In The Phantom's Curse by Shelley Wilson, we are introduced to Marianne who is a young healer and her brother Newt. Marianne is responsible for taking care of Newt after their parents are exiled. Unfortunately Newt is accused of stealing and is arrested so Marianne and her new friends must now rescue him. There is alot going on in this book and while I enjoyed the fast pace, I think it might have been a bit better if it had be trimmed down a little. I don't necessarily mean length but maybe the issues could have been edited. I liked the characters and the story but there was a lot thrown in. That being said it was a fun read and I would gladly read more about Marianne and her friends in other books.I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review through the early reviewers program. ( )

The only reason the Phantom's Curse get more than only one star is that I can see a good story, even a brilliant idea behind this book. Unfortunately, the execution does not live up to it.
First of all, the worldbuilding is non-existent. Yes, there's a terrible infodump at the beginning wrapped in a prologue, which commits all the crimes of writing prologues that exist today. The author simply throws a boring history summary at us at the beginning, but fails to expand the world as part of the story. We know there is a curse, that there is magic, but we don't have any idea about how it works. The main character has magic, but we have no idea what she can and cannot do with it. Not a single event to show us her abilities until the end when suddenly she turns into this saviour. We don't even know if having magic is common or rare, whether other people have it or not, etc. Nothing. Absolutely no clue. We get non-human creatures. One, to be exact. But are there more? Nope, no idea. It's just mentioned, brushed over, no explanation. Then there is the land itself: I know there's a city and then there's the Link and the plains and the mountains. And that's pretty much it what I could gather. Is this a country? A continent? Is that a whole world? Pretty small world if you ask me. What about neighbouring countries? If people are so afraid of this phantom, why aren't they trying to escape this land? What about those who were sent far away? Again, the descriptions raise a lot more questions than what they explain. This could be good. It could be interesting.
I believe that if the Phantom's Curse was expanded into an actual book, rather than a two hundred pages summary, then it could be amazing. Unfortunately, this wasn't it.
That brings me to the writing. Anyone involved in story writing heard the phrase show don't tell. I know, rules are there to be broken, etc, but this book is all telling with a little bit of showing sprinkled on top. Yes, we get scenes, but even the scenes are full of emotional tells, and we never really get a good feel of what's happening. It reads more like a creative summary than a novel.
The characters and their relationships are also hard to grasp. I mean who commits to lifelong friendship and trusts a man with their lives after meeting at a party for a couple of hours? I think the whole believability of the story failed for me at that point. The romance is slightly better, but could have been unpacked more, just like everything in this book. More words, more showing could have built the characters to their full extent, turning them into real people. We get a little hint of complexity behind the villain, but his motivations remain unclear.
Overall, The Phantom's Curse is a huge wasted potential. It could have been a great book if it was unpacked. Unfortunately, it wasn't, and what we got falls far from my expectations when it comes YA fantasy. ( )

{Stand-alone. Fantasy, YA} (2020)

I received this through Early Reviewers but it has come through as a pdf so I can’t change the font size on my Kindle without having to scroll. I thought, at 130 pages, that it would be a quick read but I struggled with the font size as well as the rushed descriptions. Halfway through I switched to reading it on my computer screen which helped a lot.

The story is narrated in the first person by Marianne who is a sixteen year old girl living in the Link which is a run-down town outside the city of Obanac. She goes to the city for her blessing where she catches the young lord's eye but she feels uneasy about him and would rather return home. Events conspire against her and she ends up having to enlist the help of outlaws, led by Robbie, to rescue people from the lord of Obanac. (Is this a play on Robin Hood and Maid Marian? It's not taken any further other than Marianne's precocious use of a bow.)

The prologue feels rushed and much of the book has the events crammed in so you read it at a breakneck pace instead of having it paced out; within one page, they rescue Marianne’s brother from his prison cell, attempt to escape downstairs to the secret passage, kill the guard blocking their way, hide from other guards, escape up the stairs to the courthouse, realise they can’t go out through the main entrance, find a hidden door and run through the streets to the church. Phew! *breathe* This leads to holes and gaps in the plot as the narrative jumps straight from one event to another. At one point I was a bit confused when I realised that days were supposed to have passed whereas I had the impression only of hours passing.

It's a decent outline of a story, which falls under the 'chosen one' trope, but the whole needs polishing and filling out with more detail. It is uneven; there is too much physical description (especially of men’s muscular bodies - Marianne seems to be attracted to all the young men her own age, none of whom are over or underfed despite the stated difference in wealth and she even notices the muscles on the phantom) and there is not enough set-up description. The vocabulary Wilson uses veers occasionally between overuse of a thesaurus ('the energy from the burning star had been absorbed by a swirling mass of black fog' describing matte-black helmets) contrasted with slang ('full-on freak-out').

There was a lot of giggling and chuckling which was vaguely irritating. The few times Mage Hall appeared, I was always a bit confused until I realised/ remembered that they were a character, not an institute; a name change would really help.

To be honest, I didn't work out what the phantom's curse actually was even though it was mentioned a few times through the book.

There is an extra chapter at the end called 'Black Riders' which would be better integrated into the relevant part of the main book (with any necessary changes) even though it is told (in the third person) from Robbie's point of view rather than Marianne's.

However, this is an ARC and not the final proof so hopefully it will get that polish before it is published.

2.5-3 stars ( )

I was disappointed in this short book (novella?). Its brevity limited the character development and plot complexity. I failed to care whether the protagonists succeeded or failed, and the antagonists were one dimensional. I would not recommend. ( )

The Phantom's Curse by Shelley Wilson is a wonderful retelling of the well-known Robin Hood story. Only that here we have Marianne as the main character.

On her sixteenth birthday, Marianne, a girl from the Link, is grated access to the city of Obanac, on which fringes she lives, to take part in the blessing. But for Marianne this day doesn't bring good luck. It's the day she looses her younger brother, Newt, to the vicious and dark lord of Obanac and learns of a dark secret in her own past.

I deeply enjoyed Maz's (as she is called by friends) story. She is a well-build character with wishes, hopes and fears and very relateable. She is no weak damsel in distress, but a fierce, strong minded young woman, who follows her own path.

The story itself has a fascinating plot, with evil sorcerers, black magic and the hope that if we all stay together, we can win.

It's definitely a different approach on the Robin Hood myth, but it's fast-paced, well written and has some wonderful, loveable (and hateable) characters.

And you even get a little extra story at the end, which shows a part of the story from another character's point of view. A nice extra, which I enjoyed.

If you love a good retelling of a well-known legend, then you should read this little jewel! ( )