Reviews with content warning for Mental illness - Gothikana

Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Gothikana by RuNyx

99 reviews

thelongroadtosanity's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

"This will last until the day roses on my grave stop sharing roots with the roses on yours,” he declared. “I will have you even in death, little witch. I am your beast. I am your madness. And you, you’re my afterlife."

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Despite the ending being mildly predictable and a bit anticlimactic, I really enjoyed this book. The author's writing style felt so immersive to the point where I felt like I was there at Verenmore University. I do feel like there may be another one in the future.

Overall, this has spice in it, but I also wouldn't consider this to be a dark romance. It's more possessive romance than dark in my mind. I really did enjoy the Gothic and witchy vibes to this storyline however.

I wish more of the underlying mystery was revealed, but I am assuming it will be in the next book. (06/2024)

4 out of 5 stars.

Content Warnings

kristanjenkins's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

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lallabc's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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wii3rdo's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

the way my body and mind reacted to the paranoid, suspenseful, and tense moments in this book needs to be STUDIED! it doesn’t help that i finished reading the last 40% after midnight when my house was dead silent and dark...but we’ll gloss over that detail for now 😅

this book exceeded my expectations for how much i’d love it. if the exterior didn’t do it for me, the descriptions and the way the author made me feel exactly what the characters felt, THAT DID IT! 🙂‍↕️ everything was so vivid i felt like i could see exactly what they wanted me to see down to the specks of dust in the library. Y’ALL AS CREEPY AS VERENMORE IS, I FUCKING LOVE IT!

i will say that i have a few unanswered questions and i explained the entire book to my friend on the phone the night after i finished, and not only does he want to read it, but he has the same questions i do.

i was suspicious of everyone EXCEPT who i needed to be suspicious of. even anticipating a twist, i NEVER would’ve guessed the story’s outcome. when i tell you i flipped this book closed and looked around so many times, i felt like i was being watched 😭 as good as it was, i will say, the first half of the book felt like a drag. with how detailed everything was, in some places, it felt like there was too much emphasis on the scenery and otherwise minor details. the book was hard to put down, but in some places it made me question “is this relevant?” but i still loved it!

and i’ll say this and be done: PLEASE, FOR THE LOVE OF SANITY, LET THERE BE A CONTINUATION OF THIS STORY BECAUSE I HAVE SOME MAJOR QUESTIONS THAT I FEEL LIKE ONLY ANOTHER STORY COULD ANSWER 😭

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just_one_more_paige's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

I've been tracking the Bramble Romance (from Macmillan and Tor) imprint since it was announced, because that magical romance combo is basically my whole personality as a reader (if we're talking about my reading roots and the books of my heart). This was one of the first books they started marketing and hyping up. And I do love a good gothic romance (I was one of very few students who enjoyed Wuthering Heights in high school), so this dark hero, gothic academia, set in a creepy castle, mystery plot situation called out to me. Plus, like, the purple sprayed edges were hard to ignore, aesthetically.

A blurb as provided by Goodreads, as I cannot bring myself to take the time to write my own (if you stick with me and read the full review, you'll find out more about why): "An outcast her entire life, Corvina Clemm is left adrift after losing her mother. When she receives the admission letter from the mysterious University of Verenmore, she accepts it as a sign from the universe. The last thing she expects though is an old, secluded castle on top of a mountain riddled with secrets, deceit, and death. An enigma his entire life, Vad Deverell likes being a closed book but knowing exactly everything that happens in the university. A part-time professor working on his thesis, Vad has been around long enough to know the dangers the castle possesses. And he knows the moment his path crosses with Corvina, she's dangerous to everything that he is. They shouldn't have caught each other's eye. They cannot be. But a chill-inducing century-old mystery forces them to collide. People have disappeared every five years over the past century, Corvina is getting clues to unraveling it all, and Vad needs to keep an eye on her."

Ok look, this book has everything I could have wanted it to (and I did want it, I went into this book wanting all that), but it just....tried too hard. It's like it took every single dark gothic academica romance trope and tried to smoosh it into this story without quite spending enough time on editing to make sure the story itself didn't have holes/didn't read awkwardly. Like, there were no reasons for some of the descriptions/explanations/connections except *vibes.* And while I do love when the vibes are right, and even sometimes when that's all a book is (The Chosen and the Beautiful and Rouge and a bit An Education in Malice - though that did also have some plot - are recent examples), they are not enough to carry what attempts to be a greater plot. And vibes, even when they include gorgeous illustrations/photographs as chapter art, epic quotes leading into each chapter that really fit the energy of the novel, sprayed edges, and a cover that looks like this one (I mean damn it's gorg), are definitely not enough to make up for sub-par writing.

And y'all, the writing really left something to be desired. It was basic. So much telling, very little showing, and omg the repetition was...inane. Like, we got it: Corvina was homeschooled and didn't get out much and has never felt lust for a *real* person before and despite being on a remote campus together is constantly surprised by how often she runs into Vad (who, did you know, is dark and secretive and hot/cold and definitely not a good guy but also like, where's the real evidence of that?!), and the pull between them is impossible to resist (though there’s no why for that either…). And Corvina and Vad are drawn to each other but it would be bad if they got together, but like, why? Who knows? For the vibez. There's insta-lust too. Which honestly, I personally don't mind as a trope when executed well/with solid writing, which, of course, was lacking here. Also, plot-wise, everything was just too...I don't know how to describe it. But things happened that didn't really make sense or had no explanation or just weren't realistic (yes, I know, I'm using it loosely, within the confines of this "world"), just to make a next step or trope work, and then minds would changes or issues wouldn’t matter without reasons, just to make the next step/trope work. There was just no robustness to the development of anything. Finally, the dialogue. Interestingly, this was some of the best writing, when the characters involved were not the central two. All the side character conversations were just like how people talk (it's almost like, when the author wasn't trying so hard to do something, it was more successful) . But then, there was this: the way Vad and Corvina spoke to each other "in the moment," as it were. It was...fine? Maybe. But it felt totally anachronistic in the setting. I feel like dirty talk more appropriate to the novel could have been found/included. Like I support explicit talk, but specifically the way it was done here sort of took me out of the story/setting.

One major theme/topic control to the story, and to Corvina herself, is mental illness (including suicide). It was ever present. And I wasn't really a fan of all the ways it was included, as it felt, at times, like a romanticization of mental illness and suicide. However, I have to also be fair and say that I did really appreciate the message that everyone wants to be loved and accepted and protected for who they are, even the difficult/challenging parts. So, seeing that a person with a history or diagnosis of mental illness can get that love and support and do amazing things (Corvina and her mother both) is important representation (if not quite accurate to the reality of the diagnosis in question). Even though there is some sort of unexplained "foretelling" drawing Vad and Corvina together that is impossible to resist, so maybe it's not entirely the challenge it might be IRL, I still loved that for Corvina.

A couple final notes. There was a solid amount of heat and spice, which I did like (though these scenes were only marginally less cring-ily written than the rest of the novel). There were some really random inclusions (like a everyone-having-sex-in-the-open ball?) that were there only to allow certain types of scenes that are apparently canon for romantasy now and have to be forced in even if they wouldn't otherwise fit. I didn't see the twist coming, as far as the culprit (though I wasn't trying very hard to figure anything out - I was skimming pretty hardcore by the end), so that was a nice surprise. I actually liked how unexplained some things were. We never get closure on a few points of the mystery in the plot. And there is an open-ended-ness to Corvina and the voices she hears; is it mental illness or magic or a combination. I know that kind of unresolved situation is a big "no" for some readers, but when it fits, I respect it. And I personally thought it fit here.

In the end, I have to be honest and say I was disappointed. It delivers everything it promises, all the tropes I wanted to see/read, but in a pretty incompetent package. The writing was too elementary, the plot was too inconsistent as it tried to find the most convenient way to get the best tropes in, and the effort put into trying to fit a mold was too distracting for it to really be good.

“Beautiful in the way pain was beautiful, because it tugged at the chest and made something visceral come alive in the stomach and caused blood to simmer in the veins. Enchanting in the way she imagined dark magic was, because it twisted the air around it and warped the mind and overpowered the senses. Haunting in the way only very few living things could be, because it sent a shiver down the spine and cloaked itself in the darkness and fed on the energy around them.”

“He smelled of dangerous adventurer and coming home, of heartache and nostalgia.”

“This will last until the day the roses on my grave stop sharing roots with the roses on yours…”

Content Warnings

booknerdcoco's review against another edition

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adventurous dark sad 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

5.0

Whilst I did have some niggles about this book. The emotions it caused made this a 5 star read without a doubt.

The story follows Corvina, an outcast and her teacher, Vad, and their forbidden romance. With some strange, seemingly paranormal activity.

It was my first gothic read, and it really did not disappoint. The spice was nice, but the plot twist was nicer and something I never saw coming.

I wish it was a series as I wasn't ready for it to end!!!

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kaylak58's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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meliroo's review against another edition

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dark

Loveable characters? No

1.0

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literaryxdragon's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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readbyash's review against another edition

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dark mysterious 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

5.0

This book was so intense! The plot, the mystery, the tension, the twists, i was seriously gripped! The suspense, my gosh!!

I didn't want to turn the page as i wasn't sure what id be hit with, the more i read the more i wanted to solve the mystery of the castle, the mystery of Corvina while she discovered herself and the many secrets of Vad. I think i forgot how to breathe at some point! I was spooked.

A very strong plot, strong FMC / MMC and the most intense and gripping build up I've ever read with heaps of twists, especially towards the end. Just when i was figuring it out. I was thrown off. This was the first book i have read by this author and honestly what a solid start. This book is going to live in my head for a long time! Please, please, please tell me there's a second book!

“Build your castle, Corvina,” he told her quietly as they both watched the view outside. “I’m not moving anywhere. Build your castle as fucking high as you want.” ✨5/5 ✨

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