Welcome to Phantasma

Cover and Synopsis

Phantasma Cover & Blurb

Welcome to Phantasma.

There are only two rules to the game:

Stay alive. And don’t fall in love.

When Ophelia’s sister disappears, there is only one way to save her. Ophelia must enter Phantasma, a deadly contest inside a haunted mansion, and claim its prize—a single wish.

Phantasma is a maze of twisting corridors and lavish ballrooms, of demons and temptations. Ophelia will face nine challenges, each more dangerous than the last. There can only be one winner, and the other contestants will stop at nothing to eliminate their rivals.

Every day the house creates new monsters. But just as Ophelia’s fears threaten to overwhelm her, a mysterious stranger offers her a bargain.

Charming, arrogant and infuriatingly attractive, Blackwell claims he can guide her through the lethal trials ahead. All he asks in return is ten years of her life.

Ophelia knows she shouldn’t trust him. Blackwell doesn’t seem dangerous, but appearances can be deceptive. Worse still, she feels a dark and irresistible attraction drawing them closer and closer.

Her life is on the line. But in Phantasma, the only thing deadlier than losing the game is losing your heart . . .

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Book Information

Phantasma

Published September 2024 by Forever.

Audiobook narrated by Laura Horowitz.

Genre : Romantasy, Paranormal Romance

Pages : 497 pages, Paperback

Phantasma Trigger Warnings

Phantasma contains elements of horror that include gruesome descriptions of gore, torture, death, and lots of blood. Mentions of deaths of family members (the main character’s mother especially), suicide, depression, corpses, and assault also occur. This work contains a heavy emphasis on OCD and OCD tics as well as intrusive thoughts, accidental self-mutilation, and heavy compulsions. There is explicit sexual content, including sexual acts in blood. One scene shows the main character having a drink that is magically drugged and dubious consent occurs (NEVER with the love interest, all sexual acts with the love interest are explicitly consensual), as well as a scene with heavy alcohol use.

pHANTASMA Tropes

Review

Phantasma by Kaylie Smith Review

Angel

Minor Spoilers

Phantasma is the first book in Kaylie Smith’s interconnected series, Wicked Games. A paranormal fantasy romance series with darker themes. Personally, I didn’t find it overly dark. It’s more of a light grey situation for me. That dark label gets tossed on just about anything and everything, but like most things dark is subjective. In Phantasma, that darkness comes from the world and deadly game our fmc, Ophelia, is participating in and not so much in the romance. That being said, Blackwell is morally grey and does want ten years of Ophelia’s life for helping her survive.

I thought Ophelia was a great fmc. More importantly, I liked how Smith gave her intrusive thoughts and ocd. It’s always nice to see a mental health rep in books, but it’s even better when it’s not just anxiety. Not to downplay anxiety, it’s just common. And honestly, I would think, easier to write being so prevalent in society. But what do I know? I do suffer from intrusive thoughts though, so it was nice to see. A book a day keeps the intrusive thoughts away.

The Games

I really enjoyed how Smith based the games around the nine circles of hell. While incorporating the circles of hell into fantasy is not a first, I found the games unique and creative. Obviously our heroine survives but their true purpose was just as devious as they were deadly. I liked the twist at the end and thought it was really well done. As far as novels with deadly games goes, Phantasma is one of my favorites to date. The gothic atmosphere and overall vibe of Phantasma combined with the games is top tier, making it a must read dark gothic paranormal romantasy.

I listened to the audiobook version of Phantasma and Laura Horowitz did an amazing job. I am a duel or duet narration lover but I was locked in the entire time. Not only was she great as Ophelia but her performance as Blackwell still stands out in my mind. My favorite narration style is duet. Having the narrators reading their characters dialogue in scenes can only be matched by graphic audio of the same style in my opinion. So trust me when I say, she did amazing.

Quotes

Phantasma Quotes

Spice

Phantasma Spicy Chapters

20, 22, 26, 27, 32, 36, 39 & 45

Related Reviews

Wicked Games Reviews

Wicked Games

Kaylie Smith

Links

Where To Read Phantasma

Kaylie Smith