A review by silver_valkyrie_reads
The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole

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

4.0

 I think this book's ratings suffer from the fact that it's categorized as 'horror'. Instead it reads like a Grimm fairy tale at the beginning, before transitioning into the complexities of a Gothic tale. 

 It does get a little over the top by the end, and I got a bit confused in all the revelations of who's really related to whom and who ends up married and not married in the end. That said, the whole thing is quite entertaining, and less confusing in general if you think of it in terms of fairy tale tropes, rather than expecting logical and reasonable events. (In a lot of ways this actually reminded me of the magical realism genre!)
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