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katharina90's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
2.5
I was underwhelmed by the writing, plot and characters, but I loved the setting, moody images and overall dark academia vibes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Mental illness, Suicide, and Murder
Minor: Ableism, Sexual assault, and Dementia
langreader's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse and Suicide
Moderate: Incest and Murder
Minor: Ableism
readswithrachel's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
0.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism and Forced institutionalization
lindsayhwrites's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Clearly never saw an editor, was wrapped in pretty packaging but full of plot holes while also not having much of a plot. Very disappointing. Particularly the negative implications and claims about mental illness.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Dementia, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Incest
m_winnike's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
I got an ARC for this book. It was advertised as dark academia with some romance and a bit of a murder mystery plot throw in. This is a goddamn lie and I’m gonna fight whoever at Bramble is responsible for this absolute garbage fire of a book being published. There is almost no plot until over 75% of the way through, exactly zero of the characters have any semblance of a personality, the romantic couple had no chemistry but everyone around them constantly talked about how much fiery chemistry they had(bitch where?), the “plot twist” in the last chapters is quite literally one of the dumbest, and most convoluted things I’ve ever read in my life and somehow included surprise incest. I would not recommend this book to my bitterest of enemies let alone any of my book reading friends. To any fans of this book, which I cannot possibly believe actually exist, I need to know who hurt y’all that this is what you think is good. I didn’t think it could get worse after I read Zodiac Academy last year but this book sure proved me wrong.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Body horror, Forced institutionalization, and Murder
Minor: Ableism, Rape, Torture, and Dementia
This book is somehow 456 pages of nothing, not plot, not vibes, not even tropes.curlyewe's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Mental illness, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Minor: Ableism, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Murder, and Pregnancy
kimis's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
Gothikana is told from the perspective of Corvina, a girl raised by her single mother in a remote home separated from her village, who receives an invitation to attend an exclusive school. The story follows Corvina and her relationship with her English lecturer, Vad, and her attempts to unravel the mystery surrounding her new school.
I couldn't get myself to like, understand, support or root for any of the characters. Particularly Corvina and Vad (very unfortunate for the leads), one of whom suffered a fair lot from the dark academia equivalent of 'not like other girls' syndrome and the other was just a strange, strange man.
RuNyx struggled to find the right balance between the desire to explore Vad and Corvina's romance and the mystery that was being set up alongside it. This leads to sloppy execution in the climax of the book where, with incredibly little sense, both characters defeat the Big Bad for the simple reason they have to in order to get their happy ending. Although there is meant to be a sense of betrayal in this turn of events, there's too much alarm raised by the incestuous curve the story takes to actually care.
There are also the sort of references to literature, particularly to Dracula, that feel 1. offensive to the source material and 2. definitely came from someone who might have thought Little Women (2019) was an original story created for the movie.
As a treat, there is ableism that became hard to overlook. Throughout the book, Corvina explains she hears voices. She knows this is schizophrenia but RuNyx must not have been able to decide if she wanted to have the book contain magic or not yet at this stage (by the end it's evident the answer is both yes and no) because she also says they might be ghosts. She inherits her schizophrenia from her mother and father both and has been previously institutionalised for it. In the middle of the book, she explains this makes her not want to have any children so that they don't inherit this from her. By the end, it's thrown aside. More important is Corvina's mother who, because of schizophrenia and dementia both, is in a care home, sits and stares blankly at everything all the time, and can only speak 1 or 2 words. It feels offensive to portray her this way and is not helped any by Corvina talking to her like she's a deaf toddler throughout the whole interaction.
Overall the book was disappointing. The mystery could be interesting but was too much of an afterthought to become anything worth getting invested in and neither Vad or Corvina were able to stand on their own feet enough to make their romance feel like much of anything.
I couldn't get myself to like, understand, support or root for any of the characters. Particularly Corvina and Vad (very unfortunate for the leads), one of whom suffered a fair lot from the dark academia equivalent of 'not like other girls' syndrome and the other was just a strange, strange man.
RuNyx struggled to find the right balance between the desire to explore Vad and Corvina's romance and the mystery that was being set up alongside it. This leads to sloppy execution in the climax of the book where, with incredibly little sense, both characters defeat the Big Bad for the simple reason they have to in order to get their happy ending. Although there is meant to be a sense of betrayal in this turn of events, there's too much alarm raised by the incestuous curve the story takes to actually care.
There are also the sort of references to literature, particularly to Dracula, that feel 1. offensive to the source material and 2. definitely came from someone who might have thought Little Women (2019) was an original story created for the movie.
As a treat, there is ableism that became hard to overlook. Throughout the book, Corvina explains she hears voices. She knows this is schizophrenia but RuNyx must not have been able to decide if she wanted to have the book contain magic or not yet at this stage (by the end it's evident the answer is both yes and no) because she also says they might be ghosts. She inherits her schizophrenia from her mother and father both and has been previously institutionalised for it. In the middle of the book, she explains this makes her not want to have any children so that they don't inherit this from her. By the end, it's thrown aside. More important is Corvina's mother who, because of schizophrenia and dementia both, is in a care home, sits and stares blankly at everything all the time, and can only speak 1 or 2 words. It feels offensive to portray her this way and is not helped any by Corvina talking to her like she's a deaf toddler throughout the whole interaction.
Overall the book was disappointing. The mystery could be interesting but was too much of an afterthought to become anything worth getting invested in and neither Vad or Corvina were able to stand on their own feet enough to make their romance feel like much of anything.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Suicide, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Ableism and Incest
Minor: Death of parent
toofondofbooks_'s review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
1.0
just nope.
i read 260 pages of this mess and it just kept getting worse. i'm counting it as read. i've suffered enough.
i read 260 pages of this mess and it just kept getting worse. i'm counting it as read. i've suffered enough.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Gore, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicide, Blood, Kidnapping, and Murder
Minor: Pedophilia, Abortion, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment