Night Magic by Charlotte Vale Allen Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Night Magic
Book Review: Pretty good
Summary: 4 Stars
I am a huge Phantom of the Opera Phan! I have a very big collection of Phantom things - mostly POTO books. This was not one of the best... I did enjoy it except that it did focus on sex entirely too much, but it was beautifull written and if you are a phantom phan, you won't miss this if its not in your collection, but if you are a HUGE Phantom phan like me, then I guess it be ok for your collection!Book Review: Pretty good for a modern version of The Phantom of the Opera.
Summary: 4 Stars
I got this because I'm a phan and I embraced this book with an open mind and I actually thought it was an "OK" read. I wish I had a man as sweet and as disfigured as Erik ;)Book Review: Self-indulgent, melodramatic teenage fantasy
Summary: 1 Stars
Marisa Crane, at the age of 15, lives with her widowed father and a housekeeper, Kitty, in a wealthy New York State small town. Her father decides to have the house remodelled and engages the services of genius architect Erik D'Anton, who has very strict conditions for his participation, one of which is that he will only visit at night. Watching from the window as he arrives, Marisa first notices the black Lamborghini, and then the cape that the visitor wears. Once he's inside and she is introduced, she realises why he is so reclusive. His face is ruined, destroyed by an accident when he was seven. He wears a mask to cover up the fact that he has no nose and his skin is puckered and discoloured.
Marisa is drawn to this enigmatic, disfigured stranger who speaks only in a whisper, and demands that her father invite him to dinner. Erik, who never accepts social invitations, agrees, because he is equally drawn to Marisa. That dinner-party begins an at first covert, and later open, relationship between the two.
This book reads like a thirteen-year-old's attempt at novel-writing. We have the poor, reclusive hero with the tragic past, the man no-one can reach. We have the beautiful, pure young maiden who is the only one to see past the scars and into his soul. We have Erik falling deeply in love with Marisa, pining for her, driven desperate by his love for her. We even have Marisa ending up seriously ill in hospital as a result of pining for Erik - and, naturally, her illness brings him back rushing to her side. And, after her father dies tragically, of course Erik puts his own needs aside and is there for her, even braving the stares of all and sundry as he ventures out - horrors! - in daylight. And, of course, he then marries her.
Oh, the melodrama! Oh, the self-indulgence! Oh, the Mary Sue effect! (If you don't know what a Mary Sue story is, Google it. It will sound surprisingly like this book).
It's all so improbable. I mean, really! A 31-year-old man and a 16-year-old girl? Doesn't that strike anyone as ever so slightly... sick? Almost paedophilic, even. Especially as she was 15 when they first met. Whether she was 16 or 17 when they first had sex I don't recall, but either way had I been her father or her housekeeper I'd have called the police. But apart from that, what on earth would this intelligent, professional *adult* see in this spoilt, over-indulged child? That baffled me until, as the book dragged on, I realised that Erik is little more than a child himself. He hides from the world, stuck in his own little universe of self-pity. It's no wonder that he has his `assistant', Raskin, to look after him; he's not safe to be let out alone.
In fact, even ten, fifteen years later, when Erik and Marisa have been married for well over a decade, it's quite clear that neither of them could manage without Raskin and Kitty. Those two are the nursemaids looking after two mentally stunted thirteen-year-olds in adult bodies. Oh, poor me! Nobody loves me! Everybody hates me! I hate myself!
Certain parts of the book had me rolling my eyes even more than others. When Marisa phones Erik, early on, to ask why he's avoiding her and asks why he hates her, I couldn't believe that he wasn't repulsed by her childish behaviour. But, no, he beats himself up for making her unhappy and actually invites her to spend time with him. And when she turns up in her *nightgown* night after night he never even comments, let alone suggests that she might consider dressing more appropriately.
Then there's the whole question of Erik's face. Hasn't he ever heard of plastic surgery? Prosthetics? Sure, he had 22 skin grafts when he was a kid. But that was more than 20 years ago by the time the book starts. Isn't he aware of the advances in medical science? Does he really want to hide from the world that badly? Or is it that Vale Allen will stop at nothing to produce this pale travesty of Phantom of the Opera?
Oh, and then there's Marisa's problems with contraception. Hasn't Erik ever heard of condoms?
I agree with at least one other reviewer that it's astonishing this teenage diary fodder ever saw the light of day. What a waste of paper!
- wmr-uk
Book Review: Terrible, terrible book....What was she thinking?!?!?!?!?!?
Summary: 1 Stars
This book is absolutely horrible. Please!!!! the whole Marisa/Erik thing just doesn't work! This is one of the most dismal forms of "phan fic" (if you can call it that) that I have ever read! I HATED this book! It's as bad, if not worse, than "Phantom of Manhattan". Erik is hired by Marisa's father to do some renovation/designing on their house...he falls for the teenage girl of the house, they have sex, get married, Marisa wants a baby but Erik doesn't (they fight about birth control, etc)...This book is nothing more than mere romance/smut/domestic crap with a "Phantom of the Opera" flavor to it(probably in hopes of boosting sales...slap a mask on anything and it'll sell these days....)
The Marisa character is more annoying than Christine in the original Phantom of the Opera novel....She's, first of all, underage (Marisa is 17 and Erik is 31!), extremely manipulative, immature...the list goes on!
Oh, and the "we did it" scene after Erik & Marisa had sex....the whole thing is like: "gag me with a spoon, totally"!....*gack* OH! please, please, please...Make it stop! This book actually got published? The main male character may be named "Erik" in this story...but this is NO Phantom novel! I would strongly suggest that others not buy this book...or, if you MUST have it for your "Phantom of the Opera library" buy it as cheap as you possibly can! HORRIBLE book....I am sorry for the ranting, but this book is nothing but a modernized romance novel with the main character being passed off as The Phantom.
Book Review: Ugh...
Summary: 2 Stars
I've read Sweet Valley High's (yes, that dates me, I know...) that have greater depth of character than this author provides in this novel. With such 2-dimentional characters, none of their actions are remotely believable. The plot itself leaves quite a bit to be desired too, again as the characters' actions at time seem erratic due to the lack of properly establishing character. Yes, many of us Phans can fill this in for ourselves, but from a published author I was quite disappointed.