The Romance of the Forest is, in my opinion, far more subtle yet far more realistic than The Castle of Otranto. This fact makes it more believable and makes the reader feel more engrossed in the storyline. The Castle of Otranto and The Romance of the Forest both use the supernatural in various ways in order to create a sense of fear and/or awe at certain times along the plot, but this is achieved in very different ways. In the former, the supernatural is nothing less than ridiculous in nature. Helmets falling out of the air, giant feet in libraries, and stories of random giants will not exactly invoke a sense of awe in most rational thinking people because no one can relate to these appearances. In the later, weird sounds, moving shadows, faded voices, and objects that seem to be constantly misplaced is something that everyone can relate too. This makes the reader actually make connections with the characters and truly empathize with it instead of simply sympathizing with them.
On the other hand, and on a more personal note, The Romance of the Forest has an extremely "round-about" way of getting everything done. Compared to The Castle of Otranto, the dialogue lasts for several paragraphs when the actual conversation might actually be 5 sentences long. They will often interrupt the person talking and give them a lecture about how they are talking to much for a few minutes then let them proceed after which they feel that have to start from the begin again. It gets extremely irritating in most cases, and makes the story progress extremely slow.
Overall I do enjoy reading The Romance of the Forest more than the prior, but it does have its flaws that drive me slightly crazy.
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