I so wanted to love this book… on paper it was everything I like.
Young adult with a bit of horror *chef’s kiss*
But I found it lacking, it’s like it doesn’t know what it wants to be. It’s part Black Swan, with echoes of Phantom of the Opera, classic Faustian deal, all set against a modern protagonist who is battling against class and race prejudice.
I don’t understand Josephine’s motives and why she’s so quick to let Laure in on her secret and take her to Acheron. “ it wants more of us” doesn’t really explain anything. And the constant inner battle of Laure thinking she’s not good enough without her ‘power’ but is undeserving of a place with it is tiresome.
The cover art doesn’t allude to ballet at all and looks more like a horror / slasher genre, when infact the story is 85% about ballet alongside a little horror and a smattering of murder mystery and social commentary about elitism in ballet.
One redeeming feature is that I did feel compelled to finish the story to see how it goes. And as someone who will DNF quite happily that says a lot.
Young adult with a bit of horror *chef’s kiss*
But I found it lacking, it’s like it doesn’t know what it wants to be. It’s part Black Swan, with echoes of Phantom of the Opera, classic Faustian deal, all set against a modern protagonist who is battling against class and race prejudice.
I don’t understand Josephine’s motives and why she’s so quick to let Laure in on her secret and take her to Acheron. “ it wants more of us” doesn’t really explain anything. And the constant inner battle of Laure thinking she’s not good enough without her ‘power’ but is undeserving of a place with it is tiresome.
The cover art doesn’t allude to ballet at all and looks more like a horror / slasher genre, when infact the story is 85% about ballet alongside a little horror and a smattering of murder mystery and social commentary about elitism in ballet.
One redeeming feature is that I did feel compelled to finish the story to see how it goes. And as someone who will DNF quite happily that says a lot.