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4.08 AVERAGE
4.08 AVERAGE
A cute, romantic cozy fantasy with queer representation.
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
While the bones of this novel were good, it needed an editor. Badly.
From a pacing perspective, there was simultaneously too much and not enough happening at once. Too much, because the details about the kinds of people, the interpersonal relationships, the game, the history of the city, the history of Arlo's personal life, etc. etc. etc. were piled on in such a way that it was genuinely hard to follow. Not enough, because at one point I was wondering when the climax of the story would arrive, and the book was almost 80% finished.
And then the climax,when Caspian solved the game and got his wish? BIG eyeroll. A literal deus ex machina ... that somehow, though it is never mentioned anywhere else in the novel, Thatch is able to make happen with his own magic? All along, could he have been freed if someone made a wish asking for his freedom? It's all very Genie in the lamp, and I would have liked that so much more if there were breadcrumbs leading up to it. As it stands, it feels like super lazy writing.
The interpersonal relationships were ... a lot.
From a pacing perspective, there was simultaneously too much and not enough happening at once. Too much, because the details about the kinds of people, the interpersonal relationships, the game, the history of the city, the history of Arlo's personal life, etc. etc. etc. were piled on in such a way that it was genuinely hard to follow. Not enough, because at one point I was wondering when the climax of the story would arrive, and the book was almost 80% finished.
And then the climax,
The interpersonal relationships were ... a lot.
- Arlo is an orphan. We don't learn why he isn't with his parents, or what happened to them. By all accounts his time at the orphanage is heartwarmingly positive, and he's now a live-in adult there because of Other Traumas.
- We learn that well before our story begins,
Arlo first falls in love with a fellow orphan, who then - basically out of nowhere - becomes xenophobic against magic users, except he's a magic user too? And the reader only knows this because of a handful of paragraphs. Then, ex lover tries to murder Arlo, fails at that, then becomes a power-hungry witch power-stealing murderer who then has to be killed by Arlo himself? And none of this struggle to save the city is fleshed out beyond a mentioned here and there. That by itself is a major plot point, but given very little context or weight. - Speaking of the city and Arlo's relative importance in it: Arlo is also a super-powered witch. There's literally nothing he is asked to do that his magic can't handle, even though he's supposed to have the speciality of being able to send ghosts between worlds. I
thought that might have more meaning, given that Thatch also moves between worlds, but that connection is never mentioned or made to be important. As for his importance to the city - I would think he'd be hounded by media,as the savior following The Taking. Instead, he's treated as just a regular guy, who sometimes can throw his Savior card around when he needs to talk with city officials. - Then,
Arlo is in love with Caspian, who then finds his soulmate and leaves Arlo. Arlo acknowledges in the latter half of the novel that Caspian was just bi-curious and not actually into Arlo romantically, but he was still devastated and depressed enough from two rejections that he tries to kill himself. - All of Arlo's friends had big personalities - which I don't mind - except that the big personalities took quite a bit of page time to develop, and didn't exactly add to the overarching plot beyond set dressing.
A lot of this book was just simply confusing, without a big "a-ha!" moment where everything comes together. There's no explanation as to why Thatch's existence is the way it is, or why the gods
Other, smaller things - like the term "leva" and what it means, though it's used in important moments throughout the novel - continued to stick out as unanswered questions that make me think the author has a massive headcanon about the lore of their world, and only shared 30% of the necessary context with us via the novel.
I did like the characters, and the concept of the world even if the worldbuilding itself was a little choppy, particularly the idea of an immortal loving a place so much that they help mould the development of the society through the use of puzzles and games. I thought Arlo and Thatch were interesting and dynamic, and their relationship was very sweet (if fast, in the sense that the main plot of the novel took place over a week's time). I love
I will not be reading more from the series, however.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Drug use, Physical abuse, Murder, Abandonment, War
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Sexual content
Moderate: Self harm, Torture
Minor: Suicide attempt
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Phantom and Rook has the bones of a book that I generally enjoy: a romance, magic, second-world fantasy with a mish mash of magic creatures, found family, so on and so forth.
Unfortunately, I found this rather underwhelming. I had a hard time buying into the chemistry of the main couple, the the world felt haphazardly thrown together and not well explained, the plot antagonist was introduced then never actually resolved, mechanics of magic were not thought out.
I thought there was a lot missing to the execution of this book that could have made this more interesting. While I was reading, it seemed to continually try to insist upon itself that it was a cozy fantasy, but one of our MCs is actively trying to recover from a severe mental breakdown.
This book is ultimately pretty forgettable, and I don’t see myself continuing this series.
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I enjoyed this read ! But I need to say that this book was not exactly written for me XD
Spoilers for I mean by that :While I love a cosy fantasy setting with a queernormative world, there was a comically large number of situations that praised things I either don't care about, or am ill at ease with : motorbikes, tatoos, beanies, having children, playing an instrument, being in a band with friends, allosexual romance (this is fine, I knew what I was getting into ! but it fits in the list lol), bars, parties with loud music, drinking alcohol in said parties, and drugs, even recreational ones (the chapters with Thatch smoking herbs and acting not in control of himself afterward made me rather unconfortable to be honest, but this is very much a me thing, as it was framed in a good way, in a safe environment with friends). All of this is very much a me problem, I am actually glad I got to read about what feels like someone else's own fantasy world where everything they like and value is there and their characters are living them all ; because it makes me see all those things in a positive light. But yeah, it was almost comical how the books missed all the marks of "relatable" for me XD it's fine though. I don't read books only to find things that look like me.
At first, I was a bit wary about the way the worldbuilding seemed heavy-handed and not dispensed subtly enough to my liking, but this feeling only stayed for the first 30% of the book or so, because once these foundations were established, the rest was absolutely smooth. I was also wary of the many clothes descriptions and insistance on describing the diversity of the fantasy setting with multiple dnd-like races, but it also smoothed out the more the book went on, and it ended up being very organic (loving the horn-rubbing detail to show affection).
I'm loving the queernormative and diverse society (I need to mention the great disabled representation), and the romance is absolutely solid. I loved how visceral it was, and the focus and physical touch (in an intimate way, not especially a sexual one) was very strong. I rolled my eyes aboutthe omegaverse thing the half-animal people live in this world which lead Doc to the hypothesis of Arlo being in some kind of "magic heat" that needed Thatch to relieve him of it... because really this is a bit much. But alas, in all intelectual honesty, I enjoyed reading about this visceral magic exchange very much. So yeah, maybe I should be a little less pedant about it :p
Two things though about the romance - small pet peeves more than critiques really. Firstly, aboutthe soulmate things. I have a soft spot for it and I love a good pining so everything was absolutely fine by me ! But I couldn't help but wonder... in a world where soulmates are a known thing, easily verifyable through a physical mark on your body, and that you yourelf believe in... you have no reason to doubt your soulmate's ability to love you, you know ? This is litterally the purpose of it all. If no one else can love you, your soulmate will. So all the time they both spend wondering if the other will be able to love them despite their flaws seemed a bit too much to me. But then again... humans, especially if they have wounded in the past, are not always the most logical beings.
The second thig is that I feel the need to express my opinion about how "slow burn" it is, given that the author assures us in the foreword that is very "slow burn" : for my fellow "slow burn" puristswhile I agree that in regard to length of the book, the characters only act upon their feelings and are "together" (as in : a couple) towards the end of the book, it all happens in the span of a week, and as this is insta-love soulmates (so when you become conscious of it... you know the other feel the same...) this is, in my purist definition, not stritcly speaking slow burn :p I have no problems with it tho, it was cool.
The highlight of the book, for me, was Thatch's internal conflict and background.Immortal being being forced to go on world-saving protection duties and only being allowed little time of free will and free roaming of a world from time to time, finally finding their soulmate at the dawn of their existence when they only get little time in the city with them, which is heralded by the fact they are able to cry ? That's metal as hell ! I especially liked how this explained the fact such an old being was not so alien and tired of millenia of memories : as far as his time in Levena go, he hasn't "live" for that long. It felt a bit weaker at the end of the book for a number of reasons which makes him more human and less powerful being (and I'm not over the fact he grants a wish which gets shim his free will back with no explanation how his own magic is even able to do that), but I've really enjoyed reading about his conflict.
The other characters were nice too, I especially liked Elochian and Tobias. The conflict between Caspian and Arlo was interesting and brought needed tension in the relationship web.
I'm not exactly satisfied at how tropey the book felt sometimes, but I am a firm believer that tropes and cliches are ok if donne well and well integrated, and the author did a decent to great job with all of them. I enjoyed my time, I felt comfortable in most of them, so I'll classify it as a guilty pleasure : I reckon there are more tropes than I'd wish, but well done enough that I'll just let myself enjoy them.
Spoilers for the involved tropes :bumping into each other as first meeting, paper flying on the ground from A's arms, B offering to help get them back ; soulmates + visible soulmate mark on the body ; B is a thousands years old immortal being ; said immortal being is learning the small joys of the modern world ; found family ; B has awful events in their background which left impressive scars on their body (bonus point for "who did this to you ?" being mentionned, but not out loud :p) ; omegaverse thing about how A is in some kind of "magic heat" and needs B to take some of their magic ; love triangle with the hopelessly in love best friend is resolved the easy way by having said friend fall in love with someone else immediately when they meet ; slow-burn type of romance with A and B each being unsure of the feelings of the other ; forbidden romance with B not wanting to act upon their feeling for A because they will have to leave them at some point ; romantic dinner with candles.
So in the end, this was a good read, and please take everything in this lengthy review with an affective tone.
Spoilers for I mean by that :
At first, I was a bit wary about the way the worldbuilding seemed heavy-handed and not dispensed subtly enough to my liking, but this feeling only stayed for the first 30% of the book or so, because once these foundations were established, the rest was absolutely smooth. I was also wary of the many clothes descriptions and insistance on describing the diversity of the fantasy setting with multiple dnd-like races, but it also smoothed out the more the book went on, and it ended up being very organic (loving the horn-rubbing detail to show affection).
I'm loving the queernormative and diverse society (I need to mention the great disabled representation), and the romance is absolutely solid. I loved how visceral it was, and the focus and physical touch (in an intimate way, not especially a sexual one) was very strong. I rolled my eyes about
Two things though about the romance - small pet peeves more than critiques really. Firstly, about
The second thig is that I feel the need to express my opinion about how "slow burn" it is, given that the author assures us in the foreword that is very "slow burn" : for my fellow "slow burn" purists
The highlight of the book, for me, was Thatch's internal conflict and background.
The other characters were nice too, I especially liked Elochian and Tobias. The conflict between Caspian and Arlo was interesting and brought needed tension in the relationship web.
I'm not exactly satisfied at how tropey the book felt sometimes, but I am a firm believer that tropes and cliches are ok if donne well and well integrated, and the author did a decent to great job with all of them. I enjoyed my time, I felt comfortable in most of them, so I'll classify it as a guilty pleasure : I reckon there are more tropes than I'd wish, but well done enough that I'll just let myself enjoy them.
Spoilers for the involved tropes :
So in the end, this was a good read, and please take everything in this lengthy review with an affective tone.
I needed more at the end otherwise this would have been a bit higher.
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes