#// no idea if you wanted the masked version or unmasked but have masked don

[lord-of-the-wasteland]

I request to give forehead kiss. please?

"you asked nicely, wastelander. so of course."

[blackghostm2o]

Spoilers to Susan Kay’s Phantom

These are just my thoughts on it, not trying to be a review or anything similar.

Well… DID SHE FUCKING PULL A LND???? OMFG! While I was reading Raoul’s chapter, especially the parts about Charles, I was “Oh God… He’s Erik’s son… They had sex…” Instead of him being TEN YEARS OOOOOOOLD, he is 16/17. Here too he’s really musically proficient, but the ultimate giveaway (except Christine asking Raoul to forgive her before getting married) is his resemblance with Erik’s father (who was also called Charles, if I’m not mistaken). Also the similarity between Ayesha’s burial and Sasha’s one where both of them wanted a “ceremony” for their deceased friend T.T

Poor Raoul… When he got drunk before his wedding I was so concerned “No, please! Don’t do him dirty like in LND…” Fortunately he is not an asshole when he got married and it’s a good father, I just don’t like the idea of Erik and Christine having fucked… Feels wrong… I also felt really bad when he had to choose whether or not to save the child (not his one) risking Christine’s life.

I didn’t really like the penultimate chapter, especially the way Christine has been portrayed… Doesn’t really feel in line with her original counterpart, mostly for her relationship with Erik… Maybe I’m mistaken but I didn’t feel that she was so much bent by Erik’s “power” in the original, especially after the unmasking… Her still loving him after he tried to strangle her (and saved by a fucking seizure)… I don’t like it… Her original counterpart feels more strong witted, here she is so uncertain and carried by Raoul’s or Erik’s decisions.

Erik here is even crazier than his original version, at least in the later part of the novel… I really enjoyed how he was written in his young life and before the events of Leroux’s novel, being forced into his condition, for example: I strongly remember that scene in which he just wanted to help his worker’s child and the mother shunned him away… Which is comprehensible, because she knew him as this mysterious masked man that usually came to buy morphine, so how could you trust someone like that… But at the same time you can’t help but feel bad for Erik especially with her really strong reaction.

I didn’t enjoy the whole “Satan is my homeboy”… The whole SA part… I mean, he didn’t rape her (thank goodness), but was really close to (Yk… the “BOLT THE DAMN DOOR!”…) I do understand it for this Erik, it makes sense, but’s really uncomfortable… Especially the description of Christine when he played Don Giovanni Triumphant…

His later self is pretty different from him in the earlier parts. Really violent, dare I say even more than the original? Honestly Idk…

Now I understand why people say that this novel is like 70% good or say that it isn’t as good towards the end, I do agree with this. Maybe it would have been better without the retelling of Leroux’s novel.

I’ll treat this character as a separate entity from his original version, like I do with the other adaptations, because I think that’s the best approach when it comes to adaptations and retellings (like it’s not worth it getting mad etc.)