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A review by kaitie_reads
Gothikana by RuNyx
dark
tense
medium-paced
2.0
🖤 Spooky Vibes
🐦⬛ Insta-Lust
🖤 Prof × Student
🐦⬛ Gothic and Atmospheric
🖤 A Pinch of Whodunnit
I'm sorry to everyone who loved this! It just didn't hit the mark for me.
It starts off pretty slow. The first thing I noticed is that the writing feels choppy like it lacks finesse and is slightly repetitive. For this reason, it was hard for me to get into. I took a little break, came back, and decided to keep trying to tackle it again because I did love the premise.
The middle did captivate me for sure, and I found myself feeling really intrigued by the more mysterious aspects of the plot. There is murder, witchcraft, and mysterious disappearances. Creepy, right? Also, there was a steamy library scene that had me swooning... but I feel like the spice really went downhill from that moment on.
Vad (our MMC) is portrayed as this really experienced older guy with grey hair and a dark mysterious maturity, but he's only... 28. I couldn't form a clear picture of him in my mind. I know it's a dark romance, but the relationship just felt *too* manipulative for me. There was no emotional connection between our MCs outside of the insta-lust and sort of cringe power dynamic. Also, there's a scene where Corvina (our FMC) loses her virginity, and it feels... very cringe, brash, and again like it lacks finesse. It made me feel less comfortable with the power dynamic and the coupling altogether. Furthermore, Vad's reasons for avoiding Corvina didn't ever feel... valid to me.
Nevertheless, I powered through because the spooky happenings and romantic development were still intriguing. So, naturally, I developed a lot of questions. Surprise, surprise... those questions are mostly never answered.
The plot basically comes to a head, and our FMC just *blacks out*, and then everything is good and merry and we get a magic happily ever after where ****SPOILERS AHEAD**** our MMC has his previous vasectomy... reversed. Why?! I HATED THIS. It perpetuates the stereotype that people who make life-altering decisions - like permanent birth control - aren't actually certain about those decisions. It was dumb. Also, vasectomies are not always reversible.
I also wonder if the author has actually read Dracula or if they have only seen the film adaptation... because the references to Dracula (the book) all seemed more relative to the film adaptation, which is drastically different from the book.
I think this story could have been better, and it just fell flat for me overall.
🐦⬛ Insta-Lust
🖤 Prof × Student
🐦⬛ Gothic and Atmospheric
🖤 A Pinch of Whodunnit
I'm sorry to everyone who loved this! It just didn't hit the mark for me.
It starts off pretty slow. The first thing I noticed is that the writing feels choppy like it lacks finesse and is slightly repetitive. For this reason, it was hard for me to get into. I took a little break, came back, and decided to keep trying to tackle it again because I did love the premise.
The middle did captivate me for sure, and I found myself feeling really intrigued by the more mysterious aspects of the plot. There is murder, witchcraft, and mysterious disappearances. Creepy, right? Also, there was a steamy library scene that had me swooning... but I feel like the spice really went downhill from that moment on.
Vad (our MMC) is portrayed as this really experienced older guy with grey hair and a dark mysterious maturity, but he's only... 28. I couldn't form a clear picture of him in my mind. I know it's a dark romance, but the relationship just felt *too* manipulative for me. There was no emotional connection between our MCs outside of the insta-lust and sort of cringe power dynamic. Also, there's a scene where Corvina (our FMC) loses her virginity, and it feels... very cringe, brash, and again like it lacks finesse. It made me feel less comfortable with the power dynamic and the coupling altogether. Furthermore, Vad's reasons for avoiding Corvina didn't ever feel... valid to me.
Nevertheless, I powered through because the spooky happenings and romantic development were still intriguing. So, naturally, I developed a lot of questions. Surprise, surprise... those questions are mostly never answered.
The plot basically comes to a head, and our FMC just *blacks out*, and then everything is good and merry and we get a magic happily ever after where ****SPOILERS AHEAD**** our MMC has his previous vasectomy... reversed. Why?! I HATED THIS. It perpetuates the stereotype that people who make life-altering decisions - like permanent birth control - aren't actually certain about those decisions. It was dumb. Also, vasectomies are not always reversible.
I also wonder if the author has actually read Dracula or if they have only seen the film adaptation... because the references to Dracula (the book) all seemed more relative to the film adaptation, which is drastically different from the book.
I think this story could have been better, and it just fell flat for me overall.