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A review by sarag19
Nocturne by Alyssa Wees
3.0
***ARC received from Del Rey Books and NetGalley in exchange for honest review, opinions are all my own. Thank you!***
Nocturne in the sophomore novel from Alyss Wees set in Chicago during the depression era of the 1930s. It follows Grace, a ballet companies newest prima ballerina who must unravel the mysteries of her new patron, Master La Rosa. The books draws inspiration from Phantom of the Opera, Beauty and the Beast with a sprinkling of the myth of Persephone. Yet for all those inspirations it still does feel like its own story when it wants to.
Grace as a main lead is not strong enough to carry this book on her own. She is consistently being told what to do by others and has little agency as a character. When she does finally come into her own it, feels to abrupt and to close to the end of the book. We don’t really get to follow along with her on that journey because even almost to the end of the book she is still more than willing to do what others want of her and not trust her own heart. What I did like about Grace was when she was interacting with other characters, in particular Emilia and some of the other ballerinas. The friendship between Emilia and Grace is beautiful, Emilia is the supporting family that Grace needs after the loss of her own family. I wish the book had focused more on their friendship as when they are together is a wonderful read. There is a romance but its not really fleshed out enough to root for them. In fact, Emilia’s romance with her fiance felt more fleshed out and realistic than the main romance.
The writing is beautiful but it is heavy. At times it is lovely and lyrical, bringing scenes alive with beautiful descriptions until it becomes convoluted and heavy handed. When the book is going over ballet and taking place in Chicago its great you can feel the authors love for Chicago and brings it alive. Yet in the second part it spends less time in Chicago and starts to get too heavy. There were whole sections that I simply got lost at what the author was trying to do. Its not bad just that the descriptions become so much, the details written in these long over the top sentence that cause the details to get lost, trying to be beautiful and hiding the fact that its not really doing anything.
It was in the third part that the book really lost me, it felt like it was trying to break away from those stories it was drawing inspiration from. I didn’t hate it but I felt like there wasn’t much build up to it because everything is jammed into the end of the book instead of developing over the book. Maybe if the book had been longer or maybe spread out more it would have been better.
Overall its an unbalanced book with a strong start, shaky middle section and overwhelmed ending with beautiful but at times heavy writing.
Nocturne in the sophomore novel from Alyss Wees set in Chicago during the depression era of the 1930s. It follows Grace, a ballet companies newest prima ballerina who must unravel the mysteries of her new patron, Master La Rosa. The books draws inspiration from Phantom of the Opera, Beauty and the Beast with a sprinkling of the myth of Persephone. Yet for all those inspirations it still does feel like its own story when it wants to.
Grace as a main lead is not strong enough to carry this book on her own. She is consistently being told what to do by others and has little agency as a character. When she does finally come into her own it, feels to abrupt and to close to the end of the book. We don’t really get to follow along with her on that journey because even almost to the end of the book she is still more than willing to do what others want of her and not trust her own heart. What I did like about Grace was when she was interacting with other characters, in particular Emilia and some of the other ballerinas. The friendship between Emilia and Grace is beautiful, Emilia is the supporting family that Grace needs after the loss of her own family. I wish the book had focused more on their friendship as when they are together is a wonderful read. There is a romance but its not really fleshed out enough to root for them. In fact, Emilia’s romance with her fiance felt more fleshed out and realistic than the main romance.
The writing is beautiful but it is heavy. At times it is lovely and lyrical, bringing scenes alive with beautiful descriptions until it becomes convoluted and heavy handed. When the book is going over ballet and taking place in Chicago its great you can feel the authors love for Chicago and brings it alive. Yet in the second part it spends less time in Chicago and starts to get too heavy. There were whole sections that I simply got lost at what the author was trying to do. Its not bad just that the descriptions become so much, the details written in these long over the top sentence that cause the details to get lost, trying to be beautiful and hiding the fact that its not really doing anything.
It was in the third part that the book really lost me, it felt like it was trying to break away from those stories it was drawing inspiration from. I didn’t hate it but I felt like there wasn’t much build up to it because everything is jammed into the end of the book instead of developing over the book. Maybe if the book had been longer or maybe spread out more it would have been better.
Overall its an unbalanced book with a strong start, shaky middle section and overwhelmed ending with beautiful but at times heavy writing.