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mxfahrenheit's review
adventurous
dark
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Violence, and Vomit
caseythereader's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
š SING ME FORGOTTEN is a gender-swapped retelling of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA with a magical world layered in.
š I absolutely tore through it despite never having seen or listened to PHANTOM - Isda and Emeric's stories are so compelling.
š I loved how music and memory were at play in this story, and how precious both those things were to the main characters, if for different reasons.
š Though the world was built out enough to serve the story, I would have loved to see more of the country (a fictionalized version of France) and how fendoirs and the elixir market worked in everyday life.
š I absolutely tore through it despite never having seen or listened to PHANTOM - Isda and Emeric's stories are so compelling.
š I loved how music and memory were at play in this story, and how precious both those things were to the main characters, if for different reasons.
š Though the world was built out enough to serve the story, I would have loved to see more of the country (a fictionalized version of France) and how fendoirs and the elixir market worked in everyday life.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Self harm, Torture, Violence, and Vomit
thesaltiestlibrarian's review
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. The opinions expressed in this review are mine alone and may not reflect the views of the author, publisher, or distributor.
Normally, I donāt gravitate toward fan fiction. Sometimes--Iāll admit it freely--I become a purist for certain things. For instance, I will never crack open a piece of fiction marketed as Les Miserables āfor the modern age.ā And if someone ever gave me a fan fiction of The Great Gatsby, I would have no trouble showing my disgust. But thereās a reason for my aversion.
Some authorsā stories are so ingrained in literature as a whole, so indelible from the classic canon, so inimitable that to touch them rarely ever does a service to the story. Yes, yes, the part of me that studied adaptation and can even defend terrible offshoots for being an individual work--that part of myself is extremely annoyed at me for the above paragraph. All that in account, though, imagine my surprise when I liked Jessica S. Olsonās Sing Me Forgotten.
I finished this last night, and Iāve been mulling over for a while what it was about the story that dragged me in. After a restless night, itās come to me: Olson doesnāt try to give a ānew perspectiveā on Lerouxās classic. She doesnāt think she can spin it better. She doesnāt even try to justify Erikās actions in the original. Sing Me Forgotten is a love letter to The Phantom of the Opera as both a classic novel and a Broadway adaptation. It takes the gender-bending trope and applies it, throws in some magic, replaces France with a fictionalized version of the country, and adds in heaping tablespoons of love for Lerouxās story.
Isda, the main character, is a gravoir: someone born with the ability to muck around with peoplesā memories when they sing. Music activates the magic system here, which is honestly pretty cool. Many years ago--probably hundreds, Iāve forgotten now--three women who were gravoirs rose up and ruled the world with their magic. Their dethroning is celebrated, and Les Trois were henceforth depicted as snarling beasts ready to eat the world. Isda lives in the crypts under the Channe Opera House, found as a newborn by the owner when she was cast into a well for being a gravoir. See, the faces of gravoirs and fendoir--their minor counterparts--are disfigured and horrifying. Hence the take on the iconic Phantom mask.
Where fendoir can only extract and see peoplesā memories, gravoirs can change them, can alter the very nature of a personās past, and drive someone insane. Or worse, they can take all of someoneās memory elixir and leave them as a hollow shell with no memory whatsoever. The man who found Isda, Cyril Bardin, uses her to adjust the memories of people who attend opera performances, and if something maybe goes wrong or wasnāt quite up to standard, Isda can tweak those memories and have people coming back time and again.
Enter Emeric, the boy with the voice of an angel. Isda takes him on to teach him how to refine his voice, as heās dreamed of being an opera singer ever since he was little. Clearly they fall in love, but when Cyril begins using Isda to alter the memories of a government official, she starts to doubt how much she can trust the man who raised her. And after finding out how much information he has on gravoirs in his office, that trust takes another knock.
Iām not going to go further into the plot, because I think the plot was fine. While it reminded me a lot of Phantom, it did its own thing too, and for that I was grateful and relieved. Isda and Emeric both felt like fully-fleshed characters, and I LOVED that Isda could be both monstrous and tender, while Emeric was soft and masculine at the same time. Yay, nonconforming gender roles! Cyril felt a bit meh as a villain, but yāknow. You canāt win āem all.
My biggest complaints here are probably minor as far as overall quality goes. But as an experienced writer myself, I would have loved it if Olson had taken the time to shorten some of the beginning scenes and really dive into not just the lore of Les Trois--cuz I needed more--but also the world itself, and how the dynamics of Isdaās existence grated against the flow of society. āSheās a gravoir!ā Sure, but Les Trois canāt be the be-all and end-all of that story. What else happened? If there are more out there, like Emericās sister, how are they living? Whatās the quality of their lives, and are there places on the planet where people accept them?
Also, is there a black market for elixir? What else can it do besides strengthen gravoirs and give non-magical people excellent recall/executive function? (Which, tbh, I could deal with given my rampant ADHD.) Is this a magic system exclusive to Channe, or is it worldwide? I have so many questions!!!
Anyway.
The other issue I saw manifested in overwriting. The prose got a bit purple in some places, and some scenes were drawn out too long. A few passages became muddled with words, and I had a hard time 1) figuring out what exactly was happening, and 2) staying engaged in the scene (see above comments on ADHD). Had those two issues been dealt with, Iām positive this would have rocketed itself up to a five-star for me. Fourās not bad! It could have been a five, though. Olson has a long way to go as a debut author, but she definitely has what it takes to become a writer to be reckoned with. In the words of Sheev, āWe will watch your career with great interest.ā
Normally, I donāt gravitate toward fan fiction. Sometimes--Iāll admit it freely--I become a purist for certain things. For instance, I will never crack open a piece of fiction marketed as Les Miserables āfor the modern age.ā And if someone ever gave me a fan fiction of The Great Gatsby, I would have no trouble showing my disgust. But thereās a reason for my aversion.
Some authorsā stories are so ingrained in literature as a whole, so indelible from the classic canon, so inimitable that to touch them rarely ever does a service to the story. Yes, yes, the part of me that studied adaptation and can even defend terrible offshoots for being an individual work--that part of myself is extremely annoyed at me for the above paragraph. All that in account, though, imagine my surprise when I liked Jessica S. Olsonās Sing Me Forgotten.
I finished this last night, and Iāve been mulling over for a while what it was about the story that dragged me in. After a restless night, itās come to me: Olson doesnāt try to give a ānew perspectiveā on Lerouxās classic. She doesnāt think she can spin it better. She doesnāt even try to justify Erikās actions in the original. Sing Me Forgotten is a love letter to The Phantom of the Opera as both a classic novel and a Broadway adaptation. It takes the gender-bending trope and applies it, throws in some magic, replaces France with a fictionalized version of the country, and adds in heaping tablespoons of love for Lerouxās story.
Isda, the main character, is a gravoir: someone born with the ability to muck around with peoplesā memories when they sing. Music activates the magic system here, which is honestly pretty cool. Many years ago--probably hundreds, Iāve forgotten now--three women who were gravoirs rose up and ruled the world with their magic. Their dethroning is celebrated, and Les Trois were henceforth depicted as snarling beasts ready to eat the world. Isda lives in the crypts under the Channe Opera House, found as a newborn by the owner when she was cast into a well for being a gravoir. See, the faces of gravoirs and fendoir--their minor counterparts--are disfigured and horrifying. Hence the take on the iconic Phantom mask.
Where fendoir can only extract and see peoplesā memories, gravoirs can change them, can alter the very nature of a personās past, and drive someone insane. Or worse, they can take all of someoneās memory elixir and leave them as a hollow shell with no memory whatsoever. The man who found Isda, Cyril Bardin, uses her to adjust the memories of people who attend opera performances, and if something maybe goes wrong or wasnāt quite up to standard, Isda can tweak those memories and have people coming back time and again.
Enter Emeric, the boy with the voice of an angel. Isda takes him on to teach him how to refine his voice, as heās dreamed of being an opera singer ever since he was little. Clearly they fall in love, but when Cyril begins using Isda to alter the memories of a government official, she starts to doubt how much she can trust the man who raised her. And after finding out how much information he has on gravoirs in his office, that trust takes another knock.
Iām not going to go further into the plot, because I think the plot was fine. While it reminded me a lot of Phantom, it did its own thing too, and for that I was grateful and relieved. Isda and Emeric both felt like fully-fleshed characters, and I LOVED that Isda could be both monstrous and tender, while Emeric was soft and masculine at the same time. Yay, nonconforming gender roles! Cyril felt a bit meh as a villain, but yāknow. You canāt win āem all.
My biggest complaints here are probably minor as far as overall quality goes. But as an experienced writer myself, I would have loved it if Olson had taken the time to shorten some of the beginning scenes and really dive into not just the lore of Les Trois--cuz I needed more--but also the world itself, and how the dynamics of Isdaās existence grated against the flow of society. āSheās a gravoir!ā Sure, but Les Trois canāt be the be-all and end-all of that story. What else happened? If there are more out there, like Emericās sister, how are they living? Whatās the quality of their lives, and are there places on the planet where people accept them?
Also, is there a black market for elixir? What else can it do besides strengthen gravoirs and give non-magical people excellent recall/executive function? (Which, tbh, I could deal with given my rampant ADHD.) Is this a magic system exclusive to Channe, or is it worldwide? I have so many questions!!!
Anyway.
The other issue I saw manifested in overwriting. The prose got a bit purple in some places, and some scenes were drawn out too long. A few passages became muddled with words, and I had a hard time 1) figuring out what exactly was happening, and 2) staying engaged in the scene (see above comments on ADHD). Had those two issues been dealt with, Iām positive this would have rocketed itself up to a five-star for me. Fourās not bad! It could have been a five, though. Olson has a long way to go as a debut author, but she definitely has what it takes to become a writer to be reckoned with. In the words of Sheev, āWe will watch your career with great interest.ā
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Body shaming, Confinement, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Torture, Trafficking, Vomit, and Blood
Minor: Child abuse and Child death
lyonsdenprojects's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This is a really wonderful take on the Phantom of the Opera and has so many emotions. Be prepared to be emotionally devastated! I really enjoyed the world building and development of the magical system. The retelling keeps all the original beats from the version popularized by Andrew Lloyd Weber (which I LOVE) while not shying away from the inherent darkness and moral dubiousness of the Opera Ghost. That's honestly my favorite part, the retention of the beats that make the Opera Ghost such an interesting and engaging character. Highly recommend this book!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, and Kidnapping
Minor: Torture and Vomit
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