Book Review: Rhapsodic by Laura Thalassa

Title: Rhapsodic
Author: Laura Thalassa
Publisher: Bloom Books
Publication Date: September 6, 2022
ISBN: 9781728272917

Synopsis:
Callypso Lillis is a siren with a very big problem. For the last seven years she has been wearing a bracelet of black beads up her wrist, magical IOUs for favors she once received. Only death or repayment will fulfill her obligations. Everyone knows that if you need a favor, you go to the Bargainer to make it happen. He’s a man who can get you anything you want … at a price. And everyone knows that sooner or later he always collects. But for Callie, he’s never asked for repayment. Not until now. 

When Callie finds the Bargainer in her room, a grin on his lips and a twinkle in his eye, she knows things are about to change. At first it’s admitting a truth―a single bead’s worth―acknowledging the attraction between them. But the Bargainer is after more than just rekindling their connection. Something is happening in the Otherworld. Fae warriors are going missing one by one, and only the women are returned, each in a glass casket, a child clutched to her breast. For the Bargainer to save his people, he’ll need the help of the siren he spurned long ago. If she can forgive him.

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Rhapsodic fell into my lap as a free book on Audible and it’s been a great soundtrack for my workouts and long drives lately. It’s not overly complicated, the writing is simple, and the plot is easy to lose track of and come back to without missing much detail. It’s not the best novel ever written, but for romantasy lovers, it makes for decent background listening.

I enjoyed this take on fae and magic as it’s a bit different to a number of the other books on the market right now. The fae live apart from humans on a separate world, and only powerful fae with knowledge of the lei lines are able to walk between worlds. In the human worlds, there are not just powerless humans, but supernaturals as well: werewolves, sirens, and all other manner of magical creatures. In the fae world, the inhabitants hold a stronger and darker kind of magic, and while Rhapsodic introduces the reader to this magic, I don’t think we’ve seen the extent of what is possible in the fae world.

Having the story told by a siren is a new take on the fantasy element as well. Callie is a different kind of character than the ones we see in a lot of the other popular romantasy books and it’s refreshing to explore a new type of power and a different race of supernatural being. It feels new and exciting.

The world building is pretty mediocre and I found myself unable to picture a lot of the different settings. Some scenes had more detail than others, but overall, I found the descriptions of each place to be more generic or lacking in that decadent description so characteristic of a goo fantasy novel. The story is engaging, but without that in-depth world building, it prevents the story from really going to that next level.

While the magic system itself is interesting, and there is a mystery tied to a very dark fae force that’s certainly intriguing, the writing itself leaves a little bit to be desired. The plot is slow and halting at times, making it a bit difficult to push through some of the earlier sections especially. While Callie and The Bargainer’s relationship is quite fleshed out, her relationships with secondary characters (best friend, ex-boyfriend), are rushed and often unsatisfying or unbelievable. They’re missing some of the oomph that gets the reader invested in those side relationships. And the story should really have more than just the main romantic pairing to be seriously engaging.

I gave this one 3 stars out of 5 on Goodreads. It’s a good book. There are those better ones, and those worse ones, out there. I don’t think you can go wrong if you, like me, are working your way through the genre.

Happy reading!