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A review by sdloomer
Roseblood by A.G. Howard
Did not finish book.
DNF @ 14%
--can I give this less than one star?--
I. Just. Can't. Anymore.
Let's make this a little more clear: I started this book once upon a naive time on Friday, March 3, 2017, and it is now April 25, 2017--more than a month and a half ago. To all of us readers who typically fly through books in mere days, this read time is a freaking lifetime. And then some.
Now, let's look at that completion progress. Fourteen percent. 14%. FOURTEEN MOTHERFUCKING PERCENT. I didn't even get to a quarter of the book. I didn't even get to the meat of the story. I didn't even get to the climax of the plot.
I'll tell you why. But let's start with basics first. At least, from what I could wrap my poor little head around in the less than 60 pages it suffered through.
The Plot: Special cupcake Rune Germain (don't even get me started on this poor excuse for a MC name. Really? Something like fucking Aphrodite would have been loads more interesting than that) has a problem. Like a hear-an-opera-song-once-and-than-must-vocally-copy-and-perfect-it-before-the-anxiety-blows-her-brains-out problem. O-kay....? I can get behind that, how'd she end up with this...medical (?) issue? Sorry! That's a key plot point that will be revealed later! Okay sure, I get that too, but what about the help Rune's gotten to try and relieve her? Ehhh, she and her parents decided they wouldn't tell anyone and just kind of fibbed about it her whole life. Don't worry though, this creepy new ghost boy at her new school will totally help her out though. In a weird and abusive way. Interested? Actually, no. And because I've already been spoiled about what her "condition" is, I will only bother to say that it's really, really, really cliche and uninspiring. And also disgusting and has a gross factor of bison shit. Aw well, at least we tried to be original and different!
The characters: All I could garner from Rune's first interactions with her mother in the limo to her new Parisian school for the first 30 FUCKING PAGES is that she's a spoiled, rich, white girl. With so many first world problems I almost quit after chapter one. Like, stop complaining to your mother because you're going to an elite music school in Paris, for crying out loud, and show some respect and humility. In other words: grow the fuck up.
I didn't stick around to find out Thorn's characterization or if he even got that much, because his first chapter mainly focused on the red swan he keeps as a pet. No, really. Also, I know what you are.
Sorry, wrong book.
THE GODFORSAKEN WRITING: How is it possible for the writing style and plot to be this atrocious? I usually don't rant about this too often in my reviews (exception: my New Moon review) but this was just so damnable to my reading experience that I literally just could not anymore. Call me petty or picky or a hater, but I don't understand how this even got published.
I'll try to put this into perspective:
From a more technical point of view, I felt like I was reading bad fanfiction off of tumblr. Sentence structures were all wonky and the descriptions read more like amateur writing at best:
Also, if you do not know anything about music, please do some research before writing a whole book that is supposedly based on it. Look, I'm not trying to say I'm an expert on music or know everything about it, but I come from a background of about 20 years of playing the piano and clarinet and performing in various orchestras and bands, so I think I'm okay to say I have more than the average person's experience. But I felt so disjointed and disconnected from this "music" I was reading about that I wasn't sure this book was less about music and more of an excuse to write a "tragic" love story (which it isn't) that has music scattered about for more interesting-ness.
An example: I know which Prokofiev opera the aria from the first few chapters is from, and I know which musical time period it was written in. However, in the book it is described as "beautiful and tragic...with a ghostly wail" and though the scene in the opera is pathetic (in the traditional sense of the word), it is supposed to be incredibly passionate, booming, and filled with intensity. Not like something out of Les Mis--full of whispers and delicacy. The Fiery Angel opera was written during the late 19th-20th century Russian period for Christ's sake! The time of greats like Stravinsky with his glorious Firebird ballet, Shostakovich, and Tchaikovsky! This time was when music was being pushed to its absolute limits and radical changes were being made to opera and ballet and orchestral content. At no one point during this period was anything "ghostly".
I've rambled on for far too long and am far too tired to continue, and I haven't even gotten to the absolute insult this is to Leroux's famous novel. I'm sure you all know by now: this doesn't even come close. Sure I can get that the story was inspired by the events of the classic book, but to completely rip off elements of it (like the actual character of Erik?) is no bueno in my opinion.
Anyway, read [b:Wintersong|24763621|Wintersong (Wintersong, #1)|S. Jae-Jones|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1479206906s/24763621.jpg|44394042] by S. Jae-Jones if you want a truly musical book, and I would advise anyone who has a brain to completely skip this. It's a waste of your time.
--can I give this less than one star?--
I. Just. Can't. Anymore.
Let's make this a little more clear: I started this book once upon a naive time on Friday, March 3, 2017, and it is now April 25, 2017--more than a month and a half ago. To all of us readers who typically fly through books in mere days, this read time is a freaking lifetime. And then some.
Now, let's look at that completion progress. Fourteen percent. 14%. FOURTEEN MOTHERFUCKING PERCENT. I didn't even get to a quarter of the book. I didn't even get to the meat of the story. I didn't even get to the climax of the plot.
I'll tell you why. But let's start with basics first. At least, from what I could wrap my poor little head around in the less than 60 pages it suffered through.
The Plot: Special cupcake Rune Germain (don't even get me started on this poor excuse for a MC name. Really? Something like fucking Aphrodite would have been loads more interesting than that) has a problem. Like a hear-an-opera-song-once-and-than-must-vocally-copy-and-perfect-it-before-the-anxiety-blows-her-brains-out problem. O-kay....? I can get behind that, how'd she end up with this...medical (?) issue? Sorry! That's a key plot point that will be revealed later! Okay sure, I get that too, but what about the help Rune's gotten to try and relieve her? Ehhh, she and her parents decided they wouldn't tell anyone and just kind of fibbed about it her whole life. Don't worry though, this creepy new ghost boy at her new school will totally help her out though. In a weird and abusive way. Interested? Actually, no. And because I've already been spoiled about what her "condition" is, I will only bother to say that it's really, really, really cliche and uninspiring. And also disgusting and has a gross factor of bison shit. Aw well, at least we tried to be original and different!
The characters: All I could garner from Rune's first interactions with her mother in the limo to her new Parisian school for the first 30 FUCKING PAGES is that she's a spoiled, rich, white girl. With so many first world problems I almost quit after chapter one. Like, stop complaining to your mother because you're going to an elite music school in Paris, for crying out loud, and show some respect and humility. In other words: grow the fuck up.
I didn't stick around to find out Thorn's characterization or if he even got that much, because his first chapter mainly focused on the red swan he keeps as a pet. No, really. Also, I know what you are.
Sorry, wrong book.
THE GODFORSAKEN WRITING: How is it possible for the writing style and plot to be this atrocious? I usually don't rant about this too often in my reviews (exception: my New Moon review) but this was just so damnable to my reading experience that I literally just could not anymore. Call me petty or picky or a hater, but I don't understand how this even got published.
I'll try to put this into perspective:
The problem is that as I've grown, [the gift has] become more demanding...an entity that controls me. Once a song speaks to my subconscious, the notes become a toxin I have to release through my diaphragm, my vocal cords, my tongue.Like, what? That's the best you could come up with as an "illness" and remedy? Look, a book can be focused on both music and a medical malady without having to mash them together into...whatever this is. Besides, this is a poor execution of describing a life with chronic illness anyway.
From a more technical point of view, I felt like I was reading bad fanfiction off of tumblr. Sentence structures were all wonky and the descriptions read more like amateur writing at best:
She was haloed by an aura that fluctuated between white and gray...purity and melancholy. She was unsettled at being here. Lost, even. [...] There was depth beneath this new arrival's veneer...the essence of light and life in its most raw: the energy of rhapsody. Music pulsed inside her blood--uncultivated and untamed. [...] Something something shit about chakra.This book takes itself so seriously, it's laughable--plus, you can just tell it's trying way too hard. Just fucking tell me he's curious and enticed by her. No need to fill up an entire paragraph by beating around the bush and dressing it up with fancy words and unnecessary metaphors. Show not tell, please, for the love of god.
Also, if you do not know anything about music, please do some research before writing a whole book that is supposedly based on it. Look, I'm not trying to say I'm an expert on music or know everything about it, but I come from a background of about 20 years of playing the piano and clarinet and performing in various orchestras and bands, so I think I'm okay to say I have more than the average person's experience. But I felt so disjointed and disconnected from this "music" I was reading about that I wasn't sure this book was less about music and more of an excuse to write a "tragic" love story (which it isn't) that has music scattered about for more interesting-ness.
An example: I know which Prokofiev opera the aria from the first few chapters is from, and I know which musical time period it was written in. However, in the book it is described as "beautiful and tragic...with a ghostly wail" and though the scene in the opera is pathetic (in the traditional sense of the word), it is supposed to be incredibly passionate, booming, and filled with intensity. Not like something out of Les Mis--full of whispers and delicacy. The Fiery Angel opera was written during the late 19th-20th century Russian period for Christ's sake! The time of greats like Stravinsky with his glorious Firebird ballet, Shostakovich, and Tchaikovsky! This time was when music was being pushed to its absolute limits and radical changes were being made to opera and ballet and orchestral content. At no one point during this period was anything "ghostly".
I've rambled on for far too long and am far too tired to continue, and I haven't even gotten to the absolute insult this is to Leroux's famous novel. I'm sure you all know by now: this doesn't even come close. Sure I can get that the story was inspired by the events of the classic book, but to completely rip off elements of it (like the actual character of Erik?) is no bueno in my opinion.
Anyway, read [b:Wintersong|24763621|Wintersong (Wintersong, #1)|S. Jae-Jones|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1479206906s/24763621.jpg|44394042] by S. Jae-Jones if you want a truly musical book, and I would advise anyone who has a brain to completely skip this. It's a waste of your time.