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adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
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:
Yes
The mystery buildup was great. The payout was poor. I was expecting a lot more with solving the mystery and the connecting all the dots.
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The ending was anticlimactic but I enjoyed it
A gothic, dark academia romance. This was an immersive story. I really enjoyed it. I’m giving it 4 stars based on the vibes and my personal enjoyment. However, the story could have been better. It took a long time to get any answers about the murder mystery plot. When we finally did get answers, it felt very anti-climactic. Also, there were some things still left unanswered. I was left feeling confused about a few things.
My other complaint is about the writing. It was full of run of sentences. A full paragraph shouldn’t be just one sentence. It was distracting.
Although I have my complaints, I enjoyed my time with the story overall!
My other complaint is about the writing. It was full of run of sentences. A full paragraph shouldn’t be just one sentence. It was distracting.
Although I have my complaints, I enjoyed my time with the story overall!
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
First off, this dark academia book is so gorgeously gothic, the artwork is beautiful, and the world building sucked me into its atmosphere. RuNyx’s descriptions of feelings, features, and emotions had me swooning!
In the characters, I related to Salem so much. The relationship with her family, the loneliness & self doubt, are all feelings I have personally dealt with. The healing journey she took and the relationship she built with Caz sparks hope.
I love a good mystery and this kept me guessing. Though there were some things I clearly saw coming, there were plenty of WTF moments.
I bought the book because it was pretty, and Im so glad I did! I cannot wait to read Gothikana (also purchased for the same reason), even though I know that came out first.
Another ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ read for me!
dark
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Edit : someone asked the author about the woman Caz was flirting with and having PDA, and she said it was just a random girl and he did what he did on purpose.
i personally dislike when OWD isn't clarified in the book yet adressed later on by authors, if it's that simple it could have easily been mentioned. it kinda put me at east but i still hate that he touched her hair like he does with Salem
safety :
-safe
-no cheating
-owd : the fmc sees the mmc with a girl in the spot that he usually watches her from, the girl is GORGEOUS and is flirting and touching him, he tucks her hair behind her back and the fmc gets jealous because he loves to touch her hair , he disppears with the ow and it is never clarified who she is ,why he was flirting with her despite saying that he NEVER flirts with women or does any kind public pda yet he was very cosy with ow, the fmc gets mad and ignores him for a few days then bam forgets all about it.
-omd: fmc is talking to her friend's brother platonically and the mmc goes all caveman
-fmc only had sex once and it sucked , no mention about mmc's past apart from him saying he's been rejecting girls since he came to the college to focus on his revenge, SO WHO IS THE OW
there might be slight spoilers ahead
i'll start off with what i liked :
- the gloominess you can feel radiate from the book, it was so on theme with DEATH and even the character's personalities lacked lightness
-the writing as always , i loved runyx's writing and the way she makes you feel through the book
-Salem's character is one of the best written fmc i've ever read, i don't think i've ever read about a fmc like her and it was refreshing
-i loved how complex her relationship with her family was ,despite having never connected nor been close to her sister she was there to solve her murder
what i didn't like / didn't sit well with me:
-there were some plotholes and inconsistencies like
* they said the girls were used for initiations and always died after new years so my question is : why did the girl at the beach end up dead at the start of the school year? and only girls were targeted so how did they make Caz's brother kill himself ?
*how did caz despite having been there for years and having infiltrated the og secret society never figured out how his brother died or the fact that he was dead at all ?? it seemed so odd for someone so smart and resourceful
-how was there deaths every years of smart award winning female students and the police never thought to be like hmmmm why are smart girls killing themselves around here?
-i hated how her mother only warmed up to Salem after losing Olivia and her husband, in the past chapters when Salem was a child she said her parents never stopped her sister when she was mean to her and said hurtful things because Olivia was their golden child, and now that the mother lost her she suddenly wants to bond with Salem and be besties despite shunning her her entire life
- for a book who's main theme is DEATH, the side characters aka Salem's friends seemed so childish and immature , it felt like they were from a romance book . their scenes were just so weird to jump to.
-the mystery and who the killer is was revealed and could have been guessed from the start so the mystery wasn't so much a mystery, the sub secret society didn't feel like a grand revelation especially that it was only in the last 2 chapters
- last but not least, Salem and Caz's relationship felt too rushed especially on his side and i 100% blame this on his lack of POVS ,we got 2 chapters of Caz out of 20 then boom he's saying he's crazy about her and protective and adores her, WHERE HOW WHEN????? they've ignored each other much of the book playing games back and forth then boom insta love and sex and they're a couple. idk but it felt a little too rushed and undevelopped
i personally dislike when OWD isn't clarified in the book yet adressed later on by authors, if it's that simple it could have easily been mentioned. it kinda put me at east but i still hate that he touched her hair like he does with Salem
safety :
-safe
-no cheating
-owd : the fmc sees the mmc with a girl in the spot that he usually watches her from, the girl is GORGEOUS and is flirting and touching him, he tucks her hair behind her back and the fmc gets jealous because he loves to touch her hair , he disppears with the ow and it is never clarified who she is ,why he was flirting with her despite saying that he NEVER flirts with women or does any kind public pda yet he was very cosy with ow, the fmc gets mad and ignores him for a few days then bam forgets all about it.
-omd: fmc is talking to her friend's brother platonically and the mmc goes all caveman
-fmc only had sex once and it sucked , no mention about mmc's past apart from him saying he's been rejecting girls since he came to the college to focus on his revenge, SO WHO IS THE OW
there might be slight spoilers ahead
i'll start off with what i liked :
- the gloominess you can feel radiate from the book, it was so on theme with DEATH and even the character's personalities lacked lightness
-the writing as always , i loved runyx's writing and the way she makes you feel through the book
-Salem's character is one of the best written fmc i've ever read, i don't think i've ever read about a fmc like her and it was refreshing
-i loved how complex her relationship with her family was ,despite having never connected nor been close to her sister she was there to solve her murder
what i didn't like / didn't sit well with me:
-there were some plotholes and inconsistencies like
* they said the girls were used for initiations and always died after new years so my question is : why did the girl at the beach end up dead at the start of the school year? and only girls were targeted so how did they make Caz's brother kill himself ?
*how did caz despite having been there for years and having infiltrated the og secret society never figured out how his brother died or the fact that he was dead at all ?? it seemed so odd for someone so smart and resourceful
-how was there deaths every years of smart award winning female students and the police never thought to be like hmmmm why are smart girls killing themselves around here?
-i hated how her mother only warmed up to Salem after losing Olivia and her husband, in the past chapters when Salem was a child she said her parents never stopped her sister when she was mean to her and said hurtful things because Olivia was their golden child, and now that the mother lost her she suddenly wants to bond with Salem and be besties despite shunning her her entire life
- for a book who's main theme is DEATH, the side characters aka Salem's friends seemed so childish and immature , it felt like they were from a romance book . their scenes were just so weird to jump to.
-the mystery and who the killer is was revealed and could have been guessed from the start so the mystery wasn't so much a mystery, the sub secret society didn't feel like a grand revelation especially that it was only in the last 2 chapters
- last but not least, Salem and Caz's relationship felt too rushed especially on his side and i 100% blame this on his lack of POVS ,we got 2 chapters of Caz out of 20 then boom he's saying he's crazy about her and protective and adores her, WHERE HOW WHEN????? they've ignored each other much of the book playing games back and forth then boom insta love and sex and they're a couple. idk but it felt a little too rushed and undevelopped
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced