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fantasynovel's review
4.0
This book was so close to being 5 stars, but the pacing towards the end was horrible. It went like this:
Lilliet: And then I knew that I was saved
Lilliet: Nope, that same god was still tricking me
Lilliet: Saved, again!
Lilliet: That was actually an omen of destruction
Lilliet: I'm happy, it all worked, out this is the end
Lilliet: Nope, then life took a turn for the worse
There was also the ridiculous insta-love, which could have been solved with at least a few conversations in between the first time they make eye contact and then them having sex. They exchanged literally no words between those two scenes. And they're madly in love.
The good parts were how exciting Lilliet is, and how she manages to get herself out of everything. I love stories about women who do what they need to survive. And she was just so cool, and all parts about opera were really interesting.
Lilliet: And then I knew that I was saved
Lilliet: Nope, that same god was still tricking me
Lilliet: Saved, again!
Lilliet: That was actually an omen of destruction
Lilliet: I'm happy, it all worked, out this is the end
Lilliet: Nope, then life took a turn for the worse
There was also the ridiculous insta-love, which could have been solved with at least a few conversations in between the first time they make eye contact and then them having sex. They exchanged literally no words between those two scenes. And they're madly in love.
The good parts were how exciting Lilliet is, and how she manages to get herself out of everything. I love stories about women who do what they need to survive. And she was just so cool, and all parts about opera were really interesting.
ashmanzer's review
5.0
Alexander Chee writes so beautifully. This is a book I want to read again and mark up all my favorite lines.
johnchan's review
4.5
good books transport you to a different world. this one takes you to parisian opera houses where drama lurks around every corner. pretty words too!
hamilgrom's review against another edition
4.0
I love reading long books on my vacations and choose this book to read during our honeymoon in Europe. The constant twists and turns and exotic settings made it an excellent read for this situation and I found myself telling my husband about each exciting plot point. That being said, there is a lot of plot to this book and it is fairly light on the character development side. For me, however, I was fine with that style. I was happy to get caught up in the gowns and misfortune and opera and didn't stop too much to wonder about character motivations or if everyone's actions were realistic and plausible. To me, this just wasn't that kind of book and I was fine to suspend my disbelief. Ultimately I'd say I really thoroughly enjoyed about 85% of this novel, the other 15% was just too convoluted for me to even make sense of. I highly recommend this for lovers of long novels you can sink your teeth into, lovers of soapy drama and lovers of rich historical fiction.
lizawall's review
I loved the drag sensibility of this book! All queenie melodrama, gowns, second empire/third republic realness.
erincastor's review
1.0
I couldn't get over no quotation marks around the text when someone was speaking. It made the book very hard to follow. I actually felt that this book was really hard to get into.
dharma130's review
1.0
Could not finish this book...the author tried too hard and sounded so arrogant with all the details and the French and Italian he threw in there without translating...I read (well, listened to) almost half of it and couldn't take it anymore. Did not like the characters, felt the story was all over the place. The author just seemed pompous.