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A review by paigeofstories
Rhapsodic by Laura Thalassa
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