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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: Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Gore, Mental illness, Blood, and Body horror
Moderate: Chronic illness, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Blood, Murder, Cursing, Death, Dementia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Death of parent, Dementia, Grief, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Emotional abuse, and Kidnapping
klpage's review against another edition
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!
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!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
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: Stalking, Vomit, Grief, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Dementia, Ableism, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Death, Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Suicide, Toxic friendship, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Incest
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: Death of parent, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Incest, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Sexual assault
Moderate: Abandonment, Dementia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, and Pedophilia
- Consent is never given in one of the sex scenes. -
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