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A review by hollenacht
Mozart's Blood by Louise Marley
2.0
So, I have a lot to say about this.
When I read the acknowledgements and intro at the beginning, I was under the impression that the author had done a bit of research and had spoken to some current opera singers in order to best portray her characters. Only when I got to the end of the book did I find that the author was a trained opera singer herself. And to that, I say:
I am very disappointed.
My first quibble:
As a singer myself and one, at the time of writing this review is in the throes of performing Donna Anna in 'Don Giovanni', maybe I'm not the target audience of this book. However, this is the very thing that piqued my interest as I was doing my own research for the opera. The author presents her knowledge of vocal and operatic terms and definitions in a very heavy-handed, almost patronizing way, as if she is bestowing some great gift to us by telling the reader about these terms and practices. This was pretty thick in the beginning of the book but thankfully lessened a bit as the story moved forward. And would a bass really move from playing Masetto directly to a Mefistofeles?
My second quibble:
The intended heroine of this story was pretty bland. I know she was supposed to be the one I identified with but she was far too weak for a vampire who had lived and survived and remade herself for over 250 years. I was far more interested in Ugo and his story (which was even told better, in my opinion), but we weren't given enough Ugo time. Maybe that's on purpose as the author is writing another story with him as the protagonist. But he was the more interesting character whereas Olivia was just a foil for the rest of the story. Even the 'big reveal' wasn't that big of a surprise. I predicted it halfway through the story.
My third quibble:
There was no actual Vampire mythos revealed. Obviously, the vampires in this story aren't the traditional vampires of Count Dracula, Lestat and Louis, or even Buffy the Vampire Slayer. These vampires could go out during the daytime (sans sparkle) and could eat real food and transfer vampirism with a single bite. We know that they couldn't touch holy water and felt 'uncomfortable' in churches. Could they only be killed by opening up the femoral artery? This was a different take on the literary vampire trope without giving us the actual rules of vampires in this author's world.
My fourth quibble:
The majority of Olivia's story, post-Mozart's death, took place in the 20th-21st century. Even if she never made it 'big time' until her current persona, wouldn't there have been photo documentation of her in roles? Recordings? One of the magical things about the advent of technology in the arts is that we can hear recordings of the famous singers in the early part of the art form in America, such as Caruso and Fremstad (mentioned in the book). Maybe her personas never got famous enough to record...maybe she actively avoided it, but I feel like that was something important that was overlooked (although kudos to stealing all the photographs in Australia).
Positives:
Despite my issues, the book wasn't poorly written. I do wish that the author would have made some different choices and expounded more on what made her book different from all the historical supernatural books out there (memories transferred through the vampire bite, the werewolf mythology, having to remake oneself in the performing arts every couple of decades, etc.).
When I read the acknowledgements and intro at the beginning, I was under the impression that the author had done a bit of research and had spoken to some current opera singers in order to best portray her characters. Only when I got to the end of the book did I find that the author was a trained opera singer herself. And to that, I say:
I am very disappointed.
My first quibble:
As a singer myself and one, at the time of writing this review is in the throes of performing Donna Anna in 'Don Giovanni', maybe I'm not the target audience of this book. However, this is the very thing that piqued my interest as I was doing my own research for the opera. The author presents her knowledge of vocal and operatic terms and definitions in a very heavy-handed, almost patronizing way, as if she is bestowing some great gift to us by telling the reader about these terms and practices. This was pretty thick in the beginning of the book but thankfully lessened a bit as the story moved forward. And would a bass really move from playing Masetto directly to a Mefistofeles?
My second quibble:
The intended heroine of this story was pretty bland. I know she was supposed to be the one I identified with but she was far too weak for a vampire who had lived and survived and remade herself for over 250 years. I was far more interested in Ugo and his story (which was even told better, in my opinion), but we weren't given enough Ugo time. Maybe that's on purpose as the author is writing another story with him as the protagonist. But he was the more interesting character whereas Olivia was just a foil for the rest of the story. Even the 'big reveal' wasn't that big of a surprise. I predicted it halfway through the story.
My third quibble:
There was no actual Vampire mythos revealed. Obviously, the vampires in this story aren't the traditional vampires of Count Dracula, Lestat and Louis, or even Buffy the Vampire Slayer. These vampires could go out during the daytime (sans sparkle) and could eat real food and transfer vampirism with a single bite. We know that they couldn't touch holy water and felt 'uncomfortable' in churches. Could they only be killed by opening up the femoral artery? This was a different take on the literary vampire trope without giving us the actual rules of vampires in this author's world.
My fourth quibble:
The majority of Olivia's story, post-Mozart's death, took place in the 20th-21st century. Even if she never made it 'big time' until her current persona, wouldn't there have been photo documentation of her in roles? Recordings? One of the magical things about the advent of technology in the arts is that we can hear recordings of the famous singers in the early part of the art form in America, such as Caruso and Fremstad (mentioned in the book). Maybe her personas never got famous enough to record...maybe she actively avoided it, but I feel like that was something important that was overlooked (although kudos to stealing all the photographs in Australia).
Positives:
Despite my issues, the book wasn't poorly written. I do wish that the author would have made some different choices and expounded more on what made her book different from all the historical supernatural books out there (memories transferred through the vampire bite, the werewolf mythology, having to remake oneself in the performing arts every couple of decades, etc.).