Review: RoseBlood by A.G. Howard

RoseBlood by A.G. Howard

Published January 10th 2017

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.

I haven’t read or seen Phantom of the Opera so I was really interested to learn about it in this retelling. I also enjoyed A.G. Howard’s Splintered so I was excited to read another book from her.
There was quite a bit of info dumping, especially in the first few chapters. I thought there was more complicated backstory than necessary but once I got past that, I enjoyed the book a lot more.
I really liked the concept of this book. It was so weird but I loved the odd and creepy aspect of the RoseBlood. The whole book was really creative and different.
The characters were fine. I didn’t hate them or find them annoying but I didn’t fall head over heels with them either. But I think others could really love Rune.
There wasn’t a whole lot of action like I expected (I don’t even know why I expected a lot of action and excitement but I did) so it did get a bit slow for me but it wasn’t terrible.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I think if I had connected with the characters more and there had been more action, I would have loved this book. But that’s totally a personal preference so that shouldn’t really stop you from trying this book out. If you’re a fan of Phantom of the Opera, I think you’ll love RoseBlood.