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A Forgery of Roses
- Narrated by: Billie Fulford-Brown
- Length: 11 hrs and 3 mins
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A Forgery of Roses
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Summary
Myra has a gift many would kidnap, blackmail, and worse to control: she's a portrait artist whose paintings alter people's bodies. Guarding that secret is the only way to keep her younger sister safe now that their parents are gone. But one frigid night, the governor's wife discovers the truth and threatens to expose Myra if she does not complete a special portrait that would resurrect the governor's dead son.
Once she arrives at the legendary stone mansion, however, it becomes clear the boy's death was no accident. A killer stalks these halls – one disturbingly obsessed with portrait magic. Desperate to get out of the manor as quickly as possible, Myra turns to the governor's older son for help completing the painting before the secret she spent her life concealing makes her the killer's next victim.
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Critic reviews
"A heady blend of the fantastical, the murderous, and the romantic." (Kirkus Reviews, starred review)
"Both fascinating and novel...it will attract fantasy fans as well as the artistically inclined."(Booklist)
"Marvelously magical and steeping with mystery, A Forgery of Roses checks all the boxes you could want in a fantasy. With a highly creative magic system reminiscent of The Picture of Dorian Gray and a lush romance, Olson's newest is an absolute stunner that's sure to be a crowd pleaser." (Adalyn Grace, New York Times bestselling author of All the Stars and Teeth)
What listeners say about A Forgery of Roses
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Leena
- 03-11-22
Georgy-poo the frog killed it for me (dnf)
This book sounded so interesting but was just a bit off a mess. The world building is a weird mix of modern concepts like genetics and modern language but with Victorian vibes. I also don’t get why people would hate prodigy’s so much when their magic would be so sought after by the rich, and as the rich make the laws surely the world would orientate towards accepting them. Also again modern concepts like genetics were mentioned but the MC doesn’t seem to question the creationist story of their God aka The Painter who painted the world into existence (in a day?). Finally as a biologist with a chronic illness I love a bit of representation but there is a way to do it subtly and this was more like *fanfare* my I proudly present my disability character.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- E| Pell
- 04-03-24
Very confusing fantasy world
To be honest, I just got fed up with it by the end. If I’d been rating the first half of the book, I’d probably give it 4 stars, but then I hated almost everything about the second half, from the increasingly convoluted plot, to the bizarre character decisions, to the impossibly improbable reveal at the end that felt like the author was cheating rather than creating a real mystery. There are many things that were left unexplained, including the title, which bears no connection to the plot and an epilogue that seemed to inexplicably tease further sequels even though it felt, mercifully, like a standalone story.
The most confusing thing is trying to work out what time period the story is set in. There are horse drawn carriages, frilly frocks, daggers, and letters with wax seals, alongside photography, plastic, genetics, and modern paint pigments like phthalocyanine. I know it’s fantasy and you could theoretically have aliens drop down from the sky in the middle of the story, but none of it makes any sense. By the time it finished, the pictures in my head were one big jumble of things from different time periods from the Victorians to the 1950s. Ultimately, I had to speed up the narration just to get it finished.
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