels is just pure fun to read. It also contains some of the best time travel "rules" I've come across in the genre. If you're a theater nerd (and fan of Shakespeare), you'll get A LOT of enjoyment out of this one. And, the action isn't limited to 17th-century Jacobean England — there are multiple "DEDES" that must occur simultaneously in Renaissance-era Florence and fourth-century Sicily.
Nicole Galland co-wrote D.O.D.O. with Neal Stephenson (clearly the more famous of duo) and he didn't return for Master of the Revels. Stephenson's absence can be felt in the lack of info dumps. bureaucratic humor, and process-focus "action" scenes, but, for the most part, Galland does a great job of keeping the form and function of D.O.D.O. humming along nicely.
My only complaint with Master of the Revels is the handling of a primary character's death (which occurs in the prologue) that doesn't really appear to impact the other characters — or the plot — in a significant way. Also, the ending feels a little unnecessarily messy and it sets for a sequel (that hasn't been announced yet).
Overall, though, Master of the Revels is another fun blend of historical fiction, science fiction, and fantasy that distinguishes itself in its unique formatting and twisty time-travel adventures.
January 2, 2024
Minus Neal Stephenson, author Galland continues the time-traveling tale of D.O.D.O., the covert government entity dealing with magic and its effects on the future. Rogue Irish witch Graine has brought herself forward from the early 17th century to the present day in an attempt to prevent technological advances occurring, thereby - in her mind - saving witchcraft. In a continuation of the first book,
Galland weaves a story with William Shakespeare and the mother of Leonardo da Vinci taking center stage. The first half moves well but the second half gets bogged down by the repetitious re-visiting of the same scenarios but on different time “strands”. Then I realized that the author had completely lifted the Shakespeare plot from an episode of Doctor Who (Season 3, Episode 2,if you’re interested).
Finally - SPOILER ALERT - it doesn’t “end well”. In fact it doesn’t end at all and is merely a set-up for another potential sequel (AND uses the ending from Doctor Who, Season 2 Episode 13). Shame because this could have been a much better book.
Galland weaves a story with William Shakespeare and the mother of Leonardo da Vinci taking center stage. The first half moves well but the second half gets bogged down by the repetitious re-visiting of the same scenarios but on different time “strands”. Then I realized that the author had completely lifted the Shakespeare plot from an episode of Doctor Who (Season 3, Episode 2,if you’re interested).
Finally - SPOILER ALERT - it doesn’t “end well”. In fact it doesn’t end at all and is merely a set-up for another potential sequel (AND uses the ending from Doctor Who, Season 2 Episode 13). Shame because this could have been a much better book.
May 23, 2025
OK SO THE SERIES ISNT OVER YET???? BUT WHERE’S BOOK 3????? DONT LEAVE ME HANGING LIKE THAT???????
Seriously, if this is an abandoned project im killing myself bc I FREAKING LOVE THIS UNIVERSE!!!!! Yes book 1 was better, but I still enjoyed this one so so so much AHHHH IT CANT END LIKE THAT
Also why did the author decide to kill everybody off…. And the logistics of the whole time travel thing have lost me again lol like why cant they do the same thing they did with Tristan for Frank too??? AND I WAS SURE IT WAS JUST A HOOK, IT CANT BE PERMADEATH COME ONNNNNN FRANK IS THE BEST…..
But yeah I love love love this series
And also the vocab went crazy cuz I had to search up like every other word hahaha love to broaden my knowledge, though at times I got very confused when there were too many of them clustered together and I was losing track of what was going on lol
Seriously, if this is an abandoned project im killing myself bc I FREAKING LOVE THIS UNIVERSE!!!!! Yes book 1 was better, but I still enjoyed this one so so so much AHHHH IT CANT END LIKE THAT
Also why did the author decide to kill everybody off…. And the logistics of the whole time travel thing have lost me again lol like why cant they do the same thing they did with Tristan for Frank too??? AND I WAS SURE IT WAS JUST A HOOK, IT CANT BE PERMADEATH COME ONNNNNN FRANK IS THE BEST…..
But yeah I love love love this series
And also the vocab went crazy cuz I had to search up like every other word hahaha love to broaden my knowledge, though at times I got very confused when there were too many of them clustered together and I was losing track of what was going on lol
July 7, 2021
Full review: https://scepticalreading.com/2021/07/...
Master of the Revels picks up right where DODO left off. Tristan, Mel, Frank, Rebecca, and the rest of the small team that had been cast out of the original D.O.D.O. programme have made Frank and Rebecca’s house their headquarters and are trying to stop Gráinne from changing history.
Gráinne’s latest plan to prevent the evolution of modern technology involves changing the witch scene(s) in Shakespeare’s Macbeth by adding real, very dangerous spells. Of course, Mel and Tristan are trying their best to prevent this, which results in the reader spending time with Will Shakespeare, and the titular Master of the Revels, Edmund Tilney, in Jacobean London.
Master of the Revels picks up right where DODO left off. Tristan, Mel, Frank, Rebecca, and the rest of the small team that had been cast out of the original D.O.D.O. programme have made Frank and Rebecca’s house their headquarters and are trying to stop Gráinne from changing history.
Gráinne’s latest plan to prevent the evolution of modern technology involves changing the witch scene(s) in Shakespeare’s Macbeth by adding real, very dangerous spells. Of course, Mel and Tristan are trying their best to prevent this, which results in the reader spending time with Will Shakespeare, and the titular Master of the Revels, Edmund Tilney, in Jacobean London.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 401 reviews