Book Review: No Masters Or Kings

My rating: 5 badass stars

for one of the coolest books I've read this year!

Fun, fast-paced and fabulous!
No Masters or Kings is an unforgettable adventure from cover to cover.

Kai is running.
Out of breath and out of options, wearing only a torn, muddy wedding dress she ends up searching for a way out through The Magpie, with the misshapen, half-formed crew led by Captain Bucky Winters.


The Captain takes Kai on and allows her to work for her passage, as their cook. And Kai finds solace aboard The Magpie, where no one pushes her to reveal her secrets and where the motley crew of misfits prove to be more than Kai was hoping for.
But Kai isn’t the only one on board with secrets, and her secrets aren’t the only things chasing them. The Magpie will be caught in a crossfire between Kai’s past and the secrets of another. And what follows is a fast paced, edge-of-the-seat adventure where trouble arrives when you least expect it.

Written in a great and easy to follow prose, No Masters or Kings will give you a gripping fantasy adventure with a perfect mix of humour, danger and friendship. Not only because of the action, which is awesome, as I’ve already told you by now. But also because of the characters. Created with just the perfect amount of depth, to practically have them leap off the page.
J.E. Nice achieves here a wonderful balance giving the reader both a great plot and amazing fully fleshed-out characters, creating a story that can appeal to each and every reader out there.

The characters and their interaction were the best part for me!


A motley crew of misfits - each and every one of them awesome in their own way. They are a family in the best sense of the word.

Captain Bucky Winters, ‘infuriating and an idiot, but a softie deep down’ ‘ – as his crew describes him. 😊 He is supposed to be the glue that holds them all together.

Jude, the captain’s sister, so gentle and caring, she’s always there for everyone with a kind word and understanding.

Crash, loud and scatterbrained and so true to her name! And yet the best friend and partner anyone can wish for! Crash stole the show as far as I’m concerned!

Seph, quiet and easy to ignore, though you’d be advised not to cross him.

Harley, an ex-slave turned lawman, silent, imposing and the first to run to any of the crew members’ help. Trying to find himself, after having spent his life lost. Harley is not part of the crew per se and yet, he’s part of the Magpie family.

The new engineer and her magic, as well as Kai, with her dark past and her secrets.

On their own, they are all awesome. But together, as part of the Magpie family, they are unforgettable. And I’ll bet you’re going to love them all!


‘Us crooks, we have a code’.
The Magpie crew weren’t the most law abiding. No one in their line of work could be, after all. And when a deal goes south, the captain ends up having to choose in between setting things straight or risking all their lives to save one of their own. Can you guess what they’ll choose? As crooks, with a code?

The gripping adventure accompanying the escapades of the motley crew who seem to have a talent at jumping from frying pan into the fire, will practically pull you within the pages. Add to that an irresistible dynamic between wonderfully fleshed out and absolutely real-seeming characters and there you go – the perfect recipe for an unputdownable read!

If you were to ask me what I loved most about this page turner here, I would say Crash! A totally cool and awesome female pilot. Crash is now officially in the top of my blog's list of 'Badass Ladies You'd Want in Your Corner.' Because yes! She is that fabulous!


She made me burst out laughing several times over, and also broke my heart in the end. Not because of what she did, but because of what she so selflessly sacrificed.

‘Capt’n?’
Bucky flinched and stopped writing at the sound of Crash’s voice. She stormed into his office flinging the door open and standing over him. He looked up at her, placing down his pen.
‘Yes Crash. What’s wrong?
‘I have a question Capt’n.’
‘That’s a mighty entrance for one question.’
‘It’s a mighty question.’

I can’t really say it enough number of times, how utterly unbelievably AWESOME Crash is!

And if that doesn’t make you smile, perhaps a captain’s exasperation at his engineer’s stunt will:

‘And then our new engineer did some sort of magic, because apparently she’s a witch as well as an engineer, and created a..a..Benny!’ Bucky threw his hands up in the air as his sister stared blankly at him.
‘A what?’
‘Exactly!’

What exactly a Benny is, you’re going to have to read this to find out. One thing you should know though – it is magic!


I fell in love with the motley crew and read their fun filled adventures in one single sitting.

‘ There’s the man who would slit your throat for the highest bidder, an infamous surgeon, a pilot who can thread this ship through the eye of a needle, a bounty hunter with lawman dreams, a sharpshooter, and you don’t want to know what’s in the engine room.’
That’s The Magpie crew, as the captain himself describes it!
Not a bad crew to join if you ask me.
So…
‘Sign me up captain. I want in!’

If you love a good fantasy adventure with hints of steampunk, No Masters or Kings is A MUST READ!
It is BADASS AWESOME!!


Check out this book and more of J.E. Nice over at http://www.jenice.co.uk