Stefanie, I have never written a review before because of two reasons: English is not my first language and therefore I am not sure I can express my thoughts the way I would like to and secondly, because I have never come upon a fanfic that made such a strong impression on me. Neither Leroux's nor Kay's novels left me thinking and rethinking the story and the characters for days nor have they stirred so many emotions in me. Not only your writing style but also your insight into the characters' psychology gave this story - which is so often interpreted as a high romance or a SF or a gothic novel or some other sensationalistic genre - the quality of being believable and therefore so much more tragic and moving. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. It definitely deserves publishing. You are such a talented writer, please keep up writing.

I love your story not only because it is very well written, but because it changed my perspective on Leroux's. I have absolutely no pity for your Erik and I don't really think any woman should. He can moan and wail all he wants, but it's Christine we should pity. She was manipulated, kidnapped and held hostage, had a nutter punch her repeatedly in the diaphragm, knock her out with blows to her head, nearly break her wrists, insult her, try to kill someone she loves, RAPE her, for God's sakes, and then have the nerve to say he "was breaking her as you break a horse, which isn't bullying". You give us hints that he did the same to that other woman who was discovered in the Seine. Erik's redemption is
I don't like Christine, though. She could have handled her situation in a much smarter way.

Nice. Are you basing this exclusively on the book (which says nothing about Christine or Raoul dying)? I'm asking because in the 2004 movie, Raoul ostensibly outlives Christine.

Hello Stefanie. I just now finished reading your story and I felt that I needed to at once leave a review. However, I sit here at my desk and I am contemplating what to write. The story was very moving and thankfully it allowed for sympathy for all characters involved, not just Christine. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the backgrounds that you assigned to your characters and I thank you for your originality. This perhaps is the best story I have read pertaining to 'The Phantom of the Opera.' One could say that I liked this much more than Susan Kay's.

So once again I think you for entertaining me and moving me with such a wonderful piece. I read this during my intermittent breaks at work and it made the days go by so much faster.

~Melissa

I have recently realized to my absolute amazement, after re-reading this tale for the first time since its conclusion, how much I've grown up since I first read and reviewed its contents.
I never before contemplated, though I probably should have, just how much my perspective and understanding of so many of the aspects and insights of this story could change and mature simply from the experience of being married for nearly a year-and-a-half and recently giving birth to my first child (it delighted me how I could connect with the imagery of Christine's pregnancy, among other things, and Philippe's birth scene changed from something that used to be raw and slightly nauseating to something viscerally beautiful--the memories of my own mostly unmedicated birth experience were brought back to me with fondly painful clarity).
Along with it came a much deeper and complex realization and understanding of the pitch-perfect characterization of Erik in particular, as well as that of Christine, Raoul, Philippe...though I'm perfectly aware that my "understanding" of them, enhanced as it may be, is worlds away from what it might be a few years from now, or years after that.
So, the point of this review? After all this reflection, I've simply learned never to take a story as complex and carefully thought-out as this at face value. Also, I wanted you to know how much I thoroughly enjoyed reading it again.
The language, the research and historical knowledge, the mythological and literary references, the at once merciless and tender insights into psychology and human nature...it never ceases to amaze.
I've said it before, many times, and it still stands. Get this beast published. :D You'd rock the book world.
Although with all the hassle that would entail, it might just be worth it to simply leave it unpublished and have it remain nestled in this site like a rare jewel for spelunking fanfictioneers to find. (or rediscover, as I did)

~Echo

"What is monstrous, Christine, has been his treatment of you, and if I call him monster it is not for the unfortunate accident that marred his birth, but the deception and violence he has used against you in the name of love.” (Raoul)

Just fantastic...one of the best summings up of the tragedy that I have ever read.

I started reading this yesterday, and I literally couldn't stop til I finished it. I will certainly be reading it again and again.

You've done a fabulous job of taking Leroux's story and characters and expanding on them; filling in the gaps and explaining little details in an extremely satisfying way.

Loved loved loved it.

This tore my heart out. I read the chapter with Erck's death with tears streaming down my cheeks. I felt the same when I saw the movie and Christine left Phantom. What a tragic story. I need to find a fic that gives Erik a happy ending or I'll cry all night and not go to sleep.

How thoughtful of you to acknowledge my scribbles!

The history info was simply an older gal/ history buff seeking to "give back" and was mainly for your readers, some of whom seem to have little background in 18th/19th century attitudes. From reviews of your stories and those of other writers, I think many readers process a narrative with 21st century sensibilities, no matter how excellent the author or how much history is woven into their story.

Whether in word or print, I simply can't be silent about how finely-crafted and stunning your writing is. The human psyche has seldom been so exquisitely illuminated, by such a refined intellect.

Of course, the Phantom inspiration simply can't be surpassed, and whether Leroux or Butler, the subject is lent a brilliant insight by your words and the images you conjure for us.

Warmest regards,
Silver/Annemarie

Wonderful stories! Your writing is exquisitely beautiful and imaginative. Some of the phrasing is so evocative it leaves me breathless.

I have just finished reading all of your works here on and whether you are inspired by G.Butler or G.Leroux, you nail the character of Erik as few writers have done. And in "Phantoms of the Past" we meet an intelligent, mature Raoul, worth a woman's notice, and also an insightful Christine whose character is so much more than the usual fluff and melancholy. Thank you!

An earlier reviewer spoke of the "infamous wedding-night rape". Unfortunately this was more the norm in 19th century society than we realize, with our 21st century freedoms and heightened awareness.

Marriage denoted stature in European cultures, and was desired by most individuals. But men ruled. They enjoyed complete control over the women who married them, and extensive rights over a lady who promised herself to them (fiancée, betrothed, etc.) In most society, only during courtship could one change their mind and then give their promise of marriage to someone else. One's word was one's bond, especially among males of the period, and ostracism often followed churlish actions in this regard. Women's emancipation was being proclaimed in writing and other venues, but still had much to overcome.

We hear only of "husband's rights" never "wife's rights" in marriages of the period. A woman's duty was no less than absolute submission to the will of her husband. Her allegiance, inheritance, desires, hopes, needs, and children belonged strictly to the man who was -often- chosen for her. Worse, few young ladies were taught anything about sex, and men were seldom aware that women could have **. A woman could only hope that the gentleman she married was, indeed, a gentle man.

Erik's actions in your story were no more than what was understood as his "rights", and the brutality of it was perhaps caused more by his ignorance than conscious cruelty, swept up as he was by overwhelming love and desire for Christine. It is your acute rendering of the scene which chills the heart, and there again I must give praise to your author's skills.

Heartfelt thanks for your imagination, for posting, and for completing your works.
Silver/Annemarie
-o
Some of your phrases which make me return to your stories again and again, all of which are veritable banquets of imagery:

The Man in the Boat
"…his fine frame carved in the perfect harmony of the Golden Ratio..." Ah yes, this is Butler…

In Dreams He Came
"…the assault of the kiss, a pigeon smashed in midair by the diving hawk."
"…the man's body's like iron, stiff with muscle under skin like buttery tanned leather."
"Night rustles on the curtains…"

Garden of earthly Delights
"... temperamental nature in which darkness mixed with fire and occasionally erupted."
"…your eyes never lost the dark, faraway shadow of the sword that hung over us but never fell."

No End to Longing
"…a hard man who served up sarcasm lightly sprinkled with bitterness."
"…a panther clad in fire…" ~Masquerade's Red Death

Phantoms of the Past
"... embroidered onto my soul with threads of blood"
"... the simplest delights of the flesh, the most basic metrical elements of Hymen's song."
"... the faint gleam of a sword in his voice,"
"... underneath his tones I heard the command...that awoke a sleeping heart even while freezing it with terror."
"... tall and of a spectral slenderness."
"... all the questions which have no answers slid down together into the throat of the night.”
"... even from an arm's length distant I could hear his heart break."
"The terror lay not in the pursuit, but in the surrender."
"Suffering falls upon the innocent from indifferent skies."
“Loving you is a blood sport, isn't it?” ~Raoul to Christine
"The corridor swallowed me like a throat."
"The dead deafen us with their relentless silence,"
”He is an architect of music...he carves the stone of sound and forms from it a great cathedral... a cathedral in hell, black and soaring, radiating with dark light,"

The funeral saddened me, as did Christine’s thoughts about Isabeau. The thought of small coffins always tears me up. Am going to have to go back and re-read earlier chapters, because I don’t remember Father Durant at all. Appropriate that Christine ”finds” her voice at a funeral, since she lost it when she ”buried” her old self, in order to escape to her new life. A bit far-fetched, that idea, but that’s just me.

Nit-warning: Nyckelharpa, with an ”a” at the end, in Swedish. I don’t think there is a word for it in English. I’ve danced to a similar French instrument, called a ”bourdon” (bumblebee) from Bretagne or Normandy, but haven’t been able to find any reference to it on-line. You use a bow with the nyckelharpa, but the French bourdon had some kind of wheel inside it that rubbed against the strings. The French and Swedish dances weren’t the same, but we could dance to each other’s music, using our own steps. I’m sure there’s some sort of symbolism in that, but I’m too tired to take the thought further ;-) Music is a means of communication beyond language, be it of words or steps in the dance, or something.

So… the middle-aged Jacques making a career move. To live his dream. I like the way so many bits and pieces are coming together here. Parallels to Leroux’ own life (a journalist and a writer) and an interweaving of fact and fiction of the times.

A green salty tang to the love scene, marine imagery carried on throughout a large part of this chapter. Physical closeness first, then Christine can open her heart and tell the old story.

And back in time. I think the phrase ”a motley mass of tearful passion” sums Erik up. Passion means strong emotion, love, hate, anger, joy. Erik could certainly feel passion, if not love. And that final scene of redemption, of tears and grief shared. Not here the chastely clothed Madonna holding a Christ figure, but a living naked Magdalene (in the nice sense of the name) holding a man of flesh and blood. ”He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.”

I love quotes, and quoting. Have a mind that bounces around rather randomly at times. It may be a sign of some kind of stream of consciousness, or, as Lord Peter Wimsey would have said, it might be that: ”A facility for quotation covers the absence of original thought.”

More Christine-Peillard interludes… interesting. Am so glad you let Christine meet someone else after Raoul. While there is life, there is hope, and hopefully love, too. I’m a strong believer in a life after love. And love after love.

A nit, only a little one, ”The article in question” like the short story abt Lord Peter Wimsey. ”L’inconnue” should have an ”e” at the end, since the unknown is a woman.

And Erik’s torment and tormenting continues. I’m beginning to feel ”enough, already!”. Not because it’s boring or badly written, it’s just too much suffering. I want happy fluffy things around me, and blue skies! Yes, I hear you ask, then what the heck are you doing reading this? I can’t put it down, that’s why.

This scorpion, locust episode feels less interesting than some others. I think that may be because Leroux wrote more about it, than others, where you’ve had more gaps to fill in and hollow bits to pad out.

Erik wanted to let the wine fatten? I’d say ripen or mature, myself. You fatten Hansel and Gretel and pigs, not wine.

In ”Faust”, it’s ”anges purs, anges radieux” in the plural. Are you deliberately saying angel in the singular in the title? Meaning Christine/Marguerite, perhaps? Just wondering.

As I’ve mentioned before, I’d been ”overdosing” on Faust at youtube, just before reading this chapter. Have always liked the music, but not seen it performed before (I think, I can’t remember), and the youtube videos made a strong impression on me. And then I read this chapter and got goosebumps all over again. But Christine’s Marguerite doesn’t come across as mad, it feels more as if she is making a conscious choice of turning away from the Devil.

M… Christine and Peillard in the garden. Gardens are nice places to talk… First kiss, tickly moustache, lovely. Nice desciptions of Peillard, I can’t remember much about him from earlier chapters, but I read those on-line and they don’t seem to stick very well. Making out in the park! Tut tut, at their age, too! I’m shocked ;-P A big man is nice to hold…

Then flashbacks to that dramatic last episode under the opera house. You don’t spare Erik at all, do you Stef, he is shown in all his madness, murderousness..

I like Philippe’s and Anki’s household, a muddle of happy children, and contented parents. With discussions about the correct terminology for dead things at the dinner table. That moment when Philippe holds Roland, ”hung quietly in the evening air” is one of those times when time stops and two people just are together, caught up in some kind of limbo. A spiritual/holy moment of some kind of communing of souls. The kind you can get when you look into a baby’s wide eyes and the world around you fades out.

The nit of the day: The term "red-light district" was first recorded in the United States around 1890, and derives from the practice of placing a red light in the window to indicate to customers the nature of the business. (from the on-line Wiki encyclopedia). The term ”red-light” feels downright euphemistic in comparison with the Brit term Gropecunt Lane. I can’t verify the claim that ”Gropecunt Lane” is the earliest written reference to the word ”**” in English, since I don’t have an Oxford English Dictionary, that dates it to 1230. One day I will take a van to England and buy the complete set. There are still a few Gropecunt lanes around, in England, but the term hasn’t really been used in modern times. It was used in Medieval times.

-Yanks self back on-topic-

I also like the way Erik is a ”working man”, winding up his business, and moving on, having made his plans for the future. It’s in-line with what’s hinted at in Leroux, imo, and makes more of a ”complete” image of him. He is not just the musical genious, alternately drugging, dragging Christine, or crying at her feet. He is also a businessman, technical genious, AND a musical genius, alternately drugging, etc etc.

Then we get to the scene where Christine discovers he has been sleeping in her bed (this tore me up a bit), and remembers the first days of the Angel of Music. Fills out the lines sketched by Leroux. The mention of the little white stones and secret, true names, makes me wonder ”what’s in a name” to … the man who calls himself Erik.

Erik is disappointed that Christine’s courses have come.. a hint that he wished for children? Was part of him expecting to set out on his new life with a family. The ”saner” part.

The physical contact with Raoul under Apollo’s Lyre gives me the impression that Christine is more in control of the situation, than Raoul. Well, then again, she is physically more experienced, too.

Why white roses? What am I missing here?

This chapter raises an interesting dilemma. Should one reveal the secrets of the past. For whose sake? Because you feel the need to confess, and get the weight off your own shoulders? Or because someone has ”the right to know a truth”? Such as Philippe, who may or may not have been wondering about his father. Philippe has been wondering… then again, many children do feel like changelings, when in reality, they’re not.

”Christine & Erik go shopping”. He never got the Sunday walks in the park, just the everyday shopping. But at least they showed themselves together in public.

Again, a clever interweaving of ”fiction” and ”reality”, though of course, in a book all is illusion ;-) Am thinking of the intertwining of Christine’s thoughts with the plots of the operas she appears in.

Aw, such a sweet love scene between R & C. And the First Kiss. Hm… can’t remember my first kiss.