She had walked these lands of evil and marked them with love.
This is clearly a case of it's me, not the book.
I've been wanting to read more romantasy lately, so I picked up Gothikana on a whim without looking at it too carefully, drawn in by its Beauty and the Beast vibes. And it turned out to be a dark gothic romance with some hints of the paranormal. While there's nothing wrong with that, it just wasn't what I was hoping for.
Right off the bat, this feels steeped in atmosphere. All the descriptions of turrets, gargoyles, flickering candles, and moonlit woods infused the story with a creepiness and gothic darkness that was hard to look away from. It felt like Beast's castle brought to life, just without the dancing accoutrements. Add to that the ghostly echoes and the school setting, and you have dark academia in spades.
But as the story went on, it became clear that this was first and foremost a romance, and a fairly dramatic one at that. It suffers from so much insta-love and lust that I found it hard to take the coupling seriously. One moment they were giving each smoldering eyes, the next minute they were doing the deed everywhere, with so much overwrought explicitness I was cringing on the inside. It's never good when I'm embarrassed for the couple, and that's what happened here.
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.
Also, one other thing. Everywhere I look, everyone's agog over dark academia, but—and please don't throw rotten eggs at me for saying this—I just don't get the appeal. Just like how I wouldn't get excited about stories set in dark grocery stores, dark restaurants, or dark workplaces, I'm unable to muster up too much excitement for dark academia. Maybe it's because I only know of studious academia (the setting where I went to school), or maybe I just haven't read a good one yet. Either way, I'm pretty indifferent, and this book didn't change my mind.
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 (whatever that is), definitely don't pass this up.
Readaroo Rating: 3 stars
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