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A review by emmaisnotavampire
An Education in Malice by S.T. Gibson
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Having read A Dowry of Blood, I should have known when I picked this up that I would be going into some sapphic vampire soft porn with this one as well. Not that I mind, of course, but you know. Not always appropriate.
Anyway, it was a really entertaining and enjoyable read for sure, but I feel like it was a bit too much of a retelling: other than vampirism and character names, I don’t know how many elements from the original Carmilla persisted in this version. The way I see it, Carmilla is a negative figure in the original, and her whole thing is corrupting Laura thanks to the very obvious allegory for lesbianism that is her condition. I therefore understand that, in the modern days, Carmilla could be turned into a more positive character, a simple gay awakening rather than a perfidious temptress, but here I believe Laura was really just awakening - or “corrupting”, if we want to put it into perspective with LeFanu’s work - her own self. Carmilla is not doing anything, she’s just… there. Basically, this Carmilla was more of an intermediary between Laura, who was perhaps a bit too libertine and free but otherwise pretty adherent to her original counterpart, and DeLafontaine, the real Carmilla of this story. And Isis was a bit unnecessary I think, she felt like a device needed only to make the characters that were supposed to be antagonists into still somewhat decent people.
In general, I would say that sure, I liked this, but I wanted more. More wickedness, more moral greyness, more horror even. The characters here felt like they often lost themselves, and were paradoxically not as modern and provocative as they were in the original, which is quite strange if you think about it considering that having already solid characters to begin with is one of the beauties of retellings. But if you don’t keep the characters nor the setting - although the new one was really interesting and could actually have been a cool dark academia take on the novel - nor the themes, why are you even writing a retelling? It’s a whole other story.
Anyway, it was a really entertaining and enjoyable read for sure, but I feel like it was a bit too much of a retelling: other than vampirism and character names, I don’t know how many elements from the original Carmilla persisted in this version. The way I see it, Carmilla is a negative figure in the original, and her whole thing is corrupting Laura thanks to the very obvious allegory for lesbianism that is her condition. I therefore understand that, in the modern days, Carmilla could be turned into a more positive character, a simple gay awakening rather than a perfidious temptress, but here I believe Laura was really just awakening - or “corrupting”, if we want to put it into perspective with LeFanu’s work - her own self. Carmilla is not doing anything, she’s just… there. Basically, this Carmilla was more of an intermediary between Laura, who was perhaps a bit too libertine and free but otherwise pretty adherent to her original counterpart, and DeLafontaine, the real Carmilla of this story. And Isis was a bit unnecessary I think, she felt like a device needed only to make the characters that were supposed to be antagonists into still somewhat decent people.
In general, I would say that sure, I liked this, but I wanted more. More wickedness, more moral greyness, more horror even. The characters here felt like they often lost themselves, and were paradoxically not as modern and provocative as they were in the original, which is quite strange if you think about it considering that having already solid characters to begin with is one of the beauties of retellings. But if you don’t keep the characters nor the setting - although the new one was really interesting and could actually have been a cool dark academia take on the novel - nor the themes, why are you even writing a retelling? It’s a whole other story.