welgan 's review for:

Phantom and Rook by Aelina Isaacs

4.0

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

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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 about

the 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, about

the 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" purists

while 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.