Progeny :

Rating:
Summary: A very wonderful book!
Review: I highly recommend this book to any fan of "The Phantom of the Opera." It is very good. I'd give it more stars if I could!

Rating:
Summary: Unforgetabe!
Review: I saw this book and thought well it's woth a try. I've read it over five times! I want this in a movie! it's a great book every Phantom Phan should read this! It tuches on ALW's Learoux's and Key's books. This is turly an unforegettalbe book. tearsure it!

Rating:
Summary: I was a sceptic. Now I'm a fan!
Review: I was a little nervous about this book. Susan Kay did such an awesome job with her work on Phantom that I was worried about how someone would follow it up. Phantom isn't really written for much of a sequal.

Becky Meadows had to make some changes to the ending of Kay's version to make hers work. At first I was a little leary of these changes. If she couldn't follow up from the ending of Kay's book, then how would she ever get the two stories to mesh? It turns out that she didn't have to.

Meadows follows up on the emotion and romance of Kay's version perfectly. Its obviously a different author writing the story, but you can see where she got her inspiration from. The story starts out a little rough but gets amazing as it picks up momentum.

This is very much a book that you won't want to put down once you start reading. The intrique and mystery of the Phantom is explained even further in this awesome sequal. I would highly recommend it to any fan of the Susan Kay version who has an open mind to a different ending on that other great novel. You won't be disapointed in this story. I want one in hardback now.

Rating:
Summary: Progeny
Review: I'm so disappointed in this book that I should be the one gnashing my teeth and beating my [chest] instead of the characters. Ms. Meadows took a really wonderful story and turned it into a third rate romance novel. The basic plot would have made a wonderful book in the hands of Susan Kay, who wrote Phantom. Do yourself a favor if you're thinking of buying this book and run the other way. Look for Phantom instead... it's everything this book tries to be but fails. I, for one, am sorry I wasted my money on Progeny.

Rating:
Summary: Erik is dead.
Review: It confuses me to see so many professed "fans" of Gaston Leroux's The Phantom of the Opera who exalt a tale that goes against the very fabric of Leroux's original intent. May I remind those customers whose copy of the original novel needs a good dusting, the last sentence Leroux penned was "Erik is dead." If Erik is dead, his sequel is not justified.

Rating:
Summary: Novice writing
Review: It is admirable that Meadows took the time and effort to publish her phan fiction as a book. It shows a great passion for the Phantom mythology.

Having said that, this book was in desperate need of a proofreader and an editor.

The main downfall of Progeny is the narrative style. The author uses first person narrative (I said this...I said that) but keeps switching the speaker between Christine, Erik, and their son Christian. The only real indication of who is speaking comes from the Part titles (i.e. Christine). That's it. Meadows never gives the characters their own distinctive voices so we can identify them. Every word of prose and dialog in this book is written in the exact same tone and voice, namely the author's. The book is so flat and so monotone, that you can't even say that characters are one-dimentional. They have no dimention at all.

Meadows assumes that the reader's familiarity with the Gaston Leroux novel and the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical will be enough to understand Christine and Erik. The problem is Meadows doesn't really continue with the tone of those works. In her hands, these interesting characters do nothing more than go to and from Erik's house and cry a lot. What little plot exists is hidden under this painful novice writing style.

I really wanted to like this book. I've been very impressed with some of the phan fiction available on the Internet. But this book is not a good example of it. Save your money and forget Progeny.

Rating:
Summary: 5 STARS WONDERFUL AMAZING THRILLING ROMANTIC!
Review: Oh gosh, huge phantom phan, this was a romantic, thrilling book. It sent chills up my spine it was so wonderful... I even cried at the end and I do not cry easily. If you like Phantom of the Opera, GET THIS BOOK!! I repeat, GET THIS BOOK! You will NOT regret it. If you do not cry, you are not a faithful Phantom phan ;)

Rating:
Summary: Why can't we let Erik rest?
Review: Perhaps it's my bias towards Susan Kay's Phantom, but I did not find this book nearly as enjoyable as others I have read.

Do I regret buying it? No. This is an excellent addition to the library of any Phantom fan. But it can only be enjoyed if you were left wondering what might have happened next after reading either Leroux's or Kay's versions.

Erik died. And it just seems to me that this was written, not out of a love for the characters, but to further comercialize a classic story. It flowed to much like a romance novel for my tastes, excessively dramatic, with extravagant language to disguise a weak plot.

I guess I just don't like happy endings to classic tragedies.

Rating:
Summary: Great sequel for Phantom fans!
Review: Phantasy is such a moving, romantic book, that beings years later where Phantom of the Opera left off. It is 20 years later and we see what has becom of Christine, Raoul and of course our favorite literary figure of all time, Eric. Plus another character that becomes as important as all the rest.
Eric is written in a much kinder light which is very believable and the reader sees how much Christine has matured and her true feelings for Eric. Raoul is written a little on the villianesc side that could make fans of his become upset, but it also works.
Meadows take different points of view from the characters much like the first book and it works to her advantage.
Order this book and treat yourself to the fantasy and the phantom. It is like returning to old friends!

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Phantom Story!!
Review: Progeny is a *must* read for any Phantom of the Opera fan (both of the original Leroux story and the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical). Becky Meadows has a wonderful grasp of the characters and brings the reader to their story, some years after the original story took place. She presents a tale of "what might have taken place" after Christine left Erik in his lair. It was fascinating to read and I highly recommend this book. If you love the story of the Phantom, you will love this novel.