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labxtch's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, and Blood
Moderate: Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Dementia, Suicide attempt, and Murder
Minor: Emotional abuse, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
gracehannahh's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Suicide, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
viselik's review against another edition
- 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
Please DO NOT read this book if any of the following topics trigger or upset you as the book does not handle these topics with care.
SCHIZOPHRENIA, SUICIDE, SELF-HARM, ABUSE, IFFY SEXUAL SITUATIONS OR INCEST
I would have done lower stars if I could. This book honestly handles the topics inside of it really poorly. If I wasn't so stubborn about my rule about finishing a book, I would have put this down after chapter 10.
I won't really go in-depth here as I'm not even comfortable remembering the book fully, would highly recommend The Book Leo's video here on this book as she states a lot of what I feel about this book but I'll give a quick rundown of my final thoughts on it.
Spoiler
The main cast of characters all feel quite childlike at times, I'm not quite sure about it. Even the teacher character Vad Deverell feels like this a lot of the time. Even more so on how jealous he gets over Troy or Jax who are both around 19 years old. Corvina (whose name is literally a fish) I can't even get started at how childlike she seemed, or just how unaware of the danger she could be in.
Also, why did it take until around chapter 16 to find out Vad's age? Why is the author hiding it? Not to mention it's only said once, compared to the several times the student's ages are given out or even the amount of times we are told Corvina is in her early 20s.
The author does state that she made Vad's character vague but having that doesn't excuse how one-dimensional he felt most of the time. Even when we are finding out about his backstory it didn't feel like it was helping his character, at times I even preferred now knowing as I was constantly thinking by the end if he was going to kill someone like he did his grandfather.
The main mystery of the book, the Black Ball held every 5 years and each time it's on someone goes missing... well this is never answered. Instead, we get an incest scene about our love interest Vad's crazy family member who wants to have his kids so they would have good 'devil' genes and could run the school. This same family member has caused at least 2 people to jump off the roof and tried to get our MC to do it as well, she does this via a drug... Yeah. I would highly not recommend this book to anyone.
The several sex scenes in this feel rather poorly written, there are a few moments floating around the internet about some of the lines from this book but as I've read I've noticed a few more. Quite a
lot of them are all in the sex scenes and their incessant need to mention madness, but this madness is never really described.
Another thing I noticed about this book, we get a lot of being told but not having it described at all. Like the music from chapter 2 I believe, it's said to be "Haunting. Eerie. Ethereal." though nothing else is really described about it. We don't even know it's a piano till we see the guy who is playing it.
If you are looking for sex scenes, please just go look at the porn without plot tag on AO3 you could probably find even better sex scenes without having to pay for them.
SCHIZOPHRENIA, SUICIDE, SELF-HARM, ABUSE, IFFY SEXUAL SITUATIONS OR INCEST
I would have done lower stars if I could. This book honestly handles the topics inside of it really poorly. If I wasn't so stubborn about my rule about finishing a book, I would have put this down after chapter 10.
I won't really go in-depth here as I'm not even comfortable remembering the book fully, would highly recommend The Book Leo's video here on this book as she states a lot of what I feel about this book but I'll give a quick rundown of my final thoughts on it.
Spoiler
The main cast of characters all feel quite childlike at times, I'm not quite sure about it. Even the teacher character Vad Deverell feels like this a lot of the time. Even more so on how jealous he gets over Troy or Jax who are both around 19 years old. Corvina (whose name is literally a fish) I can't even get started at how childlike she seemed, or just how unaware of the danger she could be in.
Also, why did it take until around chapter 16 to find out Vad's age? Why is the author hiding it? Not to mention it's only said once, compared to the several times the student's ages are given out or even the amount of times we are told Corvina is in her early 20s.
The author does state that she made Vad's character vague but having that doesn't excuse how one-dimensional he felt most of the time. Even when we are finding out about his backstory it didn't feel like it was helping his character, at times I even preferred now knowing as I was constantly thinking by the end if he was going to kill someone like he did his grandfather.
The main mystery of the book, the Black Ball held every 5 years and each time it's on someone goes missing... well this is never answered. Instead, we get an incest scene about our love interest Vad's crazy family member who wants to have his kids so they would have good 'devil' genes and could run the school. This same family member has caused at least 2 people to jump off the roof and tried to get our MC to do it as well, she does this via a drug... Yeah. I would highly not recommend this book to anyone.
The several sex scenes in this feel rather poorly written, there are a few moments floating around the internet about some of the lines from this book but as I've read I've noticed a few more. Quite a
lot of them are all in the sex scenes and their incessant need to mention madness, but this madness is never really described.
Another thing I noticed about this book, we get a lot of being told but not having it described at all. Like the music from chapter 2 I believe, it's said to be "Haunting. Eerie. Ethereal." though nothing else is really described about it. We don't even know it's a piano till we see the guy who is playing it.
If you are looking for sex scenes, please just go look at the porn without plot tag on AO3 you could probably find even better sex scenes without having to pay for them.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Incest, Sexual assault, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Gaslighting
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Dementia, Medical trauma, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment
- Consent is never given in one of the sex scenes. -mhhmm's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
5⭐
❇I can't give 10⭐, so I give 5⭐
✴This book is my new favorite and I'm obsessed with her, absolutely in love!
✴The dark academia vibe, this book is giving me is now one of my favorites, and I didn't even know I will like it that much, that I need it that much!
❣The characters were interesting and had something in them, that I got addicted to from a few chapters:
❣Corvina is such a strong character and we can see her character development! Also, she is interested in all her witchy things and these voices in her head! It was so interesting to read and I don't know if she saw shadows, heard voices, or all this was her imagination, and these things never happened.
I just wanted Corvina to not give up that easily to Vad, she could torture him with waiting sometimes or something, but she was like a doll in some situations... But it wasn't a big deal, just that we could see his other side.
I just wanted Corvina to not give up that easily to Vad, she could torture him with waiting sometimes or something, but she was like a doll in some situations... But it wasn't a big deal, just that we could see his other side.
❣Vad. Damn Vad...He is that character that you don't know trust him or not, and I figured him out just in the end when the story ended... He is such a secret, hot, interesting character... Damn... Also, we can see that he is cold in the beginning, but then he finds himself falling in love, and he changes... In other words character development.
⚜The story is interesting and I didn't read anything similar. It was interesting to read about murders and wonder why they happen and what is responsible.
⚜The plot twist, in the end, was not expected of me, and I'm very happy because there are not a lot of books where I don't figure everything out.
⚜Maybe if I didn't read the description of the book, it would be even more interesting. But of course, I read 🙄.
⚜The plot twist, in the end, was not expected of me, and I'm very happy because there are not a lot of books where I don't figure everything out.
⚜Maybe if I didn't read the description of the book, it would be even more interesting. But of course, I read 🙄.
➡I'm conclusion:
This book is my new favorite. I loved the characters and the story was interesting too, the plot twist was not expected and makes sense.
I'm OBSESSED with the vibe this book gives and with mysticism!
This book is my new favorite. I loved the characters and the story was interesting too, the plot twist was not expected and makes sense.
I'm OBSESSED with the vibe this book gives and with mysticism!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Suicide, Blood, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Violence, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
alexandryareads's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Suicide, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Bullying and Medical content
Minor: Medical trauma