Review: Our Strange Duet

Our Strange Duet by Erin A Craig

Published By: Penguin
Publication Date: September 1, 2026
Date Read: October 20, 2026
Genre: YA – Retellings
Source: Bought
Format: Paperback
Pages: 390

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A reimagining of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera, spotlighting Christine Daaé as she rises to fame while torn between love, ambition, and the haunting secrets of the opera house from #1 New York Times bestselling author Erin A. Craig.

Inspired by Gaston Leroux’s 1910 novel, Le Fantôme de L’Opéra, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera tells the story of a mysterious masked figure who lurks beneath the Paris Opera House, exercising a reign of terror over all who inhabit it.

He falls madly in love with a young soprano, Christine Daaé, and devotes himself to nurturing her extraordinary talents, employing all of the devious methods at his command.

Our Strange Duet centres Christine’s emotional journey and her agency within this sweeping, atmospheric opera.

There were no words to describe just how excited I was when I first heard about Our Strange Duet. I’ve been such a huge fan of The Phantom of the Opera the musical since I was about 10 years old. So to hear about a Phantom inspired YA novel following Christine just sounded like the perfect book for me. I knew from the very first page that this was going to be a high rating for me, and it was. I really enjoyed every moment of this book.

Our Strange Duet follows the story of Christine Daae as she embarks on her dream of being an opera singer. She is enamoured with the dark and mysterious Erik, someone who nurtures and helps her talent. But as things start going wrong in a sinister way throughout the opera house, Christine starts to wonder if there is more to Erik than he lets on.

Honestly, I didn’t read the blurb before heading into Our Strange Duet. I was already a Phantom superfan, so I didn’t need to know any more than it was a reimagining of my favourite musical. However, I do feel like me going into it blind was slightly detrimental to my enjoyment of it as I feel like I went into this book expecting something very different to what the book was. I fully went into this book expecting a slight prequel to the musical. I wasn’t expecting it to just be the musical in book form with a few extra scenes. I ended up being a little bit disappointed as I really wanted a bit more back story for our beloved characters here, and while we did get it slightly in flashback scenes, the vast majority of this book was just scene for scene the same as the musical.

As a superfan, I did love it. I loved seeing my favourite scenes from the show in a novel form, where you can see some of Christine’s thoughts that you really don’t get just watching the show. I loved seeing some of the lyrics threaded throughout the novel. It honestly just made me want to stop reading and sing the entire song. I also really enjoyed the extra scenes that we got in between the events of the musical. It was a great insight into the characters.

I think Our Strange Duet is the perfect read for any superfan of Phantom of the Opera, or anyone who doesn’t know the musical well at all. However, I do thing that if you know a little bit about Phantom but you think it’s just okay, this book may feel a little bit on the average side. It does just go through the events of the musical with maybe a handful of extra scenes, so I won’t lie there were times when even I, a superfan, felt like I could have just watched the musical. I don’t think I’d re-read the book but I am glad I gave it a go. I would recommend it, but don’t go in expecting it to be very different, or anything additional, it really is just a scene by scene run of the musical.