Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Phantom by Susan Kay

5 reviews

siglerbooknook's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Phantom by Susan Kay is a must read for anyone obsessed with the story of the opera ghost.

I adored this book start to finish. It is gut wrenching and sad, hopeful and beautiful. Every scene is painted so vividly I felt like I was watching a movie.

I loved the glimpse into Erik's past and what made him the mad genius we know from the original novel by Gaston Leroux. Kay does a beautiful job weaving the little facts we learned originally into her tale in a convincing way that makes me feel like I only knew half the story before finding this book.

There are a few points of violence which became rather uncomfortable for me and several typos later in the book that made me read a sentence two or three times before I understood it and pulled me out of the story for a moment which is the only reason this isn't a perfect 5 star novel in my opinion.

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olivetree614's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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kianiz's review

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dark emotional sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I recently went to NYC to catch the show before it closes and it sent me down my PotO obsession once again. I read this book years ago and loved it and I have to say it still holds up for me.

Book is fantastically written. There’s so much insight into Erik and Kay does a great job of making him both human and monstrous. He can be very disturbing at times, but that’s kind of the point of his character, right?

I do still hate the ending. As sad as it might be, I’m still a big fan of the Phantom being left behind and disappearing. I feel like that’s what makes it so heart wrenching. That there’s no true happy ending. That is why
Christine coming back to have sex with Erik before her wedding then marrying Raoul and being okay with bringing a child into their marriage that wasn’t his was outrageously ridiculous. And the fact that Raoul KNOWS it’s not his kid and still stays with Christine and raises the child like the most loving father with no anger or sense of betrayal or anything close to that is just plain unbelievable, not to mention
weird as fuck. 

Then again, everyone has their own interpretation and headcanon, so I just pretend Raoul’s POV doesn’t exist. That being said, I still think it’s a fantastic book and the writing is almost poetic.

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nymnphi's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

honestly i’m not sure if this book deserves a full star. 

to begin, i did actually quite like the writing. if you told me this book was ghostwritten by leroux, i would probably believe you at certain points. it mimicked his voice and style well, and was overall decent in terms of prose. besides the appearance of the word “awesome” about once a chapter, the style of writing was well-done and the reason behind the full star.

the story itself though….it’s a racist, misguided, and dangerously sexist mess of inconsistencies, annoyances, and grossness.

i have always been a proponent of the fact that christine and erik’s relationship is nothing more than abusive. the reason she stays is, in my opinion, due to a mix of fear, manipulation, and pity for not just erik but for herself. christine believes that because of the death of her father and her believed “lack of talent” that she is broken and undeserving of love. erik represents that self-loathing side of her. meanwhile, raoul represents healing and light and self-love. christine chooses him not because he is the better choice but because he makes her happy. she chooses to be happy rather than wallow in pain with erik. so when i see many a phanfiction authors make the mistake of making christine and erik the one true pair, i cringe inside. you guys completely miss the mark with this one lol. stop pairing women with the abusive “tortured bad boy,” it’s just unhealthy.

the racism…ugh. i know this book was written in the 80’s, but even then some common sense and an open mind could have seen that this was avoided. the romani people/caravan erik stays with as a teenager are portrayed as not only exotic witches (a common stereotype), but as human traffickers, slavers, and rapists. not to mention that erik is almost raped by the only canon gay/bisexual character during this time, making gay people (once again!) the pedophiles of the story.

erik’s time in persia is no better (he at one point says, “fuck your culture” LMAO). 

it may or may not be intentional, but this book really makes it seem like erik’s time in non-white cultures fucked him up the most, and i’m not sure how i feel about it.

as mentioned previously, the entire POTO retelling is pure garbage. it’s littered with a variety of plot holes, misunderstandings, and false information that contradicts the original novel. at one point, erik goes into graphic detail about how he wants to “rape [Christine] with music.” ew ew ew ew.

this book was my first introduction to the world of phanfiction, and damn did it make me want to keep the genre at a safe six feet of distance for the sake of my well-being. phantom fans…ESPECIALLY those who prefer/love the novel…spare yourselves.

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daisymayduck's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional 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

4.0

I picked this up because I love Phantom of the Opera and it did not disappoint!
I found it to be a little slow at times but in general it wasn't too bad. I love the extra depth it gives to Erik's character as we get to see his backstory and all the heartbreak he has experienced. The way we get to see some of the events of the original story from another characters perspective is brilliant too.
One little touch that I absolutely adored was how Raoul and Christine's son (or should that be Erik and Christine?) was named Charles- a lovely way of bringing the story full-circle from Erik's father Charles at the beginning.
 
All in all, a wonderful book :) 

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