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rookeatsbooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
My biggest problem with this book is Gibson's tendency to tell and not show. The first 20-30% of the book is infodump exposition about "This is how Laura feels about this. This is how Carmilla feels about this. And they're both sooooooo mad at each other and have such a tense rivalry (You believe me, right?)" Also, a nitpick but Gibson's tendency to start multiple chapters with "Month verbed XYZ'" made me want to bash my head against a wall. Find a better way to make time transitions!
The telling instead of showing was especially notable when considering that a huge theme in the story is love and obsession and the ways that they cross over onto each other and can make people do crazy things. This is all fine and dandy, except for the fact that none of the writing makes you feel like any of these people are genuinely obsessed with one another. I didn't feel any chemistry or magnetism between the characters and considering that one of the main conceits of the plot is Laura and Carmilla's academic rivalry and competition for De Lafontaine's attention, you would think that DLF would actually be an interesting character. Wrong! In addition, I lost my mind over the sheer amount of times you read "Laura hates Carmilla. Carmilla hates Laura. But Laura's obsessed with Carmilla. And Carmilla's obsessed with Laura" in so many words. Again, show don't tell.
The prose was also bland. All of the reviews claiming that it's lush and beautiful and whatever........ have you read good prose? There was a lot of "devouring" and "feverishly" and things of the sort and it comes off both incredibly pretentious and also like Gibson didn't want to put the effort into describing things in an interesting way. There are many sections where she just spells out exactly what she wants you to deduce thematically from a situation and so many overwrought metaphors that I wanted to vomit.
For your viewing pleasure, here is a passage that made me audibly say "barf" out loud because of the cliche, overplayed, and just dumb and cringey figurative language:
(Not major spoilers since this is tagged as a romance, but spoilered just in case)
Honorable mentions:
Also, completely separate conversation that I do not have the brainspace to go over in this review, but you would think that someone who writes queer romance would possibly realize that framing lesbians (or sapphic women in general) as predatory monsters who prey on younger women *cough cough, De Lafontaine* is problematic??? Like did the author think about the implications of that for more than 10 microseconds.
In conclusion, I don't know what possessed me to read this trainwreck of a book but I would not reread. I was so hyped by the premise and was severely disappointed by the execution. Rather than a thoughtful reimagining of Carmilla in an invigorating setting, it came off as a wannabe The Secret History with half the wit or writing skill.
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Gore, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Alcohol
Minor: Confinement, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racism, Death of parent, and Abandonment
torismazarine's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Blood, Religious bigotry, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
cheriepie's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Toxic relationship and Blood
Moderate: Homophobia
I mean, I felt like the relationship between De Lafontaine and Carmilla was particularly toxic, but it felt at times that the book didn't know this. Maybe you'll feel differently. A toxic relationship exists even if you don't count this.grace_emc's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Toxic relationship
Minor: Homophobia, Racism, and Religious bigotry
hedonsgaybookshelf's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Dark academia, obsessive sapphic romance, vampires, kink, and gore? Yes please!
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Blood
toofondofbooks_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Drug use, Gore, Sexual content, Blood, Murder, Gaslighting, and Alcohol
Moderate: Homophobia, Religious bigotry, and Abandonment
Minor: Racism
blacksphinx's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Well... this book includes an interview with the author. In it, she says her stories start as a music video in her mind with vibes-based images and that's exactly how this novel turned out. It's vibes. It is a collection of scenes that if it was a movie or a music video, would be turned into gifs and reblogged on tumblr until the end of days. There's a massive college party where all four floors of the dorms are transformed into a representation of The Divine Comedy. During the opening ceremony, senior girls in pure white dresses put laurel crowns on the incoming freshmen around a bonfire. Does this have anything to do with the themes of the story? Nope! But they are cool to think about!
Things only happen to push us from one pretty set piece to another. And there's very, very few things that happen in this novel. It honestly bothers me that both protagonists are poets and spend all of their time off-screen writing poetry, but we only get two poems from them in the entire book. The author is a poet... where are the poems? This novel also doesn't need two PoVs, and I sometimes got them confused because they were so similar. (I feel bad that the author admits she struggled to make their voices sound different; I don't think she succeeded.) I also think it's weird that the protagonist being plus size is a selling point but no one mentions this until like 45% through the book?
But the thing is like, I was one of those girls reblogging collections of stolen photos a decade ago. The vibes are immaculate! I would reblog the gifs of the movie of this novel! But it's like, eating a giant puff of black cotton candy from a cone with bookshelves printed on it. There is no substance here. The words are beautiful, but so little happens. I am completely torn on what number to give to this book. It was pretty. It bored me. I'd read her other novels. I'm glad I checked this out of the library instead of preordering it.
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Alcohol
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Confinement, Drug use, Gore, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Sexism, Religious bigotry, and Lesbophobia
mhmrose's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
The setting of Saint Perpetua as the dark academia's gothic castle was perfect for Gibson's story as a place full mysteries and places to hide from the light.
The character development of Laura and Carmilla was amazing, their romance was a beautiful enemies-to-lovers story with some beautiful moments for a story that has a very sultry subtext. Poetry Professor, De Lafontaine, was such an enigmatic character that was both sultry and dangerous, beautiful and creepy that had me more infuriated with each scene she appears in.
An Education in Malice was, overall, a beautiful retelling of Europe's first lesbian vampire story brought into the 21st century. This is a must-read for any vampire fans, dark academic lovers and anyone who loves a story that breaks the mould.
Thank you, NetGalley and Little Brown Book Group for sending me an ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Graphic: Homophobia, Racism, Toxic relationship, and Murder
bookameme's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Dark, Gripping, & Stimulating
Quote:📖
In the end, I stayed. I had the awful, yawning feeling inside myself that for her, I would always stay.
Thoughts: 💡
The first chapter had a slightly slow and meandering feel to it, but as soon as the story dove into the rivals to lovers vibes I was hooked. There is this moment of intense attraction that quickly burns into rivals that grabbed all of my attention in a sharp flash and from that point on the story had a fast and dark vibe, and I adored every minute of it. The imagery and poetry that permeated everything was spectacular. It was very LGBT positive but still recognized the struggle of marginalized people in the time period. I can’t sing enough praises for this story.
Writing Mechanics: ✍️
The plot is inspired and the language used and structure of it all is brilliant. All the characters were beautifully developed with rich backstories and deep motivations. There were points of the story that were so eloquently written that I had to reread and ruminate on the context and beauty of it. And the poetry! Gah! I can’t sing the praises of it enough! Everything in this book was spectacular!
Fun Bits:
⚜️ Sapphic Vampires
⚜️ Academic Rivals
⚜️ Needing to Please The Teacher
⚜️ Beautiful Poetry
⚜️ Sizzling Romance
⚜️ Plus Size Heroine
Important Note:✨
Standalone companion novel to A Dowery of Blood.
Full Content Warning:⚠️
Uneven Power Dynamics, Inappropriate Relationships Between Professor & Students, Toxic Academic Environments, Blood, Gore, and Murder, Alcohol and Drug Use, Smoking, Racist Political Policies, Homophobia, Religious Discrimination Against Women
Stats:📊
🌶️🌶️🌶️
Characters: 💙💙💙💙💙
Dark Historical Fantasy: Dark Academia, Sapphic Romance, Academic Rivals to Lovers, Vampires, Mystery Vibes
First Person, Present Tense, Dual POV
Graphic: Bullying, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Murder, Lesbophobia, Outing, Abandonment, and Alcohol
Moderate: Death of parent
bibliofrog's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Blood
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Violence, and Murder
Minor: Homophobia and Vomit