A review by margueritestjust
Sing Me Forgotten by Jessica S. Olson

dark funny tense medium-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

4.25

Billed as a Phantom of the Opera retelling, I'd argue that this book is Phantom slightly to the left and then fully off the rails, with strong similarities to The Hunchback of Notre-Dame working their way through, and enough magic to make this story unique enough to stand on its own footing.

One thing that makes this story stand apart from other Phantom retellings or even adaptations is the swap that centers the Phantom (in this case Isda) as the main character, rather than the Christine (Emeric).  (For those keeping track, there is no Raoul equivalent.  Boo, we hate that.  I feel a little ripped off without him.)  Rather than Isda being a mysterious character, whose past and motivations are hidden, they're front and center - and she's the narrator to boot.  But there are other mysteries to reveal, ones from both Emeric's past and her own life that carry the major plot threads.  Another quality that differentiates Isda from Erik is that she has a father figure in the man who saved her, Cyril, who (MAJOR spoiler)
turns out to be more like Claude Frollo than I would have hoped for :/  Still, the twist is not unbelievable. 
  And rather than existing as one-of-a-kind, Isda is a gravoir, a subclass (both in terms of categorizaton and social standing) of people who are able to control memories - something that will probably be the biggest hurdle for readers who are coming into this expecting a simple retelling.  It was a little difficult to follow at first, given that I didn't even know that this was a fantasy book, but I truly think it became the most compelling plot thread of the entire book.

I liked the character writing - though I jokingly referred to this book as "girlboss phantom" to my friend, I deeply enjoyed the darker side of Isda, but felt somewhat disappointed when those traits didn't stick.  And for the first third of the book or so, I was half convinced that Emeric would not stop snarking for anything.  Practically everything that came out of his mouth was some witticism that nearly put me off entirely.  But by about the end of the first act, there was a turning point where the stakes became much more real and the characters themselves became much more compelling. 
When Isda threatens him and throws a burning candle at his face, I was like YES!  FINALLY!  Lol
 

I even enjoyed the romance, much as it shocks me to say. 
It helps that Isda never truly reaches the depths of the original Phantom's depravities and remains much more sympathetic throughout - and it's clear that she was manipulated by Cyril and actually faces many more actual harms from the people of not-Paris than seen in the original material with Erik.  It also helps that there was no better option in the form of Raoul.  Diehard E/C fans may hate me for that, but it's 2023 let's move on.  Anyways, the part where she siphoned off his memories was truly saddening, and where she nearly stole everything from him in the Opera house was *chef kiss*.  I also liked the fact that it didn't end with a happy ending - it wouldn't really be Phantom if it didn't.  I was almost half-convinced that the author would fully kill off Emeric, which is impressive enough given that by convention of the genre, I knew he would probably survive, so like, actual A+ on the stakes there.
  And once you get past the jarring quality of the banter in the first act, you come to actually quite enjoy it - the frequent greetings of Albert the skull became charming and endearing. 

I'll say that the writing itself in terms of craft was somewhat lacking, particularly in the first act, which dealt with dialogue that was really jarring - even though this story is set in a world not our own, it's still set in a funhouse mirror version of Paris likely sometime in the late 19th century as the original Phantom story by Gaston Leroux is.  So it was quite strange to hear the love interest, even if a teenager, to refer to himself as a "kind of guy" in passing.  You are not any kind of guy.  You're a young man perhaps.  Some of the writing fell into the trap of flowery language of poeticism that your eyes just end up glossing over because it's not really saying anything, a trap that's fairly typical for writing in this genre and age group.

However, what will draw the reader in is a strong undercurrent of suspense, along with sympathetic characters whose fates precariously hang in the balance.  Once the second act begins, the gothic atmosphere and endlessly thrumming tension really makes the novel begin to come alive.  Plus, she's not afraid to have character's more vicious natures rear their heads, which is always a treat.  For all that the beginning of this book bemused me, I was hooked and barrelled through all of it in one night.  For a debut novel, Olson shows strong talent and I would definitely read more of her work in the future.  Plus she thanked her husband(?) for being the man who inspired Emeric, which is simply so cute, I live for that kind of thing.  For all I ragged on it over texts to my best friend, I actually really ended up enjoying #girlboss phantom, and I think other readers will too.  There's plenty of heart that comes through, and the ending is utterly perfect for the story that was told.  
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