RoseBlood by A. G. Howard

* I received an advanced reader copy of this book from Indigo Books & Music Inc. in exchange for an honest review. #indigoemployee *

"In this modern day spin on Leroux’s gothic tale of unrequited love turned to madness, seventeen-year-old Rune Germain has a mysterious affliction linked to her operatic talent, and a horrifying mistake she’s trying to hide. Hoping creative direction will help her, Rune’s mother sends her to a French arts conservatory for her senior year, located in an opera house rumored to have ties to The Phantom of the Opera.

At RoseBlood, Rune secretly befriends the masked Thorn—an elusive violinist who not only guides her musical transformation through dreams that seem more real than reality itself, but somehow knows who she is behind her own masks. As the two discover an otherworldly connection and a soul-deep romance blossoms, Thorn’s dark agenda comes to light and he’s forced to make a deadly choice: lead Rune to her destruction, or face the wrath of the phantom who has haunted the opera house for a century, and is the only father he’s ever known." (goodreads)

When I first heard of RoseBlood, I wanted to read it for two main reasons. First, being that I read the first Splintered novel, loved it, and wanted to give the new book a chance. (I have not yet read beyond the first Splintered book because it ended so perfectly for me.) And second, I don't know anything about Phantom of the Opera. I have not read it, or watched it, or heard the music from it and wanted to know what going into a retelling blind was like.

As expected, going into a retelling with no knowledge on the original was weird. I was lost and confused, and I felt I was missing major connections or inside jokes that the author was making. I immediately disliked the main character, Rune. I thought she was whinny, weirdly obsessive with music, and just annoyed how she randomly had a thought to an incident that happened in the past, refused to elaborate on it, and then let it go until the next time she randomly thought of it. I was explaining my thoughts on the book to a coworker who said that was pretty characteristic for Christine, the main character in Phantom of the Opera. Not only was I missing out on the connections from the original to the retelling, I was clearly missing major character information. I had no idea of the main story line, I had no sense on who the characters were and I couldn't feel that I was making any connection with the book.

I told two coworkers about RoseBlood, the Phantom of the Opera retelling. One said she was so excited to read it, because she obviously loved everything about it. The other said how she understands Phantom of the Opera is a book itself, how can one possible DO Phantom of the Opera without music!?

I thought this to be two very interesting reactions.

I love A. G. Howard's retellings and I will always read whatever she writes.  Unfortunately, this one just wasn't for me..

I do believe I would have enjoyed this more if I had been a fan or even knew anything about Phantom of the Opera. It was difficult to read a retelling without knowing the original. I did want to enjoy it. I have put RoseBlood down for now, I plan on trying to read it again after watching and maybe reading Phantom of the Opera. It will be interesting to see how and if my second review will change.

My Rating: DNF