Reading With Tyler

Name: Phantasma
Series: Wicked Games #1 (Can be read as a Standalone)
Author: Kaylie Smith
Publisher: Second Sky
Format: Kindle (through Kindle Unlimited)
Genres: Adult, Gothic, Paranormal, Fantasy, Romance
Noted Tropes: Games and Trials, Haunted Mansion/ Haunts, Phantoms, Forced Proximity, Bargains
Steam or Spice: Spice

Rating:

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Review:

This popped up randomly on my amazon account as a recommended for you book and then I considered getting it and then changed my mind and then finally said why not as it was on Kindle Unlimited. Then I started seeing it everywhere on BookTok! “The Hunger Games meets Caraval” was what people were saying – and I was more intrigued then before however I’m not particularly in a rush for another Hunger Games…

Then another BookTokker mentioned Phantasma, “Caraval but in a haunted mansion with trials done right.” I thought, sign me up! And decided in that moment that although it wasn’t on my November TBR, it was absolutely going to get read this month. You may have seen that over on Instagram I showed me spinning a wheel to pick my next book (an idea curtsey of @books_with_bethan on Instagram) and it chose Phantasma!

Phantasma is set in sometime in New Orleans, and whilst I couldn’t exactly pinpoint where it does seem to be a somewhat fantasy / gothic version of New Orleans. I thought this would bring its own unique element to the story that had me excited – but honestly it didn’t really. There is a part at the start of the book where yeah it’s pretty cool that it is in New Orleans but in reality it didn’t add much. That being said, Orphelia being a Necromancer who has to take over the family business of ressurecting peoples lost loved ones so they can say goodbye or whatever, I thought was cool! Though, once again it didn’t end up being much of a major thing.

Orphelia, at the start of Phantasma, takes her mothers powers due to some ritual that they have to do within a certain time frame else the family powers are lost for good. So although she isn’t exactly ready, she takes them anyway and becomes the new Necromancer. Part of this means she can see ghosts, phantoms and other other-wordly beings. She and her sister say final goodbyes to their mother and just when they think they’re about to move on with their lives… Orphelia’s sister goes missing.

Though it turns out she had just entered the Caraval – oops, I mean Phantasma. Look when people describe this as ‘Caraval meets…’ that is because there are SO MANY similarities between these two books its bizaare. At no point did I think I was reading Caraval and not Phantasma, so there are obviously enough differences that they’re different enough to read, but the similarities that are there are pretty on the nose.

Orphelia follows her sister into Phantasma and finds herself in a different group which means she has no idea where her sister is, how she’s doing or if she’s even alive. Enter Blackwell, our MMC. He is a Phantom (that’s right – a ghost of sorts!) stuck inside Phantasma and he offers Orphelia a chance to work with him to find what he wants, and in return he’ll help her survive long enough to find her sister.

Okay, so that’s what the book is about – but what did I think about it? I really enjoyed it. I loved the trials – they were hands down the best part of this book. These were trials done right! They really did feel high stakes and the variety in them was excellent. The trials were based on the 9 circles of hell, so some were bloody awful. One of Caraval’s downfalls, for me, was that the trials never really felt that high staked? So the differences between those trials and these were, at least in my opinion, night and day!

I also really liked the Phantom, Blackwell along with the little ghost cat, named Poe. I found that Blackwell was entertaining, mysterious and a giant flirt. He was a good time! And although I figured out a good portion of his secrets and story relatively early on, I really loved reading it unfurl. Poe was a cat – just a ghost – all too happy to curl up and sleep or enjoy pets from Blackwell. Poe was an excellent side character who didn’t really do too much but come on, he’s a ghost cat! What’s not to love?

Orphelia herself was a wild ride. She had a bunch of powers that she truly had no idea how to use (despite being taught how to use them), she had a sheltered childhood due to being the oldest sister and so was experiencing a lot while in Phantasma and perhaps the scariest part of her story… she suffered with OCD. Now, I read Turtles All the Way Down earlier this year and thought that representation was great… fast forward to Phantasma and it showed a downright terrifying aspect of OCD of which a lot of reviews have people saying they can relate. This meant that despite the magical and fantasy elements, Orphelia resonated with a lot of the readers. I’m not one of them, but I’m so grateful that people who did resonate with her, found her.

The ending did leave me with a few questions – and from a few other reviews I don’t think I’m the only one with these questions ( most noteably – when is this actually set? And how did we get from Phantasma ending to the ending of this book? There was a bit of a skip leap and a jump to get to where we end and it’s not quite clear how that happened). There are also a few spoilery things that had me confused, which I obviously won’t mention here. But my point is it sort of feels as though the ending of this book is rushed and not everything explained properly (or at least clearly enough!).

Now this can be read as a standalone, I have been told, as book 2 follows the sister later (as in after Phantasma), and I have no idea currently if I’m going to pick it up or not – but I can safely say this was an entertaining read. I read it in 24 hours and stayed up till silly o-clock in the morning to finish it. Solid 4 star read!

“…it seems that’s what we do. We find each other.”