The first one I have finished is for my Gothic Imagination class called "The Castle of Otranto" by Horace Walpole. It is considered by some as the first Gothic novel, but to be honest I was not overly impressed. I think it was because I had a hard time figuring out what was happening. Walpole does not use quotation marks or paragraph breaks between dialogue so if two people are having a rapid conversation it is hard to understand who is saying what. The story itself was rather predictable, but that is because more popular stories have followed his model.
In a very short review Manfred's son, Conrad, dies right before he is married leaving no male heir for the throne. Manfred gets the idea to divorce his wife and marry Conrad's fiancée Isabella so he can have a male heir. There is so much more that goes on, but it all goes back to the fact that Manfred's grandfather stole the throne from its rightful heir and everything that happens is because the throne was taken. I don't want to ruin the story, but it is really weird and not overly interesting to me.
It is a short read, only 101 pages, so you won't feel like you have wasted your life reading it, but one read was enough for me. I give it a two out of five stars because even though I know it was first the other Gothic novels I have read were much more compelling and interesting.
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