Reviews tagging 'Child death'

A Forgery of Roses by Jessica S. Olson

4 reviews

annaparente's review

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Nothing is as it seems. Ever.

Including this book! I think this book would be classified as midlist: profitable, but not bestselling, and chances are most people don’t know about it. Personally, I wouldn’t have known this book existed if it weren’t for picking up Sing Me Forgotten on a whim and loved the writing style enough to read both. Each book is also deceptively short, and there were a lot of layers fit into under 400 pages.

The Good

The writing style was so gorgeous! I had a feeling it would be, since the writing style of Olson’s previous book, Sing Me Forgotten, was the main reason I decided to read this one. I also feel like the writing makes the voice of Myra so much stronger. For example, she describes colors using the paint colors she’s familiar with because she’s a painter. Where most other characters in the novel, had they been narrating, just said ‘red’, she would say ‘alizarin’ or ‘crimson’.

The magic system was so unique and interesting! I think this is really where Olson thrives, because the magic system in her previous book was so unique as well. I feel like this is where most of the Picture of Dorian Gray inspiration comes in, because plot-wise it’s a pretty loose retelling. I also loved how it was established that healing someone through painting cannot work for everything. This prevented it from being a cure-all to every bad situation in the book.

The plot twists were incredible, and really well thought-out. I guessed a few minor things here and there, but most of the major twists caught me by surprise. There’s a lot of foreshadowing for them too, so I recognized the clues but just refused to put them together, and I loved it.

Around halfway through the novel, there’s a pretty major shift in the plot, and a lot of new plot lines and characters are introduced. This felt a little jarring at first, though not entirely unexpected (I didn’t think Myra would stay at the manor for the entire book). It’s all tied together very well in the end. I absolutely love how all the different plot threads came together.

I loved all the characters, but August stood out the most. He was just so sweet, and I loved his and Myra’s slowly-developing relationship over the course of the novel (even if it was insta-love at its finest). I also appreciated the anxiety representation.

The Bad

As much as I liked the writing style, I don’t know if I can bear to see the word alizarin every again.

The whole theme about ‘our personal struggles only make us stronger’ felt a little heavy handed. It was nice, I appreciated the idea of it… it just came off a little too strong.

Though the Artist religion was very significant to the plot, I thought it might play a larger role thematically. It’s alright that it didn’t, but when I first opened the book I was expecting a little more.

I wish there had been a touch more worldbuilding. The magic system was very well-developed but the world was kind of a generic early 1900’s Europe.

Overall

I think this book followed the plot of Dorian Gray less than Sing Me Forgotten followed The Phantom of the Opera (I need to stop comparing these two books but on the surface they are very similar). You also don’t need to have read Dorian Gray to appreciate this book. I read a children’s version of it when I was eleven or twelve and don’t remember much of the plot at all, yet I enjoyed this book just fine (though I did look up a plot summary of the original on Wikipedia, but that neither enhanced nor detracted from my reading experience).

In all, it was a lovely, lovely reading experience, and I will certainly be picking up Olson’s next book, whatever it may be.

Content Warnings

krystlethegreat's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

Enjoyable read! Great YA fanatastical mystery.

Content Warnings

_ladypearce_'s review

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emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I think that this is a really solid ya fantasy, but I just didn’t care about the characters that much. About halfway through I was like “im just gonna finish this because I want to know who the killer is.” I got to a point where I just didn’t really care but I did finish it so there’s that.

Content Warnings

ofpagesandink's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This book is heavy and dark. It's mysterious and beautiful. Jessica Olson is so descriptive with her work it's like you're there.

So many twists and turns and it really kept me guessing. Nothing felt obvious or used as just a way to drive the plot. Everything was well planned and well executed.

Pacing was great. A good mix of slow where necessary and fast when needed.

The magic is balanced and there is growth and character development. There are lessons to be learned here. I really enjoyed this read.

Content Warnings

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