Synopsis: The character originally created by Gaston Leroux in the Phantom of the Opera comes to life like never before. Discover the real man behind the mask, whose tormented and shattered mind nearly drives him to the point of suicide after the most dreadful night of his life.
Discover the terrifying, shocking and unbelievable secrets of the beautiful Catherine, whose past and present are as tragic as Erik’s, but for different reasons. Their meeting is fated, but what does the future hold for them?
My thoughts: Ugh! I got this book as a gift years ago because I'm a huge fan of Phantom of the Opera, both book and musical. I do enjoy reading books based on the Phantom but I am careful which ones to read because many are poorly written fanfiction. This one was one of those.
I immediately realized that this person does not know how to write once I started reading the first page. It felt like a kid were writing these sentences. The only good parts were the erotic scenes, which felt that this only where Samantha spent most of her time perfecting her writing. Even these had many grammatical errors and the dialog was a little silly.
I did not mind much the character of Catherine, but Erik was completely changed. I was able to simpathize with Catherine and I did not mind that she replaced Christine. Erik on the other hand was NOT Erik. He didn't even sound like a man. His thoughts sounded more that of a woman's.
I almost put the book down at first because of the poor writing but the story caught my interest after a few chapters in. Unfortunately, the story became more absurd almost halfway through and I found myself rolling my eyes and skipping parts.
Let's just say I'm glad that I did not pay for this book (it's $25) and I'm glad that I was able to get this off my TBR pile. I give it:
The cover of this book immediately caught my eye, so I opened up the post to read your review.
ReplyDeleteI didn't realize right away that this was erotica. I don't read that genre -- the sex scenes are much too graphic for my taste. Like you, I'ma a HUGE Phantom of the Opera fan, and I agree -- not all POTO fiction is well-written. I haven't read that many of them (as you know, there are lots of them), but I HAVE read a notable exception. Perhaps you've heard of it. It's titled "Phantom", and the author's name is Susan Kay. If you've never heard of it, look it up on Amazon. I recommend this book VERY highly!! I consider it MUCH better than Leroux's version, incredible as that might seem. The thing is, though, that Leroux presents Erik as a TOTAL monster. I completely dislike the horror genre, as well, so, when I read his novel, I was completely turned off. Anyway, do pick up Susan Kay's book. If you've already read it, you'll know I'm right to recommend it so highly!! :)
Yes, I have read Phantom by Susan Kay. It's actually one of my favorite books and I agree with you, it's better than the original.
DeleteI've also read Angel of Music (I can't remember the author) and it was really good too. This one took more of Carlotta perspective.
Oh, I'm so glad you've read "Phantom", and also prefer it to the original!! I think it's incredible that a work of fan fiction, which is what "Phantom" really is, should be so superior to the original novel. But it certainly is.
DeleteI have the book you mention -- "Angel of Music". If I remember correctly, it's a short story anthology. I have yet to read it, though.