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3.15 AVERAGE
3.15 AVERAGE
I'm glad I finally read this after over a year on my shelf. (To-read piles am I right?) It was a fun read. The phantom wearing a jackal head for the masque was... *Kisses fingers* mua! Perfect. If I could be finicky I would rate this book 4.8 out of 5 stars. Minus .2 points for toe socks.
Creepy yet Beautiful!!
I think what drew me in toward this book is the beautiful yet eerie cover of the book. I know, I know, don't judge a book by it's cover, but this books' cover is truly exquisite. That added with the fact that I love the color red sealed the deal for me. I went into this book completely blind, knowing only the fact that this is based on the Phantom of the Opera. Given that I have never read it I knew fairly little about what to expect from this book.
So basically there is this girl named Rune and she has a kind of singing disorder which makes it impossible for her to resist the urge to sing opera. You'd think that wouldn't be such a bad thing, but get this- the songs actually haunts her and leaves her fatigued at the end. Now you wouldn't want that, would you? ( I wouldn't know, I can't sing if my life depended on it ;D) So she gets send off to this boarding school in Paris called RoseBlood, which is actually the Opera House underneath which the Phantom lives with his adopted (?) phantom son.
It gets all kind of creepy from there. I don't want to spoil so let's just say there's creepy animals, a SORT OF vampires, a cemetery with an unmarked grave, auras, gypsies, secret passageways, Frankenstein inspired "stuff" and a lot of stalking. Personally I loved all the weirdness and the creepy stuff, but if any of these bothers you, this book's probably not for you.
The setting is also really dark and gloomy with a lot of rain and an abandoned castle vibe. The theme being mostly unrequited love and soulmates or "twin flames" as they call it. The romance between Rune and the Phantom's son Thorn is absolutely fascinating. Both of them has a tragic past with both of them losing a parent, which brings them even closer. Their romance is outright steamy. I love the whole meant to be yet separated by fate thing going on between them.
Both their point of views are laid out through out the book, and I just loved how their love/longing for each other is portrayed. Rune also has to go about hiding an important part of her from her friends, which makes her feel rather lonely. Though at times I felt like I did not relate to her that much. At the beginning of the story Rune and her mom seemed to be really close despite the fact that she was insisting her to go to a boarding school when Rune really didn't want to. Their relationship was really sweet. But after Rune's mom leaves, there wasn't much interaction between them. I get that she didn't feel that her mom wouldn't understand everything that's going on, but there was not much mention of her revealing other aspects of her life to her mom either. There was no mention of Rune missing her mother or writing to her often, which strikes to be kind of out of character.
The story is all about fate and how the phantom's destiny intertwines with Rune's family's in his search for unconditional love all through his history. It also shows how Thorn deals with having to inevitably choose between his savior/mentor and his soulmate. It was stunning how everything falls into place in a tragic and beautiful end.
Although the ending felt rushed as though the author was trying to explain too much too fast. It felt like the book climaxed and then when straight downhill from there, which was sort of disappointing.
Apart form that, the writing is all in all really beautiful with alluring descriptions of nature as well as the opera house. Like I said, if you love the creepy and the weird as much as I do, definitely READ THIS BOOK!!
I think what drew me in toward this book is the beautiful yet eerie cover of the book. I know, I know, don't judge a book by it's cover, but this books' cover is truly exquisite. That added with the fact that I love the color red sealed the deal for me. I went into this book completely blind, knowing only the fact that this is based on the Phantom of the Opera. Given that I have never read it I knew fairly little about what to expect from this book.
So basically there is this girl named Rune and she has a kind of singing disorder which makes it impossible for her to resist the urge to sing opera. You'd think that wouldn't be such a bad thing, but get this- the songs actually haunts her and leaves her fatigued at the end. Now you wouldn't want that, would you? ( I wouldn't know, I can't sing if my life depended on it ;D) So she gets send off to this boarding school in Paris called RoseBlood, which is actually the Opera House underneath which the Phantom lives with his adopted (?) phantom son.
It gets all kind of creepy from there. I don't want to spoil so let's just say there's creepy animals, a SORT OF vampires, a cemetery with an unmarked grave, auras, gypsies, secret passageways, Frankenstein inspired "stuff" and a lot of stalking. Personally I loved all the weirdness and the creepy stuff, but if any of these bothers you, this book's probably not for you.
The setting is also really dark and gloomy with a lot of rain and an abandoned castle vibe. The theme being mostly unrequited love and soulmates or "twin flames" as they call it. The romance between Rune and the Phantom's son Thorn is absolutely fascinating. Both of them has a tragic past with both of them losing a parent, which brings them even closer. Their romance is outright steamy. I love the whole meant to be yet separated by fate thing going on between them.
Both their point of views are laid out through out the book, and I just loved how their love/longing for each other is portrayed. Rune also has to go about hiding an important part of her from her friends, which makes her feel rather lonely. Though at times I felt like I did not relate to her that much. At the beginning of the story Rune and her mom seemed to be really close despite the fact that she was insisting her to go to a boarding school when Rune really didn't want to. Their relationship was really sweet. But after Rune's mom leaves, there wasn't much interaction between them. I get that she didn't feel that her mom wouldn't understand everything that's going on, but there was not much mention of her revealing other aspects of her life to her mom either. There was no mention of Rune missing her mother or writing to her often, which strikes to be kind of out of character.
The story is all about fate and how the phantom's destiny intertwines with Rune's family's in his search for unconditional love all through his history. It also shows how Thorn deals with having to inevitably choose between his savior/mentor and his soulmate. It was stunning how everything falls into place in a tragic and beautiful end.
Although the ending felt rushed as though the author was trying to explain too much too fast. It felt like the book climaxed and then when straight downhill from there, which was sort of disappointing.
Apart form that, the writing is all in all really beautiful with alluring descriptions of nature as well as the opera house. Like I said, if you love the creepy and the weird as much as I do, definitely READ THIS BOOK!!
2.5/5
I have very mixed feelings about this book. It's definitely not Howard's best work. (Stain is FANTASTIC, read that instead.)
I loved the premise and setting - I've never read a Phantom of the Opera retelling, and don't see many of them to begin with. Howard's take on incubus/succubus lore was really cool! I also loved Rune's song and abilities and how they worked.
However, the romance utterly ruined it for me. The soulmate trope has to be done a certain way for me to enjoy it and this one just did not work for me. It was too instalovey and cheesy for me. I found myself rolling my eyes and zoning out in those parts. The "twin flame" (two halves of one soul) idea was interesting but the execution was not my cup of tea.
I also found some of the interactions and dialogue to be kind of juvenile and awkward. I don't have examples because I'm terrible about bookmarking audiobooks - I usually listen at work when my hands are busy so going back to find certain passages is difficult. I don't know if I'm just getting too old for high-school-esque interactions or what, but it just felt kind of shallow. I'm not a super huge fan of the boarding school trope anyway. I did love RoseBlood Academy itself and how it was dark and atmospheric!
The characters fell flat for me, too. I did really like Sunny but she was the only one I cared about. It didn't help either that the narration was kind of meh - I did like the French accents, though.
I'm so sad that I didn't love this one.
This review was originally posted on Novel Heartbeat. To see a breakdown of my assessment, please visit the full review here.
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
On average, I can finish a book within a day or two but I took my time finishing with this one. It took 300 pages for RoseBlood to get exciting. I REPEAT 300 PAGES. Before the plot picked up, I was confused and disinterested. I kept reading because 1) I try very hard not to DNF and 2) I love Phantom of the Opera. And omgerd, when the revealed 'what they were' I started giggling profusely because I did not expect that.
Note: I'm still giggling
Note: I'm still giggling
Ugh. As I type this, I'm just so annoyed that this review is going to be so negative. I wanted to like this book so badly. So badly. I was so. Freaking. Excited. for this, and was majorly, hopelessly disappointed. Ugh.
Everything was just...blah. Rune just didn't do it for me, and I had the hardest time relating to her in any way or caring about her in general. I felt like her character was a mess, her voice was annoying, and she delivered information in such a nonsensical way—I could not keep up. She has a magical issue with her voice, and her dad's dead, and her grandma tried to drown her, and she's obsessed with Phantom of the Opera, oh, and her voice is magical and knocked a boy out, and her dad's dead, but let's not forget about those nightmares of grandma trying to drown her...I don't know. It felt so disjointed. I felt like A.G. Howard tried to haphazardly give us information about this insane world while keeping some shrouded in mystery, but it just ended up being a confusing replay of Rune whining about the same parts of her life while I only had a faint idea of what the heck was going on. So, no, I wasn't a fan of Rune, and since she carries over half the story, I struggled to make it to the end.
Her narrative counterpart, Thorn, was at least a little more interesting. While he and the Phantom made absolutely no sense to me until the end (waaaaaay to late, in my humble opinion) their twisted and complicated relationship was one of the few interesting parts of the story. My favorite chapter was probably the look into Thorn's past, which was still heartbreaking and compelling despite the story he was in. I thought the romantic tension was one of the better written aspects, even if parts of it made zero sense. Also, I'm sorry, but an abused little boy saved by an immortal Phantom with serious issues, and raised in a life of darkness underneath the opera school CANNOT meet a girl and all of sudden be this hot, suave, mysterious boyfriend that has great lines and apparently is the greatest kisser in the whole world. Nope. Sorry. Lies.
The Phantom was interesting as a character, but he still didn't sit completely well with me as THE Phantom of the Opera. Rune's friends were funny and memorable, even if the writing seemed to shove them under the rug as Rune often did. Her complicated relationship with her mom was interesting and, I thought, a little unexplored. All the other characters I couldn't really care less about. The setting was gothic and creepy—an abandoned opera house turned boarding school in France—but it just felt strained and weird, like it was trying way to hard and wasn't hitting the mark. And then Rune actually leaves the school to go to a rave put on by the Phantom...? I don't even know what to say about that scene.
I feel horrible bashing this book I was so excited for, so I'll end with the highlights: the book cover is gorgeous. I have half a mind to keep the book just for that. A.G. Howard's inclusion and explanation of the real Phantom of the Opera book was intriguing and cool. And the the supernatural explanation () was an awesome idea that should've come into play waaaaaay earlier so it fit better and I wasn't crazy confused the whole time as to what the heck was going on. My real hope for this book is that someone sees it and goes 'oh, a Phantom of the Opera retelling. What a great idea!' and there are a billion more of them.
Rated 2/5 stars for a beautiful cover, a tragic past, and brief little homages to the musical I love so much
Everything was just...blah. Rune just didn't do it for me, and I had the hardest time relating to her in any way or caring about her in general. I felt like her character was a mess, her voice was annoying, and she delivered information in such a nonsensical way—I could not keep up. She has a magical issue with her voice, and her dad's dead, and her grandma tried to drown her, and she's obsessed with Phantom of the Opera, oh, and her voice is magical and knocked a boy out, and her dad's dead, but let's not forget about those nightmares of grandma trying to drown her...I don't know. It felt so disjointed. I felt like A.G. Howard tried to haphazardly give us information about this insane world while keeping some shrouded in mystery, but it just ended up being a confusing replay of Rune whining about the same parts of her life while I only had a faint idea of what the heck was going on. So, no, I wasn't a fan of Rune, and since she carries over half the story, I struggled to make it to the end.
Her narrative counterpart, Thorn, was at least a little more interesting. While he and the Phantom made absolutely no sense to me until the end (waaaaaay to late, in my humble opinion) their twisted and complicated relationship was one of the few interesting parts of the story. My favorite chapter was probably the look into Thorn's past, which was still heartbreaking and compelling despite the story he was in. I thought the romantic tension was one of the better written aspects, even if parts of it made zero sense. Also, I'm sorry, but an abused little boy saved by an immortal Phantom with serious issues, and raised in a life of darkness underneath the opera school CANNOT meet a girl and all of sudden be this hot, suave, mysterious boyfriend that has great lines and apparently is the greatest kisser in the whole world. Nope. Sorry. Lies.
The Phantom was interesting as a character, but he still didn't sit completely well with me as THE Phantom of the Opera. Rune's friends were funny and memorable, even if the writing seemed to shove them under the rug as Rune often did. Her complicated relationship with her mom was interesting and, I thought, a little unexplored. All the other characters I couldn't really care less about. The setting was gothic and creepy—an abandoned opera house turned boarding school in France—but it just felt strained and weird, like it was trying way to hard and wasn't hitting the mark. And then Rune actually leaves the school to go to a rave put on by the Phantom...? I don't even know what to say about that scene.
I feel horrible bashing this book I was so excited for, so I'll end with the highlights: the book cover is gorgeous. I have half a mind to keep the book just for that. A.G. Howard's inclusion and explanation of the real Phantom of the Opera book was intriguing and cool. And the the supernatural explanation (
Spoiler
aka psychic vampiresRated 2/5 stars for a beautiful cover, a tragic past, and brief little homages to the musical I love so much
Real Rating: 2.5
This book had a lot of potential. In fact, it drew me during the first couple of paragraphs. After that, it lost me all together. I had hoped this book would be one I would completely enjoy especially as I have loved anything Phantom of the Opera but this one fell so very short.
The main character - Rune - felt Mary Sueish. She is perfect, has this amazing voice, and a tragic past. The other character - Thorn - felt no different. He even seemed to be the perfect Gary Stu for the Mary Sue.
Another thing I cared little for was the fact I felt this book seemed so close to being something quite similar to Twilight. Maybe it was just be with Thorn stalking Rune and telling her they were meant for each other.
Or maybe I have never gotten over my hatred for the Twilight series. >>
Then there was the whole "instalove!". Seriously? In love that quickly? Couldn't we have drawn that out a bit more through the story? Apparently not.
I really wanted to like this book but I could not even connect to any of the characters. I could see why Kat hated Rune because if I had been in the same boat as Kat and had something taken from me in the way Rune took it from her, I would have hated her with every single breath in me. Other than that, Sunny seems to worship Rune on spot.
Another thing that irked the hell out of me was the fact the whole first chapter spilled everything like Rune's power, her tragic life with losing her father and her family trying to kill her, and let us not forget the whole info dump about the school. I wish it had been drawn out and perhaps not so quickly in the first chapter.
I think if the author had kept some of these secrets and info dump and sprinkled them throughout the book, I would have been glued a lot more to the pages but I just could not find it within me to do so with this one. :/
Maybe one day I will re-open this book and see it in a different light but until then I am tossing this book in the pile "books that I have never finished."
This book had a lot of potential. In fact, it drew me during the first couple of paragraphs. After that, it lost me all together. I had hoped this book would be one I would completely enjoy especially as I have loved anything Phantom of the Opera but this one fell so very short.
The main character - Rune - felt Mary Sueish. She is perfect, has this amazing voice, and a tragic past. The other character - Thorn - felt no different. He even seemed to be the perfect Gary Stu for the Mary Sue.
Another thing I cared little for was the fact I felt this book seemed so close to being something quite similar to Twilight. Maybe it was just be with Thorn stalking Rune and telling her they were meant for each other.
Or maybe I have never gotten over my hatred for the Twilight series. >>
Then there was the whole "instalove!". Seriously? In love that quickly? Couldn't we have drawn that out a bit more through the story? Apparently not.
I really wanted to like this book but I could not even connect to any of the characters. I could see why Kat hated Rune because if I had been in the same boat as Kat and had something taken from me in the way Rune took it from her, I would have hated her with every single breath in me. Other than that, Sunny seems to worship Rune on spot.
Another thing that irked the hell out of me was the fact the whole first chapter spilled everything like Rune's power, her tragic life with losing her father and her family trying to kill her, and let us not forget the whole info dump about the school. I wish it had been drawn out and perhaps not so quickly in the first chapter.
I think if the author had kept some of these secrets and info dump and sprinkled them throughout the book, I would have been glued a lot more to the pages but I just could not find it within me to do so with this one. :/
Maybe one day I will re-open this book and see it in a different light but until then I am tossing this book in the pile "books that I have never finished."
For a more complete review, keep an eye out for my upcoming Bickering Book Review vlog.
Modern retelling of the Phantom of the Opera stories, with a supernatural (think sparkly vampire) twist. Rune has this weird thing where when she hears an aria, she is compelled to sing it. Along this line, she has a beautiful voice, which supernaturally impacts those around her. She is being sent to an Opera boarding school in France after a mysterious tragedy with the first boy she kissed. Once at the new school, Rune thinks she is going crazy when she sees a phantom out of the corner of her eye and animals that make the wrong noises.
Thorn lives with Erik under the school and the two have big plans for Rune. Thorn has a romantic connection to Rune, but is forced for some reason to trick Rune into doing something...
I really wanted to like this story, but found myself bored. I thought various things were thrown in just because they appeared in the original story. I didn't feel connections to the main characters. Rune seemed weak and whiny. I couldn't really understand the motivations of Thorn. I was turned off by the forced romance between the two main characters.
Modern retelling of the Phantom of the Opera stories, with a supernatural (think sparkly vampire) twist. Rune has this weird thing where when she hears an aria, she is compelled to sing it. Along this line, she has a beautiful voice, which supernaturally impacts those around her. She is being sent to an Opera boarding school in France after a mysterious tragedy with the first boy she kissed. Once at the new school, Rune thinks she is going crazy when she sees a phantom out of the corner of her eye and animals that make the wrong noises.
Thorn lives with Erik under the school and the two have big plans for Rune. Thorn has a romantic connection to Rune, but is forced for some reason to trick Rune into doing something...
I really wanted to like this story, but found myself bored. I thought various things were thrown in just because they appeared in the original story. I didn't feel connections to the main characters. Rune seemed weak and whiny. I couldn't really understand the motivations of Thorn. I was turned off by the forced romance between the two main characters.
There is a full review coming, although I am not even sure how to successfully review this level of weird.
Review can be found on *Milky Way of Books*
This book has been one of the most anticipated in my TBR list for winter 2017. Not only it's written by one of my favorite authors, but also it's a retelling/"sequel" for one of the top legends (and pop culture) figure, The Phantom of the Opera!
*cue in the Overture*
Our story is told by a double POV: our main protagonist Rune from the first person POV and the enigmatic Thorn from the third person POV. It doesn't confuse and it's easy to read. Not to mention that getting into knowing both characters, truly resolved some issues I had with the plot at the beginning of the book.
Rune has a marvellous gift. She has the voice of an angel and when she is taken into a private music school at the coutryside of Paris, she is thrust into the mystery and the story of the Phantom. She makes friends and enemies, she explores and learns not only about her gift but also her heritage.
I admit; some parts of the book made me think that the story would evolve differently but I was amazed by the plot twists and the final outcome. There were also moments in the book, where Rune was a little annoying, since she could have asked for help in many cases. But knowing how the Phantom works I could relate with her fear.
What won me was the descriptions and the delicate micro-world building A.G. Howard created for her story. We do see some of Paris, but the details, the colors and the beauty are focused on describing the academy Roseblood and the secrets which lie hidden behind it.
The revealing about the mystery and the backstory was heart-breaking and while the swoon scenes weren't much, the plot can win you with its delicate beauty and unforgettable characters.
This book has been one of the most anticipated in my TBR list for winter 2017. Not only it's written by one of my favorite authors, but also it's a retelling/"sequel" for one of the top legends (and pop culture) figure, The Phantom of the Opera!
*cue in the Overture*
Our story is told by a double POV: our main protagonist Rune from the first person POV and the enigmatic Thorn from the third person POV. It doesn't confuse and it's easy to read. Not to mention that getting into knowing both characters, truly resolved some issues I had with the plot at the beginning of the book.
Rune has a marvellous gift. She has the voice of an angel and when she is taken into a private music school at the coutryside of Paris, she is thrust into the mystery and the story of the Phantom. She makes friends and enemies, she explores and learns not only about her gift but also her heritage.
I admit; some parts of the book made me think that the story would evolve differently but I was amazed by the plot twists and the final outcome. There were also moments in the book, where Rune was a little annoying, since she could have asked for help in many cases. But knowing how the Phantom works I could relate with her fear.
What won me was the descriptions and the delicate micro-world building A.G. Howard created for her story. We do see some of Paris, but the details, the colors and the beauty are focused on describing the academy Roseblood and the secrets which lie hidden behind it.
The revealing about the mystery and the backstory was heart-breaking and while the swoon scenes weren't much, the plot can win you with its delicate beauty and unforgettable characters.