Enchantra

Enchantra is the second entry in Kaylie Smith’s Wicked Games series, following the events of Phantasma. In the first novel, the focus is on Ophelia Grimm. The story opens with the death of Ophelia and Genevieve’s mother Tessie. As the eldest Grimm daughter, Ophelia inherits Tessie’s necromancy powers and her mysterious locket. However, Ophelia soon finds out that she also inherited Tessie’s debts. To avoid losing Grimm Manor, Genevieve enters Phantasma, a deadly competition hosted by Devils that grants the winner a Devil’s Boon, a prize of anything the winner can imagine. Ophelia, worried about Genevieve, enters Phantasma to find her. Throughout the dangerous competition, Ophelia bonds with a ghost named Blackwell, who endeavors to help her win in exchange for help freeing himself from Phantasma. They grow closer, and their relationship turns romantic. Ophelia eventually finds Genevieve, and both sisters realize they are Specters, a type of magical being capable of turning invisible and passing through solid objects. Their father, Gabriel, was a Specter, and he met their mother during Phantasma before entering the competition again to win her back. His failure led to Tessie’s death. Ophelia convinces Genevieve to drop out of the competition. Ophelia goes on to win, and she fulfills her family’s prophecy by freeing Blackwell from Phantasma, revealing his true identity as Salemaestrus, or Salem, the Prince of Devils. Ophelia serves as Salem’s tether to the mortal world, and they decide to live together as romantic partners.

Enchantra focuses on Genevieve and her character arc. After Phantasma and the violent end of her relationship with Farrow Henry, Genevieve struggles to find meaning and identity. As Phantasma explores Ophelia’s attempts at understanding who she is under the crushing weight of the Grimm family legacy, Enchantra explores Genevieve’s attempts at understanding who she is outside of the legacy. Genevieve seeks to find people like her, who can offer her a sense of belonging, but like Ophelia in Phantasma, she finds herself trapped in a dangerous game with a partner who offers her assistance and, eventually, trust and romance. Instead of carrying the burden of the Grimm legacy, Genevieve finds herself enmeshed in the problems of the Silver family. When she marries Rowin, she assumes the heavy load of trying to escape the Hunt. As Ophelia worked to free Salem, Genevieve works to free Rowin and his siblings, motivated both by her love for him, her own survival drive, and her desire to do the right thing.

Genevieve’s primary character flaw is that she habitually sacrifices her own safety and well-being for the sake of others; in Phantasma, she secretly entered the competition to find her father and free Ophelia of the family debts without burdening her. In Enchantra, she continues this almost dangerously selfless behavior by sacrificing her safety for Umbra, Rowin, and eventually the entire Silver family, illustrating her growing dedication to the Silvers. Enchantra allows Smith to build upon the character development of Genevieve that she began in Phantasma, shifting perspectives from Ophelia’s external view of a seemingly carefree Genevieve to Genevieve’s internal emotions, which are rife with turmoil, heartache, and guilt. As Smith dives into Genevieve’s interiority, she evaluates in a new light the themes surrounding family, legacy, and love that she began examining through Ophelia in Phantasma.