In my opinion, Master and Man is a decent book. While the story may not be very interesting itself (to most people but I like it), it is interesting comparing how people interacted in different parts of the world like serving Vodka before tea in Russia (p.81). It was also cool comparing the world today to back then like how people were using horses instead of cars, talking in different ways, and problems that don’t exist today like losing road markers in the snow (p.72). It’s also weird to think that books like this used to be how people entertained themselves and considered unhealthy kind of like technology is today but also weird because reading is seen as good for you nowadays. The plot itself though, is pretty good. It does a good job showcasing the characters and what their personality is like. For example, you can tell Vasili is greedy when he uses Church money for trying to buy the forest (p.63). Tolstoy did a good job at making characters feel human as well, such as when Nikita gets uncomfortable and doesn’t really talk too much about his wife’s situation with the barrel maker after Vasili brought it up but wants to talk immediately after he brings up horses (p.70). This makes it feel like they have interests and adds personality to the characters. Also, I like how when Vasili acts annoyed at women, it felt more like Tolstoy only wrote that to show Vasili wasn’t really kind more than what he actually thought (p.68). A few things I didn’t like were how sometimes there were wasted characters. When Nikita and Vasili met Isai, he was introduced as a horse thief (p.75). He could’ve been a memorable character, but instead, he was barely there for a page and was only used as a way for them to get directions. The same goes for Marfa, she could have been a big character, however, they didn’t even interact with each other and was only used as a personal problem of Nikita’s.