Reviews with content warning for Death - Gothikana: A Dark Academia Romance: TikTok Made Me Buy It!

Unpredictable and lots happened. So unsatisfied with the unanswered pieces for a standalone. Lots of grammatical errors and things that didn’t make sense so it was sometimes hard to read. Definitely for folks looking for darkly smutty

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fannehsm's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Very dark and moody, I was spooked at times. RuNyx is so good at setting a gothic horror dark forest and abandoned lakes environment. I am a big scaredy cat so my hands were clenched through a majority of the book. (Please don’t go a walk alone in the woods in the middle of a windy night with your freaking candlestick—get back in your room, Corvina!!!!)

(although in hindsight the woods seem safer than your room.

The voices come in at perfect times, too!

We get just enough to make me question back-and-forth whether it’s real (and the castle) or not (Corvina). But not too much that it takes away from Corvina and Vad’s story.

The relationship does move just a little fast into the “you are my destiny”-type of depth. But it’s very romantic if you are wanting the Romance-book side of Romantasy. The sexual content is also well-written. The writing is definitely more modern than “truly dark academia” and there are some times that an editor might have rearranged a sentence or word choices to flow better. But if you are okay with that, the story reads well and didn’t distract me too much. We are here for the interesting plot, peculiar handling of voices, and vibes.

Fair warning if you have no tolerance for it: there are the times where Corvina describes herself and goes a little into “pick-me” territory with her wardrobe, lipstick, and mentioning her nose and ear piercings. It was also awkward to randomly bring up her breasts in this manner. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ These instances were a turn-off for me because they don’t really add anything to the story or plot. The most important thing really is her eye color, so unless the size of her heaving bosom or nose piercing and choker necklaces is an easter egg, it wasn’t necessary.

Sample quote that I kind of bark-laughed/cringed:

“You might be a luring siren but I’m no ordinary sailor. I’m a mad pirate and I’m trying to resist your call. If I land on your shores, I will plunder and take away everything worth having. Be very careful giving me those eyes.””

This was almost when they just met to give you a sense of speed in the relationship.

I like that most of the story with Verenmore is wrapped up but I am really curious about the main problem of our FMC here—

who is Mo!?

The bonus scene from Vad’s POV is a great way to lead us into the yet unannounced and unconfirmed next book. Though I now know that I’ll probably want to read the rest of the series during the day!

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bookishlittlebird's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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rioreadsbooks's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective tense

4.0

Gothikana
Rating : ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“You’re the mountain I build my castle on, brick by brick... You stand, I soar. You crack, I crumble.”

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Tropes:
Forbidden Romance
Dark Academia
Student x. Professor
Mystery Plot
Spicy
Dual POV

Ok, being honest... I have very mixed feelings regarding this book. If we could divide it into halves it would have two completely different ratings.

I absolutely loved the mystery of the story, which had me hooked from the get go. The gothic, horror, dark academia vibes and overall aesthetic of the book was well-done! And, I feel the author did a great job masking what was going on and unveiling/revealing things perfectly.

The plot twist? I was not expecting... at all. However, it was everything after the plot twist I am conflicted over. I understand leaving the reader "wondering." I understand possibly leaving it open for another book. However, I just feel like too many threads were left unconnected by the conclusion. Too many questions and aspects that the reader still needed answers to.

Um... Vlad? Yes, please. His character was so intriguing. Was he a good guy? Was he a bad guy? Morally grey? I was here for the journey we took in learning more about his character as the novel progressed. Plus... holy hotness!!!

Corvina? I enjoyed her as well. She had a total 90's "The Craft" vibe. I wish we had more answers about her with the conclusion of the novel. I feel like as a reader I still don't fully understand her character or what was happening with her. Again, maybe that was the point?

Overall, I'd say I enjoyed it. However, I certainly hope we get a book 2!

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“If this is madness,” he told her, echoing her words against her lips, “I’ve already descended too far.”

⚠️Warning⚠️
Language, high spice, adult content, horror elements, death, suicide, mental illness

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