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Until recently, I forgot that I read this about a decade ago. Now I’m a huge Phantom of the Opera fan. And I’m not just talking about the play and all the movies and such. I really loved Gaston Leroux’s original novel. I thought it gave the already fascinating and intriguing character even more dynamics and a very rich backstory, as compared to other incarnations. I loved it so much that I even named a side character in my first Preternatural book Erik, as he was a tragic character just like Leroux’s antagonist, too. So I eventually got curious years after reading the original novel and began looking for fan fiction sequels, prequels, and, of course, even found a sickening amount of erotica, too. Susan Kay’s story came highly recommended and I dove right in. It’s not a short read, so it was a bit of a journey to get through. And I remember reading this very vivid and beautifully written origin story of Erik and loved how it lead nicely into the original book. However, I just kept thinking ‘Gosh, this just keeps getting worse.� And I’m not referring to a strong dislike of the story, but rather the content continually taking this sad, abused, unloved person, born with a terrible deformity, and just berating him too many times over. Almost like watching a Zack Snyder film, ie Man of Steel, where there’s these gigantic, epic climaxes that can last up to an forty-five minutes. You get the point and want to stay with it, but after awhile you get fatigued. Subtlety can be a wonderful thing. Now to bring Erik to the point of Leroux’s classic tale, I fully appreciate and understand how big of an undertaking it is. You need to grab this person and walk him through the worst circumstances imaginable at that time, in order to make the reader fully empathize with his struggles over a long period. And stay somewhat true to the original story, while taking some creative liberties. It’s a very hard balance to strike. But this became tiresome after awhile and it felt like the point was driven home too hard. Again, I’m not saying that I hated this story at all, but rather enjoyed it quite a bit. And I’m not even sure how I would have written it differently to resolve the critiques that I had here. It is just my personal opinion of how Susan Kay developed her unique version of Erik. But I ultimately thought that the abusive and terrible situations Erik was faced with could have been toned down a bit, and still had the same, if not a greater, impact on the reader.