As you can probably tell from the title of my review, I listened to this as an audiobook. I didn’t fully dislike the book, but the narrator’s portrayal of the main character had me annoyed. Ophelia is a budding necromancer, and she’s reeling from the sudden death of her mother. She has to basically take over the family business of bringing back people’s loved ones for closure before she’s fully trained or ready. There’s a whole game aspect (some might call it the plot) with a lot of background sexy business. I’m definitely not a prude, but I don’t think “spicy dark romantasy” (Goodread’s words, not mine) is my genre. I like sexual tension and a good sex scene if it’s well written. What I don’t like is there being so much of it that I literally fast forward through it. That’s not a good sign.
Anyway, back to my issues with the narration… The very beginning is interesting. The mood and the location are engaging and dark. The actual idea of the game/trial/whatever “Phantasma” is cool. It’s based on the nine levels of hell. But once we get past the first few chapters, Ophelia is regularly whining at or about the male main character Blackwell. Like I said, I choose to believe that the narration contributed to this feeling. She was literally whining and complaining in my ear. I would’ve just participated in the real world if I wanted that! I gave it 3 stars on Goodreads, but I think it’s more like 2.5. I will not be continuing this series.
A Goodreads review summed it up perfectly for me: I just want to start by saying – I think this book will find its people in the romantasy genre but I’m not its people.
