Rhiannon
2.5/5⭐, rounded up
A pretty chaotic mild horror/dark academia that doesn't seem to know what it wants to be. The initial premise was decent – nothing spectacular or noteworthy. The MC, Robin Quain, is an academic who applies to a mysterious Colorado Rockies institute to finish up her thesis on something-something witches-were-actually-an-ancient-fertility-cult, which in all honesty didn't really seem groundbreaking, but sure ok, the reason for the start of this journey is kinda weak, but go with it.
Off she goes to Colorado in the summer, when there are no students at this obviously well-funded college (that she's also never heard of before) and just a handful of professors? students? employees? left to have sophisticated parties. They all immediately behave oddly around her, she starts wandering off into rooms and areas that she's not supposed to looking for an artifact of this ancient cult. And then the plot gets muddled and befuddled with all manner of annoying behaviour and pretty much every horror trope thrown in for good measure. We already have witches, cults and then comes: best friend betrayal, science & medical experiments, missing and murdered folks, neuroscience, game theory, old gods, werewolves, secret island, weird lake, Greek temple, sacrifices, big government, grow-op, hallucinogenics, cryptography, data safety, cosmic horror (maybe kaiju) and the current state of our chaotic world...
WHEW.
I got to the end but with a good dose of whiplash and a desire for one remotely likeable and not-stupid character, and about 2/3 reduction in plot points, MacGuffins and red herrings.
Out October 7, 2025
2.5/5⭐, rounded up
A pretty chaotic mild horror/dark academia that doesn't seem to know what it wants to be. The initial premise was decent – nothing spectacular or noteworthy. The MC, Robin Quain, is an academic who applies to a mysterious Colorado Rockies institute to finish up her thesis on something-something witches-were-actually-an-ancient-fertility-cult, which in all honesty didn't really seem groundbreaking, but sure ok, the reason for the start of this journey is kinda weak, but go with it.
Off she goes to Colorado in the summer, when there are no students at this obviously well-funded college (that she's also never heard of before) and just a handful of professors? students? employees? left to have sophisticated parties. They all immediately behave oddly around her, she starts wandering off into rooms and areas that she's not supposed to looking for an artifact of this ancient cult. And then the plot gets muddled and befuddled with all manner of annoying behaviour and pretty much every horror trope thrown in for good measure. We already have witches, cults and then comes: best friend betrayal, science & medical experiments, missing and murdered folks, neuroscience, game theory, old gods, werewolves, secret island, weird lake, Greek temple, sacrifices, big government, grow-op, hallucinogenics, cryptography, data safety, cosmic horror (maybe kaiju) and the current state of our chaotic world...
WHEW.
I got to the end but with a good dose of whiplash and a desire for one remotely likeable and not-stupid character, and about 2/3 reduction in plot points, MacGuffins and red herrings.
Out October 7, 2025