mikekaz's review
4.0
A couple years back I purchased this book as part of a grab bag, probably an "Other Publishers Grab Bag" from Cemetery Dance Publications but I don't really remember. I was glad for the book's Foreward which gave some background on the story because I had never heard of it before. I was surprised to find out that "Carmilla" was a vampire story that predated DRACULA by roughly 25 years! It was also supposed to be in part the inspiration for Stoker to write DRACULA! With this fresh news, I was excited to read the story. The story follows a young woman who lives with her father and two governesses in a castle in Styria. Events really begin when they receive another young woman, Carmilla, as a guest. Carmilla has her own eccentricities and they lead directly into keeping the story interesting and very easy to grasp. There are even some steamy-for-the-times scenes where Carmilla is draining her victim. All told, much better than my initial expectations when starting the book. Very enjoyable.
The other half of the book is "The Evil Guest." Unfortunately I didn't find this story half as good as "Carmilla." Both stories are a bit dated but considering they were written well over 100 years ago, understandable. While this was easy to get beyond in "Carmilla", that was not the case with "The Evil Guest." The story and style became frustrating to me. It also didn't help that it dragged on. The story could have easily been condensed and not lost anything. Maybe the mood would have been lessened a bit but I would have gladly sacrificed that to reach the ending sooner. Besides I kept losing the story's mood when I was bored with the nothing that was happening. It would have also helped with a better revelation at the end of the story. With the story length, I was hoping for a big reveal. Something worth all the drudge of reading. Instead the ending was more along the lines of "That's it?"
There was one final component to the book: a short piece titled "Account of a 'Real Life' Vampire: Arnold Paul or Arnod Paole" by Johannes Fluckinger. This wasn't really a story so much as a real life account of an Austrian soldier documenting the state of some bodies in a small village. It is more of note since it was a case where the Austrians were confirming the presence of vampires. This is not a story but a real report. The present day explanation is described as a lack of understanding on how a body decomposes but it is an interesting and very brief read. Reading the Wikipedia page on Arnold Paole will give a nice summation of this account.
The other half of the book is "The Evil Guest." Unfortunately I didn't find this story half as good as "Carmilla." Both stories are a bit dated but considering they were written well over 100 years ago, understandable. While this was easy to get beyond in "Carmilla", that was not the case with "The Evil Guest." The story and style became frustrating to me. It also didn't help that it dragged on. The story could have easily been condensed and not lost anything. Maybe the mood would have been lessened a bit but I would have gladly sacrificed that to reach the ending sooner. Besides I kept losing the story's mood when I was bored with the nothing that was happening. It would have also helped with a better revelation at the end of the story. With the story length, I was hoping for a big reveal. Something worth all the drudge of reading. Instead the ending was more along the lines of "That's it?"
There was one final component to the book: a short piece titled "Account of a 'Real Life' Vampire: Arnold Paul or Arnod Paole" by Johannes Fluckinger. This wasn't really a story so much as a real life account of an Austrian soldier documenting the state of some bodies in a small village. It is more of note since it was a case where the Austrians were confirming the presence of vampires. This is not a story but a real report. The present day explanation is described as a lack of understanding on how a body decomposes but it is an interesting and very brief read. Reading the Wikipedia page on Arnold Paole will give a nice summation of this account.
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