Phantasma
By: Kaylie Smith
Format: Kindle, ARC
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️
**My review below may contain spoilers.**
Good Reads Summary
Welcome to Phantasma.
There are only two rules to the game. Stay alive. And don’t fall in love.
When Ophelia’s sister disappears, there is only one way to save her. Ophelia must enter Phantasma, a deadly contest inside a haunted mansion, and claim its prize—a single wish. Phantasma is a maze of twisting corridors and lavish ballrooms, of demons and temptations. Ophelia will face nine challenges, each more dangerous than the last. There can only be one winner, and the other contestants will stop at nothing to eliminate their rivals.
Every day the house creates new monsters. But just as Ophelia’s fears threaten to overwhelm her, a mysterious stranger offers her a bargain. Charming, arrogant and infuriatingly attractive, Blackwell claims he can guide her through the lethal trials ahead. All he asks in return is ten years of her life.
Ophelia knows she shouldn’t trust him. Blackwell doesn’t seem dangerous, but appearances can be deceptive. Worse still, she feels a dark and irresistible attraction drawing them closer and closer. Her life is on the line.
But in Phantasma, the only thing deadlier than losing the game is losing your heart…
A Court of Thorns and Roses meets Caraval in this seductive fantasy adventure. With steamy romance, a sexy morally gray love interest, OCD rep and jaw-dropping twists, Phantasma is perfect for fans of Rebecca Yarros, Nisha J. Tuli and Carissa Broadbent.
Positives:
Negatives:
- Interesting Theme: The main plot of this book is a competition, and each floor of the competition is centered around one of the circles of Hell. I loved that the theme was centered around devils, ghosts, spirits, etc. since Ophelia is a necromancer. I loved reading about how she incorporated the different concepts of each circle in the different competitions.
- Blackwell, Blackwell, Blackwell: **Swoon** I may or may not be in love with a phantom after reading this book. Blackwell is a phantom trapped in the manor where Phantasma takes place. He has some major swoon worthy lines as he works to help Ophelia survive each night of the competition.
- Spice: Phantasma has the perfect amount of spice. There’s nothing that’s going to make you blush while you’re reading in public, but it is not closed door, fade to black. There’s a perfect balance of getting the chemistry between Blackwell and Ophelia, but not going overboard.
- Unoriginal Plot: There were many similarities between two popular books that I’ve read: Caraval and One Dark Window. More similarities being with Caraval. The whole feel of Phantasma (especially the lead up) was very much like Caraval. The fact that it’s a life or death competition, the heroine follows a headstrong little sister into the competition, and requires the help of a charming (but secretive) MMC to survive was just too similar to Caraval for me to count it as original. Also, Ophelia demonstrates OCD tendencies, which I love the inclusivity, but one of her “ticks” is a shadow voice. This gave me major One Dark Window vibes. The similarities to these two books is the main reason I took off a star.
- Incomplete World: The glossary at the front of this book has all kinds of paranormals, which makes you think that we’re going to interact with them in the book. You don’t. Also, aside from being in New Orleans, we know nothing else of the world where this book takes place. I’m not sure if a sequel where we will see more of this is planned or not.
Review Synopsis
Overall, I loved this book and highly recommend it. I loved the dynamic between Blackwell and Ophelia, the central concepts of the circles of Hells and devils was awesome, and it had the perfect amount of spice mixed in with the adventure. I also liked that the FMC had OCD to give insight into what those living with OCD go through every day. The idea of Ophelia being a necromancer, and all the other paranormals are interesting and I hope there’s a sequel that further develops that aspect of the book. If you liked Caraval or One Dark Window you will especially enjoy this book.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with the ARC copy of this book. It will be released on September 3, 2024! Below is an affiliate link to Amazon if you are interested in reading Phantasma when it comes out, leave a comment to let me know what you think if you give it a try!
Amazon Affiliate Link: https://amzn.to/45wwbxA