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Love Changes Everything: A Phantom of the Opera Novel
A young girl. An Opera Ghost. A year after the incident with Christine another soprano finds herself in the Phantom's lair, but this time one with much more ability and drive. Can she convince him to make her a star or will he find a way to dispose of her first?
206 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 28, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 5, 2015
Just. No. It was the worst Phantom of the Opera published fanfic I've ever read, and I read 100+ books so far. Problems started on the second page and never left.
So, we've got precious Antuanette, girl with angelic voice, abilities of playing organ (she's self tought), and she also can dance like a ballerina, not learning any steps and pas. She enters Erik's lake house, and the horror begins. She skreams at him like a naughty child, she demands him to be her tutor, she tries to hit him... And finally... she sees his face and... Attention! Mary Sue detected! She accepts his deformity with all her heart and falls in love with him. It's not bad at all, we all want to love Erik and accept him freely and fully. But writing style of this book is awful. Characters speak unnaturally bombastic. 4* (OK, 4+) for the try to write Victorian-styled dialoges, 1* for execution. There are lots of mistakes in the text too. It needs editor so badly! It was pain in my brain while reading this book!
There is a problem with timing. No dates, no seasons. Antoinette spends some time with Erik, they are - spoiler! - trapped in his house because of an accident, and it seems not days or weeksm but months passed... There is nothing of food, of everyday supplies... seems she has no periods... I wonder if Ms. McQuinn just forgot about it?
Antoinette's personality is a cartoon-like, she's selfish, boring and unattractive. She's a copy of Christine, gifted in music, but with ability to love the Phantom (in opposite to Christine).
I liked Erik instead. He's Mr. Butler's copy, but it's OK, really. He speaks and conducts himself like a mature person, instead of childish Antoinette.
There is a storyline full of cliches, including Raoul-number-two character-being-a-bad-boy, Masquerade ball dancing, etc.
I must admit there is something I really liked about this book.
BUT. The end is questionable, anyway. You know, I can't understand the end. Did love change everything then? No.
So, we've got precious Antuanette, girl with angelic voice, abilities of playing organ (she's self tought), and she also can dance like a ballerina, not learning any steps and pas. She enters Erik's lake house, and the horror begins. She skreams at him like a naughty child, she demands him to be her tutor, she tries to hit him... And finally... she sees his face and... Attention! Mary Sue detected! She accepts his deformity with all her heart and falls in love with him. It's not bad at all, we all want to love Erik and accept him freely and fully. But writing style of this book is awful. Characters speak unnaturally bombastic. 4* (OK, 4+) for the try to write Victorian-styled dialoges, 1* for execution. There are lots of mistakes in the text too. It needs editor so badly! It was pain in my brain while reading this book!
There is a problem with timing. No dates, no seasons. Antoinette spends some time with Erik, they are - spoiler! - trapped in his house because of an accident, and it seems not days or weeksm but months passed... There is nothing of food, of everyday supplies... seems she has no periods... I wonder if Ms. McQuinn just forgot about it?
Antoinette's personality is a cartoon-like, she's selfish, boring and unattractive. She's a copy of Christine, gifted in music, but with ability to love the Phantom (in opposite to Christine).
I liked Erik instead. He's Mr. Butler's copy, but it's OK, really. He speaks and conducts himself like a mature person, instead of childish Antoinette.
There is a storyline full of cliches, including Raoul-number-two character-being-a-bad-boy, Masquerade ball dancing, etc.
I must admit there is something I really liked about this book.
BUT. The end is questionable, anyway. You know, I can't understand the end. Did love change everything then? No.
August 18, 2013
I ping-ponged back and forth on my rating for a second, then decided to round it up. What I liked outweighed whatever little nitpicks I had.
First off, I wish this could have been longer. Some parts were nicely developed, and others were good enough that I would have liked more time spent on them. I never got bored while reading (which happens too often when reading Phantom of the Opera retellings and sequels, only a handful of which are worth the time and effort) and enjoyed the story so much I hated to see it come to the end.
I admit, I had my doubts at first. In the beginning, it felt like déjà vu with a heroine similar enough to Christine it could have served the same purpose just to drop thoughts of an original character altogether and just rolled on with the existing one. Is this the same story all over again? No, wait, Antoinette is spunky and stubborn and the exact opposite of Christine, barring the fact that she has a near-perfect voice that needs tutoring. Oh no, it's worse than I thought! It's a Christine 2.0!
Ha ha, not. Antoinette looked like a potential Mary Sue, but as the story went along she grew. She got more and more interesting, and soon enough she was interesting on her own, not just for the way she managed to push Erik's buttons. She didn't behave like most OCs I've read in various fan fictions, which was a huge relief, and she did a few things I've never seen ANY characters do in various fan fictions, which was a breath of fresh air.
Erik's characterization was spot-on. Ms. McQuinn nailed the vital traits such as sarcasm, arrogance, bad temper, odd humor, and a little self-pity. The interaction between him and Antoinette took up most of the book, and I'll repeat the phrase "ping-pong" to describe it. They bounced back and forth, bickering and pestering each other and trying to wear each other down, then everything moved from there. And the best part about the E/A love story? It didn't happen right away! There is nothing more annoying than a sequel in which Erik miraculously forgets his all-consuming obsession with Christine in favor of a girl who just walks into the lair, sees past the hideous disfigurement that has made him an outcast his entire life, and instantly falls in love with him. The instance of Antoinette finding herself in the lair to start with seemed a bit unlikely, but the important plot point was not.
The second half of the book was my favorite, with all of those rare plot twists that actually work, but it's where I found most of my developing nitpicks. I would have liked to see more about the rivalry between Antoinette and Juliet and a little more of a transition between the Comte as a smitten suitor and the Comte as an abusive a-hole. On the other hand, I have no beef whatsoever with the climax and the ending. If the Erik-has-a-deformed-child ending is rare, then this one is just about unheard of. In fact, I haven't seen one like it yet, and I applaud Ms. McQuinn for pulling it off.
Let's see, what else? It was an enjoyable read, and certainly not one I regret, like others I could name *cough*The Phantom of Manhattan*cough* There were enough Leroux elements to satisfy me, with a few Kay and Webber twists to keep me on my toes. Tired of the same old, same old in the world of Phantom fan fiction? Give this one a try!
First off, I wish this could have been longer. Some parts were nicely developed, and others were good enough that I would have liked more time spent on them. I never got bored while reading (which happens too often when reading Phantom of the Opera retellings and sequels, only a handful of which are worth the time and effort) and enjoyed the story so much I hated to see it come to the end.
I admit, I had my doubts at first. In the beginning, it felt like déjà vu with a heroine similar enough to Christine it could have served the same purpose just to drop thoughts of an original character altogether and just rolled on with the existing one. Is this the same story all over again? No, wait, Antoinette is spunky and stubborn and the exact opposite of Christine, barring the fact that she has a near-perfect voice that needs tutoring. Oh no, it's worse than I thought! It's a Christine 2.0!
Ha ha, not. Antoinette looked like a potential Mary Sue, but as the story went along she grew. She got more and more interesting, and soon enough she was interesting on her own, not just for the way she managed to push Erik's buttons. She didn't behave like most OCs I've read in various fan fictions, which was a huge relief, and she did a few things I've never seen ANY characters do in various fan fictions, which was a breath of fresh air.
Erik's characterization was spot-on. Ms. McQuinn nailed the vital traits such as sarcasm, arrogance, bad temper, odd humor, and a little self-pity. The interaction between him and Antoinette took up most of the book, and I'll repeat the phrase "ping-pong" to describe it. They bounced back and forth, bickering and pestering each other and trying to wear each other down, then everything moved from there. And the best part about the E/A love story? It didn't happen right away! There is nothing more annoying than a sequel in which Erik miraculously forgets his all-consuming obsession with Christine in favor of a girl who just walks into the lair, sees past the hideous disfigurement that has made him an outcast his entire life, and instantly falls in love with him. The instance of Antoinette finding herself in the lair to start with seemed a bit unlikely, but the important plot point was not.
The second half of the book was my favorite, with all of those rare plot twists that actually work, but it's where I found most of my developing nitpicks. I would have liked to see more about the rivalry between Antoinette and Juliet and a little more of a transition between the Comte as a smitten suitor and the Comte as an abusive a-hole. On the other hand, I have no beef whatsoever with the climax and the ending. If the Erik-has-a-deformed-child ending is rare, then this one is just about unheard of. In fact, I haven't seen one like it yet, and I applaud Ms. McQuinn for pulling it off.
Let's see, what else? It was an enjoyable read, and certainly not one I regret, like others I could name *cough*The Phantom of Manhattan*cough* There were enough Leroux elements to satisfy me, with a few Kay and Webber twists to keep me on my toes. Tired of the same old, same old in the world of Phantom fan fiction? Give this one a try!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews