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You guessed it, another Uta-chan review. You can find my Phantom of Manhatten book review around the guild, which I did a year ago. This time I did the book Letters to Erik, which is yet another supposed sequel to the original novel.

This book was published by another self-publish company (where the author pays for the book to be published) and the author supposedly has been a fan since her teenage years. From the amount of mistakes, it's debateable.

Uta's Critique and Review about the new PotO phan-novel, Letters to Erik: A Ghost's Love Story

The book is written by an author with no previous novels under her belt, so from a literary aspect, I wasn't expecting much in the way of style. The Author's bio on the back of the book says she's been a phan since around 13 when she read the novel. While she gets her facts right, Mrs. Warren has absolutely no clue.

Also, I would like to point out, my review is spoiler-ridden to the point of having cancer. If you would not like them, skip over the list, and go to the bottom where I give my "final say" on the book and my rating. (which can now also be found on B&N.com)

-The first six chapters are done just about entirely from letters written by Christine to Erik. She believes him dead, but for some reason finds need to write him. Most of them are redundant in that she continuously praises him and talks about missing him.

-Oddly enough, Christine has kept Erik's mask. Considering she feared him, I think this might be a bit much. At one point, Christine takes the mask out, and kisses the ribbon that would tie it on Erik's head. This gives a major hint of the E/C nature of the novel.

-Raoul is very much the negative character in this novel. He is described as "sunny faced", but when they reach Sweden to get married and live there, free of music and anyone who knows them, he turns neglectful and selfish. She and Raoul fight. A lot.

-Where Christine had been a timid girl in Leroux's novel, Warren's interpretation is very much a mary-sue. She complains constantly to Erik in her letters, she begins to hate Raoul, even curses. It's highly obvious a modern day woman wrote this, because Christine acts independent and defies her husband and the polite, subdued person she was and should be.

-Christine is invited to sing hymns in a church, and Raoul stupidly fights with her about it, because he's jealous of Erik still and the bond he and Christine held through music. I would think he'd at least indulge her, not bar her from music.

-Christine becomes pregnant, and begins to speak of how Erik helped her grow up, and indulges in thoughts about if she'd had Erik's child instead.

-Raoul treats Christine like a child, when in Leroux's novel, he was practically a whipped puppy at her heels.

-While pregnant, Christine has recurring erotic dreams about Erik, being married to him instead. This seems silly, even with the excuse of her being pregnant and therefore a little "off".

-After losing their first child to some deformity (it couldn't swallow; oddly, it was named Philippe after Raoul fought with Christine about it), Raoul becomes cold and finally ends up joining the Navy again to get away from Sweden and his wife.

-While Raoul is away, Christine returns to Paris. Considering how she wanted to leave France so badly in Leroux's novel, this seems rather stupid. But, she's pregnant again, so let's say her bloated belly is being Mephisto.

-In each letter, Christine addresses Erik as "dear" and "my love". She also tends to repeat thoughts of dying to be with him. Emo much?

-Like anyone didn't see this coming, Raoul dies. Thrown from a ship when they hit an iceburg. They'd been on an expedition to the North Pole. Oddly enough, I don't think the Navy did those sorts of things, but I am seeing an odd referance to the novel Frankenstein in that particular choice of death.

-Christine is relieved at Raoul's death, which to me, is VERY out of character. Yes, she cries and mourns later (not much, though) but her initial reaction is relief.

-When Raoul's things are returned to Christine, his last letter to her is given to her as well. In it, Raoul reacts to the news of Christine being pregnant again with the theory that she couldn't have gotten pregnant from their singular last encounter (they only bump uglies a handful of times) he believes she has taken a lover, and he goes on to say he forgives her and that he won't be coming home. Suicide? Maybe.

-When Christine's new son is born, she names him Erik-Daae de Chagny. Hey, it beats Forsyth's idea of Pierre.

-In Paris full time now, Christine frequents the Opera, and even thinks of joining the chorus again to go back to her old life. She doesn't feel right as a countess, and all the nobility hate her.

-Erik-Daae de Chagny is described as dark-haired and blue-eyed even though both Christine and Raoul are flaxen-haired (i.e. blonde). He is also described as musical; we see where this is going, right?

-This one gets me the most. Taking a note from Kay, Warren names the Persian. His name? Kaveh Tallis.

-Erik is alive, but acts more like a hormonal twenty-something year old with his quips and sexual innuendoes. Very Gerik, if you ask me. When he finds out Christine loves him, he initially gets mad that it took her five years (yes, this is five years later) to figure it out, but that's quashed and he again becomes the beggering affectionate buffoon.

-In contrast to her new independent out-of-context attitude, Christine's self in the Leroux novel is described as "vaporish."

-Erik thin, skeletal build is blamed on the disease Consumption and a brain disease. Excuses, excuses.

-Erik's new mask is (dun dun) white silk. Hello Webber, we saw you sneak in the back door. Go home, you git.

-With Christine and Erik reunited, their relationship is very sexual, and the sexual tension is obvious. Erik gets a hard-on just about every time they kiss. Ew.

-Christine's son, Erik-Daae, is far too well spoken for a two year old. I have a three year old cousin, and even she can't speak full, proper English sentences. I think Mrs. Warren did this because with a child still grasping a language, it's hard to get them to understand things better.

-In another tribute to Kay, obviously, Erik's childhood is described exactly how Kay had it in her novel Phantom. Only difference is that Erik's father was alive, and he was kept by a nurse instead of his mother.

-After finding one another, Erik proposes to Christine. They decide to get married in Rouen.

-Now ever-so happy, Erik begins to write a sequel to the horrific Don Juan Triumphant--Don Juan Redeemed. This is a very stupid expression of the happiness now in his life, when before there had been betrayal and sadness.

-Here's one of my favorite excuses that Warren makes up for Erik's actions in Leroux's novel: The reason Erik flipped out when Christine pulled his mask off was because, some years ago in Paris, he'd hired a prostitute to relieve him of his sexual frustrations (what man at 50 has them as bad as an adolescent?) and she tore off his mask and scratched his face with her nails to try and kill him before he could bed her. Hence why Erik dug Christine's nails in his flesh. Dumb? Yes.

-Taking cue from Forsyth, Warren gives Erik a last name. No, it isn't the dreaded Muhlheim. This one's better. de Carpentier. Thing is, Erik finds out that his last name is the true surname of the de Chagnys. Erik is Raoul's cousin, born to the Count Erik de Chagny, but the title transferred to the Count's brother, and then to his son Philippe. While perfect irony because Erik always insulted Raoul, it is by far the most stupid thing I've ever heard. Because now, to make the wedding better, Christine is marrying a Count (again) so they don't have to live like poor people.

-This isn't a complaint as much as it is a funny observation. Erik is described as left-handed, explaining why his handwriting is so child-like and poor. (which is funny, because the reviewer is left-handed as well)

-Typical of a romance novel, Erik and Christine act much like teenagers instead of adults. They make snide, sexual innuendoes, make out (a LOT) and seem to get hot and bothered all the time when they are together.

-As soon as Christine accepts Erik's face, every character begins to as well. Typical phanfic quality; Erik gets the acceptance he always wanted, so even though he still has his mask on, no one goes "omfg wut r dat on ur faec?"

-Personal pet peeve: this book is just DRIPPING with sappy fluff. Everything's going right for Erik and Christine, no one's challenging Erik's new position in society, and everybody's happy. Gag. Me. With. A. Spoon.

-Along with Christine's modern woman's attitude, the dialogue and vocabulary used in the novel are also far too modern. We're in the early 1900s, not 1999.

-Erik has a younger sister named Sylvie. She is described as having the same eyes and hair as Erik, but with a normal, regal face. Odd thing is, she's blind, therefore she can accept Erik.

-Erik's mother never truly feared him, she loved him despite his deformity. She wrote a letter to Sylvie on her death bed proclaiming the only reason she hid Erik away was to save him from his father, who wanted him dead.

-Raoul's two sisters, throughout the entire novel, are utter bitches. There's no nicer way to put it. They harass Christine in Sweden, calling her a harlot, they accuse her of cheating, and when they find out Erik is the true Count, leaving them with no means of aristocracy, they accuse her of forging papers to make it seem like Erik's the real deal. They interrupt Erik and Christine's wedding to harass them, but are soon put in their place by Erik.

-When Erik first met Sylvie, it had been alone. Christine caught them, and saw how they were embracing and, get this, thought Erik had a mistress. The most cliche misunderstanding, and Warren uses it. Honestly, woman.

-The Persian, when he meets Meg, gets a crush on her. They don't ever pursue the relationship, thankfully.

-Meg, as a character, is a ditz. She isn't that bright, she's flighty, and is prone to just either be nervous or laugh.

-There is one entire chapter devoted to a detailed sex scene involving Christine and Erik on their wedding night. Even then, it wasn't a very good one. It was full of fluff, because Erik kept whining about how Christine shouldn't "have to bed a corpse." So between the whining, the constant "I love you"s, and the modern termonology, I was gagging and trying not to envision someone banging a corpse. Erik's not sex material, really.

-In the last chapters, everything stinks to high heaven of a Happily-Ever-After, that I think Walt Disney was turning in his grave.

-Everyone giggles. A lot. Warren uses that term almost every page.

-Erik and Christine have a daughter together named Darice. As if the name wasn't stupid enough, she is also musically talented. Christine's son with Raoul, Erik-Daae, is an architect for churches.

-In the final chapter, the Persian is contacted by Gaston Leroux, wanting the story of the Phantom of the Opera in order to write his novel. Erik disguises himself as Darius in order to go with him, and they meet Leroux in Paris, and tell him what they call a "watered-down half truth" of the real story. Which, to me, is stupid because Warren is basing this awful novel on that very book.

EVERYTHING IN A NUTSHELL

This novel, on a Phan's level, is one of the worst ones I have come across. I have not read all of the supposed sequels, only because of their obscurity, but between this and others, this is surely near the top of the Worst Sequels list. The only one I can think of that was worse, was the disputed "You Are Not Alone" novel that was set in modern day New York.
Warren, despite claiming she'd been a phan since her teenage years, proves otherwise with how she treats the characters. They all act like immature teenagers, and there is so much god-awful sexual innuendo between Erik and Christine, that I could put myself off romance just for that. And like all other supposed sequels, published or not, Raoul is the unattentive, unloving husband. Easily enough, he dies, leaving Christine to run back to the city she really wanted to leave forever, and to the man she swore she feared.
I had high hopes for this novel, even though I knew the author was doing the ever-popular Christine-runs-back-to-Erik plot. If I wanted to read something this awful, I would have gone to fanfiction.net to read the same sort of tripe for free.

On a literary level, which is the writing and plot alone, discarding the phan aspect, this novel was horrible. Perhaps in the hands of someone more experienced and knowledgeable, this novel could have been at least halfway enjoyable. Instead, Warren either did no research at all on the early 1900s in Europe, or ignored it, to write this. The book was riddled with modern termonology and sentence structure, and even though she described the clothes well enough (too well, because I actually had to look up what the heck some of the things she described were) but the personalities of the characters were so far out of that era, it was disheartening. Christine, instead of being shy or soft-spoken as most women would be, was a loud, brash modern-era woman who wanted her independance and her man, and by gum if she didn't get it, she'd give 'em hell.
If I didn't know the author was full grown, I would have sworn she was a teenager. Her sentence structure is too simplistic, and whoever her editor was needs to be replaced, because I found many a typo or mispelled word in the novel.

I do not recommend this book to anyone who considers themselves a phan or even a book lover. This, instead, should be put up as how NOT to write a PotO Sequel. I think even Andrew Lloyd Webber could learn from this.

All-in-all, this book gets a half star out of five. It was that bad.

I can answer that, Lasciate. Both Would In fact, I think we should combine them so my head can explode with a bang and not a whimper. Because I love blind people, I wanted to redeem the book, but I just can't bring myself to do it. In fact, I think I'll go watch some House MD. just to keep meself from feeling tres sympa for this piss poor excuse of a novel. I will however read it. I want to count how many time she does, in fact, use the term "giggle." I just can't pass that up. biggrin

I'll bring the snacks heart

Is this for real? O_o Erik has a blind sister and he is Raoul's cousin!? What. The. Fudge.

I absolutely HATE it in books and movies when the timeline is either a few or many centuries back and the author (or script writer) makes the characters use expressions that are only used in our time period. I HATE when they do that.

Thanks for the heads up. I now know to avoid this book if I ever see it.