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poetsofsweetpea's review against another edition
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Rhapsodic was a fairly spicy Romantsy story. It was scary but threaded with sexual assault. The age difference between the characters was problematic for me. It wasn't just that there was one, but the age and circumstances of their first meeting gave me the ick. The mystery of the children and catatonic fae was scary, but I wasn't satisfied with the resolution. Perhaps the payoff is further down the series, but I won't get there. I don't like sexual victimization as a plot point, and it was really the only thing moving the story forward.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Murder, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual harassment, Kidnapping, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Child death, Confinement, Torture, Sexual violence, Mental illness, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Rape, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Confinement, Dysphoria, Adult/minor relationship, and Infidelity
tyiennasreads's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-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? It's complicated
4.5
Literally is like a Wattpad fanfic but that’s what makes it fun.. I guess… I saw someone say don’t think to hard and I agree just don’t think too hard into the plot 😂
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, and Sexual violence
tkatt20's review
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Yeah so I have thoughts about this book. First off I want to apologize to the girls in my book club for recommending this as our book for this month, I promise I have better taste in books than this. With that being said, let's get into the many reasons why I didn't like this book. Full warning, this will not be a nice review.
To start off, the pacing was horrendous. A good 75% of this book is fluffy filler of the main characters agonizing over one another with not an ounce of communication in sight. The other 25% had the potential for some plot with a good storyline, but was so overshadowed by the googly eyes between the two. Like if we had spent a little more time on world development and filling out the characters this could have been a solid romantasy novel, I mean the idea is there, the execution not so much.
Speaking of characters, these characters were so cliché. I mean, a broody fae king who's hundreds of years old and rules the "dark" side of the fae relm and a 23ish year old girl (also 16 through half of it but ill talk about that later) with magical powers and a tortured past. I think we've read this before, no? We had the makings for such a badass main lead but did we get that? No. Instead we got a girl who's so codependent on the mmc she couldn't have any other successful relationships for 7 YEARS while he was gone. Which by the way, they met when she was 16 where she took one look at him and become obsessed and he didn't have enough will power and morality to tell her how inappropriate it was, and actually fed into her obsession with him by teasing and making suggestive comments to her for the next year as we're told by the far too many flashbacks. If that doesn't smell like grooming I don't know what does.
By the time I got to the end I was so over everything I actually laughed at the speed of which the fmc actually put together the clues and found out who the villain is. For being a PI she certainly doesn't pick up on much and that so just so disappointing. Dont act like a strong female lead if youre just going to lay there and play damsel in distress. The ending was so sloppy and thrown together I felt like I blinked and it was all resolved. Im sure that there are more answers in the later books but im not even sure I care to keep reading im so disappointing by this. It gets 2 stars for the very few things I did like in this book, I mean it wasn't the worst I've read, but I'm just so frustrated by everything that I can't even come up with something I like right now.
Also, I have also decided that I can't do Urban Fantasy because if I read another half baked Harry Potter reference I'm going to scream.
To start off, the pacing was horrendous. A good 75% of this book is fluffy filler of the main characters agonizing over one another with not an ounce of communication in sight. The other 25% had the potential for some plot with a good storyline, but was so overshadowed by the googly eyes between the two. Like if we had spent a little more time on world development and filling out the characters this could have been a solid romantasy novel, I mean the idea is there, the execution not so much.
Speaking of characters, these characters were so cliché. I mean, a broody fae king who's hundreds of years old and rules the "dark" side of the fae relm and a 23ish year old girl (also 16 through half of it but ill talk about that later) with magical powers and a tortured past. I think we've read this before, no? We had the makings for such a badass main lead but did we get that? No. Instead we got a girl who's so codependent on the mmc she couldn't have any other successful relationships for 7 YEARS while he was gone. Which by the way, they met when she was 16 where she took one look at him and become obsessed and he didn't have enough will power and morality to tell her how inappropriate it was, and actually fed into her obsession with him by teasing and making suggestive comments to her for the next year as we're told by the far too many flashbacks. If that doesn't smell like grooming I don't know what does.
By the time I got to the end I was so over everything I actually laughed at the speed of which the fmc actually put together the clues and found out who the villain is. For being a PI she certainly doesn't pick up on much and that so just so disappointing. Dont act like a strong female lead if youre just going to lay there and play damsel in distress. The ending was so sloppy and thrown together I felt like I blinked and it was all resolved. Im sure that there are more answers in the later books but im not even sure I care to keep reading im so disappointing by this. It gets 2 stars for the very few things I did like in this book, I mean it wasn't the worst I've read, but I'm just so frustrated by everything that I can't even come up with something I like right now.
Also, I have also decided that I can't do Urban Fantasy because if I read another half baked Harry Potter reference I'm going to scream.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, and Sexual content
Moderate: Mental illness, Gore, and Murder
Minor: Child abuse, Alcoholism, and Death of parent
bee_thebee's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
I dont know if i cried so much because im kind of on my period rn or if this book really just touched a nerve with me but OMGGG i loved this so fucking much.
it kind of is a no plot just vibes kinda book but the little bit of plot that we had was enough to make me sob so yeah✌️ SOLID AS STONE four star read
ps the romance buildup was amazing like seven years, SEVEN FUCKING GODDAYMN YEARS
it kind of is a no plot just vibes kinda book but the little bit of plot that we had was enough to make me sob so yeah✌️ SOLID AS STONE four star read
ps the romance buildup was amazing like seven years, SEVEN FUCKING GODDAYMN YEARS
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Sexual content
Moderate: Alcoholism, Kidnapping, Bullying, and Mental illness
Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, and Murder
wrensreadingroom's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Rape, Stalking, Torture, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Vomit, Child abuse, Child death, Gaslighting, Gore, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Animal death, Bullying, Mental illness, War, Grief, Kidnapping, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Blood, Death, Misogyny, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, and Self harm
katievallin's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Violence, Cursing, and Trafficking
Moderate: Rape, Stalking, Child abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Alcohol, Blood, Adult/minor relationship, and Murder
Minor: Bullying and Death of parent
rubyslippers96's review against another edition
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Death of parent, and Rape
Minor: Grief, Mental illness, and Murder
hq_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
I read this so quickly - it was a great, fast-paced fantasy romance. I found the “grooming” element to the story a bit creepy but ultimately I enjoyed the romance - I guess she was technically an adult at 16 but it was a bit creepy. But I know loads of fantasy draws on tropes like that (e.g. Labrynth).
I enjoyed the plot as well, I though the scene in the nursery was really creepy and the author did a great job of creating a tense atmosphere during the moment with the Thief. It was a perfect balance of disturbing and mysterious and I’m excited to see where the story goes.
🌶️🌶️🌶️/5 for spice - it was quite good. The slow burn was great and I absolutely swooned when he said “you didn’t think the king of night would just be gentle did you?” 😮💨🥵
I enjoyed the plot as well, I though the scene in the nursery was really creepy and the author did a great job of creating a tense atmosphere during the moment with the Thief. It was a perfect balance of disturbing and mysterious and I’m excited to see where the story goes.
🌶️🌶️🌶️/5 for spice - it was quite good. The slow burn was great and I absolutely swooned when he said “you didn’t think the king of night would just be gentle did you?” 😮💨🥵
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual violence, Confinement, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Alcohol, and Rape
Moderate: Mental illness and Adult/minor relationship
Minor: Pregnancy
danib24's review
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Child abuse, and Death of parent
paigeofstories's review
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.25
Rating: 2.25 ⭐⭐ didn’t like this, don’t really understand why others do when there are better options out there
Spice: 🌶️🌶️ a couple of vanilla spicy scenes that are described
TW: ⚠️ sexual assault, child abuse and grooming (I don’t care that she says 16 is the legal age, it’s still creepy)
-
Interesting concept, disappointing execution.
The worst parts of the book:
• I do not care that the MCs didn’t technically touch in a sexual manner until the FMC was of legal age, the relationship they developed while she was SIXTEEN was creepy and disturbing. It was child grooming and if you disagree, I’ll fight you on this one. He could have walked away and came back when she was older, but he continued to give in to the FMC (bringing her alcohol, enabling her solitude—I mean, she only made a friend once he left for “good”, and more). I would have put this book down if I wasn’t trying to finish everything I start this year. I hate that this is such a commonly accepted thing in fantasy fiction (I mean, even Stephanie Meyer managed to add it in at the end of her Twilight series with Jacob and Renaissance). I’m tired of it and it’s 100% the reason I will not be finishing the series.
• So much gratuitous sexual assault and reference to it. Listen, I’m tired. I won’t include spoilers here, but I just wish authors could be a little bit more creative instead of relying on this age-old, damaging af trope.
• The characterization of Temper. As the best friend of our FMC, Temper had so much potential (as we rarely see FMCs with living best friends in fantasy). But Thalassa really dropped the ball by turning her into a caricature of a black woman who begins every sentence with “bitch”. I was particularly disappointed with this because Thalassa’s Four Horsemen series has fairly well-written diversity, so the decision to tokenize the only black character in this novel simply to check off a box was a particularly harsh let-down.
• That the FMC didn’t even try to save herself at the end of the book. Even Feyre saved herself in ACOTAR, and Rhysand is the definition of “I’ll destroy the world to save you”. Don’t promise a strong FMC with tons of agency and then drop the ball at the end.
• Karnon. I can’t decide if I hate this more because his entire villain arc stands on the stilts of mental health, as Thalassa uses dissociative identity disorder to justify the raping of hundreds of women (and poorly, at that) or if its because I’m over the person associated with animals and the woods being the one to fly into an uncontrollable rage (see: outdated, damaging caricatures of Natives). Again, I’m tired.
• This is the last thing on my list because I feel like it could be a factor that changes over Callie’s character arc, but I really didn’t like that the FMC saw her sexuality as a separate being contained inside of her. Callie can’t decide if sexuality is shameful or not, and it’s inconsistent at best… but channeling her magic doesn’t change her into a different person in most circumstances. Therefore, logically, “the siren” shouldn’t be a different person within her in sexual situations, despite Callie and Des both referencing her as such. Again, this is definitely something that I could see Callie coming to terms with over the course of the trilogy, though.
The things I did like:
• I think the powers that the characters had were interesting and wanted to see more of that. The disturbing (yet boring) reveal at the end would have been more interesting if the FMC had actually used her siren abilities instead of just saying something along the lines of “wow, it would be over for you guys if I used my siren abilities” before sitting back and waiting for the MC to swoop in and rescue her. Yawn.
• I loved the FMC’s job, and was severely disappointed that Thalassa didn’t include more details from it. The job itself went so well with the rest of the mystery plot that it seemed like a missed opportunity for her to not explore that further. Maybe that changes in later books, but I won’t be sticking around to find out.
• I loved the concept of The Bargainer and the favors, so I wish we could have seen more of that in action as well.
I feel like I should say something about how this feels like a cheaper version of ACOTAR, but honestly, so are so many other dark fantasies these days that it isn’t even worth diving into. IMO, though, it didn’t hold up to the GOAT.
Conclusion:
The worldbuilding and mystery was what kept me reading, as I kept hoping that we were going to get more of both. However, to say I was disappointed with how it ended would be an understatement. I was really looking forward to diving into another one of Thalassa’s works because I enjoyed her Four Horsemen series so much… but this was not it.
Spice: 🌶️🌶️ a couple of vanilla spicy scenes that are described
TW: ⚠️ sexual assault, child abuse and grooming (I don’t care that she says 16 is the legal age, it’s still creepy)
-
Interesting concept, disappointing execution.
The worst parts of the book:
• I do not care that the MCs didn’t technically touch in a sexual manner until the FMC was of legal age, the relationship they developed while she was SIXTEEN was creepy and disturbing. It was child grooming and if you disagree, I’ll fight you on this one. He could have walked away and came back when she was older, but he continued to give in to the FMC (bringing her alcohol, enabling her solitude—I mean, she only made a friend once he left for “good”, and more). I would have put this book down if I wasn’t trying to finish everything I start this year. I hate that this is such a commonly accepted thing in fantasy fiction (I mean, even Stephanie Meyer managed to add it in at the end of her Twilight series with Jacob and Renaissance). I’m tired of it and it’s 100% the reason I will not be finishing the series.
• So much gratuitous sexual assault and reference to it. Listen, I’m tired. I won’t include spoilers here, but I just wish authors could be a little bit more creative instead of relying on this age-old, damaging af trope.
• The characterization of Temper. As the best friend of our FMC, Temper had so much potential (as we rarely see FMCs with living best friends in fantasy). But Thalassa really dropped the ball by turning her into a caricature of a black woman who begins every sentence with “bitch”. I was particularly disappointed with this because Thalassa’s Four Horsemen series has fairly well-written diversity, so the decision to tokenize the only black character in this novel simply to check off a box was a particularly harsh let-down.
• Karnon. I can’t decide if I hate this more because his entire villain arc stands on the stilts of mental health, as Thalassa uses dissociative identity disorder to justify the raping of hundreds of women (and poorly, at that) or if its because I’m over the person associated with animals and the woods being the one to fly into an uncontrollable rage (see: outdated, damaging caricatures of Natives). Again, I’m tired.
• This is the last thing on my list because I feel like it could be a factor that changes over Callie’s character arc, but I really didn’t like that the FMC saw her sexuality as a separate being contained inside of her. Callie can’t decide if sexuality is shameful or not, and it’s inconsistent at best… but channeling her magic doesn’t change her into a different person in most circumstances. Therefore, logically, “the siren” shouldn’t be a different person within her in sexual situations, despite Callie and Des both referencing her as such. Again, this is definitely something that I could see Callie coming to terms with over the course of the trilogy, though.
The things I did like:
• I think the powers that the characters had were interesting and wanted to see more of that. The disturbing (yet boring) reveal at the end would have been more interesting if the FMC had actually used her siren abilities instead of just saying something along the lines of “wow, it would be over for you guys if I used my siren abilities” before sitting back and waiting for the MC to swoop in and rescue her. Yawn.
• I loved the FMC’s job, and was severely disappointed that Thalassa didn’t include more details from it. The job itself went so well with the rest of the mystery plot that it seemed like a missed opportunity for her to not explore that further. Maybe that changes in later books, but I won’t be sticking around to find out.
• I loved the concept of The Bargainer and the favors, so I wish we could have seen more of that in action as well.
I feel like I should say something about how this feels like a cheaper version of ACOTAR, but honestly, so are so many other dark fantasies these days that it isn’t even worth diving into. IMO, though, it didn’t hold up to the GOAT.
Conclusion:
The worldbuilding and mystery was what kept me reading, as I kept hoping that we were going to get more of both. However, to say I was disappointed with how it ended would be an understatement. I was really looking forward to diving into another one of Thalassa’s works because I enjoyed her Four Horsemen series so much… but this was not it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship and Child abuse
Moderate: Confinement, Mental illness, and Sexual assault