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3.15 AVERAGE
3.15 AVERAGE
I don't ask much of a book. It doesn't have to be perfect for me to enjoy it. I can plow through wonky world building if I like the characters, I can tolerate annoying characters if the world is fascinating enough, and I can deal with questionable plots if I love the writing itself.
This book has none of that. The writing is ornate and melodramatic, with words pulled out of the thesaurus sprinkled with words like "pecs" and "chill". A large part of this book is written in first person, from the perspective of an 18 years old American girl and the writing doesn't really fit her. The characters are cliche and the same teenagers from every forgettable TV movie. The mean popular girls, the nerdy protagonist, the beautiful mysterious boy, the hot teacher, the good teacher, the bitch teacher. There are some POC but I feel they're more for ticking the "representation matters" box. The world building is mediocre fanfiction level. There is just no good way to convey the modern Victorian aesthetic in the real world. None. Dramatic abandoned theatres, Victorian uniforms and red bleeding roses may look cool in a symphonic metal music video, but can't really be fitted in any other setting, in my opinion. The whole premise is weird and far-fetched and with such a wonky base, there was no way for this book to convey a serious story. It's not credible and the hardships the characters face are laughable.
Way too many clothes descriptions. Way. Too. Many. Unless the character is walking on glass, I don't need to know what shoes they're wearing; I don't need to know the specifics of an outfit unless it's actually important to the plot. I have an imagination of my own. It's incredible how much the pace suffered because of the large chunks of description.
The character of the Phantom was the only interesting one. However, like many (probably all of them, sadly) Phantom of the Opera adaptations, this book does romanticize the relationship between Erik and Christine, in probably the most disturbing way I've read so far. It's just... Not Good.
I wish I could say something good about this book. I know it takes work and time to write a book and I hate to be so negative about it. But everything that could've been wrong with this novel was. It was a weird idea executed pretty terribly and it had me roll my eyes at every page. It sounded interesting, but was ultimately disappointing.
This book has none of that. The writing is ornate and melodramatic, with words pulled out of the thesaurus sprinkled with words like "pecs" and "chill". A large part of this book is written in first person, from the perspective of an 18 years old American girl and the writing doesn't really fit her. The characters are cliche and the same teenagers from every forgettable TV movie. The mean popular girls, the nerdy protagonist, the beautiful mysterious boy, the hot teacher, the good teacher, the bitch teacher. There are some POC but I feel they're more for ticking the "representation matters" box. The world building is mediocre fanfiction level. There is just no good way to convey the modern Victorian aesthetic in the real world. None. Dramatic abandoned theatres, Victorian uniforms and red bleeding roses may look cool in a symphonic metal music video, but can't really be fitted in any other setting, in my opinion. The whole premise is weird and far-fetched and with such a wonky base, there was no way for this book to convey a serious story. It's not credible and the hardships the characters face are laughable.
Way too many clothes descriptions. Way. Too. Many. Unless the character is walking on glass, I don't need to know what shoes they're wearing; I don't need to know the specifics of an outfit unless it's actually important to the plot. I have an imagination of my own. It's incredible how much the pace suffered because of the large chunks of description.
The character of the Phantom was the only interesting one. However, like many (probably all of them, sadly) Phantom of the Opera adaptations, this book does romanticize the relationship between Erik and Christine, in probably the most disturbing way I've read so far. It's just... Not Good.
I wish I could say something good about this book. I know it takes work and time to write a book and I hate to be so negative about it. But everything that could've been wrong with this novel was. It was a weird idea executed pretty terribly and it had me roll my eyes at every page. It sounded interesting, but was ultimately disappointing.
3.5 stars
Rune Germain has a gift of a beautiful, powerful singing voice but it's only a curse, leaving her feeling sick and faint after every performance. Rune is sent to Roseblood, a special school dedicated to the art of opera, in Paris, France, which has a link to the legendary Phantom of the Opera. Rune becomes obsessed with the legend, convinced she is seeing and hearing her very own phantom.
I quite enjoyed this. It took me a while to get properly stuck into the book and its story but I think that was just because of me and not necessarily anything wrong with the book. I don't much about the Phantom of the Opera. I haven't read the book, and I've only ever seen snippets of the movie but I think I knew enough to really enjoy this book and how AG Howard made it her own.
First off, I loved the setting - not only Paris but the whole setup of Roseblood. The idea of this huge, kind of creepy school seeped in opera is literally something you'd only find in a story and the images i had of it in my mind were great. The stage, the classes and its weird teachers, the taxidermy, the dark, candle-lit canteen. I just really loved it. I really think that AG Howard did a fantastic job wrapping the reader into the story through all these elements, from the school, the underground caverns, the garden. She took a lot of what is famous about the phantom and placed them into a different setting, twisting them so the story became original and able to stand on its own.
The mystery behind Rune and her voice was pretty great once I understood it. I did feel it took a bit too much time, and I got frustrated being left in the dark and hearing cryptic comments between Thorn and Erik but once I found out, everything made sense then. Rune and Thorn's relationship had some problems for me, more so that there was a bit of insta-love (I know, I know, twin flame and all that but still!). Rune seemed to fall for Thorn so easily and I feel like they didn't have that much conversation before literally bonding to each other forever (!!). However, despite all that, it was very easy to get swept into their relationship and their love for one another. This book is written in a very poetic way and some of the writing is very flowery and I think that helped the over the top relationship between Thorn and Rune.
I think everything wrapped up very neatly and the way it was wrapped up (with Rune going person to person to update the reader on each individual) reminded me of how a movie wraps up. It was a little bit too neat but for the type of story it was, I didn't mind it too much.
Rune Germain has a gift of a beautiful, powerful singing voice but it's only a curse, leaving her feeling sick and faint after every performance. Rune is sent to Roseblood, a special school dedicated to the art of opera, in Paris, France, which has a link to the legendary Phantom of the Opera. Rune becomes obsessed with the legend, convinced she is seeing and hearing her very own phantom.
I quite enjoyed this. It took me a while to get properly stuck into the book and its story but I think that was just because of me and not necessarily anything wrong with the book. I don't much about the Phantom of the Opera. I haven't read the book, and I've only ever seen snippets of the movie but I think I knew enough to really enjoy this book and how AG Howard made it her own.
First off, I loved the setting - not only Paris but the whole setup of Roseblood. The idea of this huge, kind of creepy school seeped in opera is literally something you'd only find in a story and the images i had of it in my mind were great. The stage, the classes and its weird teachers, the taxidermy, the dark, candle-lit canteen. I just really loved it. I really think that AG Howard did a fantastic job wrapping the reader into the story through all these elements, from the school, the underground caverns, the garden. She took a lot of what is famous about the phantom and placed them into a different setting, twisting them so the story became original and able to stand on its own.
The mystery behind Rune and her voice was pretty great once I understood it. I did feel it took a bit too much time, and I got frustrated being left in the dark and hearing cryptic comments between Thorn and Erik but once I found out, everything made sense then. Rune and Thorn's relationship had some problems for me, more so that there was a bit of insta-love (I know, I know, twin flame and all that but still!). Rune seemed to fall for Thorn so easily and I feel like they didn't have that much conversation before literally bonding to each other forever (!!). However, despite all that, it was very easy to get swept into their relationship and their love for one another. This book is written in a very poetic way and some of the writing is very flowery and I think that helped the over the top relationship between Thorn and Rune.
I think everything wrapped up very neatly and the way it was wrapped up (with Rune going person to person to update the reader on each individual) reminded me of how a movie wraps up. It was a little bit too neat but for the type of story it was, I didn't mind it too much.
I'm really sad this didn't end the way I wanted it to...and for a POTO retelling I just wanted something different.
Basically, this is a soulmate/reincarnation Phantom of The Opera retelling and I enjoyed it a lot. Also even if the book was terrible its too aesthetically pleasing to not like
I love the Phantom of the Opera and seeing a version of that story was so cool!!! I loved how it ended happy for the main couple!!!
3.5. The writing, while lovely was just very flowery and overly descriptive (see: purple prose). It was fitting for the scene. I am not certain what to make of the story with Erik, I guess I’m disappointed in that “resolution” but the love story between Etalon and Rune was so beautiful and touching and emotional that it made it worth it. The authors writing really hit the mark when exploring their feelings for one another so situationally, it was perfect.
It's marketed as a Phantom of the Opera retelling, but it's more like a sequel. Either way it's a lot of fun and I enjoyed every minute.
https://amandabradburn.com/2017/11/04/the-sins-of-roseblood-a-book-review/
medium-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Quando ho visto che usciva questo retelling del Fantasma dell'opera stavo sclerando e cercadno la data d'uscita. Io, essendo una fan sfegatata sia del libro originale che del musical, non mi importava niente aspettare un po' per vedere le recensioni prima di spendere i soldi. Forse sarebbe stato meglio. Purtroppo sono rimasta delusa dal libro perché l'autrice ha mischiato troppe idee in un libro ed è venuto fuori un minestrone di idee che magari non sono tanto male usate separatamente... Mi dispiace, ma non mi è piaciuto quasi niente di questo libro, partendo da Rune, che era veramente antipatica e a tratti un po' pallosa, fino al Fantasma che non era affatto quello del libro originale. Capisco che è un retelling, ma la coerenza ci doveva anche essere. L'insta love era abbastanza penoso e non era giustificabile.
Apparte Rune e Thorn (il ragazzo che vive con il fantasma), che sono i personaggi principali e sono descritti un po' di più, gli altri sono piatti e sono paragonabili ad una foglia di lattuga.
L'unica cosa che mi è piaciuta era quel piccolo collegamento alla storia originale di Gaston Leroux.
L'ho letto in inglese e lo consiglierei di leggere in lingua originale perché è abbastanza semplice per iniziare e per impararlo, ma compratelo in e-book o magari scontatissimo o ancora meglio prendetelo in prestito😂
Apparte Rune e Thorn (il ragazzo che vive con il fantasma), che sono i personaggi principali e sono descritti un po' di più, gli altri sono piatti e sono paragonabili ad una foglia di lattuga.
L'unica cosa che mi è piaciuta era quel piccolo collegamento alla storia originale di Gaston Leroux.
L'ho letto in inglese e lo consiglierei di leggere in lingua originale perché è abbastanza semplice per iniziare e per impararlo, ma compratelo in e-book o magari scontatissimo o ancora meglio prendetelo in prestito😂