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! 

I'd like to start by saying THIS BOOK IS BAD! it's really bad... however, I love it. it's such a fun read. I've read it twice now and I like it even more the second time. it's stupid, confusing and poorly written but something about it just makes me happy. I like the character of Vlad (vad is a stupid name) he has some really great moments where he's genuinely a good dude. how he dedicates himself to corvina is really sweet or when she has a panic attack during sex he stops immediately and consoles her. we stan. but he's also a massive cunt. I won't go into detail but there is an element of dubcon and the lack of communication and really asking about corvinas boundaries is very nasty work. like hey! you should talk to her about this first👍 I do like him though like he's an interesting character and i wish runyx went more in depth with his back story his current story and the shit with his alabama half sister. corvina on the other hand... for fucks sake she is so obnoxious... and alexandrias gensis? oh be for fucking real m8. her violet orbs shone in the dark moonlight as the ravens sang their songs of death face ass. she lacks depth and feels like a marry sue tbh. her character gives "im so #deepanddiffrent also we need to talk about the very problematic use of mental health disorders in this book and how they're referred to. using schizophrenia in the way runyx did is well say tacky. it's not done well at all. same with the dementia. as someone who lost a family member to the disease it was very um uncomfortable to read about her mother. 

in conclusion I love this book because it's bad. it's so fun to read and fun to laugh about. runyx you slayed i fear. 

A moody, heady, mysterious book. If you like murder mystery and romance, this is a good one. Not too erotica, but it does have a few scenes, so be prepared. I really loved the main characters, and I loved being in Corvina's mind. Main characters that are mentally unstable are something I relate to and I love to get a glimpse of. This is a slow burn romance, but also a mystery about a haunted(?) college/castle. It also has a good ending that wraps everything up pretty well, which I really appreciate from a book labeled as smut by some people. Would absolutely tell a friend to give this book a read, and I hope the author releases another in the same universe! 

This book had me SPIRALING. I honestly did not know where this was going to go or how this was going to end, and didn’t until I got to the very end.

The way Corvina feels throughout the book is so incredibly relatable, and the style in which the author transcribes perfectly just how Corvina feels.. The words are utterly breathtaking at times. I have so many quotes saved that just hit close to home and were so dark & beautifully said.

‘Gothikana’ reminded me why “books-that-make-you-think” are my absolute freaking favorite. 

Unfortunately the spice in this book took over from the plot. Which I didn’t like to read about constantly. 

I loved the aesthetic of the book, and the last 50 pages of interesting plot, but that was it unfortunately. 

Not for me I’m afraid!