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3.15 AVERAGE
3.15 AVERAGE
I really wish that there was a second book to this. Even an epilogue would be enough (heck! Even more that enough!). All in all, this is by far the best book I have ever read this year!
this book was balls to the wall BONKERS. and i'm about to spoil the whole thing. so.... if you think you wanna read this book someday..... first of all, please reconsider, because it was pretty terrible, but second of all, if you care about spoilers, turn your mother effing computer off now!
this book is pitched as a phantom of the opera retelling, but really it's more of a phantom of the opera fanfiction, only it's a kid!fic, which, if you know anything about fanfiction, you know is the worst kind of fic. no one cares about a kid!fic. if you say you do, that's because you wrote one at one point and are embarrassed that i just said they're bad, even though you know i'm right.
our main character is rune. yes, that's her Christian Name. she is Not Like Other Girls because she's able to perfectly sing any opera song and also she can see people's auras. now she's attending a french opera school that for some unexplained reason only takes american students (seriously - never explained!!) also, rune is obsessed with the book, the phantom of the opera. maybe you've heard of it?? (THIS IS MY LEAST FAVORITE THING!!!! i read a LOT of retellings and i absolutely HATE IT when the source material EXISTS WITHIN THE RETELLING!!!! WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT!!!!)
anyway, rune sees a mysterious boy wearing a mask as she's entering the school, and she assumes it's the gardener.... for some reason... but there IS NO GARDENER!!! don't worry, this isn't a mystery to the reader for long, because we now get Mysterious Boy's pov as well (which is in third person, while rune's is in first. another thing i hate!) his name is thorn, he was born to a prostitute, then almost sold into a child sex trafficking ring until he was rescued by the man he now calls Father Erik. oh yeah, and he only wears the mask for the Aesthetic. he's actually totally gorgeous.
now, i know what you're thinking: isn't erik the name of the original phantom? you would be RIGHT!!! BECAUSE THIS ABSOLUTELY BONKERS BOOK HAS DECIDED THAT THE PHANTOM IS NOT ONLY ALIVE AFTER OVER A HUNDRED YEARS HAVE PASSED BUT HE'S ALSO A PSYCHIC VAMPIRE WHO FEEDS OFF OF PEOPLE'S AURAS OR SOME BULLSHIT!!!!
thorn and rune are also psychic vampires, but more than that, they're Soul Mates, only the author has decided that soul mates are overdone i guess and calls them Twin Flames instead, but it's the same thing. i promise. i can't go into the intricacies of this plot further than the baffling broad strokes i'm providing here 1) because i quite literally could not bring myself to care 2) there's just too much. so here are some highlights:
- the author repeatedly calls these psychic vampires incubuses and succubuses interchangeably. granted, it's been a while since my vampire lit class i took in college, but this feels incorrect.
- they also have familiars? which i also believe is incorrect? isn't that a witch thing?
- jippetto from PINOCCHIO WAS RANDOMLY IN THIS BOOK????? it's definitely the same jippetto because he makes wooden mannequins but i genuinely am baffled as to why he was here!!! two of my friends compared it to the trainwreck that was the show once upon a time, and honestly they are absolutely correct.
- the absolute KICKER was that to harvest energy for thorn so that he doesn't have to murder people is that the OG PHANTOM OF THE OPERA owns a RAVE CLUB. and it's INVITATION ONLY. the phantom of the opera owns a rave club where he drains the energy of parisian youths!!! i wish to GOD i was making this up!!!
- both rune and thorn are so forgettable that i could not give a single hoot about them
- the final showdown or whatever was literally summarized and for WHAT??? FOR WHAT!!!
this was so bad but was honestly still kind of fun just because it was truly insane, and it was clear that it was an unintentional insanity. i still don't recommend reading it. reading this review is a better use of your time.
this book is pitched as a phantom of the opera retelling, but really it's more of a phantom of the opera fanfiction, only it's a kid!fic, which, if you know anything about fanfiction, you know is the worst kind of fic. no one cares about a kid!fic. if you say you do, that's because you wrote one at one point and are embarrassed that i just said they're bad, even though you know i'm right.
our main character is rune. yes, that's her Christian Name. she is Not Like Other Girls because she's able to perfectly sing any opera song and also she can see people's auras. now she's attending a french opera school that for some unexplained reason only takes american students (seriously - never explained!!) also, rune is obsessed with the book, the phantom of the opera. maybe you've heard of it?? (THIS IS MY LEAST FAVORITE THING!!!! i read a LOT of retellings and i absolutely HATE IT when the source material EXISTS WITHIN THE RETELLING!!!! WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT!!!!)
anyway, rune sees a mysterious boy wearing a mask as she's entering the school, and she assumes it's the gardener.... for some reason... but there IS NO GARDENER!!! don't worry, this isn't a mystery to the reader for long, because we now get Mysterious Boy's pov as well (which is in third person, while rune's is in first. another thing i hate!) his name is thorn, he was born to a prostitute, then almost sold into a child sex trafficking ring until he was rescued by the man he now calls Father Erik. oh yeah, and he only wears the mask for the Aesthetic. he's actually totally gorgeous.
now, i know what you're thinking: isn't erik the name of the original phantom? you would be RIGHT!!! BECAUSE THIS ABSOLUTELY BONKERS BOOK HAS DECIDED THAT THE PHANTOM IS NOT ONLY ALIVE AFTER OVER A HUNDRED YEARS HAVE PASSED BUT HE'S ALSO A PSYCHIC VAMPIRE WHO FEEDS OFF OF PEOPLE'S AURAS OR SOME BULLSHIT!!!!
thorn and rune are also psychic vampires, but more than that, they're Soul Mates, only the author has decided that soul mates are overdone i guess and calls them Twin Flames instead, but it's the same thing. i promise. i can't go into the intricacies of this plot further than the baffling broad strokes i'm providing here 1) because i quite literally could not bring myself to care 2) there's just too much. so here are some highlights:
- the author repeatedly calls these psychic vampires incubuses and succubuses interchangeably. granted, it's been a while since my vampire lit class i took in college, but this feels incorrect.
- they also have familiars? which i also believe is incorrect? isn't that a witch thing?
- jippetto from PINOCCHIO WAS RANDOMLY IN THIS BOOK????? it's definitely the same jippetto because he makes wooden mannequins but i genuinely am baffled as to why he was here!!! two of my friends compared it to the trainwreck that was the show once upon a time, and honestly they are absolutely correct.
- the absolute KICKER was that to harvest energy for thorn so that he doesn't have to murder people is that the OG PHANTOM OF THE OPERA owns a RAVE CLUB. and it's INVITATION ONLY. the phantom of the opera owns a rave club where he drains the energy of parisian youths!!! i wish to GOD i was making this up!!!
- both rune and thorn are so forgettable that i could not give a single hoot about them
- the final showdown or whatever was literally summarized and for WHAT??? FOR WHAT!!!
this was so bad but was honestly still kind of fun just because it was truly insane, and it was clear that it was an unintentional insanity. i still don't recommend reading it. reading this review is a better use of your time.
I thought the book was fantastic. But because books are not perfect I had some issues with how time flowed in the story, also there were some portions that I thought didn't necessarily need to be there, but even though it was, the story wasn't hurt at all by it. Thorn and Rune is relationship goals, and I truly believe that anyone who loves phantom of the opera (much like myself) should be able to appraise the new twist that this book brings to the classic story. All in all I give it
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
I am pleasantly surprised :)
RTC this week
RTC this week
Ehhhhh I so wanted to like this. But I didn't. Story of my life.
- It felt unnecessarily long
- The romance is really creepy
- Psychic vampires
- Psychic ???? Vampires ????
- I wanted a Phantom retelling not a paranormal romance
- The typical "school bitch" (WHEN are we going to have girls stop tearing each other down in YA????)
- So yeah. Wasn't a fan.
- It felt unnecessarily long
- The romance is really creepy
- Psychic vampires
- Psychic ???? Vampires ????
- I wanted a Phantom retelling not a paranormal romance
- The typical "school bitch" (WHEN are we going to have girls stop tearing each other down in YA????)
- So yeah. Wasn't a fan.
I almost wish I had read the author's note at the end first (note: DON'T DO THIS if you care about spoilers) - she does a great job applying the history/book myth to the story. That being said, I agree with the other top reviews: this book is difficult to get into, the pacing is weird, and the plot twists don't feel surprising or even that exciting.
Do I think it's terrible? nah - but as a PotO retelling it could have been better executed.
Do I think it's terrible? nah - but as a PotO retelling it could have been better executed.
3.5 Stars
I have a love hate relationship with this book. Like the first part really dragged and I was struggling to get through it but then the second half had me mesmerized. It was good but slow. It would start really good then get super slow. But over all a good book
I have a love hate relationship with this book. Like the first part really dragged and I was struggling to get through it but then the second half had me mesmerized. It was good but slow. It would start really good then get super slow. But over all a good book
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I wanted to like this book, but it just wasn’t for me.
The style of writing seemed so awkward to me and I constantly found myself being distracted from the story because of how something was written. A lot of very unimportant details had incredibly detailed and long descriptions, when other parts that seemed more important really didn’t get any time or explanation. I also thought some sentences just seemed randomly thrown in and didn’t have a connection to what was happening.
Overall, I just couldn’t get into the plot either. I love phantom of the opera and was expecting so much more. When the climax of the phantoms plans were revealed, I was disappointed and it seemed super anticlimactic.
The characters seems really flat to me as well. I found Rune really annoying and didn’t understand her connection with Etalon.
The style of writing seemed so awkward to me and I constantly found myself being distracted from the story because of how something was written. A lot of very unimportant details had incredibly detailed and long descriptions, when other parts that seemed more important really didn’t get any time or explanation. I also thought some sentences just seemed randomly thrown in and didn’t have a connection to what was happening.
Overall, I just couldn’t get into the plot either. I love phantom of the opera and was expecting so much more. When the climax of the phantoms plans were revealed, I was disappointed and it seemed super anticlimactic.
The characters seems really flat to me as well. I found Rune really annoying and didn’t understand her connection with Etalon.
This novel was everything and more that I expected! It was hypnotizing in its lyrical nature and the story just kept flowing along beautifully! I fell in love with the world and the danger interwoven in the beauty of the opera! I will not soon forget this lovely imaginative retelling of one of my favorite stories!