Phantom Out of the Shadows

by Barbara J. Allen

"Phantom, Out of the Shadows" is a new take on a timeless romance. Literature has given us hundreds of classic romances—Romeo and Juliet, the "star-crossed” lovers, Gatsby’s and Daisy’s tragic love triangle, but none that has stirred the hearts of fans quite like the Phantom of the Opera. Inspired by Andrew Lloyd Webber’s stage production and motion picture, "Phantom, Out of the Shadows" puts a new spin on the love story of Christine, Raoul, and Erik—the "phantom" of the Paris Opera.
While the author has great regard for all of the previous versions of this ageless romance, she chooses a different path for her story about the lives of Christine, Raoul, and Erik after the tragic fire that damages the Paris Opera House. The characters are allowed to develop and mature as individuals in their own right outside of the Opera, where they lead productive lives filled with many accomplishments, friendships, loyalties, responsibilities to others, love...and, ultimately, satisfaction in the love that was never meant to be for Christine and Erik. This rendition is not a “re-telling” but a new telling of this passionate love story that is sure to endear these characters to all true Phantom fans more than anyone could have thought possible.

ebook

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Victoria · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well of all of the Phantom-inspired fiction that I have read, this isn't the best... but not really the worst, either. Its main flaw is that it lacks a plot... I don't know, there were whole sections that covered spans of time and they were rather pointless, actually. Oddly, the more minor characters were better developed than the major players. The book involves mostly telling and dialogue - other than Mme. Giry's section. There were some punctuation errors and the like that really dragged the overall production value down. Really, the prologue sets the whole book off on the wrong foot with its WWI French timeline and no mention of the war that devastated the nation and affected most lives. The style of the willy-nilly shifting POV was a bit annoying and took quite a while to get used to. Still, it was a fast read and mildly entertaining.

My main problem with this book was with Erik. The bad table manners scene was totally taken right out of Disney's Beauty & The Beast, not to mention that this is the second set of Phantom-inspired books that have completely erased Erik's scars and deformities... I just don't understand that choice at all... it takes the theme right out of the original and just seems so...odd. It's just upsetting. The other, almost offensive part was the handling of the singer Carlo's Mario-Brothers-style Italian accent...

Because I love the original story and I understand why so many writers want to re-vamp and expand upon it, but this is definitely not one of the better ones... stick with Susan Kay's Phantom.

[Megan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have read several Phantom fanfic books or “sequels” and this has to be one of the worst I have read. None of the characters resemble themselves in any way shape or form either to Gaston Leroux’s novel or the stage musical/movie by Andrew Lloyd Webber. This particular sequel is considered (by the author) to be a companion or sequel to the stage/movie by ALW. No one is recognizable here: Erik (apparently can’t think for himself), Christine (well, is an even worse Christine here, yelling one minute, crying the next), or Raoul (doesn’t stand up for Christine to his parents, etc.), but especially M. Giry (who is downright judgmental). Besides that, the dialog is horribly written with “!” every other sentence! This is not a soap opera people! Do you get my point!? The dialog might have been written by a ten year old- it’s hard to be sure.

This was a huge disappointment as this book has excellent reviews on Amazon. I suggest passing up this glorified Phantom fanfic.

[Elena · Rating 1 out of 5]

I do respect Phantom fans' fantasies. I have some ideas, too. But if your fantasies end up with long bad-written book with unbelievable characters, poor dialogues and ridiculous storyline (I'm not saying about villain Raoul, he's our fandom victim), then keep your fantasies locked in your head, please. Some books just shouldn't be written. And that's one of them.

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5/5 Stars

The premise of this book is a sound one: what if Erik could get plastic surgery and start his life over again. Unfortunately, it goes south almost immediately. The author takes the historical person of Henri Marchand, a sculptor, and turns him into a plastic surgeon -- and sets him in time as an adult 26 years before his actual birth. That's all aside from the fact that the first successful facial reconstruction surgery didn't happen until after World War I, performed by Sir Harold Gillies.

The naming conventions are bizarre, too. Madame Giry's given name is Mame. Other French women are named Lydia and Beth. A French man is named Stephen. Madame Giry is frequently referred to merely as "Giry." The occasional bits of French thrown in for "flavor" are badly misspelled or flat-out wrong, and English knights are referred to as "Sir Cunningham" instead of "Sir William" or what have you. The text is also littered with Americanisms like "okay."

And then there's badly written dialect, like Devon (who is supposed to be Glaswegian), whose vowels are written so broadly that when read aloud his words sound like he grew up in Cumberland. And that's to say nothing of Carlo, the Italian-a tenor-a, who apparently cannot-a say-a a word-a without-a attaching-a an-a a to-a it-a.

Every single time one of these things happened, it took me straight out of the story.

In other words, this book hit just about every one of my pet peeves as a reader (and a couple of them as an author). So, why did I even give it 2.5 stars? Because I came to care about *one* of the characters: the bizarrely named Lydia, a French ballet dancer who is bringing up her son, Jean. I was much more interested in her than in any of the other characters, including this author's version of Erik and Christine. So, here's to Lydia ... and to me moving on to other books.

[Liesl de Swardt · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did not like the idea for the book from the start, but decided to give it a go. Very disappointing.