Master of Smoke

Mageverse #7

by Angela Knight

View our feature on Angela Knight’s Master of Smoke . After being attacked by a werewolf, Eva Roman is now able to shift into one. Luckily she saves a handsome shapeshifter from a similar attack. Eva does not know his true identity as Smoke, a Sidhe warrior. His attacker was Warlock, the magic-imbued leader of a cult of werewolf assassins trained to destroy all others. As a war ignites between all the immortals in the Mageverse, Eva and Smoke will need more than their love for each other to survive.

Genres: Romance, Paranormal Romance, Paranormal, Fantasy, Vampires, Shapeshifters, Magic

280 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published November 23, 2010

About the author

Angela Knight is an American author of mostly erotic fantasy.

Reviews

[Catherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn’t realize going into this book that I had read two of the earlier books in the series years ago. But as I was reading I started to feel a weird sense of déjà vu. Vampire Knights of the Round Table? Direkind? Haven’t I read this before? What cinched it was when the king of the faeries, Llyr, and his queen, Diana, were mentioned. Ah hah! I know I’ve read about them. And I had. I’d read Master of the Night and Master of the Moon back when I wasn’t logging any of my read books. That’ll teach me to be more organized, eh?

This book had a lot of snarkiness and pop culture references. Think Kresley Cole and you’ll know what I mean. It was fun at first, but then it just started to grate on me. It ended up seeming more silly and juvenile than funny. And this is coming from a Shelly Laurenston fan. I like immature humor. But this was just a bit too much for me.

Things seemed more cute than silly in the beginning. Eva and her trusty co-companion, Fluffy, rush to save a man in trouble because

Spiderman's mantra flashed through her mind: "With great power comes great responsibility."

Like Dad always said: just because you read it in a comic book, that doesn't mean it isn't true.

Eva immediately falls into lust with mystery man’s hot body—although she manages to get herself under control enough to get them to safety—and he definitely reciprocates despite completely losing his memory.

I wasn’t really thrilled that they slept together so soon and fell in love without actually even knowing each other beyond how many orgasms they could dole out, but that wasn’t really what started losing me. It was the total split personality Smoke suffered from. Seriously, it was weird. I thought it was a product of the magic from the beginning but I was wrong. I was kind of creeped out by it to be honest. And then to have that echoed in a way by another character? It’s just not my thing. Especially when the reader is give confirmation that the other personality is separate and can comment to the host during completely inappropriate moments. *shudder*

There were two additional side storylines that I didn’t feel detracted from the main storyline. I actually found myself waiting for Belle and Tristan’s storyline to pop back up because they intrigued me. I find Belle’s job revolting, but I’m curious how the author will pull off the future relationship. The other storyline was one that frustrated me incredibly. I’m not one to martyr myself for family just because they’re blood, so I have a hard time reading about people like that. If you’re nothing but an albatross around my neck (or a flat out opportunist or worse) then you can kiss my support goodbye. Why should my life suck just because we’re blood? But…I’m sure none of you care to hear me rant about that, so I’ll move on.

Eva’s transition to werewolf was quite a horrific one. She, understandably, has quite a few issues with her new life and others of her kind. I liked the added depth, but I found it frustrating after a while. Eva was a liability in every fight and always ended up putting them at a disadvantage. I just got tired of watching her freak out and have to be rescued.

Based on my experience with the other two books in this series I’m pretty confident in saying that this is just more of the same. If you enjoyed the previous books in the series then chances are that you’ll enjoy this one too.

Favorite Quote:

"She? She who?" God, was there another one? A girl? Shit. Because the lesbian thing was so not happening.

Sidhe," Fang corrected. "Fae. The one you call David."

"Oh, Sidhe."

Review originally posted on Fiction Vixen

[Kathleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought that Master of Smoke was a Fantastic story. I still have no idea where Angela comes up with all the imagination she uses in her book's but I hope she continues to find it. The magic used in this story was outstanding. I loved how they could gate to different exotic places and different worlds.
The romance in this book was very good. You could feel the feelings that the H&h had for each other. They fought against all odds to keep each other safe. There was also a lot of action in this book, that's always' a plus for me. Was this book HOT? Of course, it's Angela Knight after all and her loves scenes are smoking.
Now I'm stuck waiting on the next book Master Of Shadows to be released and I sure hope it won't be a long wait.

[Jess the Romanceaholic · Rating 4 out of 5]

So when I picked this up, I had no idea it was a part of a series. Yeah, IDK, I guess I didn't bother to read the back or something lol

Regardless, I have to say, that even though I had moments of confusion, it worked pretty well as a standalone. Rather than scratching my head and saying "WTF?!" through much of the story, as with some other late-entry series additions from other authors (I'm lookin at you, J.R. Ward), I think AK did a great job of giving just enough information to allow new readers to follow without bogging everything down with info-dump.

What worked for me:
* This is my first Angela Knight book, so it came as a bit of a surprise to me: This book was hysterical! I'm talking Kresley- Cole-Immortals-After-Dark hysterical. Tons of snark, wicked senses of humor, and quirkiness abound, and I adored it.

* C'mon, Eva works/partly-owns a comic book store! Is that a dream job or WHAT? :D

* I really liked the side story lines (not secondary romances mind you), such as that of Belle/Tristan and Miranda and Joelle. Remember, I have never read anything in this series, so some readers may get irritated or distracted by the side action whereas I merely found it as a nice insight to the saga.

What didn't work for me:
* Eh, the multiple personality syndrome things wasn't really my cuppa, and took a bit of getting used to.

* There were several times I admit I wanted to skim to get back to the parts with Miranda. Not that Smoke/Eva were boring, just.. I really wanted to know what was going on with Miranda lol

Overall, I really enjoyed it. As I said, the whole elemental/cat/sidhe.. thing... wasn't really for me, so that's why it didn't get 5 stars. The humor, however, was wonderful, and AK did a wonderful job of using this novel to whet the appetites of new readers to entice them into reading the rest of the series.
4/5 Stars

[Karen ~ Divhine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great addition to the series. Smoke was a great character and Eve was a good heroine. The book kept me interested from start to finish and I can't wait for the next book, Master of Shadows.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Setting:
Greendale, South Carolina – Comix Cave; Eva’s apartment; Mageverse; beaches and lakes of magic in alternate universe.

Theme: protecting, right vs wrong, power, wholeness vs split, combinations, love

Character:
Eva Roman – daughter of loving parents, father owns a comic book store & they partner there now, so she’s a bit geeky; 5 years ago attacked by a werewolf, who began to eat her stomach – she has not told anyone she is a werewolf, and she controls her werewolf side well. She calls her wolf ‘ego’ Furry – and Furry wants to have sex with Smoke.

La Belle Coeur – extremely good at bringing over Potentials (humans with some magic blood, who need sex with one of the mageverse for their DNA to convert, making them vampirish – Many potentials can’t handle it, dying, going to the dark side, etc. She can screen out the ones who might not make it, and she can kill those who change but go blood crazy with it… after centuries, she’s getting tired of this role, and is happy to work with Sir Tristan, to use her magic in his assignment. Others don’t get along with him, and neither does she, but she gives back whatever he gives, and they develop a grudging respect… she uses her magic to locate Cat, and to help him reconnect with the pieces that Warlock has captured of him…

David aka Smoke aka Cat – Smoke is an energy force of an alien race, he blended with Cat on earth – and then they joined with David, (caveman tribe, became Sidhe)… He’s lived thousand of years, fought many battles… he prefers his cat form – He has been adopted by King Arthur, starting from when he rescued Arthur’s son Logan, when a lost child, from a dragon & took a house cat form so that little Logan wouldn’t be afraid…

Warlock – Dire Wolf – Merlin set up Dire Wolves to be able protect humanity, and able to challenge to vampires of the Mageverse if they ever went to the ‘dark side’, with one (now Warlock) with magic. Warlock has crossed the line of sanity, and is terrorizing the Chosen Direwolves (who are very proud of their lineage), has his own 12 Bitten were warriors (in competition with Arthur), and he has decided that he deserves all… He needs to power his magic, and thinks to capture Cat/Smoke. He almost has Smoke, he has him captured in an energy bubble and is draining his magice and ‘smoke’ consciousness… and Smoke mentally ‘thrusts’ his mind at him, overloading his brain, and breaking the bubble… and a weak Sidhe self stumbles away… Warlock awakens still overwhelmed with the consciousness, and cages it up, where he is drawing memories at a slower pace and recording them – worried that Smoke will recover himself…

Sir Tristan – one of Arthur’s knights… his assignment to locate and assist Smoke – and he needs a witch, and Bella is the only one available – he is mocking of her, as she is best know for ‘bringing’ over potentials (with sex), making her the magic whore… and the two exchange words. Other witches don’t like working with him, because he isn’t the easiest to work with. He is attracted to Bella, and doesn’t understand why… a future book to finish their story.

Miranda Drake aka Radi Crestfield – Warlock seduced then raped Jolie – wanting a were child with his magic.. after getting her pregnant a second time, and then marrying her off to another. Her husband is quite a tyrant, and threatens, hurts, and beats Jolie when Miranda misbehaves – as that is the only thing that affects her – beating her is nothing, as he can’t kill her, and she heals quickly, and doesn’t care if he beats her. She is 24ish, and Warlock is looking for a grandson. When she is in her “moon time”, Warlock sends a Dire wolf to mate her – she retaliates, will not be taken in a rape, and kills him with a knife she magically summoned.. and she is ready to leave, having put things in place to leave and hide from Warlock… but mom calls dad, dad beats mom until Miranda submits to stay in the house… She meets Tristan & Bella at a Chosen Women gathering, and tries to convince her mom to join her to go with them… they assure her Arthur can keep her safe… but mom refuses… and when they fight about it at home that night, dad accidently kills mom… Miranda kills dad… doesn’t know how to contact the mageverse, so she takes Dad’s money, packs a bag, sets the house afire, and goes into hiding…. At the end she is in New York working as a waitress, trying to figure humans out… hmmm future story to come I’m sure.

Arthur and Gwenivere – overseeing things… hospitable to Smoke & Eva and then to Eva’s family (Arthur and her comic book dad really get along)… and readying for war against Warlock.

Summary –
Once free of Warlock, Eva helps him… She had been drawn to their battle, and sees direwolf Warlock hurting Smoke… and struggles with how she might help (with great power comes great responsibility)… but before she can decide what action to take, Smoke is free and stumbling to her… she reaches to assist him, and a naked Smoke sees her as the soul he has been waiting centuries for, warns they need to get away before the wolf wakes up, and then passes out… she gets him to her car, and to her home safely…

And Smoke has amnesia, Warlock has much of his mind and his alternate selves… her wereness protects Warlock from ‘locating’ Smoke, as long as Smoke stays near… of course, when there is distance, it allows Warlock to locate him…

Smoke ‘steals’ back pieces of himself in his dreams, when attacked and needing to defend Eva, and finally with the aid of Bella when she finds them… Eva falls for the Sidhe / Smoke side – having sex and developing a closeness with him… she has a bit of trouble assimilate his other parts, but of course ends up embracing all of him… Much of their time is spent defending against first Warlock’s wolves, and then against Warlock’s attack – he takes the ‘consciousness’ of another alien that came over with Smoke – and tries to kill Smoke – but Smoke responds… and then one piece of the other alien goes to Eva, and merges with her, unlocking her magic & with their help, Warlock is hurt, and he stumbles back to his lair. And now both Smoke and Eva has 2 other aspects to themselves… they have each other…

And Warlock is ready to start an all out war against the Mageverse.

[Shelby · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this story a lot. Smoke is such an interesting character and his memory loss in this story kicks things off with a bang. Eva's great. She's got no real knowledge about what being a werewolf really means and what magical world there is out there. She was attacked and turned in a violent attack that left her with a new furry side and no one around to explain anything about it.

The connection between Smoke and Eva was immediate and strong even when he couldn't explain what was going on. Both of their insecurities were understandable as the reality of his situation became clear.

The potential war with the werewolves is building as it becomes clearer and clearer that Warlock is going to be an issue. There's a large part of the werewolf world that has no clue about the reality of things. I'm curious to see where things go next.

[Bookaholics · Rating 4 out of 5]

Master of Smoke by Angela Knight
Paranormal Romance- Jan. 4th, 2011
4 stars

Fans who enjoy the Mageverse series will want to read this newest installment. It reveals a lot about Smoke’s history.

In this story Smoke, a being of tremendous power, is being attacked by an evil shifter named Warlock. Warlock wants to strip Smoke of his powers and use them to create his own ‘new’ world.

Eva was recently turned a werewolf. With her super strength, she now has a bit of a super hero complex. When she sees a man in danger, she is prepared to help but he saves himself before she can transform. Eva rescues him but soon discovers the gorgeous man has no memory of his past and names him David. Eva and David have a passionate attraction but David’s pursuer wants him back. Fortunately, David is able to fight him back and regain part of his memory, but it transforms him into another person! They discover that David is a being named Smoke, who has untold power and he carries multiple personalities. But will Smoke’s memories return before it is too late?

The chemistry between David and Eva is scorching. The 1st part of the book had me tearing through the pages. However, David’s multiple personalities, while it added more complexity, made the flow of the book a bit disjointed. I enjoyed David’s personality the best and my favorite scenes were when he and Eva are together. When David was a different person, my interest waned. I particularly liked Eva’s courageous spirit and her need to help people. Because she is such a strong character, I am glad that she has a partner who could match her. I wish more time had been spent on David and Eva’s relationship and less on the paranormal intrigue.

Master of Smoke is a solid romance with 2 sexy main characters. However, the multiple personalities of the hero distracted from the storyline.

Reviewed by Steph from the Bookaholics Romance Book Club

[Barbara ★ · Rating 2 out of 5]

First of all, WTF does Mwwwwhahahah mean? The author used it 3 times on one page. Secondly, the cover photo didn't look anything like the hero. Smoke has waist-length black hair not short hair. Someone obviously didn't read the first chapter of this book.

This is unlike any shifter novel I've read. Smoke (hero) has three distinct personalities - amnesia boy (David), Smoke (demi-god, warrior), and Cat (shifter). He's more like a schizophrenic than a shifter which was very disconcerting for Eva, our heroine and the reader. Smoke is supposed to be a warrior who protects earthlings but he acts like this is his first trip. I didn't find his attitude/behavior sexy at all, just caveman-like.

While there were tons of hot sex scenes, they were all identical. He ate her, she sucked him, they f**ked. Repeat as necessary. Definitely lacked creativity. I can see this scenario once or twice but again and again. Come on.

I totally forgot that this series had a Merlin/Avalon connection so here was the fourth book this month revolving around this storyline. This incantation had Merlin as a werewolf and Guinevere a vampire. Merlin controlled the actions of the werewolves and Guinevere had control of the vamps. Interesting concept.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not my favorite in the series, but it was good and the sex scenes were well done (as always and let's face it, that was why I read it - insert a blush here). What I like about this series is that she is always testing the limits. I do think I would have liked it better if some things had been done differently (sex with the character she couldn't bring herself to because he wasn't David enough as an example). I like that there are 2 more stories woven into the mix just waiting to be told. The writing is wonderful. I finished reading this in the car on the way to visit my son's future college and found things I could share with him (the whole Monty Python bit). It's just nice to have well written sex scenes, it's better when there is a good, solid plot and a story worth following even if there weren't sex scenes.

[Ms. Nikki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Basically, Wolf (Eve/Fluffy) meets Cat (shifter/god/David). Cat is naked. Wolf likes what she sees in naked Cat and offers to help him. Cat doesn't remember who he his.

Insert villain (Warlock). Warlock stole Cat's powers and is trying to keep them for his own, but Cat managed to escape before the process could fully take.

While hiding from his enemies, Cat gets attached to Wolf and a sexual relationship quickly (too fast for me) ensues.

I though it was creepy how David/Cat/God seemed to communicate with his other selves. 3 is a crowd even if they are in one body.

I liked the secondary characters Tristan and Belle. I'm sure they will get their own story at some point.

If you like the others in this series, I don't see why you wouldn't like this one.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ya know, I've come to realize that I really enjoy this series; even though I am usually not fond of stories centered around King Arthor/Roundtable knight and all that. But she really writes a unique, and even more important, very entertaining story about characters I really like. This book was a lot of fun; Eva and Smoke were great characters and I didn't really mind all the multiple personalties. And I gotta say am really looking forward to Belle and Tristan's story-can't wait! I hope Miranda ends up with her own book because I was very intrigued by her part in this book...

[TinaMarie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love that we have Smoke's story, he stole a lot of scenes in the previous book. This story picks up right where 'Master of Fire' ended, First we get a peek at Eva working in her dad's comic store, but she feels compelled to the forest where she finds Smoke, who has broke free of Warlock but has lost his memories and access to his magic. Realizing the danger she saves the strange man and realizes he's way more than he appears.

Five years ago Eva was attacked by a serial killer Dire Kind, and she doesn't know much about what she has become and she still has unresolved issues from that attack, I loved how Smoke supported and empowered her even when he was split from all his selves.

The book also flashes to La Belle Coeur and Tristan as they are assigned to try to find Smoke. At one point I thought it was also going to be their story but it fades out. It also introduces a new character, Warlock's daughter and again it started to feel like she'd be important to this story but she also fades out.

An erotic, action packed romance, with a power hungry bad guy that seems to be impossible to stop, but there were also a lot of distractions. The author's groundwork for future storylines didn't integrate well for me, they detracted from the main story rather than enhance it.

More of my reviews can be found at https://wyldheartreads.wordpress.com/

[Vicki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome! In Master of Fire we meet Smoke, the gray cat that was Logan's playmate while growing up. Well he is so much more than simple magic. There is a new evil, Warlock. Merlin made him immortal and gave him the job to oversee the Magekind and also gave him the use of magic. He is also one of the first Direwolves. It seems Merlin created 12 Direwolves and Warlock to counter Arthur and his 12 Knights if there was ever need. Over time Warlock became insane with the need to be a hero all by himself and to be the only one he needs to destroy Arthur and the Knights and all of Mageverse. Eva is a Direwolf that doesn't know what she is because she was attacked and turned. She has been hiding for 5 years. She hasn't even told her parents. Warlock realizes Smoke is much much more than magic cat and captures him to steal his power. He has Smoke in a magic cage. Smoke makes an escape and runs away. Warlock's toadies give chase and Eva rescue Smoke who has turned himself into a Sidhe warrior. So much excitement and battles. This is one heck of a read. Absolutely
loved it!

[Natalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't read book 6 since I didn't have it in my TBR pile but I did have this one. For some reason this book didn't grab me as much as the others. The back story has changed a little bit again - it seems to shift about every 3 books. I think that I wanted more from this story and was ultimately disappointed with how it was tied up so easily between the main couple. The side couple was just a distraction and shouldn't have been in this book at all. I think I'm done with this series for now.

[Elizabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

E-book.
Maybe this book would have made more sense and been more enjoyable had I read the previous six books. I didn't like how the plot was not completed, although the MCs get their HEA.
The very beginning was fun and captured my interest. The book was confusing until about halfway. I didn't like jumping to different characters POV so much without understanding how their stories tied in. There was a lot of content that was unnecessary. The writing felt immature.

[S Allred · Rating 4 out of 5]

During a battle the Immortal Werewolf Warlock stole Smokes powers and memory. While he lay helpless and wounded Eva saved him and got him to safety. While they were able to battle and defeat Warlocks minion werewolves they would need the help of some friends from Avalon to get his memory back.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super good get ready for an all nite read you will not be setting this down!

[Lorie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked it

A little raunchy but good adventure story with magic, vampires and witches. This is the live story of smoke the cat. Lots of interesting back story.

[Jeanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I seem to have stumbled into this several books in. need to go back and read 1-6!

[Trudy Butler · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorites is the series.

[Danielle Nicholson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just wow! Epic writing! To busy starting the next book to finish this review....

[Ashleigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

My second favorite book,Master of Night being first, really enjoyed this one has some nice bit of comedy in it as well.

[Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the MageVerse series. More review to come.

[Book Binge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eva discovers the man she eventually refers to as David being magically tortured by a werewolf. She doesn’t know exactly what’s going on but she knows that she needs to save this man. When David manages to get away from the werewolf Eva finds that he has no idea who he is, where he’s from, why his enemy is after him – zilch. What he does know is that Eva is the woman he wants and he’s not going to leave her. He’s not sure why he thinks that but he’s going with it.

After several events occur and David is able to figure out who is after him, a werewolf who is also a sorcerer named Warlock, but he’s not sure how to fight him. He wants to protect Eva but knows if he stays with her he puts her in danger. Eva is frightened out of her mind but realizes that she doesn’t want David to leave.

While David and Eva’s story is playing we have the Knight of the Round Table, Tristan, trying to find Warlock and kill him…along with trying to find David, who is known to all in the Mageverse as Smoke. Tristan is accompanied, much to his dismay, by a Mageverse seducer by the name of Belle. Tristan thinks that Belle is good for nothing but sleeping with men to turn them into vampires. Belle knows she’s sick of the seducing gig and wants to show Morgana and Arthur that there’s more to her than her skills in the bedroom.

Another story is that of a young werewolf girl, Miranda, who wants nothing to do with her lot in life, which is to be raped and bred by another werewolf. She wants to live her own life and be happy but her mother, step-father and Warlock all have her controlled and watched constantly. How is she to break free from her bleak future?

There was definitely a lot going on in this book but I thought it really was brought together nicely. Miranda’s story I think was the most obscure but I see how it was information that fit into the story and was a prologue of a story yet to come.

I found Eva to be an interesting character as she was a werewolf – or Dire Wolf in this series – but she was still deathly afraid of werewolves – and her own reflection, even though she herself was quite large an intimidating when she became furry. David really helped her try to work out some of her issues and to show her that she’s stronger and braver than she thought. They played so well together and of course the sex was always quite hot – as is usual with an AK book.

The Mageverse books, I’ve discovered, are never the same and I love that about the series. Some are about vampires and knights, some about magic and witches, some about werewolves - but no matter what the books characters are or what the subject matter there’s always an engaging way that the story is told. I love, too, that there’s always humor in the books – not the slapstick stuff, but just funny lines that I couldn’t help but laugh at.

A good read – definitely recommended.

Rating: 4.25 out of 5

This review was originally posted by Tracy on Book Binge. You can view it here: http://thebookbinge.com/2011/01/guest...

[Kathy Davie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Seventh in the erotic Mageverse paranormal series. The focus is on Eva Roman and Smoke.

My Take
I sure wish Knight had taken more time to write Miranda as a more intelligent character; she was so wishy-washy, I wanted to choke her. And Knight is setting us up for Master of Shadows with Belle Coeur and Tristan as the romance focus.

When Eva rescues Smoke, he is all over her. He believes that she is the One for whom he has been waiting. He is so emphatic about this…and then Knight mentions it once, maybe twice more. What? No explanation. Smoke is so carried away about Eva and what she means to him and that’s it?

Then there’s Miranda. She knows how awful her stepfather is. She knows that if she is no longer available that there’s no point in punishing her mother. So. What does she do? She folds.

Sadly, Warlock isn’t giving up so we get the full course of attacks and love scenes…yawn… There’s a small subplot to reinforce our opinion as to how awful Warlock and his Chosen are involving Warlock’s daughter, Miranda, and his evil plans for her…bwah-hah-hah…yawn…

Knight must have been in a hurry on this one. Yes, she has a plot…and subplots. She simply hasn’t bothered to develop them up to her usual standards. I found the writing juvenile and lame. Don’t bother.

It's eminently missable.

The Story
Initially created by Merlin to police the Mages, Warlock has gone round the bend and is paranoid with power and the gathering of more.

At the moment, Warlock is focused on taking Smoke down, a god-cat-elf creature. Luckily for Smoke, Eva Roman, a bitten Dire Wolf, just happens to be in the woods where Warlock is torturing him and is able to help him get away but not before he falls all over her with his excitement at having found the woman for whom he has been waiting all these centuries.

The Cover and Title
The cover is appropriate. Cute guy with lots of smoke. I liked the blue-green background as it felt very elfin.

The title is all about Smoke, the god-cat-elf, for he's the Master of Smoke. Gawd, I sure hope so…

[Lynette · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the eleventh mageverse novel. What I love about this series is that even though ten books have come before it, they are so skillfully written and plotted in a way that they could be read as stand alone novels. While all the books are connected to the bigger picture, there are so many pieces to the puzzle that you don't feel as if you are overwhelmed. Each book strongly focuses on the hero and heroine and their struggles, which I appreciate. While there are subplots they are so interrelated with the hero/heroine's goal that they don't feel out of place. I wish more authors (cough, cough J.R. Ward) would do that.

While I loved the overall change in the storyline, I still had some issues with MASTER OF SMOKE. It'll be hard to put what seemed off to me in words. Eva was attacked and made a werewolf against her will, so she has a hard time accepting this new her and have been keeping secrets to those around her. I did love that aspect of the story. David/Smoke/Cat, well think of him as a sort of paranormal Sybil who has several personalities inside him (but for a reason), I really enjoyed that aspect of his character as well. However, as I was reading MASTER OF SMOKE I kept waiting for something more. I was waiting for a particular incident to happen and I was disappointed when it didn't. I felt cheated because I felt that Ms. Knight didn't push the boundaries enough. The scene I was waiting for (Eva having to accept all the aspects of David/Smoke/Cat's individual personalities in all ways – if you get my drift) I believe would have cemented Eva's acceptance as Smoke as a person. As it was, because that scene didn't happen I had a hard time believing that Eva really accepted Smoke as who he was.

Overall, I liked MASTER OF SMOKE and would definitely get the next book. However, I wish Eva had a more complete character arc like Smoke had.

[Nikki McCarver · Rating 5 out of 5]

Knight has taken her creative world of vampire knights and their majestic witch counterparts and recreated King Authors world in a lusciously inviting fantasy. The Mageverse is the realm in which he rules and where magic is a free flowing energy that is manipulated by the witches of his court. There are many interesting creations that pop in and out of his kingdom, such as our hero Smoke. Smoke liked to spend most of his time as a house cat and has wiggled his way into quite a few of Knights books. In this latest adventure Smoke starts out as a prisoner of the Warlock. In this world the knights and werewolves cannot use magic and as an added twist the werewolves are immune to it. Makes them a lot harder to kill. The Warlock, however, is the one werewolf that can use magic. He plans to steal Smokes powers but realizes too late that Smoke is a combination of three spirits with hundreds of years of knowledge and pain. He traps Smoke in a magically cage made to drain him of all his powers. He manages to escape the trap but not whole. Eva takes him under her wing and helps him escape. Smoke meets Eva in the form of the Sidhe warrior absent his other thirds and most of his memory. Eva must help reunite Smoke's shattered soul so he can take on the Warlock. Along the way she must face her past and learn to fight and not freeze. The book has many humorous breaks between and sometimes during the action sequences throughout the book. I liked Eva's character. She learned to face her fears by fighting through the blocks and throwing caution to the wind to help save the man she loves. It was a real page turner with some sizzling sex scenes!!

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

The character of Smoke introduced during the previous novel was already one I had grown to admire and care for, so I was eager to learn what had happened to him after his devastating confrontation with Warlock at the end of Master of Fire. Eva Roman suffered initially from the imbalance of already being invested in the character Smoke and the urgency to learn his fate, but the untutored Dire Wolf comic book geek quickly grew on me. Learning that Smoke's body was home to three distinct but intertwined beings was jarring at first, but the trauma of the three being torn apart and Eva having to deal with each individually while falling in love with only one of them was interesting and poignant. The battle with Warlock and his minions was constant but balanced with good relational moments. Eva's parents were fun additions. The scene with Arthur Pendragon and Eva's dad geeking out on Monty Python was especially funny. The ending was a surprising twist but poetic.

I have to say though that I don't understand, as the threat Warlock poses escalates to pretty scary magical proportions, why King Llyr and his Direwolf queen Diana along with her family, especially brother Jim (see novel 3), don't begin to figure into the story. Warlock has found his way to the Mageverse; and therefore, as a force of magical evil and as an enemy of their closest allies, the Magekind, he is a threat to Llyr and his people. Given his paranoia and jealousy, Warlock should consider Diana a threat to him. But the London family and the fairies are no-shows. For such significant and unifying characters for the first five novels of this series, it makes no sense on multiple levels.

[Amberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this novel wasn't bad, it wasn't great either. I would have thought that introducing new types of characters into the Mageverse would make it more exciting but this was a bit of a letdown. I honestly felt that this one tried to ignore answering some of the more critical questions that come about when introducing such a different character type into the world. I got the impression that Ms. Knight was having trouble generating enough interest in the Mageverse based on just MageKind and DireKind. The problem actually was within the fact that she kept jumping around without really focusing on one particular set of character types. I fell in love with the series with the first novella, Lancelot's story. And yet, the second full-length novel switched gears. I felt lost reading Master of the Moon. And that is how I felt reading this one. It definitely felt like she had wrapped up a larger storyline and was introducing a new one with new character types that had never been introduced correctly. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it left my feeling confused by the direction of the world, once again.

The saving grace for this story was Eva. Not a pure blooded DireKind, her questions and concerns about herself made the story mysterious and kept me reading to see if she would figure out her place in the Mageverse world. Her insta-attraction to Smoke was a little offputting. And Smoke's jumping between one character mindset and another made it frustrating. Probably wouldn't have been so bad except that this ability to have more than one psyche was a completely new element that wasn't properly explained.

[Delilah Stephans · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'll be honest I wasn't sure how I would like this book. It's not that I don't love Angela Knight's Mageverse but I wasn't sure how she'd pull this one off.


Smoke a demi-god shapeshifter just seemed too powerful for him to be a good hero, but Ms. Knight managed to bring him down to a very loveable hero with weaknesses that make the reader root for him and worry. With a stroke of brilliance she showed the three individual psyches that make Smoke the powerful demi-god he is: the elemental, the shifter and the fae.


The heroine, Eva, the daughter of a comic shop owner and a attack victim werewolf is delightfully insecure and yet continually puts herself in danger to save her man. She has her own issues to deal with which our amnesiac hero helps her with in several touching scenes.


The villain - well he's a psychopath with delussions of grandure. BUT don't they make the best villains?


This is the 2nd book in a new arc for the Mageverse series, but like all AK's books can be read without reading any of the others. I should warn readers unfamiliar with Angela Knight that her books are S-T-E-A-M-Y! So be prepared. One more warning - I was up all night reading it.