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Orpheum: Gods of Music and Madness
The first man I killed roared like an animal. I tore off his head with my fingertips.
I spent a decade becoming the best violinist in my state - but a single letter dashed my hopes of a musical career. Desperate to escape my sheltered existence, I took a mysterious offer from a music school in Bulgaria. The culture and my new classmates seemed magical at first... a little too magical. My blood runs dark and hot as new emotions awaken within me, along with supernatural abilities that take my music farther than I'd ever imagined. They tell me I'm the key to everything, but only if I can keep my head. That should have been easy. Instead, I follow my heart and kill everyone I loved.
Now I'm going to get them back. "I can honestly say I have never read a tale that swept my heart away, such as this." ★★★★★
Orpheum is a young adult dark fantasy romance based on Eastern European history, the myths and literature of Orpheus and Pythagoras' theory of the music of the spheres. Readers who loved This Savage Song and Strange the Dreamer will love this hypnotic mythological thriller.
"Amazingly enticing. I started out sceptical because this was not my typical type of read. I read the first few pages and could not put it down." ★★★★★
"Wow! Rich with mythic and legendary characters, haunting quotes, and mystery! I lost track of time , absorbed into the pages of this book." ★★★★★
"You can tell that the author of this book is talented. The story has more depth than any of the books I've read on kindle." ★★★★★
I spent a decade becoming the best violinist in my state - but a single letter dashed my hopes of a musical career. Desperate to escape my sheltered existence, I took a mysterious offer from a music school in Bulgaria. The culture and my new classmates seemed magical at first... a little too magical. My blood runs dark and hot as new emotions awaken within me, along with supernatural abilities that take my music farther than I'd ever imagined. They tell me I'm the key to everything, but only if I can keep my head. That should have been easy. Instead, I follow my heart and kill everyone I loved.
Now I'm going to get them back. "I can honestly say I have never read a tale that swept my heart away, such as this." ★★★★★
Orpheum is a young adult dark fantasy romance based on Eastern European history, the myths and literature of Orpheus and Pythagoras' theory of the music of the spheres. Readers who loved This Savage Song and Strange the Dreamer will love this hypnotic mythological thriller.
"Amazingly enticing. I started out sceptical because this was not my typical type of read. I read the first few pages and could not put it down." ★★★★★
"Wow! Rich with mythic and legendary characters, haunting quotes, and mystery! I lost track of time , absorbed into the pages of this book." ★★★★★
"You can tell that the author of this book is talented. The story has more depth than any of the books I've read on kindle." ★★★★★
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Published March 28, 2025
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
February 23, 2026
**Author has no respect for his characters nor his audience.**
The story feels forced and unfocused, events take too long to develop and characters are nothing more than shallow cliches with no depth, which is a shame because when you stop to think about it they are really tragic. Their lives are always difficult, they get thrusted into a world they can’t understand but must adapt to survive, and are forced to fight for a group of people as morally gray as the so-called bad guys. In theory it sounds great, but the book itself is a cringe fest where being good-looking is all that matters, and the tragic backstories take a backseat to the hand-fisted and, in this book, very problematic romance between a 16 year old girl and an immortal mythical creature.
The book is riddled with time skips, pacing issues, typos, and the cringest “hello fellow kids” moments I have ever read, such as making Sam a k-pop fan out of nowhere just to say she was wearing k-pop pajamas, and constantly describing her clothes like she’s a character from My Immortal.
Sam is 16 but she’s drinking all the time. She being a horney teenager I can understand, but I don’t like the oversexualization of these characters. There’s also a short mention of self harm that really pulled me off. Her classmates are all very interesting, especially Petrov who the book tries hard to paint him as a bully, but he’s the only person who does not bend over backwards for Sam and tells it like it is. I actually ended up liking him more than Denzi, the main love interest. There’s a character called Ryan that’s nothing but a plot device; anytime we need the plot to progress he pops up and leaves when things start moving.
Sam can describe her own reactions without looking at herself (at some point she describes how the whites in her eyes turn black), characters eye’s color change from chapter to chapter (Dionysus is introduced as having purple eyes, but they changed to green at some point). Sam, a 16 year old teenager from the early 2000’s refers to the bad guy as a mix of a young Bon Jovi and Edgar Allan Poe, also as having the charisma of an actor of adult content. How does she know any of those things? She’s too young to care about Bon Jovi, I don’t believe she knows about Poe, and how many adult content actors does she know to compare him against?
There’s several scenes ripped off from other books. Denzi’s house is described exactly as Edward Cullen’s house (the movie version, at least), and there’s a dart throwing scene that’s jarringly similar to the Divergent’s knife throwing scene. Also, Sam is always wearing blue clothes, just like Bella.
The saddest part about the author is that he doesn't realize how special his characters are and their potential. All he does is focus on appealing to an audience he can't understand or relate to in the first place, all in the hopes of ranking up some sales, but…look at Petrov! That guy is gorgeous, mischievous, confident, but he barely gets any screen time.
Look at Blake and his tragic past, he was brainwashed to fight for a cause he couldn’t understand and was denied the right to love.
Look at Denzi, who should be terrified of Sam dying the same horrible way his friend died. Denzi should hate Jeni for pulling a Dumbledore and using Sam for his own agenda even if it leads to her death.
Look at Stolina, who should be upset that they only use her for looks in spite of her talent as a musician and her own mythical powers.
Look at Sam herself, a teenager alienated from her peers for having a talent they can't appreciate and powers she can't understand.
It’s such a shame because I know that if the author relaxed a bit more and wrote as himself instead as a teenage girl he could produce something great.
The story feels forced and unfocused, events take too long to develop and characters are nothing more than shallow cliches with no depth, which is a shame because when you stop to think about it they are really tragic. Their lives are always difficult, they get thrusted into a world they can’t understand but must adapt to survive, and are forced to fight for a group of people as morally gray as the so-called bad guys. In theory it sounds great, but the book itself is a cringe fest where being good-looking is all that matters, and the tragic backstories take a backseat to the hand-fisted and, in this book, very problematic romance between a 16 year old girl and an immortal mythical creature.
The book is riddled with time skips, pacing issues, typos, and the cringest “hello fellow kids” moments I have ever read, such as making Sam a k-pop fan out of nowhere just to say she was wearing k-pop pajamas, and constantly describing her clothes like she’s a character from My Immortal.
Sam is 16 but she’s drinking all the time. She being a horney teenager I can understand, but I don’t like the oversexualization of these characters. There’s also a short mention of self harm that really pulled me off. Her classmates are all very interesting, especially Petrov who the book tries hard to paint him as a bully, but he’s the only person who does not bend over backwards for Sam and tells it like it is. I actually ended up liking him more than Denzi, the main love interest. There’s a character called Ryan that’s nothing but a plot device; anytime we need the plot to progress he pops up and leaves when things start moving.
Sam can describe her own reactions without looking at herself (at some point she describes how the whites in her eyes turn black), characters eye’s color change from chapter to chapter (Dionysus is introduced as having purple eyes, but they changed to green at some point). Sam, a 16 year old teenager from the early 2000’s refers to the bad guy as a mix of a young Bon Jovi and Edgar Allan Poe, also as having the charisma of an actor of adult content. How does she know any of those things? She’s too young to care about Bon Jovi, I don’t believe she knows about Poe, and how many adult content actors does she know to compare him against?
There’s several scenes ripped off from other books. Denzi’s house is described exactly as Edward Cullen’s house (the movie version, at least), and there’s a dart throwing scene that’s jarringly similar to the Divergent’s knife throwing scene. Also, Sam is always wearing blue clothes, just like Bella.
The saddest part about the author is that he doesn't realize how special his characters are and their potential. All he does is focus on appealing to an audience he can't understand or relate to in the first place, all in the hopes of ranking up some sales, but…look at Petrov! That guy is gorgeous, mischievous, confident, but he barely gets any screen time.
Look at Blake and his tragic past, he was brainwashed to fight for a cause he couldn’t understand and was denied the right to love.
Look at Denzi, who should be terrified of Sam dying the same horrible way his friend died. Denzi should hate Jeni for pulling a Dumbledore and using Sam for his own agenda even if it leads to her death.
Look at Stolina, who should be upset that they only use her for looks in spite of her talent as a musician and her own mythical powers.
Look at Sam herself, a teenager alienated from her peers for having a talent they can't appreciate and powers she can't understand.
It’s such a shame because I know that if the author relaxed a bit more and wrote as himself instead as a teenage girl he could produce something great.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 of 1 review