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40 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Magnifico!!!, July 10, 2010
She is over 200 years old. Her name is Octavia Voss, and she is an Opera Diva renowned around the world. Her voice is that of an angel, sweet, yet powerful. Her resonance comes from the very blood that flows through her delicate veins, the blood of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The maestro's music, his memories, his every thought and stroke of genius, has poured through Octavia's heart forever since the day they were both bitten in Prague by a Czechoslovakian Countess. Centuries old, the beautiful Octavia has transformed her life time and again, aspiring as one shining Opera star after another, under many names in many places.
She was born Teresa Saporiti in a small Italian village and ran away from home to seek a life of song. Landing in Milan she begins a promising career as her singing talent soon gains for her the life she had always dreamed of. Traveling the world on the opera stage, she finally meets the famous composer Wolfgang Mozart and is entranced by the emotion he weaves into his music. One evening after the curtain falls, sitting next to Mozart and a stunning Countess on his piano bench, Teresa's world soon turns upside down as she feels a sudden bite, and frantically whisks away blood on her throat. With horror she learns she is now a vampire. Mozart was bitten first, followed by Teresa, so now she has shared his blood and will forever have his memories and music pounding her heart and rushing her life blood towards a life of music and living by the thirst. Agelessly moving through time she is Teresa of Milan, America's Helene Singher, Vivian Anderson in Melbourne, and currently Octavia Voss, world's most loved opera queen.
In 1906 while doing her tour in San Francisco, she meets a man who will become her constant companion and protector. His name is Ughetto. Octavia meets this enigmatic handsome man on the docks of the Ferry Building as he emerges out of the fog to tell her he was sent there to watch her by a secret society called La Societa. They are the elders of the vampiric world who watch over their fledglings to ensure that their kind is protected, and that their numbers are kept to a minimum. But as the two new friends endure the tragedy of the 1906 earthquake, Octavia learns that Ughetto also has the gift of voice, and that he too has a hideous secret of his own. In 18th century Tripani Italy, Ughetto was born lupo mannaro, a werewolf.
For this dynamic couple, who although are not lovers, enduring the struggle to survive year after year protecting each other's secrets and sins as they are forced to hunt, drink, and yet shine in the limelight of Opera's most memorable performances, life is precarious. Constantly fleeing from one city to the next, from one century to another as they never grow old, vigilantly keeping themselves from letting loose the demons within them, Ughetto and Octavia cling to their innocence and hide in the shadows when the beasts overcome them and they are forced to drink. Villains chase them wanting immortality, turning their battles into scenes of blood soaked carnage as they are kidnapped, tortured, and forced against their will to transform others into the very dark creatures they have become.
This novel is no chic-lit paranormal romance. This is serious vampire literature and one of the best I've come across in years. Marley's writing is outstanding and very polished. The story bursts with breathtaking passionate scenes of emotional torment, the operatic voices vibrate off the page, her characters are crafted with depth and humanity, and the plot is very inventive. This is a story with soul, one that is a cut above all the rest of the vampire fiction out there now that is being mass produced like paper dolls. Dripping with 18th century history, Mozart's Blood is a sensational read not to be missed for any fans of vampire novels and I personally am hoping for a sequel. Bravo! I stand up and applaud!!!!
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19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A captivating and different kind of historical paranormal., June 29, 2010
This book took me in a multimedia journey using my own memories and the author's words to perceive the marvelous world of Teresa/Octavia, Ughetto/Ugo, Wolfgang, Zdenka, Massimo, Domenico, and the Elders.
The curse and the blessing of Mozart's Blood accrues the suspense throughout the book, and kept me turning pages frantically. The main characters were granted the gift of immortality without choice, and become the target of evil beings who want the same power, and would stop at nothing in order to get it.
Never before a book had me recollecting other books I read, movies I watched, or music I heard. Particularly the music. Some parts of Mozart's Blood are exquisite in its beauty and details, like when Octavia discovers the most exciting of her gifts. While others are painfully to the point of tears, like the beauty of the opera darkened by the cruel fate of the castrati. Which made me ponder about the many times `the end justified the means' to achieve glorious music.
Ugo's story touched me the most, from the young Ughetto sold by his family to be made a castrato, to when he becomes Octavia's protective companion.
Even though Teresa/Octavia is the main character, I couldn't sympathize with her as I did with Ughetto/Ugo. However, I enjoyed Teresa's past. Except her obsession with Mozart. Really? Yes, her groupie attitude drove nuts a couple of times.
I would have liked more romance in the book. Still, I understand this book is about the love for the music, the camaraderie between two lonely and suffering souls, immortality, and of course, Mozart's Blood.
About the Elders, well, they are monsters, but at some point I found them pitiful and tender, like if they were harmless children. I even felt they deserve to have what they craved.
In spite of being a 422 pages book, I read it swiftly, when it came to its end I was like, what? It's over? I want a sequel, yeah, there is so much I want to see happening to these characters.
I love the ending. Just perfect. The author managed a complete punishment for the villain.
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Enjoyable and completely unlike other vamp lit!, July 18, 2010
This review is from: Mozart's Blood (Kindle Edition)
Usually vampire books follow a certain formula. Vamp runs into human, human falls for vamp, vamp tells human about his/her condition, human has a hard time dealing with it, human deals with it and becomes a vamp. Oh, and it seems to be that there is usually a werewolf or shapeshifter thrown in the mix somewhere. And the whole time, the vamp is having some sort of existential crisis.
Not in this book. Sure, there are humans and vamps and even a werewolf - but that's where the similarities end. This book is all about the music. I would say it's a book about music that happens to have a vampire in it rather than it's a vampire book. The main characters are the vampire and the werewolf, but there is no romantic involvement. There are a few instances of the vamps making the decision whether or not to turn a human, but it's nothing like the other novels I've read.
It started out a bit slow and I was thinking for the first few chapters that it wouldn't be that good. But by chapter 5 or so, I was hooked and couldn't wait to see what would happen next. This book has some history thrown in, and that makes it even more interesting.
The only bad thing is it ended too soon! I really would like to see what happens next, so hopefully there will be a sequel.
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