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3.15 AVERAGE
3.15 AVERAGE
3.5 stars
Initial thoughts:
I am actually quite conflicted because I really wanted to love this one. The writing is wonderful and I liked how the story has elements of The Phantom of the Opera.
But the pacing was quite a problem for me. Despite the slow buildup, I was disappointed with the ending. It felt terribly abrupt.
Full review to come.
Initial thoughts:
I am actually quite conflicted because I really wanted to love this one. The writing is wonderful and I liked how the story has elements of The Phantom of the Opera.
But the pacing was quite a problem for me. Despite the slow buildup, I was disappointed with the ending. It felt terribly abrupt.
Full review to come.
OMG This was amazing. The end left me with goosebumps. Once again an awesome story by Howard, I simply love the concept she works with and cannot wait for her next book!
3.5 stars. I really wanted to love this book. I love The Phantom of the Opera. I love the cover. I love the design of the book. I even loved the story but for me the execution just didn't work. I really had to force myself through this book and I hate doing that. I would recommend reading this if you are interested because everyone has different tastes. For me it just wasn't worth the hype. :(
4.5/5 Stars
Well, that was different than what I was expecting. I thought it was simply going to be a modern re-telling. I mean, in a way it was. But it was also an expansion of the original story.
Reading the afterword, A.G. Howard did extensive research into creating this novel. Having only seen the 2004 movie, I did not have much experience with this story. Yet her writing has made me want to read the original novel that inspired the Broadway and film adaptations.
Rune Germain is a young woman who is shipped off to a French boarding school to further her singing. Currently, she is unable to sing without practically fainting. Her journey is reminiscent of the classic Phantom story, with intriguing paranormal aspects.
Each character the readers meet throughout this novel are either expanded from the original novel or their own unique entity. The way that A.G. Howard wove these characters together was intriguing. Plus, the readers' perception of each character morphed constantly as they read, just as perceptions change daily in real life.
She also has a way with words. Her writing style is so intricate and beautiful (I admit I noticed this when reading Splintered). Though some would label it as flowery, I rather like it. She can take ordinary words and weave them together to create beautiful and- in this novel- lyrical images.
The only reason I docked this beautiful novel a half star was due to the distracting red ink this book is published with. It sometimes made my eyes hurt as I would read. But if you can overcome that, then I think y'all will enjoy this as much as I did!
Well, that was different than what I was expecting. I thought it was simply going to be a modern re-telling. I mean, in a way it was. But it was also an expansion of the original story.
Reading the afterword, A.G. Howard did extensive research into creating this novel. Having only seen the 2004 movie, I did not have much experience with this story. Yet her writing has made me want to read the original novel that inspired the Broadway and film adaptations.
Rune Germain is a young woman who is shipped off to a French boarding school to further her singing. Currently, she is unable to sing without practically fainting. Her journey is reminiscent of the classic Phantom story, with intriguing paranormal aspects.
Each character the readers meet throughout this novel are either expanded from the original novel or their own unique entity. The way that A.G. Howard wove these characters together was intriguing. Plus, the readers' perception of each character morphed constantly as they read, just as perceptions change daily in real life.
She also has a way with words. Her writing style is so intricate and beautiful (I admit I noticed this when reading Splintered). Though some would label it as flowery, I rather like it. She can take ordinary words and weave them together to create beautiful and- in this novel- lyrical images.
The only reason I docked this beautiful novel a half star was due to the distracting red ink this book is published with. It sometimes made my eyes hurt as I would read. But if you can overcome that, then I think y'all will enjoy this as much as I did!
Wow. This book started off fun (mind you - I said fun, not good) and got boring fast. After someone compared this to The Room, I'm a little disappointed... :/
RoseBlood Review on K-Books
RoseBlood was one of those books that I couldn't wait for. I have read and loved AG Howard's incredible Splintered series and I am a huge fan of The Phantom of the Opera, so this was bound to be amazing. I really, really wanted to love this one but I just... didn't.
I managed to get to around 55% of the book before I just couldn't continue. RoseBlood was incredibly slow and I found elements of it very strange and there was no explanation as to why. I tried to push through so much but I found myself very bored which made me not want to read at all and it's at that point that I usually tell myself it's time to stop reading it and pick something else to read.
Thorn was a very odd character... like why was he wearing a mask if he had no disfigurement? And Rune was just too bitchy and stupid for me to like her. I wasn't invested in the characters at all and found I really didn't care about the story and what happened to them whatsoever.
I really wish I had liked this one as it sounded like the perfect kind of book for me but unfortunately it just wasn't meant to be.
RoseBlood was one of those books that I couldn't wait for. I have read and loved AG Howard's incredible Splintered series and I am a huge fan of The Phantom of the Opera, so this was bound to be amazing. I really, really wanted to love this one but I just... didn't.
I managed to get to around 55% of the book before I just couldn't continue. RoseBlood was incredibly slow and I found elements of it very strange and there was no explanation as to why. I tried to push through so much but I found myself very bored which made me not want to read at all and it's at that point that I usually tell myself it's time to stop reading it and pick something else to read.
Thorn was a very odd character... like why was he wearing a mask if he had no disfigurement? And Rune was just too bitchy and stupid for me to like her. I wasn't invested in the characters at all and found I really didn't care about the story and what happened to them whatsoever.
I really wish I had liked this one as it sounded like the perfect kind of book for me but unfortunately it just wasn't meant to be.
ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!
It is so amazing to see how the author weaved in Leroux's Phantom with this book, generations later. It was heartbreaking and beautiful and is now one of my all time favorites!
It is so amazing to see how the author weaved in Leroux's Phantom with this book, generations later. It was heartbreaking and beautiful and is now one of my all time favorites!
It was a little hard to get into but once it picked up I really enjoyed it.
"Guard your throats and hide your eyes. He's not dead, you fools. Legends never die."
This is the Phantom of the Opera sequel you never knew you needed! And wow! This novel completely sucked me and didn't let me go. There were three main things I enjoyed about this book:
The first thing that grabbed me about this book is the writing: it's vivid, imaginative, dark, and so descriptive I felt like I was there.
"All those nights we climbed the stars and rearranged the planets with our songs, we were complete and invincible when we stood together."
The second thing is the characters. Rune (awesome name!), Thorn, Erik (AKA the Phantom), and Sunny helped make the story come alive. Rune has a beautiful voice but using it drains her, she's traumatized by past events, she's sad about her father's passing, she's also tougher than she thinks and a loyal friend. I found Thorn the most intriguing; his past and current situation is fascinating, he's quiet, kind, thoughtful, and a master violin player. Erik changed little from the original; he's still angry and rejected and keeps to the shadows. Rune's friend Sunny is a bright spot in this story; she's hilarious and smart and observant and I wish there'd been more of her in the book.
The third thing is the fantasy element. I love how A.G Howard turned what originally felt like a Gothic ghost story into a Gothic-meets-modern fantasy. I wasn't expecting THAT PARTICULAR fantasy element (sorry, no spoilers!), but it totally and completely works for this dark, otherworldly story. Love it!
I do, however, have a few issues.
While the pacing felt fine while reading it, time and how it passed in this story felt so off. It starts off at the beginning of September and the climax is on Halloween, but it only feels like two or three weeks passed. It's like we follow Rune when she first arrives, a week during which she goes to the party, and then the few days leading up the Halloween. It felt a little rushed.
There are so many names and secondary characters and at first it was hard to remember who was who. My big problem with this is that I didn't feel like we actually got to know any of them all that well. There's Kat the bully, her sidekick Roxie, the singer Audrey, her maybe-boyfriend Jax, and Quan, who I can barely remember. They felt a little two-dimensional. The teachers on the other hand were really interesting, especially her aunt and Bouchard. But I wanted to get to know the headmistress better since at the beginning Rune was so keen to work with her on costumes and then she disappeared from the story.
Finally, if you have a "gun" in the room it should go off by the end. There's all of these mentions of the evil grandmother and yet we never see her. I was looking forward to Rune going to the prison to talk to her, but it never happens. So that was a little disappointing.
Despite a few issues, this story is captivating, fun to read, and hard to put down. If you like Phantom of the Opera, then you should read it!
*Recieved a copy from NetGalley.
This is the Phantom of the Opera sequel you never knew you needed! And wow! This novel completely sucked me and didn't let me go. There were three main things I enjoyed about this book:
The first thing that grabbed me about this book is the writing: it's vivid, imaginative, dark, and so descriptive I felt like I was there.
"All those nights we climbed the stars and rearranged the planets with our songs, we were complete and invincible when we stood together."
The second thing is the characters. Rune (awesome name!), Thorn, Erik (AKA the Phantom), and Sunny helped make the story come alive. Rune has a beautiful voice but using it drains her, she's traumatized by past events, she's sad about her father's passing, she's also tougher than she thinks and a loyal friend. I found Thorn the most intriguing; his past and current situation is fascinating, he's quiet, kind, thoughtful, and a master violin player. Erik changed little from the original; he's still angry and rejected and keeps to the shadows. Rune's friend Sunny is a bright spot in this story; she's hilarious and smart and observant and I wish there'd been more of her in the book.
The third thing is the fantasy element. I love how A.G Howard turned what originally felt like a Gothic ghost story into a Gothic-meets-modern fantasy. I wasn't expecting THAT PARTICULAR fantasy element (sorry, no spoilers!), but it totally and completely works for this dark, otherworldly story. Love it!
I do, however, have a few issues.
While the pacing felt fine while reading it, time and how it passed in this story felt so off. It starts off at the beginning of September and the climax is on Halloween, but it only feels like two or three weeks passed. It's like we follow Rune when she first arrives, a week during which she goes to the party, and then the few days leading up the Halloween. It felt a little rushed.
There are so many names and secondary characters and at first it was hard to remember who was who. My big problem with this is that I didn't feel like we actually got to know any of them all that well. There's Kat the bully, her sidekick Roxie, the singer Audrey, her maybe-boyfriend Jax, and Quan, who I can barely remember. They felt a little two-dimensional. The teachers on the other hand were really interesting, especially her aunt and Bouchard. But I wanted to get to know the headmistress better since at the beginning Rune was so keen to work with her on costumes and then she disappeared from the story.
Finally, if you have a "gun" in the room it should go off by the end. There's all of these mentions of the evil grandmother and yet we never see her. I was looking forward to Rune going to the prison to talk to her, but it never happens. So that was a little disappointing.
Despite a few issues, this story is captivating, fun to read, and hard to put down. If you like Phantom of the Opera, then you should read it!
*Recieved a copy from NetGalley.