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A review by cami_readingjournal
RoseBlood by A.G. Howard
4.0
First of all, I blame it for adding a book to my already endless wishlist. I’m talking about The Phantom of the Opera by Leroux, which inspired Roseblood. I didn’t know anything about its plot, but now I’m definitely curious to read it!
Leroux’s novel plays an important role – Rune herself says, right at the beginning, to have read it many times. The Opera Ghost is a central character of the story, even if we don’t know much about him and, most of all, about his plan. Is he good or evil? Will his plan help Rune or not? Well, we can’t say much until the very end, cause the perspective is always overturned.
In Roseblood we also find the same dark atmosphere which characterized Splintered: the anguish feeling marks the whole book, increasing and decreasing according to the situation, but never leaving completely. It makes you be on the alert all the time and makes you suspicious of everyone and everything. Exactly what I expected from a book like this. We don’t know the true nature of the supernatural element until half of the book is over, so I spent most of my time racking my brain, trying to figure out what the h*ll was going on and where the truth lied!
I’m not an expert of opera and theatre, but I’ve much enjoyed this peculiarity: it isn’t so frequent to have a YA fantasy set in an art conservatory, is it? Rune extraordinary gift is also her greatest – and mysterious – problem: her voice. She has a beautiful voice, but she feels terribly sick every time she sings. For this reason, she is sent to Roseblood, where hopefully she will learn how to use her voice without consequences.
Obviously, nothing is ever so easy, you know. She has secrets, she isn’t accepted by some of the students and her problems seem quite odd. In addition to this, she sees a guy no one else ever saw.
In a few words, she appears a little crazy.
But that guy actually exist, his name is Thorn and he... well, I won’t say who he is!
Anyway, I loved the relationship between them, how they never saw each other face to face until over half of the book, and despite it, they share so many deep memories.
Okay, well, there’re so many things I would like to say, but I’m afraid to pass that blurred boundary between what I can say and what is a spoiler, so I stop here.
Just a last recommendation: if you like dark/gothic fantasy – especially if you liked Splintered – read this book cause it lived up to my expectations, and I assure you they were quite high!
Leroux’s novel plays an important role – Rune herself says, right at the beginning, to have read it many times. The Opera Ghost is a central character of the story, even if we don’t know much about him and, most of all, about his plan. Is he good or evil? Will his plan help Rune or not? Well, we can’t say much until the very end, cause the perspective is always overturned.
In Roseblood we also find the same dark atmosphere which characterized Splintered: the anguish feeling marks the whole book, increasing and decreasing according to the situation, but never leaving completely. It makes you be on the alert all the time and makes you suspicious of everyone and everything. Exactly what I expected from a book like this. We don’t know the true nature of the supernatural element until half of the book is over, so I spent most of my time racking my brain, trying to figure out what the h*ll was going on and where the truth lied!
I’m not an expert of opera and theatre, but I’ve much enjoyed this peculiarity: it isn’t so frequent to have a YA fantasy set in an art conservatory, is it? Rune extraordinary gift is also her greatest – and mysterious – problem: her voice. She has a beautiful voice, but she feels terribly sick every time she sings. For this reason, she is sent to Roseblood, where hopefully she will learn how to use her voice without consequences.
Obviously, nothing is ever so easy, you know. She has secrets, she isn’t accepted by some of the students and her problems seem quite odd. In addition to this, she sees a guy no one else ever saw.
In a few words, she appears a little crazy.
But that guy actually exist, his name is Thorn and he... well, I won’t say who he is!
Anyway, I loved the relationship between them, how they never saw each other face to face until over half of the book, and despite it, they share so many deep memories.
Okay, well, there’re so many things I would like to say, but I’m afraid to pass that blurred boundary between what I can say and what is a spoiler, so I stop here.
Just a last recommendation: if you like dark/gothic fantasy – especially if you liked Splintered – read this book cause it lived up to my expectations, and I assure you they were quite high!