Phantom by Susan Kay Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Phantom
Book Review: A decent read that pales in comparison to its source material.
Summary: 2 Stars
There are parts of Phantom that are highly enjoyable, but the full potential of the novel is never realized. The writing is forced and stilted in places, and choked with purple prose. As a stand alone novel, it has its own dubious merits. However, Kay's Phantom is not a stand alone novel. It draws from two sources for its inspiration: ALW's musical and Gaston Leroux's novel, published in 1910.
Fans of Leroux's writing will be sorely disappointed when reading this. The most it offers to the originator of this tale is a nod in regard to characters and timeline. The influence of ALW's Phantom, in particular Michael Crawford, is much more pronounced. However, don't take that to mean that phans won't be disappointed as well. ALW's nameless title character has a depth of feeling, a fragile humanity, that Kay's Erik cannot aspire to. Indeed, the most Kay's Erik ever seems to aspire to is having sex before he dies.
In addition, the larger portion of the cast of characters is contradictory or underdeveloped. All women are painted with the same brush, a brush coloured with 'weak' and 'unworthy.' The male characters show inexplicable understanding to an Erik who is the brattiest I have ever seen. Kay's intention was to have him read as a strong, lonely genius; but he only ever comes across as emo. Oddly enough, the character with most solid characterization is a cat. We know what she wants the entire time she features in the story: she wants in Erik's pants, as does everyone else in the novel.
All in all, a brilliant concept that failed miserably. We were supposed to feel sympathy for Erik, all I felt was disgust. If you want a tragic love story that will make you weep, read the original or see the musical. If you want a romance novel full of clichés and the purplest of prose, here's your book.
Book Review: A kind of love that is spelled C-A-N-O-N D-E-A-T-H
Summary: 2 Stars
Is this book decently written? The first few chapters are pretty good. If you can get past the endless amount of angst, improbable infant achievements, poorly characterized characters, and sexy, sexy corpses, it's not soul hemorrhage inducing. The Persia chapter of the book really shines. It's after that that Susan Kay should have slapped a 'finis' in and sent it off to the publisher. It's a decent read, but certainly not better than the original in any way, shape or form.Book Review: A touching story
Summary: 5 Stars
It's great this book is back in print!
I have read this book more than once, but it's been a while, now. The story is about Erik, the Phantom of the Opera--his beginnings, how he became the Phantom from Gaston Leroux's book, and Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical. Kay's Erik is a mixture of Michael Crawford's Phantom and Leroux's. One of the best melding of the two I've ever read. The artwork for this edition is gorgeous. Llumina Press had a contest for fans to submit their artwork for the hardback edition, and the public would get to vote on which one was the best. Raphael, who is well-known in the Phantom community, won.
Book Review: A wonderful read
Summary: 5 Stars
I am so glad to see this book back in print at last. It is a fantastic read, the best book I have ever read about the Phantom and that includes the original. Why does Amazon have this crazy system of not accessing all the 300 reviews that this book has gathered in it's the out of print Dell edition? Its the same book, just a re-published edition. Makes no sense to me.
The book takes the reader through the Phantom's entire life, a dark and fascinating story you will not be able to put down.
Be prepared to fall in love with this charismatic man all over again.
Book Review: Astounding! Absolutely Brilliant!
Summary: 5 Stars
I fell in love with this book the first time I read it. It was given to me as a gift many years ago. I've read my paperback copy so many times, it's falling apart! I loved the backstory and the detailed information on how he continued after Christine. Very romantic and mysterious! Words can't describe how much I love it!