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3.15 AVERAGE
3.15 AVERAGE
I really liked the descriptiveness of the scenery. The love story is really cute. The first half of the book was a little slow for me because there wasn’t a lot of action or really any romance going on, just a vague mystery. The second half was quicker for me to get through and more entertaining. Overall I really enjoyed the story.
It took me until chapter 12 to really get into it. I ended up really enjoying it.
Ja neverím, ale konečne je to za mnou! Toto bolo niečo strašné. Niečo tak naivné a hlúpe som nečítala asi od Girl online. Tak dva roky? Toto bola neskutočne absurdná a nelogická kniha, navyše je tam asi každé klíše, aké existuje. K tomu všetkému ešte aj predvídateľné a hlavne... ja som vážne dúfala, že čo sa tam deje je len hlúpy vtip a to, že to autorka reálne vymyslela, publikovala a myslela to vážne, je naozaj tragické.
Totálne nesympatická a blbá hlavná postava, ktorá si neváži, čo má, Thorn bol ako jediný relatívne zaujímavý, ale ešte aj ich vzťah nemal absolútne nijaký vývoj, proste zrazu tam bol.
Toto nie je re-telling/pokračovanie Fantóma opery. Toto je paródia tohoto a Twilightu, ktorý mimochodom zrazu pôsobí ako veľmi hodnotná, inteligentná a dokonalá literatúra.
Fakt neviem ani popísať, aké zlé toto je. Budem sa snažiť zabudnúť, že som to čítala.
A som fest rada, že som Splintered už čítala, pretože po tomto by som sa toho nikdy ani nedotkla.
Jedinými pozitívami knihy je krásna obálka a nádherný celkový dizajn knihy.
Nečítajte to. Prečítajte si radšej recenziu od Melissy Rose tu na GR, ktorá vám všetko vyspoileruje, ale aspoň sa pri tom pobavíte a ušetríte si to utrpenie z čítania.
Táto kniha je totiž veľmi zlý vtip.
Totálne nesympatická a blbá hlavná postava, ktorá si neváži, čo má, Thorn bol ako jediný relatívne zaujímavý, ale ešte aj ich vzťah nemal absolútne nijaký vývoj, proste zrazu tam bol.
Toto nie je re-telling/pokračovanie Fantóma opery. Toto je paródia tohoto a Twilightu, ktorý mimochodom zrazu pôsobí ako veľmi hodnotná, inteligentná a dokonalá literatúra.
Fakt neviem ani popísať, aké zlé toto je. Budem sa snažiť zabudnúť, že som to čítala.
A som fest rada, že som Splintered už čítala, pretože po tomto by som sa toho nikdy ani nedotkla.
Jedinými pozitívami knihy je krásna obálka a nádherný celkový dizajn knihy.
Nečítajte to. Prečítajte si radšej recenziu od Melissy Rose tu na GR, ktorá vám všetko vyspoileruje, ale aspoň sa pri tom pobavíte a ušetríte si to utrpenie z čítania.
Táto kniha je totiž veľmi zlý vtip.
"I'm not stepping into a musical. It's a horror story. With a side of obsession and gore."
Roseblood is both a retelling, and a sequel of sorts, to the famous story of The Phantom of the Opera. This story is full of horror, passion, betrayal, and love. Though a bit confusing at times, this one holds entertainment and the lure of mythical creatures.
The Plot: Rune Germain has an intense ability for opera singing, and a terrifying affliction, and secret, linked to her ability. Believing that she is in need of creative direction, and not knowing of the mysterious affliction, Rune's mother decides to send her to Le Theater Liminar, where it is rumored that the phantom legend originated. In trying to avoid her classmates finding out about her terrifying abilities, Rune meets a mysterious masked violinist named Thorn. The two discover romance, a way to unlock Rune's song, and a horrifying plot from the true phantom. Together, can they survive the phantom and the unveiling of secrets?
I was pretty conflicted about this one. I wanted to love it because I loved The Phantom of the Opera movie that came out several years ago, and I always love a good retelling. Roseblood was marketed as a retelling, but read more like a fictional sequel with bits of historical retelling. It had some enjoyable moments, but also held a lot of confusion and un-enjoyable aspects.
"Once a song speaks to my subconscious, the notes become a toxin I have to release through my diaphragm, my vocal cords, my tongue.
So, lets talk about the things I did not enjoy first. It seemed like the character POV tense kept jumping around too much. Thorn was mainly in past tense and Rune was mainly in present tense, but there were occasions where Rune would jump to past tense as well. The situation with Aunt Charlotte felt really predictable to me. The secret behind Rune's abilities was also predictable, and mildly confusing because it felt like the author tried to make a mashup of about three different mythical creatures. There were a few moments where plot twists were revealed but most of them lacked buildup. A lot of the plot just felt jumbled.
Now for the enjoyable bits of the book. I loved the color of the text in the physical book and the beauty of the cover. I admired the use of describing music with colors, and the fact that Rune could see the color of someone's aura. I enjoyed Diable, the cat, and his human-like characteristics, and I enjoyed the budding, soul-linking passion between Thorn and Rune. I also applaud the author's attempts at trying to create a unique, mythical creature.
"He opens his mouth, and one pristine note escapes, so pure, lyrical, and heartrending, its like the marriage of every harp, violin, cello, flute, piano and bell that has ever been played."
In terms of a main character, Rune is kind of a hit and miss for me. She has some good qualities and some bad. She is pretty mature for her age and I really love her singing ability, her use of visual imagery with music, and her connection to music itself, but she doesn't feel like she has a solid personality. he doesn't stand out as much as I would like her to and she can be quite wishy washy with her choices.
"My dad and my grandma spoke of auras a lot, as if they could see them. And since I see rainbows when I sing, I used to think that ability passed on to me."
Thorn was an intriguing character. Though, I did not like how blindly he followed the phantom. He was dark, mysterious and handsome. He held a great sense of morality toward the end of the book, but he still wasn't 100% there for me. I did enjoy some of the passionate scenes between he and Rune.
Erik, the phantom, was another main character that I wanted to like, but did not completely get in to. He was supposed to be the infamous "Opera Ghost", but his character fell short of my expectations. He was quite conniving, but had a strange, confusing motive for wanting Rune.
All in all, Roseblood had enough enjoy-ability to keep me reading, and I may or not recommend. It did not, however, have enough enjoy-ability to receive 4 stars. It had the potential to be a great sequel/retelling, but it just fell short for me. It did have enough enjoyable moments, though, that I am still going to read Howard's Splintered series, but I would rate it about 3-3.5 stars.
Roseblood is both a retelling, and a sequel of sorts, to the famous story of The Phantom of the Opera. This story is full of horror, passion, betrayal, and love. Though a bit confusing at times, this one holds entertainment and the lure of mythical creatures.
The Plot: Rune Germain has an intense ability for opera singing, and a terrifying affliction, and secret, linked to her ability. Believing that she is in need of creative direction, and not knowing of the mysterious affliction, Rune's mother decides to send her to Le Theater Liminar, where it is rumored that the phantom legend originated. In trying to avoid her classmates finding out about her terrifying abilities, Rune meets a mysterious masked violinist named Thorn. The two discover romance, a way to unlock Rune's song, and a horrifying plot from the true phantom. Together, can they survive the phantom and the unveiling of secrets?
I was pretty conflicted about this one. I wanted to love it because I loved The Phantom of the Opera movie that came out several years ago, and I always love a good retelling. Roseblood was marketed as a retelling, but read more like a fictional sequel with bits of historical retelling. It had some enjoyable moments, but also held a lot of confusion and un-enjoyable aspects.
"Once a song speaks to my subconscious, the notes become a toxin I have to release through my diaphragm, my vocal cords, my tongue.
So, lets talk about the things I did not enjoy first. It seemed like the character POV tense kept jumping around too much. Thorn was mainly in past tense and Rune was mainly in present tense, but there were occasions where Rune would jump to past tense as well. The situation with Aunt Charlotte felt really predictable to me. The secret behind Rune's abilities was also predictable, and mildly confusing because it felt like the author tried to make a mashup of about three different mythical creatures. There were a few moments where plot twists were revealed but most of them lacked buildup. A lot of the plot just felt jumbled.
Now for the enjoyable bits of the book. I loved the color of the text in the physical book and the beauty of the cover. I admired the use of describing music with colors, and the fact that Rune could see the color of someone's aura. I enjoyed Diable, the cat, and his human-like characteristics, and I enjoyed the budding, soul-linking passion between Thorn and Rune. I also applaud the author's attempts at trying to create a unique, mythical creature.
"He opens his mouth, and one pristine note escapes, so pure, lyrical, and heartrending, its like the marriage of every harp, violin, cello, flute, piano and bell that has ever been played."
In terms of a main character, Rune is kind of a hit and miss for me. She has some good qualities and some bad. She is pretty mature for her age and I really love her singing ability, her use of visual imagery with music, and her connection to music itself, but she doesn't feel like she has a solid personality. he doesn't stand out as much as I would like her to and she can be quite wishy washy with her choices.
"My dad and my grandma spoke of auras a lot, as if they could see them. And since I see rainbows when I sing, I used to think that ability passed on to me."
Thorn was an intriguing character. Though, I did not like how blindly he followed the phantom. He was dark, mysterious and handsome. He held a great sense of morality toward the end of the book, but he still wasn't 100% there for me. I did enjoy some of the passionate scenes between he and Rune.
Erik, the phantom, was another main character that I wanted to like, but did not completely get in to. He was supposed to be the infamous "Opera Ghost", but his character fell short of my expectations. He was quite conniving, but had a strange, confusing motive for wanting Rune.
All in all, Roseblood had enough enjoy-ability to keep me reading, and I may or not recommend. It did not, however, have enough enjoy-ability to receive 4 stars. It had the potential to be a great sequel/retelling, but it just fell short for me. It did have enough enjoyable moments, though, that I am still going to read Howard's Splintered series, but I would rate it about 3-3.5 stars.
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
somehow literally nothing happened and yet there was so much info dumping that it was overwhelming to read at the same time. at first i thought it was my lack of backstory on Phantom of the Opera but that was definitely not the problem lol. i probably could've pushed through to finish it but fuck that.
EDIT:
forgot to mention that the book uses the romani slur with intentionally negative connotations on top of just y'know. using it.
EDIT:
forgot to mention that the book uses the romani slur with intentionally negative connotations on top of just y'know. using it.
Can I say I like how the writing is red. Just like with her Alice re-tellings the writing was different colors each book.
This is pretty good in my opinion. Its dark,fun,seductive, twisted and intriguing. I like Etalon and Rune. Etalon sounds pretty hot. I can see the mirrors and the school. The writting is subtley soft and beautiful. I like her writting. I'm invested in this retelling of The Phantom. In this he is not a mysterious helper instead he has plans for himself. A man twisted and blinded by an infatuation. He at some point should let go and after these years just live his last days for good.
I was not expecting this to come out this way. It's a hauting and beautiful story. Woven with some historical mystery. Christine might have been a real girl. But who knows who the Phantom was or if there was just a creeper. Just as infatuated with Christine as the fictionilized Phantom. I had forgotten about this story. I found I was glad to revisit it this way. I really enjoyed this book I think it was really good.
This is pretty good in my opinion. Its dark,fun,seductive, twisted and intriguing. I like Etalon and Rune. Etalon sounds pretty hot. I can see the mirrors and the school. The writting is subtley soft and beautiful. I like her writting. I'm invested in this retelling of The Phantom. In this he is not a mysterious helper instead he has plans for himself. A man twisted and blinded by an infatuation. He at some point should let go and after these years just live his last days for good.
I was not expecting this to come out this way. It's a hauting and beautiful story. Woven with some historical mystery. Christine might have been a real girl. But who knows who the Phantom was or if there was just a creeper. Just as infatuated with Christine as the fictionilized Phantom. I had forgotten about this story. I found I was glad to revisit it this way. I really enjoyed this book I think it was really good.
I’m not so familiar with the Phantom of the Opera, but I love theatre and usually enjoy stories of students at boarding school. This retelling of Phantom of the Opera came in a past OwlCrate box (January 2017) which I subscribe to.
Overall it was an interesting story with a bit of mystery, and I like how it concluded.
I had a hard time getting into the story the first half of the book. Partly because I’m not really feeling contemporary right now, and the story is pretty contemporary but with a creepy supernatural twist. Usually I enjoy that kind of thing, but this has been an odd time of year for me.
The story starts out with the main character, Rune, struggling at school, feeling isolated, and then doing things that are quite cringe-worthy. She’s dealing with the legend of the Phantom of the Opera, in more ways than one. The inside flap of the book actually gives away a bit of the plot, but I just dove in without reading it, maybe I should have, but I like to puzzle things out in my stories the best I can. She meets a mysterious person, Thorn, who she can’t really tell anyone else in her life about, and he is my favorite character from the story. I also really like the cat, Diable.
The edition of the book itself is lovely. The art on each chapter heading is a nice addition, and all the text is in a dark red, along with some accent pages separating the title page, the Author’s note, Acknowledgements, and the actual end of the book.
Another small part that bothered me, but maybe most people don’t mind, was the book changed which tense it was written in depending on if the story was being told from Rune’s perspective or Thorn’s. Sometimes in a chapter it would jump between the two’s view, separated by a break indicating the change, and then the tense would change and it would throw me out of the story.
It’s very possible I might reread this after finally reading the original story (or at least watching the musical) of the Phantom of the Opera, but we’ll see!
Overall it was an interesting story with a bit of mystery, and I like how it concluded.
I had a hard time getting into the story the first half of the book. Partly because I’m not really feeling contemporary right now, and the story is pretty contemporary but with a creepy supernatural twist. Usually I enjoy that kind of thing, but this has been an odd time of year for me.
The story starts out with the main character, Rune, struggling at school, feeling isolated, and then doing things that are quite cringe-worthy. She’s dealing with the legend of the Phantom of the Opera, in more ways than one. The inside flap of the book actually gives away a bit of the plot, but I just dove in without reading it, maybe I should have, but I like to puzzle things out in my stories the best I can. She meets a mysterious person, Thorn, who she can’t really tell anyone else in her life about, and he is my favorite character from the story. I also really like the cat, Diable.
The edition of the book itself is lovely. The art on each chapter heading is a nice addition, and all the text is in a dark red, along with some accent pages separating the title page, the Author’s note, Acknowledgements, and the actual end of the book.
Another small part that bothered me, but maybe most people don’t mind, was the book changed which tense it was written in depending on if the story was being told from Rune’s perspective or Thorn’s. Sometimes in a chapter it would jump between the two’s view, separated by a break indicating the change, and then the tense would change and it would throw me out of the story.
It’s very possible I might reread this after finally reading the original story (or at least watching the musical) of the Phantom of the Opera, but we’ll see!
So I thought this book was going to get a three stars it wasn't the best thing ever but it wasn't the worst but then I kept reading. It just got so weird and not at all in a good way. The closer I got the end the more I find myself chuckling at how ridiculous this book was.
The characters are alright. I found Rune very annoying at the start of the book but she eventually grew on me. Her story is a bit cheesy and she suffers from a lot of YA heroine traits but while some characters can turn this into something cool Rune just comes out as... boring. Nothing about her was interesting. I never really cared about her journey and the more I learned about her the more I rolled my eyes.
The same goes the male lead to this book. He's your typical broody guy with a past that you'll find in most poorly written YA novels these days. I've seen him before and once again he made me yawn. His story was sad and to be honest I felt a little over the top. Honestly, it felt like the author just wanted the readers to feel sorry for him so she thought up just about the darkest thing she could. Just like with Rune I didn't really care what was going to happen to him.
The plot was so bizarre with bad twist after bad twist. I just can't recommend this for anyone. By the time I reached the last page I was upset I wasted any time reading it. I'll probably be donating this one to the library. Maybe someone else will enjoy it.
The characters are alright. I found Rune very annoying at the start of the book but she eventually grew on me. Her story is a bit cheesy and she suffers from a lot of YA heroine traits but while some characters can turn this into something cool Rune just comes out as... boring. Nothing about her was interesting. I never really cared about her journey and the more I learned about her the more I rolled my eyes.
The same goes the male lead to this book. He's your typical broody guy with a past that you'll find in most poorly written YA novels these days. I've seen him before and once again he made me yawn. His story was sad and to be honest I felt a little over the top. Honestly, it felt like the author just wanted the readers to feel sorry for him so she thought up just about the darkest thing she could. Just like with Rune I didn't really care what was going to happen to him.
The plot was so bizarre with bad twist after bad twist. I just can't recommend this for anyone. By the time I reached the last page I was upset I wasted any time reading it. I'll probably be donating this one to the library. Maybe someone else will enjoy it.
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes