Gothikana by RuNyx on July 10, 2023
Genres: Fiction / Fantasy / Dark Fantasy, Fiction / Gothic, Fiction / Romance / Suspense
Pages: 466
Format: Hardcover
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“You’re the mountain I build my castle on, brick by brick. You stand, I soar. You crack, I crumble.”
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. And so begins a tale of the mysterious, the morbid, the macabre, and a deep love that blossoms in the unlikeliest of places.
This was an interesting read for me. I have never read anything from RuNyx before. She knows how to do the dirty though! This novel kept me entertained. I was anxious to get to the ending to know how all the secrets of the castle would be uncovered and the romance was just the icing on the cake. The book was easy to understand, almost like it was written as a young adult, but then just a lot of sex. You can definitely tell she was a Harry Potter fan. The part I was looking forward to the most was the fantasy element, and it just never quite materialized to my satisfaction. I wanted primarily a fantasy with some romance to spice it up, and what I got instead was a romance with no real fantasy and a sprinkling of the paranormal. Without that fantasy element, I never quite connected with the story despite it being entertaining enough.
I rated this novel 3.5 stars. I enjoyed it, but was left deeply unsatisfied. I had so many questions that were all left unanswered and I do not like that. Since it’s a clearly case of mismatched expectations, I can’t really fault the book. I suspect many readers would enjoy the very things I take issues with, so don’t let me dissuade you if this sounds like your thing. And if you’re a fan of gothic romances and dark academia, definitely don’t pass this up.