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The Black Opera (2012)

by Mary Gentle(Favorite Author)

3.28 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

0575083492 (ISBN13: 9780575083493)

languge

English

genre

Horror

publisher

Orion

review 1: As a huge fan of opera and historical fiction, I giddily picked this book up when I found it used for a few dollars. It starts off strong and captured my attention well, but I'm giving it a poor score for completely draining my sympathy for most of the main characters. Well written (save for a few confusing POV switches at fairly inappropriate times), well-researched historically and musically, but the author is blatant with her favoritism amongst her characters and allows the most despicable to go unpunished. Not a bad read, however, and others may feel differently about said characters than I do.
review 2: The premise of Mary Gentle's latest novel is an interesting one, but the whole just doesn't hang together well. Magic, music and mid 19th century Italia... moren politics ought to be a fantastic setting, but the plot lacks pace. The concept of a magical opera isn't sufficiently well realised or explained to be credible - there are just too many unanswered questions. While the idea of mirroring the elements of traditional opera plots in the main plot (love triangle, girl dressing as a boy etc) is a clever one, it feels trite and simplistic in execution. Above all, the ending fails to convince, either in the resolution of the love triangle or the fate of one of the characters. less

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