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. 

It was very creepy. Definitely kept me on the edge but I‘m not sure if it was a bit too much 

a deliciously dark gothic romance 🖤

I finally decided to pick up Gothikana after being interested in another book called Nocticadia. And since I’m putting myself on a book buying ban, Gothikana seemed like the perfect book that would scratch that itch in my brain I had for a dark romance, dark academia, student/professor type of book. 🫦📖

With that in mind, I had an enjoyable time reading this book. It was just the type of book I was in the mood for. I admit the writing was cringy at times and a little extra when it came to love scenes, but I didn’t mind that much because I was actually invested in the characters and their story. Vad and Corvina grew on me and I loved their deep love for each other. At first I was a bit disappointed that it would be all lust for the sake of the smut, but as you read you discover their deep connection toward each other. I loved them. 💜

This is one of those books that are heavy on the vibes. If you want to escape to a gloomy castle on a mountain where bad things happen and the main characters have a lot of sex , then you’ll enjoy this book. 😂

Honestly, I found the plot really interesting as well. It was suspenseful and a bit creepy at times, however, I’m a bit disappointed that one of the big mysteries didn’t get an answer. 😩
I’m hoping that we’ll get a sequel eventually because I need to have more answers. Despite some plot points left unanswered, the big reveal at the end was actually really good and I didn’t see it coming. 😲

You’ll love this book if you enjoy:
🐦‍⬛ gothic haunted castles
🌳 wandering in the woods
👻 preternatural events
🔮 unique main female protagonists 
🩶 dark and mysterious male protagonists 
🎓 student/ professor relationships (she’s 22 and he’s 28)
🌶️ spicee

edit: changed my rating to a 3.5

trigger warning ⚠️ sa, suicide, mental illness, murder, explicit sexual content 

Enjoyed this one. A great October read as it was spooky, dark and mysterious.

Talk about plot holes! 🕳️ Dude, this book has so many unanswered questions. Who was kidnapping the students for years after the Slayers were gone? Why were they going missing? Because “Jade” said she didn’t do it… In the bonus scene from the Black Ball at the end of the book, why did Vad find more skeletal remains and then just say eh, not my problem…??? I am so confused and have so many questions. That was the least satisfying ending to a book like ever. Not to mention, it got so extremely cringy that I could barely stand it. The castle and the mountain thing they said to each other… CRINGE. The nicknames of “my devil,” “my little witch,” and “my madness…” WATTPAD-ESQUE. Then, they told each other they loved each other in the weirdest way and then barely spoke of it after. Corvina was described as a basic little outcast “goth/emo” kid. Also, the college age students acted like high schoolers. Not to mention, the main female character being a “virgin” and having her professor take it from her. What is with society’s obsession with virgins??? I don’t know but I’m not understanding the hype around this book. This book was just words slapped onto paper as the author thought of them. Too bad the author didn’t also think to put words onto the paper describing all of the unanswered questions from the plot. It wasn’t the worst book I’ve ever read, but it certainly wasn’t good. 

Spice rating: 2.5/5 🌶️