I have been looking for Russian books to read, however, it was difficult to find suitable books. When I chanced upon your website, I bought Phantom of the Opera to try. I really enjoyed it. It is a book suitable for my level. I can understand it, and yet at the same time, I learned new words. The bilingual version is very helpful. I will be buying other books and I certainly recommend this to other Russian learners especially people like me who have a basic understanding of Russian and are looking for Russian books to read.

This book was another excellent book by Kristina.  All of these books do a great job by adding new vocabulary and then reinforcing it throughout the book.   For example, this book has many words heavily reinforced words by nature of the story.   Words such as phantom (при́зрак), dressing room(убо́рная) and trap door / hatch (люк) in various forms are all over the story.   Trap Door itself is in there 24 times in several forms (люк, лю́ков, лю́ки, лю́ком, к лю́ку ) which massively helps seeing how it is used.  For me I had not read the book but did see the Broadway musical but now thanks to Kristina, I understand the story which is an added bonus.  I hope she keeps putting out these books as they are wonderful.

This is an engaging story at an appropriate length. The translation is good because it mostly translates word for word. (Translating into English equivalent is pointless for learning the words – these series of books generally don’t do that.) Phantom of the Opera was read very quickly, as it was interesting and engaging. Enjoyed it. Really good!

I am now reading Призрак оперы and I am enjoying it, because of the simple sentences (not too long sentences is easier reading) and because of the fact that the vocabulary is limited to the most frequent words of the language. And what is extremely helpful is the fact that there is a parallel translation which is almost a word-to-word translation! There are parallel text translations that are too free and differ too much from the Russian text. In the Призрак оперы this is not the case and that’s why this parallel translation is very helpful for Russian language learners. Very recommendable!

I liked the book. It helped me learn new vocabulary and improve my listening skills. It was a good fit for my current level of Russian. I would recommend it to other Russian learners.

I definitely would recommend this book to other Russian learners. It is a nice way to discover more words, learn new vocabulary, and practice Russian grammar constructions. The bilingual system works very well for me. I would not wish it differently. I read the book a few days before my visit to a London Theatre, where the musical ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ was performed. This way I was good prepared, and on top of that I had studied Russian during holidays. I also bought other bilingual readers and hope Kristina will continue providing study material this way. Apart from that I very much appreciate her drive to make people study the language, and the personal communication when it is needed.

I liked the story and learnt plenty of new words, which occurred several times all along the story. These repetitions of new words in different sentences made the learning process easier and more intuitive. I would fully recommend these little stories to other students as I really enjoyed as well the Texts in slow Russian series.