A VERY Straightforward Book Review of Phantasma by Kaylie Smith
HEYYY writer friends! ✨ i have NOT been active for a very very long time (about 3-4 months) i am SOOO sorry about that. i've been trying to decide what to do with my blog, and i really want to work on REBRANDING it. but, i decided to crawl back into tumblr and bless you all with a short book review of this "romantasy."
alright, so... I just emerged from the depths of Phantasma by Kaylie Smith, and to be completely honest? My brain is a literal puddle of conflicting emotions. I wanted to LOVE this. I wanted to be consumed by it. I wanted to be so haunted that I’d have to leave the lights on while I worked on my own manuscript. But instead, I’m sitting here at 2 AM, three coffees deep, feeling… well, a little bit GUTTED.
We’re giving this one a solid 3 stars. It wasn’t a disaster, but it definitely didn’t set my soul on fire the way I hoped a Southern Gothic YA fantasy would. 🕯️💀
Let’s break down the "why" behind the rating, because there are some MASSIVE lessons here for us as writers. If you’re working on a fantasy romance or a high-stakes "game" plot, pay attention!
The Atmosphere (Or, Where is the Humidity??)
When I hear "Southern Gothic," I expect to feel the dampness in the air. I want to smell the decay, feel the oppressive heat, and sense the weight of a thousand family secrets pressing down on my chest. I want that GRIT. for "Mirror Girls" by Kelly McWilliams. let me tell you. it hit EVERY SINGLE POINT AND ELEMENT a southern gothic novel needs. LOVEDDDD the atmosphere. highly recommend it.
But with Phantasma, the vibe felt… thin? It lacked that heavy, atmospheric "chokehold" that makes the Southern Gothic subgenre so iconic. As writers, we have to remember that setting is not ONLY a backdrop, it's a CHARACTER. Especially in horror-adjacent fantasy!
• The Lesson: If you tell your readers a story is "Gothic," you have to deliver on the sensory overload. Don't just tell us the house is old; make us hear the wood screaming under the weight of the ghosts. Make us feel the dust in our lungs. Phantasma felt a bit too "clean" for a world that was supposed to be terrifyingly haunted.
The Romance: Lust vs. Connection 🥀
Okay, let’s talk about Ophelia and Blackwell. Sigh.
I wanted to ship them. I really did. But, the chemistry felt… artificial. It felt like "insta-lust" disguised as "fated soulmates," and it just didn't hit the mark for me.
• The Problem: Their connection felt purely physical. Every time they were on page together, it was all about the tension of touching, but I didn't feel the tension of their souls colliding.
• The Fix for Your WIP: When you’re writing a romance, especially a dark one, you NEED emotional stakes. Why do they NEED each other? Not just "why do they want to kiss?" but "how does this person fill a hole in the other's identity?" If the romance is only built on "he’s dark and mysterious" and "she’s the only one who seessss him," it starts to feel like a trope-by-numbers exercise. We want the MESS. We want the emotional devastation!
In Phantasma, I felt like Blackwell was there because the plot demanded a Love Interest™, not because he and Ophelia actually had a foundation of shared vulnerability. It felt performative rather than earned. (and the smut scenes gave me a headache and actually made me want to skip.)
The "Saving Grace": The Game Levels 🎮✨
Now, it wasn't all gloom and doom! The actual Phantasma game? That was the highlight. The different levels of the game were inventive, creepy, and honestly the only thing that kept me turning the pages past midnight.
• Why it Worked: This is a masterclass in "High Concept" execution. The game provided a clear structure, escalating stakes, and a sense of momentum. Each level felt like a new challenge for Ophelia’s character development (even if the development itself felt a bit shaky at times).
• The Takeaway: If your plot is dragging, look at your "trials." Are the obstacles your characters face actually INTERESTING? Are they visually distinct? The levels in Phantasma were vibrant and weird, and that’s exactly what saved the book from being a DNF (Did Not Finish) for me.
The Plot Twist (Or, The Case of the Missing Surprise) 🔍
okay, we need to talk about the "predictable twist."
I knew the "big reveal" from the very beginning. Like, page fifty. And there is nothing—and I mean NOTHING—more frustrating than waiting 300 pages for a character to realize something the reader already knows.
• The Tension Killer: When the reader is miles ahead of the protagonist, the protagonist starts to look… well, a bit dim. It kills the tension. You want your reader to be guessing, or at the very least, you want the reveal to recontextualize EVERYTHING they’ve read so far.
• VERY VERY RIN-ESQUE Advice: If you’re going to have a "predictable" twist, you have to make the journey to that twist so emotionally taxing that the reader doesn't care they guessed it. Or, better yet, use a "Double-Blind" twist. Give them the obvious one early, so they let their guard down, and then hit them with the REAL one at the 90% mark.
Phantasma played it a bit too safe here. It followed the YA fantasy blueprint a little too closely, and because of that, the "shock" moments landed with a bit of a thud.
Final Thoughts for the Writing Soul
So, why a 3 star? Because it was "fine." It was a fun, quick read with some cool imagery, but it lacked the SOUL and the UNIQUE VOICE that makes a book stay with you for years.
As writers, we should aim to be the book that makes someone stay up until 4 AM because they CANNOT look away. (Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno Garcia, DID that for me. AND made me a bit creeped out) We want to write the romance that makes people ache, and the twists that make people throw the book across the room (in a good way!).
Don't be afraid to be "too much."
• Be TOO atmospheric.
• Be TOO emotional.
• Be TOO weird.
Don't settle for the "artificial" feel. Dig deep into your characters' shadows and find the stuff that actually hurts to write. That’s where the magic is.
I’m going to go drink my fourth coffee and try to fix my own "predictable" subplot. Wish me luck! ☕✨
(let me know if you guys wanna see my wips i'm working on, i missed you all!!!)
-rin ✨
A gothic prompt pack for writers who love cursed universities, secret societies, and scholarly rot.✎ Write the Darkness ✎A 75-prompt horror
✦ A free (and actually helpful) guide to leveling up your first 10 pages ✦If you're unsure whether your opening is ✨doing enough✨ to hook re
