Book Review: Strange Sweet Song

Title: Strange Sweet Song

Author: Adi Rule

Genre: Gothic romance/fantasy/pure awesomeness

Book Blurb:

A young soprano enrolls in a remote music academy where nothing, not even her mysterious young vocal coach, is as it seems

Outside Dunhammond Conservatory, there lies a dark forest. And in the forest, they say, lives a great beast called the Felix. But Sing da Navelli never put much faith in the rumors and myths surrounding the school; music flows in her blood, and she is there to sing for real. This prestigious academy will finally give her the chance to prove her worth—not as the daughter of world-renowned musicians—but as an artist and leading lady in her own right.

Yet despite her best efforts, there seems to be something missing from her voice. Her doubts about her own talent are underscored by the fact that she is cast as the understudy in the school's production of her favorite opera, Angelique. Angelique was written at Dunhammond, and the legend says that the composer was inspired by forest surrounding the school, a place steeped in history, magic, and danger. But was it all a figment of his imagination, or are the fantastic figures in the opera more than imaginary? 

Sing must work with the mysterious Apprentice Nathan Daysmoor as her vocal coach, who is both her harshest critic and staunchest advocate. But Nathan has secrets of his own, secrets that are entwined with the myths and legends surrounding Dunhammond, and the great creature they say lives there.

Review:

What a stunning debut novel! Adi "Rules" the pages with Strange Sweet Song. This is one of those books that start off good and just keeps getting better and better as the plot moves on. It's kind of like getting hypnotized and getting drawn into the story the more you read...in my case, I started this book thinking it was okay/good. Maybe 3-4 stars at that point.

And then...halfway through the book, I began to realize Hey, this is actually really quite good! The plot is starting to make sense now! And I would've probably rated Strange Sweet Song a solid 4 stars at that point.

And then BAM the last third of the book was pure magic. A solid 4.5 stars (rounded up to 5 stars on Goodreads.) I know I've found a gem the moment I finished this novel...it's one of those books that linger on your mind long after you've read the last pages...basically my reaction once I closed the book:

The plot...oh man...the plot was simply amazing. Readers be warned before you take on this book: the story starts out being told from multiple points of view, and from different periods of time. But about 1/2 through the novel, everything catches up together and all the pieces fall in place. It was kind of like an Ah-ha! moment for me once I realized how some of the character from the past relate to the ones in the present.

I think it was really helpful knowing ahead of time the way the novel was going to be structured, or else I probably would've been confused by the jumping back and forth in time stuff going on (hey--what can I say? I get confused easily!)

However, my favorite part of the plot is that it is sooo original! It's been ages since I've read a book that has such an original plot. There are no totalitarian governments, there are no zombies running around, there are no love triangles, there is no weird mutant disease plaguing the world, there is none of that cliche stuff that I've been reading so much (not saying I don't like the whole dystopian theme, but it's nice to broaden my view.) Instead, you get characters coming alive from an opera called "Angelique" set in a modern day boarding school (later I learned that the opera doesn't really exist--but for the whole duration of the story, I believed that Rule was actually basing part of her novel off of an actual opera--so bravo! Rule sure had me "tricked"...that's how good the writing was.)

I loved how Rule paced the book as well. Even though the book doesn't exactly hook readers in with a heart-pounding action scene, it still catches one's attention by having the opening scene told through a crow's perspective. And from there, the  plot just keeps on snowballing downwards and gaining momentum.

And the characters! I liked Sing, the main character. She struggles with finding her identity; on one hand, she wants to fill the shoes her (dead) mother left...but on the other hand, she wants to express her own opinions and beliefs as well. (*cues "Who Am I" from Les Mis*)

But I think my favorite character is Apprentice Daysmoor, aka Playspoor. How does one goes from loathing a character to loving him within the span of 100-150 pages? At the beginning, Apprentice Daysmoor (nicknamed Playspoor due to his one and only terrible public piano performance--a great shame for a student of a prestigious music school) because he seemed to hate the world and did nothing bu aggravate those around him. But then...things began to click in my brain as the chapters being written in past tense begin to add up to tell readers the true story regarding Apprentice Daysmoor. Let's just say he's more than he seems, shall we?

Adi Rule really has a distinctive writing style which I find complements the contents of this book quite well. Her sentences flow and her words are lyrical. I think the best comparison I can give is that Beautiful Creatures is written in a somewhat lyrical style as well. Don't get me wrong here--I'm not saying the words are written in stanzas or anything like that. But the word choice really contributes to the whole music-y atmosphere. If a song could be transformed into a book, this would be it.

Okay...so wow...I've written quite a lot for this review. All I can say is that if you like gothic romance, fairy tales (or remixes of fairy tales) or paranormal books, then Strange Sweet Song is the book for you!

Oh, and before I forget, be sure to check out this chat with Adi Rule!

Rating: