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dblue236's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
wombat_88's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
teatam's review
adventurous
dark
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
princessleia4life's review
This should have been a win for me. It was like a mashup of Charlie’s Angels meets classic literature (with characters from books I just adore) But I could not get into the book. I tried and tried but it just failed to capture me.
cm93's review
4.0
Exactly what I expected from Kim Newman, a great adventure full of sly humour and fit to bursting with literary references.
I would have liked to have seen more of Christine Daae (I've always adored the character, so to have a Phantom story with her barely in it was a teeny bit disappointing) but it's not a Phantom re-telling, it's a story set with the Phantom as it's central character. Fully recommend!
I would have liked to have seen more of Christine Daae (I've always adored the character, so to have a Phantom story with her barely in it was a teeny bit disappointing) but it's not a Phantom re-telling, it's a story set with the Phantom as it's central character. Fully recommend!
diannel_04's review
Where do I start with this ridiculous book? There are apparently 6 stories in this book, each one with three different "angels" working for the Phantom's detective agency. I don't know because I finished one and threw my hands up part way through the second.
Story one: a madam contacts the agency because one of her former clients got married and stopped coming to her brothel. He's an old man who married a pretty young thing named Poupée (really?) Erik and his angels decide to investigate. What they find is some woman who claims to be a descendent of Caliostro who has parties at which rich men meet young women and marry them the same night. The only catch: they aren't really women, they're clockwork dolls. The men are hypnotised so they don't realize they are boinking metal and wax figures. GROAN!
Story two: a group of professional killers who call themselves Vampires, complete with filed teeth and never going out at night, hire the Angels because some useless fop got murdered and the cops are blaming them. They insist it's really a mad in a bat mask and cape who crawls down the sides of buildings. I'm sorry that is where i draw the line. I don't see how anything could get more ridiculous.
Back to the library it went.
Story one: a madam contacts the agency because one of her former clients got married and stopped coming to her brothel. He's an old man who married a pretty young thing named Poupée (really?) Erik and his angels decide to investigate. What they find is some woman who claims to be a descendent of Caliostro who has parties at which rich men meet young women and marry them the same night. The only catch: they aren't really women, they're clockwork dolls. The men are hypnotised so they don't realize they are boinking metal and wax figures. GROAN!
Story two: a group of professional killers who call themselves Vampires, complete with filed teeth and never going out at night, hire the Angels because some useless fop got murdered and the cops are blaming them. They insist it's really a mad in a bat mask and cape who crawls down the sides of buildings. I'm sorry that is where i draw the line. I don't see how anything could get more ridiculous.
Back to the library it went.
a_chickletz's review
As a Phantom of the Opera fan I usually find time for interesting Phantom books.
Finding out this one existed, well, I had to grab it from the used book store I frequented. I also checked out the reviews. Some people enjoyed it, others did not. Where would I exactly fall.
Well, I'd fall in the group of people who sadly could not finish it. I felt probably a disconnect because the lack of the Phantom, and the sheer absurdity of it all. I wanted more involvement from Erik.
Instead, it was more or less a Charlies Angels fanfic. There was obviously some research done to grab the various women from novels that would exist around this time to play his 'angels'. Still, I felt that some of their characters were a bit off. (Trilby for one.)
I guess I'm not the reader for this book. If you enjoy a book that obviously inspires Charlies Angels, Wild Wild West, and various gothic or French literature females then you'd enjoy this book.
Finding out this one existed, well, I had to grab it from the used book store I frequented. I also checked out the reviews. Some people enjoyed it, others did not. Where would I exactly fall.
Well, I'd fall in the group of people who sadly could not finish it. I felt probably a disconnect because the lack of the Phantom, and the sheer absurdity of it all. I wanted more involvement from Erik.
Instead, it was more or less a Charlies Angels fanfic. There was obviously some research done to grab the various women from novels that would exist around this time to play his 'angels'. Still, I felt that some of their characters were a bit off. (Trilby for one.)
I guess I'm not the reader for this book. If you enjoy a book that obviously inspires Charlies Angels, Wild Wild West, and various gothic or French literature females then you'd enjoy this book.
pedanther's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0