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A review by fourthleafluck
Phantom and Rook by Aelina Isaacs
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
From the moment I saw the cover and description for Phantom and Rook, I wanted to read it. It hits some of my all-time favorite themes and tropes including: magical world, soulmates across lifetimes, living with mental illness, and the power of queer found family. After finishing PaR, I found myself rotating the descriptions, the pacing, the depiction of mental illness, and the Misfits themselves.
WRITING:
I found the prose visually evocative, compelling, and easy to read— all of which I appreciated. There's a lot of description of what the characters look like, which I absolutely LOVED. Sometimes I have a hard time keeping track of a bunch of new and different characters in a novel (and boy, are there a lot of characters in this one), but all the physical descriptions really helped keep me grounded in the story and helped me pay better attention to what was happening. Also as an artist, I appreciated how much easier it was to visualize the locations and characters. I feel like I know Kitt's tattoo parlor and Thitwhistle's shop— not to mention all of the Misfits!
The only time this fell a little flat/ confused me was about Thatch's body type. His body is described as "soft" multiple times, once paired with "firm enough for a hard day’s work around the shop, but he’s certainly no gym rat." And then later, his stomach is described as "full." Normally, I would assume with that combination of descriptions that the author was trying to gently insinuate he is chubby or fat. Frankly, I was hoping that was the case, but all the art of him on their social media posts depicts Thatch as thin-bodied. What does soft and full-stomached mean in this context? This particular choice seemed to me a little inconsistent with the rest of Isaacs' more vivid descriptions.
PACING:
The pacing of this novel really impressed me. The slow dissemination of information felt particularly well-executed. By virtue of the story being told, there is always more information we don't know than information we do know about Thatch and Arlo and their pasts, together and apart. We see how past events informed these characters current actions before we know why they are behaving this way, which vacuum-sucked my interest immediately. I kept trying to put together what had happened, and was on the edge of my seat as we slowly learned more.
MENTAL ILLNESS:
Isaacs' symptom-forward depiction of mental illness also felt incredibly thoughtful. The audience never gets a particular diagnosis for Arlo, and instead, we see what a bad day looks like for him. We see how he responds to his symptoms, and we see how intimately they affect his relationships with others and himself. We also see just the edges of the same for the other Misfits, and pretty much all of the characters, even Bob. These choices felt very compassionate and I didn't feel like I (as a mentally ill audience member) was being talked down to, which meant a lot to me personally.
CHARACTERS:
This sort of touches on one of my absolute favorite parts of the book: the Misfits. Their web of complex, deeply loving relationships is possibly my favorite depiction of queer found family I've encountered in literature so far. They all have issues, and their relationships are certainly not perfect, but they are playful and deeply loving and casually intimate. The Misfits are a true community in a way that I have yet to see very often in queer romance. Gratifyingly, even the narrative of PaR reaffirms the importance of this community time and time again. The Misfits certainly resonated with my personal experience of queer found family, and their thematic salience was cohesively integrated into the rest of the story in a way that felt meaningful to the MCs and the story itself.
By the time I was halfway through PaR, I had already saved the sequel on Smashwords so I could buy it the minute that it dropped. The little preview we get of Quentin and Loch left me vibrating about how their story will play out. I can't wait to go back to Levena, see what the Misfits are up to, and learn more about all the mysteries they are unraveling together.
CONCLUSION/ TLDR
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Phantom and Rook does exactly what it says on the tin. It is magical and cozy and queer and compelling. The prose is visually, creatively, and narratively satisfying. Its depiction of mental illness and queer found family felt thoughtful and genuine. The Misfits are endlessly lovable, and I am legitimately counting the days until I can read more about them in the sequel.
WRITING:
I found the prose visually evocative, compelling, and easy to read— all of which I appreciated. There's a lot of description of what the characters look like, which I absolutely LOVED. Sometimes I have a hard time keeping track of a bunch of new and different characters in a novel (and boy, are there a lot of characters in this one), but all the physical descriptions really helped keep me grounded in the story and helped me pay better attention to what was happening. Also as an artist, I appreciated how much easier it was to visualize the locations and characters. I feel like I know Kitt's tattoo parlor and Thitwhistle's shop— not to mention all of the Misfits!
The only time this fell a little flat/ confused me was about Thatch's body type. His body is described as "soft" multiple times, once paired with "firm enough for a hard day’s work around the shop, but he’s certainly no gym rat." And then later, his stomach is described as "full." Normally, I would assume with that combination of descriptions that the author was trying to gently insinuate he is chubby or fat. Frankly, I was hoping that was the case, but all the art of him on their social media posts depicts Thatch as thin-bodied. What does soft and full-stomached mean in this context? This particular choice seemed to me a little inconsistent with the rest of Isaacs' more vivid descriptions.
PACING:
The pacing of this novel really impressed me. The slow dissemination of information felt particularly well-executed. By virtue of the story being told, there is always more information we don't know than information we do know about Thatch and Arlo and their pasts, together and apart. We see how past events informed these characters current actions before we know why they are behaving this way, which vacuum-sucked my interest immediately. I kept trying to put together what had happened, and was on the edge of my seat as we slowly learned more.
MENTAL ILLNESS:
Isaacs' symptom-forward depiction of mental illness also felt incredibly thoughtful. The audience never gets a particular diagnosis for Arlo, and instead, we see what a bad day looks like for him. We see how he responds to his symptoms, and we see how intimately they affect his relationships with others and himself. We also see just the edges of the same for the other Misfits, and pretty much all of the characters, even Bob. These choices felt very compassionate and I didn't feel like I (as a mentally ill audience member) was being talked down to, which meant a lot to me personally.
CHARACTERS:
This sort of touches on one of my absolute favorite parts of the book: the Misfits. Their web of complex, deeply loving relationships is possibly my favorite depiction of queer found family I've encountered in literature so far. They all have issues, and their relationships are certainly not perfect, but they are playful and deeply loving and casually intimate. The Misfits are a true community in a way that I have yet to see very often in queer romance. Gratifyingly, even the narrative of PaR reaffirms the importance of this community time and time again. The Misfits certainly resonated with my personal experience of queer found family, and their thematic salience was cohesively integrated into the rest of the story in a way that felt meaningful to the MCs and the story itself.
By the time I was halfway through PaR, I had already saved the sequel on Smashwords so I could buy it the minute that it dropped. The little preview we get of Quentin and Loch left me vibrating about how their story will play out. I can't wait to go back to Levena, see what the Misfits are up to, and learn more about all the mysteries they are unraveling together.
CONCLUSION/ TLDR
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Phantom and Rook does exactly what it says on the tin. It is magical and cozy and queer and compelling. The prose is visually, creatively, and narratively satisfying. Its depiction of mental illness and queer found family felt thoughtful and genuine. The Misfits are endlessly lovable, and I am legitimately counting the days until I can read more about them in the sequel.