Reviews
The Wedding Mask And Other Tales: A Collection of Phantom of the Opera Stories by Kitty-Lydia Dye
cuddlesome's review
3.0
There's a standout story here and there, but for the most part these are about on par with your average fanfic, right down to the habit of harping on eyes--or should I say "orbs"--in every other story. I'd say save your money (or in my case, Amazon gift card) and just read fics instead or, better yet, put your money towards my absolute favorite POTO short story collection and possibly my most favorite POTO book ever, [b:Angel of Music: Tales of the Phantom of the Opera|160411|Angel of Music Tales of the Phantom of the Opera|Carrie Hernandez|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1347786174l/160411._SY75_.jpg|154832].
Another review mentioned that Clay and Siren were among their favorites, and I'm inclined to agree. They are by far the most unique of all of these concepts; it's a shame that the other stories weren't as off-the-wall. It might be my biased love of the supernatural talking, but, yeah, those are the best ones imo. They also mentioned Masks, the final story. Also agree! It's really great for a variety of reasons, but especially because it addresses one of the saddest moments in the ALW musical----and does a really nice description of his deformity while it's at it.
This felt like it leaned more heavily into the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical than the Leroux novel, especially with the half mask, though there are references to the latter with the death's head, depending on the story. Personally, I like having a blend of both elements, so that was nice. There's a frankly distracting choice to make Erik's eyes green and then continuously harp on it. I thought maybe this was a reference to Gerard Butler of 2004 POTO fame--or should I say infamy?--but the man has blue eyes, so there goes that theory. There wasn't anything too stand-out otherwise in that department. That's the whole theme of this book, I guess--passable.
The writing style could be at times the right level of flowery for me and at others too tryhard--again, fanficcy vibes. As always, I hoped for the best, but this was just middle-of-the-road.
Also--this is just a pet peeve, but the author name-dropped a bunch of English authors at one point, plus a reference to German authors, clearly thinking it was very clever... despite this story taking place in France. Of course translations exist, but come on, not ONE French author?
Another review mentioned that Clay and Siren were among their favorites, and I'm inclined to agree. They are by far the most unique of all of these concepts; it's a shame that the other stories weren't as off-the-wall. It might be my biased love of the supernatural talking, but, yeah, those are the best ones imo.
Spoiler
Clay is about Erik constructing Christine from, as the title implies, clay, and Siren is an AU about merman Erik and lace maker Christine.Spoiler
Erik getting a mask as an infantThis felt like it leaned more heavily into the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical than the Leroux novel, especially with the half mask, though there are references to the latter with the death's head, depending on the story. Personally, I like having a blend of both elements, so that was nice. There's a frankly distracting choice to make Erik's eyes green and then continuously harp on it. I thought maybe this was a reference to Gerard Butler of 2004 POTO fame--or should I say infamy?--but the man has blue eyes, so there goes that theory. There wasn't anything too stand-out otherwise in that department. That's the whole theme of this book, I guess--passable.
The writing style could be at times the right level of flowery for me and at others too tryhard--again, fanficcy vibes. As always, I hoped for the best, but this was just middle-of-the-road.
Also--this is just a pet peeve, but the author name-dropped a bunch of English authors at one point, plus a reference to German authors, clearly thinking it was very clever... despite this story taking place in France. Of course translations exist, but come on, not ONE French author?
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