Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Gothikana by RuNyx

8 reviews

caffinatedslug's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0


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marinajonesreads's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I got through it. Solid 2. The writing was at time pedantic and the plot lacked a lot of substance. I think we I saw “gothic romance” I was thinking along the lines of Adalyn Grace’s “Foxglove” — a slow burn, out of time, dark romance. This was dark. I will give it that. I would strongly advise one check the content warnings before reading. But the ending just lacked so much. It kind of was just there. I felt like we’d been building to something supernatural or even just unexpected. But we instead get a Scooby Do-esq storyline. And I was still left with so many questions. And not in a fun way. This felt, at times, like one big spicy book with words around it in the vague wispy form of a plot. Ironic, I know. Would I recommend? Probably not.

But I will say, the cover, binding and sprayed purple edges are beautiful. The purple and black is such a solid choice. Love the Verenmore gold foil. 

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klpage's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? N/A
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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! 

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hobbit_at_heart's review

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

 
I really enjoyed this story! However, I will say I do not see any correlation between this story and comparing it to "dracula and beauty and the beast" aside from a girl falling for a "devil" in a castle.

The whole time I thought Vad Deverel was going to end up being a vampire or something and that never happened. So that was a touch disappointing. The smut could have been a touch better, but I won't complain.

I suck at reviews, but all-in-all, a good story. Definitely New Adult vibes. At first I was under the impression that this was set in an older timeline, however it was fairly modern with random things like the use of phones and internet was stuck in. Some of the writing was kind of cringy and I sped read through a LOT of fluffy bits that simply weren't all that necessary to have even been put into writing. Overall, good book. If Goodreads would do a 1/2 star system, this would be a solid 3.5 for me but I rounded up for the sake of having enjoyed the plot twist at the end bc I never would have seen it coming. Wild ride at the end!

HEA was corny as SHIT.

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paperkindle's review against another edition

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dark mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

2.0

Where I loved The predator and The reaper this one didn't strike home to me. Corvina first felt like a teenager and not like a 20-year-something girl.  The sex scenes were so cringe and the mystery lacked a bit at the end. 
SPOILERS REGARDING THE END: Why was Vad so long in those tunnels and what was in the river that dragged Corvina and Ajax almost down?

My reading experience makes it difficult to rate because I don't know if it feels more like two or three stars. So for the moment, I'm going with two.

TW: schizophrenia, dementia, death of parent, drugs, suicide, missing people, murder, student/teacher relationship (age gap)

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krystlethegreat's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? N/A
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

So many things....
1. This book reads YA, until it doesn't. 🫣
🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶
2. The repetition of describing the same things, in exactly the same way, a couple of pages later, really pulled me out of the story. This was both entire paragraphs and just repeating the same specific adjective/phrase closely together. 
3. Some sentences just didn't make sense. Or they did make sense after you reread them multiple times, but that's just not how a proper sentence is structured. 

We never find out all of the mysteries. Like big-ish things that are a constant in the storyline or an event that we never get closure on. In the author's opening letter to the reader and in the author's note at the end, this is identified as intentional. It's really just annoying. The author personally identifies with lack of answers, however writing your own story gives you the chance to create answers! 

Overall, I was looking for a gothic, dark academia romance... and what I got was a poorly edited story that didn't know it's audience or what actually happened inside of itself. 

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hitheremynameislisa's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5


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nose_in_a_book's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

🌶️🌶️



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