Scan barcode
chaosqueen's review
After hearing such great reviews, this one just fell down the tubes. It was good for a bit, then epically failed with the writing style. Plus I didn't like the relationship between Ugo and Octavia. Seemed too hot and cold.
hollenacht's review
2.0
So, I have a lot to say about this.
When I read the acknowledgements and intro at the beginning, I was under the impression that the author had done a bit of research and had spoken to some current opera singers in order to best portray her characters. Only when I got to the end of the book did I find that the author was a trained opera singer herself. And to that, I say:
I am very disappointed.
My first quibble:
As a singer myself and one, at the time of writing this review is in the throes of performing Donna Anna in 'Don Giovanni', maybe I'm not the target audience of this book. However, this is the very thing that piqued my interest as I was doing my own research for the opera. The author presents her knowledge of vocal and operatic terms and definitions in a very heavy-handed, almost patronizing way, as if she is bestowing some great gift to us by telling the reader about these terms and practices. This was pretty thick in the beginning of the book but thankfully lessened a bit as the story moved forward. And would a bass really move from playing Masetto directly to a Mefistofeles?
My second quibble:
The intended heroine of this story was pretty bland. I know she was supposed to be the one I identified with but she was far too weak for a vampire who had lived and survived and remade herself for over 250 years. I was far more interested in Ugo and his story (which was even told better, in my opinion), but we weren't given enough Ugo time. Maybe that's on purpose as the author is writing another story with him as the protagonist. But he was the more interesting character whereas Olivia was just a foil for the rest of the story. Even the 'big reveal' wasn't that big of a surprise. I predicted it halfway through the story.
My third quibble:
There was no actual Vampire mythos revealed. Obviously, the vampires in this story aren't the traditional vampires of Count Dracula, Lestat and Louis, or even Buffy the Vampire Slayer. These vampires could go out during the daytime (sans sparkle) and could eat real food and transfer vampirism with a single bite. We know that they couldn't touch holy water and felt 'uncomfortable' in churches. Could they only be killed by opening up the femoral artery? This was a different take on the literary vampire trope without giving us the actual rules of vampires in this author's world.
My fourth quibble:
The majority of Olivia's story, post-Mozart's death, took place in the 20th-21st century. Even if she never made it 'big time' until her current persona, wouldn't there have been photo documentation of her in roles? Recordings? One of the magical things about the advent of technology in the arts is that we can hear recordings of the famous singers in the early part of the art form in America, such as Caruso and Fremstad (mentioned in the book). Maybe her personas never got famous enough to record...maybe she actively avoided it, but I feel like that was something important that was overlooked (although kudos to stealing all the photographs in Australia).
Positives:
Despite my issues, the book wasn't poorly written. I do wish that the author would have made some different choices and expounded more on what made her book different from all the historical supernatural books out there (memories transferred through the vampire bite, the werewolf mythology, having to remake oneself in the performing arts every couple of decades, etc.).
When I read the acknowledgements and intro at the beginning, I was under the impression that the author had done a bit of research and had spoken to some current opera singers in order to best portray her characters. Only when I got to the end of the book did I find that the author was a trained opera singer herself. And to that, I say:
I am very disappointed.
My first quibble:
As a singer myself and one, at the time of writing this review is in the throes of performing Donna Anna in 'Don Giovanni', maybe I'm not the target audience of this book. However, this is the very thing that piqued my interest as I was doing my own research for the opera. The author presents her knowledge of vocal and operatic terms and definitions in a very heavy-handed, almost patronizing way, as if she is bestowing some great gift to us by telling the reader about these terms and practices. This was pretty thick in the beginning of the book but thankfully lessened a bit as the story moved forward. And would a bass really move from playing Masetto directly to a Mefistofeles?
My second quibble:
The intended heroine of this story was pretty bland. I know she was supposed to be the one I identified with but she was far too weak for a vampire who had lived and survived and remade herself for over 250 years. I was far more interested in Ugo and his story (which was even told better, in my opinion), but we weren't given enough Ugo time. Maybe that's on purpose as the author is writing another story with him as the protagonist. But he was the more interesting character whereas Olivia was just a foil for the rest of the story. Even the 'big reveal' wasn't that big of a surprise. I predicted it halfway through the story.
My third quibble:
There was no actual Vampire mythos revealed. Obviously, the vampires in this story aren't the traditional vampires of Count Dracula, Lestat and Louis, or even Buffy the Vampire Slayer. These vampires could go out during the daytime (sans sparkle) and could eat real food and transfer vampirism with a single bite. We know that they couldn't touch holy water and felt 'uncomfortable' in churches. Could they only be killed by opening up the femoral artery? This was a different take on the literary vampire trope without giving us the actual rules of vampires in this author's world.
My fourth quibble:
The majority of Olivia's story, post-Mozart's death, took place in the 20th-21st century. Even if she never made it 'big time' until her current persona, wouldn't there have been photo documentation of her in roles? Recordings? One of the magical things about the advent of technology in the arts is that we can hear recordings of the famous singers in the early part of the art form in America, such as Caruso and Fremstad (mentioned in the book). Maybe her personas never got famous enough to record...maybe she actively avoided it, but I feel like that was something important that was overlooked (although kudos to stealing all the photographs in Australia).
Positives:
Despite my issues, the book wasn't poorly written. I do wish that the author would have made some different choices and expounded more on what made her book different from all the historical supernatural books out there (memories transferred through the vampire bite, the werewolf mythology, having to remake oneself in the performing arts every couple of decades, etc.).
megandawn's review
3.0
(re-posted from http://theturnedbrain.blogspot.com.au/)
I never knew a book could be really interesting and not at all exciting at the same time until I read Mozart’s Blood. A year ago I would have made a joke along the lines of the book being too much like the classical music it revolves around; technically good but safe and a little boring. Except that in the past year I’ve actually put some effort into listening to classical music and now I know there’s nothing safe or boring about it, so the metaphor kind of falls flat.
In any case, I’m fairly sure this new found appreciation for classical music is the reason that I found Mozart’s Blood to be such an interesting read, despite its faults. Octavia is a two hundred year old vampire who has devoted her life to opera (she performs as one singer for a natural lifespan, and then painstakingly builds up another identity when that ones “dies.”) The book shifts between her first (mostly human) performance, the first ever staging of Mozart’s ‘Don Giovanni’ and a current performance of the same.
I found all the backstage opera stuff to be really fascinating. The hierarchies and the vocal warm ups and the blocking, all of it. The author clearly knows what she’s talking about, her knowledge and confidence with the topic really shines through. I also liked that the other viewpoint character, the werewolf Ugo, explored another interesting world I knew nothing about; that of the castrati.
I think Marley did a really good job the characterization of both Octavia and Ugo. (Ugo especially was a delight, with a dry wit that appealed to me very much). There’s a real dearth of platonic relationships in fiction, so I’m always happy to see one done well. Their deep friendship is believable and established really quickly, considering the two only have a few brief scenes together before they are separated. And that’s the main plot of the book, Ugo and Octavia get separated, will they meet up before bad things happen?
The bad thing in question is Octavia feeding on a human. Ugo supplies blood for her intravenously, and all the suspense of the book is supposed to come from Octavia’s mounting hunger and wondering if Ugo will get back to her in time to feed her.
Except the suspense never really kicks in. For a start, why can’t Octavia just go out with a syringe and get her own blood? She acts as though it’s very difficult to do and she wouldn’t a clue where to start, as though only a very special type of blood can fill a syringe… And the issue is, even without this, there are too many vampire books out there for the reader to care if she feeds on a human. Vampires feed on humans, it’s the natural way of things, and Octavia’s angst about it rings hollow. I don’t want to tip into spoiler territory, so I’ll just say that a lot of her reasons behind feeding on humans (or not) are illogical.
Marley’s lack of skill in crafting exciting scenes becomes painfully clear as the book builds to it’s “exciting” climax. The reveal of a twist is handled poorly, and the pacing is completely off. The “big bad” that Octavia and Ugo must ultimately face down is laughable, and even they act like really it’s little more than a minor annoyance that needs taking care of. They don’t even disrupt their schedule to do it.
But despite all of these faults I really did enjoy this book. It was, as I said, very interesting although it’s a safe bet that your opinion on that will vary by how boring you think opera/Mozart is. If you go into this book for the vampire/werewolf angle you’ll be disappointed, but if you go into it expecting a slightly supernatural historical novel I think you’ll have a much better time.
I never knew a book could be really interesting and not at all exciting at the same time until I read Mozart’s Blood. A year ago I would have made a joke along the lines of the book being too much like the classical music it revolves around; technically good but safe and a little boring. Except that in the past year I’ve actually put some effort into listening to classical music and now I know there’s nothing safe or boring about it, so the metaphor kind of falls flat.
In any case, I’m fairly sure this new found appreciation for classical music is the reason that I found Mozart’s Blood to be such an interesting read, despite its faults. Octavia is a two hundred year old vampire who has devoted her life to opera (she performs as one singer for a natural lifespan, and then painstakingly builds up another identity when that ones “dies.”) The book shifts between her first (mostly human) performance, the first ever staging of Mozart’s ‘Don Giovanni’ and a current performance of the same.
I found all the backstage opera stuff to be really fascinating. The hierarchies and the vocal warm ups and the blocking, all of it. The author clearly knows what she’s talking about, her knowledge and confidence with the topic really shines through. I also liked that the other viewpoint character, the werewolf Ugo, explored another interesting world I knew nothing about; that of the castrati.
I think Marley did a really good job the characterization of both Octavia and Ugo. (Ugo especially was a delight, with a dry wit that appealed to me very much). There’s a real dearth of platonic relationships in fiction, so I’m always happy to see one done well. Their deep friendship is believable and established really quickly, considering the two only have a few brief scenes together before they are separated. And that’s the main plot of the book, Ugo and Octavia get separated, will they meet up before bad things happen?
The bad thing in question is Octavia feeding on a human. Ugo supplies blood for her intravenously, and all the suspense of the book is supposed to come from Octavia’s mounting hunger and wondering if Ugo will get back to her in time to feed her.
Except the suspense never really kicks in. For a start, why can’t Octavia just go out with a syringe and get her own blood? She acts as though it’s very difficult to do and she wouldn’t a clue where to start, as though only a very special type of blood can fill a syringe… And the issue is, even without this, there are too many vampire books out there for the reader to care if she feeds on a human. Vampires feed on humans, it’s the natural way of things, and Octavia’s angst about it rings hollow. I don’t want to tip into spoiler territory, so I’ll just say that a lot of her reasons behind feeding on humans (or not) are illogical.
Marley’s lack of skill in crafting exciting scenes becomes painfully clear as the book builds to it’s “exciting” climax. The reveal of a twist is handled poorly, and the pacing is completely off. The “big bad” that Octavia and Ugo must ultimately face down is laughable, and even they act like really it’s little more than a minor annoyance that needs taking care of. They don’t even disrupt their schedule to do it.
But despite all of these faults I really did enjoy this book. It was, as I said, very interesting although it’s a safe bet that your opinion on that will vary by how boring you think opera/Mozart is. If you go into this book for the vampire/werewolf angle you’ll be disappointed, but if you go into it expecting a slightly supernatural historical novel I think you’ll have a much better time.
More...