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The Young Phantom
Before the opera came the Young Phantom...
The tale of the murderous Phantom of the Opera and his addiction to Christine is one that is known around the world.
But the early years of the horribly disfigured Erik remain shrouded in mystery.
His life begins in a lonely tavern on a deserted, French road. An emergency birth and the only help available is from the man-midwife, Père Lapôtre.
Unskilled and unfeeling, Lapôtre’s gruesome attempt at the child’s delivery dooms the child to grow up to be the one called the Phantom.
Rejected by his parents, only Françoise truly cares for him. When his mother reclaims him, it is only to humiliate and punish him for sentencing her to a life of pain and misery.
Cast out again to fend for himself, he embarks on a life of loneliness and danger which takes him to the other side of the world.
He returns to France where he seeks human love only to find it is written that he is not made to know human happiness.
The tale of the murderous Phantom of the Opera and his addiction to Christine is one that is known around the world.
But the early years of the horribly disfigured Erik remain shrouded in mystery.
His life begins in a lonely tavern on a deserted, French road. An emergency birth and the only help available is from the man-midwife, Père Lapôtre.
Unskilled and unfeeling, Lapôtre’s gruesome attempt at the child’s delivery dooms the child to grow up to be the one called the Phantom.
Rejected by his parents, only Françoise truly cares for him. When his mother reclaims him, it is only to humiliate and punish him for sentencing her to a life of pain and misery.
Cast out again to fend for himself, he embarks on a life of loneliness and danger which takes him to the other side of the world.
He returns to France where he seeks human love only to find it is written that he is not made to know human happiness.
- GenresEbooksHistorical Fiction
235 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 6, 2017
25 people are currently reading
159 people want to read
About the author
David Coward
58 books12 followersEducation: Bachelor, University London, 1960. Doctor of Philosophy, University London, 1975.
Career: From assistant lecturer to professor emeritus University Leeds, Leeds, England, 1963—1997, professor emeritus, since 1997. Honorary fellow Queen Mary, London, 2002.
Career: From assistant lecturer to professor emeritus University Leeds, Leeds, England, 1963—1997, professor emeritus, since 1997. Honorary fellow Queen Mary, London, 2002.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
April 23, 2020
Trigger warning--this book contains the injury/disfigurement of an infant, animal death, gruesome violence, racism, and doubtless other triggering content past where I read to.
DNF at page 111. Oof, I made it halfway through and I wanted to keep trudging along but I just didn't think it was going to get any better.
The Young Phantom is like if you took Phantom, stripped it of all of Susan Kay's purple prose, and shoved a bunch more grimness and violence and racism in. I will be the first to admit I am willing to do a lot of hand-waving for the more problematic aspects of Phantom based on how much the writing style appeals to me and the raw emotions in that book. I'm not feeling as charitable with the stripped-down style that dominates most of The Young Phantom as we witness Erik getting yanked from one bad situation to another. Both books fall victim into turning into a series of disconnected unfortunate events, but Kay is a bit more restrained, spending a long time in each place, whereas Coward can't seem to go more than a chapter before jumping to a new locale. I can't help but compare the two in my mind as they are both meant to fill in a backstory for the titular Phantom.
I'll admit I might have had unrealistically high expectations. Coward has translated various French novels that I enjoy, including Dangerous Liaisons and, of course, The Phantom of the Opera. I suppose it was naive of me to think that eloquent translating necessarily means that said translator is going to have great writing prowess on their own. This book is fraught with errors the likes of which can't even be found in the most amateurish of phanfic writers' work. There was a backslash where Coward intended an apostrophe and it was like a giant bleeding wound in the middle of the page.
Speaking of giant bleeding wounds, here's an excerpt from The Young Phantom that I think about sums it up: "...an arm sliced off by a sword, a leg lacerated on an Arab blade, the casual slash of a sabre, and blood, blood, oh the blood, the pain!"
There is a LOT of gory violence in this book. Too much for the average sensitive, delicate flower like myself to handle. The way that Erik gets his deformity is by far the most horrific take on it I've ever seen. I wouldn't blame people for dropping this book after the first twenty pages because of the . It's really sickening. I don't even want to get in to listing all of the other instances of violence and death, it's making me feel ill just thinking about it.
The writing style that is, for the most part, very plain and straightforward suddenly takes a nosedive into very vivid imagery during violent scenes. I really don't know why Coward chose to do this. It doesn't mesh with Leroux's brief depictions of violence in the original novel at all and it doesn't feel like a beneficial style choice to me.
Another big strike against this is the racism. I gave it the "this is supposed to take place in the 19th century" excuse for a bit, but it got to be too much. Every single white savior trope that you could possibly think of is in this. While abroad, Erik gets mistaken for a god, Erik miraculously beats this dictator who has had people imprisoned for decades, the phrase "superior white man's manner" is thrown in without a hint of irony, etc.
A blind woman named Eriknaz in Nuristan . He takes the name Erik to honor her. No, seriously. Erik's name for a huge chunk of this book is "Jean." I actually thought that this was a clever decision at first because "Jean" is a common French name and "Erik" is a common Scandinavian name. The irony in someone as bizarre in face and manner as Erik having a name that's effectively the "John Smith" of these respective places is great. Christine is from Sweden, so taking the name "Erik" to appeal to her with familiarity would make absolute sense. But no. Instead Coward went with him naming himself after Eriknaz. A woman who he knew for all of a handful of pages, by the way. After doing a bit of Googling, I came to the conclusion that Eriknaz is not a name (at least not a typical one) but the name of a village in modern-day Azerbaijan. Why did you do this, David Coward? Why?
I'm extremely bummed out. I wanted so badly for this to be good, but no matter how many chances I gave it, the world and characters and actions presented in this book were all too gruesome and mean and callous to be enjoyable. Maybe I'll come back to it someday and drag my feet to the end of the book, if only so I can meet the daroga, but today is not that day.
One star. More painful to experience than The Phantom of Manhattan, RoseBlood, and Unmasqued: An Erotic Novel of The Phantom of The Opera put together.
DNF at page 111. Oof, I made it halfway through and I wanted to keep trudging along but I just didn't think it was going to get any better.
The Young Phantom is like if you took Phantom, stripped it of all of Susan Kay's purple prose, and shoved a bunch more grimness and violence and racism in. I will be the first to admit I am willing to do a lot of hand-waving for the more problematic aspects of Phantom based on how much the writing style appeals to me and the raw emotions in that book. I'm not feeling as charitable with the stripped-down style that dominates most of The Young Phantom as we witness Erik getting yanked from one bad situation to another. Both books fall victim into turning into a series of disconnected unfortunate events, but Kay is a bit more restrained, spending a long time in each place, whereas Coward can't seem to go more than a chapter before jumping to a new locale. I can't help but compare the two in my mind as they are both meant to fill in a backstory for the titular Phantom.
I'll admit I might have had unrealistically high expectations. Coward has translated various French novels that I enjoy, including Dangerous Liaisons and, of course, The Phantom of the Opera. I suppose it was naive of me to think that eloquent translating necessarily means that said translator is going to have great writing prowess on their own. This book is fraught with errors the likes of which can't even be found in the most amateurish of phanfic writers' work. There was a backslash where Coward intended an apostrophe and it was like a giant bleeding wound in the middle of the page.
Speaking of giant bleeding wounds, here's an excerpt from The Young Phantom that I think about sums it up: "...an arm sliced off by a sword, a leg lacerated on an Arab blade, the casual slash of a sabre, and blood, blood, oh the blood, the pain!"
There is a LOT of gory violence in this book. Too much for the average sensitive, delicate flower like myself to handle. The way that Erik gets his deformity is by far the most horrific take on it I've ever seen. I wouldn't blame people for dropping this book after the first twenty pages because of the . It's really sickening. I don't even want to get in to listing all of the other instances of violence and death, it's making me feel ill just thinking about it.
The writing style that is, for the most part, very plain and straightforward suddenly takes a nosedive into very vivid imagery during violent scenes. I really don't know why Coward chose to do this. It doesn't mesh with Leroux's brief depictions of violence in the original novel at all and it doesn't feel like a beneficial style choice to me.
Another big strike against this is the racism. I gave it the "this is supposed to take place in the 19th century" excuse for a bit, but it got to be too much. Every single white savior trope that you could possibly think of is in this. While abroad, Erik gets mistaken for a god, Erik miraculously beats this dictator who has had people imprisoned for decades, the phrase "superior white man's manner" is thrown in without a hint of irony, etc.
A blind woman named Eriknaz in Nuristan . He takes the name Erik to honor her. No, seriously. Erik's name for a huge chunk of this book is "Jean." I actually thought that this was a clever decision at first because "Jean" is a common French name and "Erik" is a common Scandinavian name. The irony in someone as bizarre in face and manner as Erik having a name that's effectively the "John Smith" of these respective places is great. Christine is from Sweden, so taking the name "Erik" to appeal to her with familiarity would make absolute sense. But no. Instead Coward went with him naming himself after Eriknaz. A woman who he knew for all of a handful of pages, by the way. After doing a bit of Googling, I came to the conclusion that Eriknaz is not a name (at least not a typical one) but the name of a village in modern-day Azerbaijan. Why did you do this, David Coward? Why?
I'm extremely bummed out. I wanted so badly for this to be good, but no matter how many chances I gave it, the world and characters and actions presented in this book were all too gruesome and mean and callous to be enjoyable. Maybe I'll come back to it someday and drag my feet to the end of the book, if only so I can meet the daroga, but today is not that day.
One star. More painful to experience than The Phantom of Manhattan, RoseBlood, and Unmasqued: An Erotic Novel of The Phantom of The Opera put together.
May 14, 2018
I love the mystery, romance & intrigue behind Leroux's Phantom of the Opera, and the tragic figure of Erik at its centre; a man rejected by the world and capable of amazing feats and incredible acts of evil. I enjoyed the portrayal of Erik's life in this novel, but found that it jumped over some periods and dwelt too in depth into others. It lacked consistency and failed to spark my imagination. A much more compelling and rounded version of Erik's early life is told in the novel Phantom, by Susan Kay.
March 4, 2021
Fascinating to find a translator being so curious about Erik's backstory that they ended up writing one. In the end, it was a bit choppy timeline wise for me, but it reads smooth and I feel it deserves to be read just as much as the fandom's staple of Susan Kay's Phantom. Although some of Erik's actions in the book seem a bit farfetched for me, it still remained solid to his character.
September 10, 2017
This is a complex imagining of Erik's story, from his birth until after the events of the classic tale.
Rejected by his parents, he only feels affection from the servant girl who raises him until he is torn away from her. His life after that is a whirlwind of relocating, learning, deviousness & pain leading him to become Erik, the multifaceted genius we know so well.
This is complex & sweeping, though some editing lapses pulled me from the narrative. A flurry of new locations and people results in a barrage of names, most of which are forgettable in Erik's full history. Though it's relatively well done and creatively fills in some gaps in his history, it often doesn't ring true to the classic character for me, especially in the final segment referencing the events with Christine.
Rejected by his parents, he only feels affection from the servant girl who raises him until he is torn away from her. His life after that is a whirlwind of relocating, learning, deviousness & pain leading him to become Erik, the multifaceted genius we know so well.
This is complex & sweeping, though some editing lapses pulled me from the narrative. A flurry of new locations and people results in a barrage of names, most of which are forgettable in Erik's full history. Though it's relatively well done and creatively fills in some gaps in his history, it often doesn't ring true to the classic character for me, especially in the final segment referencing the events with Christine.
September 28, 2023
Interesting
I liked the idea of learning more about Erik's background. This was an interesting yet heartbreaking story. I felt badly for Erik who only wanted love and acceptance but was instead subjected to cruelty for circumstances beyond his control. Although I enjoyed the story overall, some parts seemed to drag while the ending felt rushed. Also, there were many spelling and grammatical errors. There were also a few places where "Eric" was used before Jean had officially taken his new name.
I liked the idea of learning more about Erik's background. This was an interesting yet heartbreaking story. I felt badly for Erik who only wanted love and acceptance but was instead subjected to cruelty for circumstances beyond his control. Although I enjoyed the story overall, some parts seemed to drag while the ending felt rushed. Also, there were many spelling and grammatical errors. There were also a few places where "Eric" was used before Jean had officially taken his new name.
November 2, 2023
The tale of a life ruined at birth by the hands of an unskilled male midwife. Face and features torn away by the crude use of emergency tools, Jean was taken from his mother and forced to live in secret with a wet nurse.
Due his disfigured face he was forced face fear and derision from those around him for most of his life, finally accepting solitude, and giving himself the name Erik.
This story is the life of The Phantom, the events that turned him towards the opera house and his famed encounter with Christine Daaé.
Due his disfigured face he was forced face fear and derision from those around him for most of his life, finally accepting solitude, and giving himself the name Erik.
This story is the life of The Phantom, the events that turned him towards the opera house and his famed encounter with Christine Daaé.
July 30, 2017
Great book
Could not stop reading the book. I started it could not put it down. Just another way to find out about the phantom.
Could not stop reading the book. I started it could not put it down. Just another way to find out about the phantom.
August 11, 2017
Wonderful story
A beautiful story. Finally know how the phantom came to be. Also sad as he died although I thought there was a sequel to the original phantom story.
A beautiful story. Finally know how the phantom came to be. Also sad as he died although I thought there was a sequel to the original phantom story.
September 7, 2017
This was an interesting take on the background story of the Phantom of the Opera. I enjoyed it and will look for more from this author.
September 27, 2019
* Read for the '2019 Book Riot Read Harder Challenge' task: A book published prior to Jan. 1 2019 with fewer than 100 reviews on Goodreads
May 12, 2020
3.5 stars.
May 29, 2025
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews