Outlandish, coincidental, melodramatic, and filled with a Christian supernaturalism, The Castle of Otranto is a quick, readable, and entertaining peek at a pioneering moment in the Gothic genre.

The characters are singly-driven plotters and suppressed victims; the urgency of their actions is ridiculously contrived (Will everyone just breathe and talk together?); and their ability to ignore the literally enormous portents about them is incredible. These are the elements of plotted desperation which make the story a successful exemplar, all in a gloomy haunted castle with ancient passages and pure virgins (almost three of them!). Here we see the predecessor of works like The Turn of the Screw, The Haunting of Hill House, everything by Poe, and a thousand others.

Absurd, laughable, and even at times wry, this is a fun diversion from more serious works.