Scan barcode
A review by fyodrcs
Gothikana by RuNyx
Did not finish book. Stopped at 50%.
DNF after 14 chapters (almost 200 pages)
This book started off with a good vibe and atmospheric world-building, and the mystery aspect of the secretive university and the 'Slayers' had me intrigued. But that’s all I enjoyed about the story.
The main issue I had with this book was Vad Deverell. All his "claiming" and "possessing" Corvina gave me the ick.
I‘m gonna describe everything that was wrong with their smut scenes, so here’s a TW for sexual content:
Their first sexual encounter, also Corvina‘s first time (!!!) took place with his car, and Vad didn’t even clarify he had her consent. Although you could interpret from the writing she did want it, it was completely left out of the dialogue. Mutual desire was described, there was no established consent whatsoever.
He didn’t once ask her whether she was ready, really wanted this or felt comfortable at all, let alone asked her what she liked and what felt good to her. No, he solely focused on his own pleasure and rammed into her.
Let me quote him: "You chose the wrong guy for your first time." EW.
When did society decide that a man "possessing" a woman, using her as a puppet, doing to her whatever he wanted, REGARDLESS of her feelings and comfort, was HOT??? And I‘m not shaming kinks here, if you like it rough, by all means, go ahead and do whatever you like but PLEASE establish consent!!!
Also the fact that Vad has a whole ass reputation for sleeping with tons of women, INCLUDING students?!?!
It’s a shame because the world-building and mystery plot actually had potential but the dynamic between Corvina and Vad seemed more borderline-abusive to me than anything else. Young women read this and might think such a dynamic is a actually "hot" or desirable, which it ISN’T.
Girls, if a man doesn’t treat you like a princess, he’s not the one. Raise your standards.
To be quite frank, a single smut scene was more than enough to make me DNF the whole book. And although I was intrigued by some aspects of the book I physically and mentally cannot bring myself to finish it.
There’s so much more to say about this book but if I were to go into depth about that I would end up with a review longer than the actual book.
At this point I really recommend watching "The Book Leo"’s video on Gothikana on YouTube, it covers everything there is to be discussed.
UPDATE:
Currently forcing myself through the audiobook because I just can’t stand leaving books unfinished. Guess what?
IT JUST GETS WORSE.
1. The female narrator imitating Vad’s voice sounds ridiculous.
2. The narrating of the smut scenes? I’ve never witnessed anything that awkward. 😭
Now the absolute worst, Corvina is telling Vad about her own and her mother’s schizophrenia, AND her father’s suicide while he’s eating. her. out.
I can’t even begin to describe how wrong this is. It’s just disgusting on so many levels. I have NO words for this. This is literally throwing mud at mental health issues. What person in their right mind combines the topic of schizophrenia AND oral intercourse IN ONCE SCENE, IN ONE CONTEXT?!?!
If I wasn’t traumatized before, I sure as hell am now.
This book started off with a good vibe and atmospheric world-building, and the mystery aspect of the secretive university and the 'Slayers' had me intrigued. But that’s all I enjoyed about the story.
The main issue I had with this book was Vad Deverell. All his "claiming" and "possessing" Corvina gave me the ick.
I‘m gonna describe everything that was wrong with their smut scenes, so here’s a TW for sexual content:
Their first sexual encounter, also Corvina‘s first time (!!!) took place with his car, and Vad didn’t even clarify he had her consent. Although you could interpret from the writing she did want it, it was completely left out of the dialogue. Mutual desire was described, there was no established consent whatsoever.
He didn’t once ask her whether she was ready, really wanted this or felt comfortable at all, let alone asked her what she liked and what felt good to her. No, he solely focused on his own pleasure and rammed into her.
Let me quote him: "You chose the wrong guy for your first time." EW.
When did society decide that a man "possessing" a woman, using her as a puppet, doing to her whatever he wanted, REGARDLESS of her feelings and comfort, was HOT??? And I‘m not shaming kinks here, if you like it rough, by all means, go ahead and do whatever you like but PLEASE establish consent!!!
Also the fact that Vad has a whole ass reputation for sleeping with tons of women, INCLUDING students?!?!
It’s a shame because the world-building and mystery plot actually had potential but the dynamic between Corvina and Vad seemed more borderline-abusive to me than anything else. Young women read this and might think such a dynamic is a actually "hot" or desirable, which it ISN’T.
Girls, if a man doesn’t treat you like a princess, he’s not the one. Raise your standards.
To be quite frank, a single smut scene was more than enough to make me DNF the whole book. And although I was intrigued by some aspects of the book I physically and mentally cannot bring myself to finish it.
There’s so much more to say about this book but if I were to go into depth about that I would end up with a review longer than the actual book.
At this point I really recommend watching "The Book Leo"’s video on Gothikana on YouTube, it covers everything there is to be discussed.
UPDATE:
Currently forcing myself through the audiobook because I just can’t stand leaving books unfinished. Guess what?
IT JUST GETS WORSE.
1. The female narrator imitating Vad’s voice sounds ridiculous.
2. The narrating of the smut scenes? I’ve never witnessed anything that awkward. 😭
Now the absolute worst, Corvina is telling Vad about her own and her mother’s schizophrenia, AND her father’s suicide while he’s eating. her. out.
I can’t even begin to describe how wrong this is. It’s just disgusting on so many levels. I have NO words for this. This is literally throwing mud at mental health issues. What person in their right mind combines the topic of schizophrenia AND oral intercourse IN ONCE SCENE, IN ONE CONTEXT?!?!
If I wasn’t traumatized before, I sure as hell am now.
Content Warnings
Minor: Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicide, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis