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rookeatsbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- 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
For some godforsaken reason, I finished this book in one day. In the little praise I'll offer for this book, I guess it means I was intrigued enough by the plot to keep reading. BUT, and this is a big but, the writing is quite poor. I googled the author mid-read, thinking that this book must have been written by a teenager with a dark academia tumblr obsession. Unfortunately, that was not the case.
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)
She kissed me with a martyr's agonized desperation, like I was the only sword she ever wanted to fall on. I kissed her right back like the cutting edge of a blade, trying to inflict as much damage as possible.
Honorable mentions:
Bound by blood and secrecy, with no recourse to anyone but each other. It would almost be romantic, under more advantageous circumstances.
"I'll go first, Carmilla said, draping herself elegantly across the couch. Everything she did was elegant.
I've always had the strangest instinct to run towards whatever is hurting me, to bare my neck to any predator that caught my scent
Love is sacrifice, Professor. Whether it's you on the butcher's table or not, someone always bleeds.
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.
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.
Content Warnings
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
krispi_kebob's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
An Education in Malice is quite the story. I found myself invested in the characters right from the beginning. I appreciated the content warnings at the start of the book a lot to understand what I was getting myself into - the story is complicated, morally grey. I appreciated that sex and sensuality were not the total purpose of the book, but rather fit into the plot like a key in a lock.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, and Abandonment
Moderate: Gore, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Infidelity and Forced institutionalization
aileron's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Confinement and Gore
Minor: Abandonment and Injury/Injury detail
jems_'s review against another edition
4.75
I was provided an audio ARC of this which was the very first audiobook I ever finished!
I had heard about this book before, as well as the author’s other work, though I had not read or otherwise consumed any of it myself so far. This was thus my first encounter with S.T. Gibson.
That said, listening to this was a very pleasant experience. The narrator, Stephanie Cannon, did an amazing job of the voices and has a beautiful voice. Multiple times I went back in the audiobook to hear her narrate professor De Lafontaine because it sounded like an entirely different person. It greatly helped immerse me in the story.
Going into this, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect of the story, especially the relationship between the professor and her students. On that, I am still not entirely certain what I think, though although strange, technically nothing too damnable happened in that aspect which I appreciate. (By damnable I‘m mostly referring to anything explicit since I don’t know how I would’ve felt about that. That aside the relationship was still really toxic! However, I don’t think the book acknowledged it as anything but if I‘m not mistaken which is important.)
I did really enjoy the relationship between Carmilla and Laura. As a very loyal and faithful person myself, unfaithfulness is generally something I can’t tolerate and there was at least one instance in this book that tested me in that regard. However, surprisingly it didn’t make me drop and dnf it like I would other books until now so that definitely says something. I think the other party‘s reaction influenced my own reaction to it as well, but that’s as much as I want to say on that to not spoiler too much!
Overall, I enjoyed the narrative style and the writing as it was read beautifully was nice and not too complicated. The characters were fleshed out with interesting, albeit a bit strange dynamics, though those were a big point of the story anyways and weren’t supposed to be the most healthy.
In my opinion it was a very nice experience and I‘m very grateful I got approved for this ARC!
I had heard about this book before, as well as the author’s other work, though I had not read or otherwise consumed any of it myself so far. This was thus my first encounter with S.T. Gibson.
That said, listening to this was a very pleasant experience. The narrator, Stephanie Cannon, did an amazing job of the voices and has a beautiful voice. Multiple times I went back in the audiobook to hear her narrate professor De Lafontaine because it sounded like an entirely different person. It greatly helped immerse me in the story.
Going into this, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect of the story, especially the relationship between the professor and her students. On that, I am still not entirely certain what I think, though although strange, technically nothing too damnable happened in that aspect which I appreciate. (By damnable I‘m mostly referring to anything explicit since I don’t know how I would’ve felt about that. That aside the relationship was still really toxic! However, I don’t think the book acknowledged it as anything but if I‘m not mistaken which is important.)
I did really enjoy the relationship between Carmilla and Laura. As a very loyal and faithful person myself, unfaithfulness is generally something I can’t tolerate and there was at least one instance in this book that tested me in that regard. However, surprisingly it didn’t make me drop and dnf it like I would other books until now so that definitely says something. I think the other party‘s reaction influenced my own reaction to it as well, but that’s as much as I want to say on that to not spoiler too much!
Overall, I enjoyed the narrative style and the writing as it was read beautifully was nice and not too complicated. The characters were fleshed out with interesting, albeit a bit strange dynamics, though those were a big point of the story anyways and weren’t supposed to be the most healthy.
In my opinion it was a very nice experience and I‘m very grateful I got approved for this ARC!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Confinement, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, and Blood
Minor: Death, Abandonment, and Alcohol
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