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3.06 AVERAGE
3.06 AVERAGE
A pretty harmless read, but not terribly interesting. Lots of melodrama, lots of stereotypes, and lots of very obvious foreshadowing. To give it some credit, it is the first gothic novel, so if you're interested in the history of the genre I would recommend Otranto. It's roughly 80-90 pages and can easily be found online for free. Aside from that though, i don't have any reason to revisit this book again.
dark
emotional
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
So fun, so camp, so ridiculous, so melodramatic, Fuck Manfred.
The virtuous damsels and villainous scoundrels mixed well with the silly little supernatural creatures and the creepy castle- it felt like a classic in every sense of the word. You have all the old fairytale feelings, just a bit darker (hence: gothic).
I had so much fun with this book! As a dramatic person myself, I love a good dose of melodrama and exaggerated emotion, and no books do that better than old books. There's just something about the earnestness (is that a word??😭) with which this book was written that made it so fun. I read with earnest, so I appreciate it when it feels like the writer had just as much enthusiasm.
I've always loved gothic fiction. This love has been exemplified as recently I've been diving into a lot more research on the genre for college, and so I was obviously inspired to read further into it. The first gothic novel ever written seemed like it should be the next book I got to, naturally.
This book was everything you'd expect from the first gothic novel. Every element that defines the gothic genre can be found within these pages, which I suppose could make it seem cliché or predictable to modern readers. However I wasn't really reading it for fun (although I thought it was very entertaining), more so for research, so since it does provide a lot of insight into how those clichés were formed, I didn't mind. It was very useful for seeing how this genre and it's tropes were created, and a good book to compare newer gothic books to to see how much the genre has grown. I'd recommend it if you have an interest in gothic fiction, for sure.
Also I adore Theodore🩷
The virtuous damsels and villainous scoundrels mixed well with the silly little supernatural creatures and the creepy castle- it felt like a classic in every sense of the word. You have all the old fairytale feelings, just a bit darker (hence: gothic).
I had so much fun with this book! As a dramatic person myself, I love a good dose of melodrama and exaggerated emotion, and no books do that better than old books. There's just something about the earnestness (is that a word??😭) with which this book was written that made it so fun. I read with earnest, so I appreciate it when it feels like the writer had just as much enthusiasm.
I've always loved gothic fiction. This love has been exemplified as recently I've been diving into a lot more research on the genre for college, and so I was obviously inspired to read further into it. The first gothic novel ever written seemed like it should be the next book I got to, naturally.
This book was everything you'd expect from the first gothic novel. Every element that defines the gothic genre can be found within these pages, which I suppose could make it seem cliché or predictable to modern readers. However I wasn't really reading it for fun (although I thought it was very entertaining), more so for research, so since it does provide a lot of insight into how those clichés were formed, I didn't mind. It was very useful for seeing how this genre and it's tropes were created, and a good book to compare newer gothic books to to see how much the genre has grown. I'd recommend it if you have an interest in gothic fiction, for sure.
Also I adore Theodore🩷
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Grief
One of the 100 ebooks included in my Kobo. Plus it is in the list of the 1001 books you must read before you die.
Was good. Second part of the book seemed to drag but the first part I couldn't stop reading!
Was good. Second part of the book seemed to drag but the first part I couldn't stop reading!
I read this with full knowledge of its place in history, having read about it in the famous HP Lovecraft essay on horror. He called it mediocre and unconvincing, which may have put me off slightly. It is both of those, but it is also a rather campy bit of fun. For true humor there would have to be some better laugh lines, and a couple more skeletons. Maidenly virtue is at full force, as is heroic selflessness and nasty villainy.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I thought it was quite good until the ending. I suppose the first in a genre cannot be the best.
The one that started it all. It's absurd and delightful.
When a prince gets crushed by a giant statue's helmet on his wedding day, the political alliance between the two families seems impossible. Until the princely father of the groom decides to divorce his wife and marry the young bride in order to avert a family curse? But he also needs a scapegoat peasant who ~totally~ has the magical powers to levitate a giant helmet. And then the bride runs away. It's just all ridiculous and youthful, and I can totally see why everyone else wanted to imitate it.
When a prince gets crushed by a giant statue's helmet on his wedding day, the political alliance between the two families seems impossible. Until the princely father of the groom decides to divorce his wife and marry the young bride in order to avert a family curse? But he also needs a scapegoat peasant who ~totally~ has the magical powers to levitate a giant helmet. And then the bride runs away. It's just all ridiculous and youthful, and I can totally see why everyone else wanted to imitate it.
challenging
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-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