Scan barcode
devermismysteris's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Gore
Moderate: Cannibalism and Chronic illness
Minor: Gaslighting, Murder, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Sexual content
chanlo1994's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-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
4.5
This book is interesting, considering the time period it was written in. Carmilla is a must read for someone who is looking to understand the history of modern vampire lore. I also like THIS edition because the author adds an informative preface regarding the inspiration for Carmilla. She makes it an easy read for us modern folk.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Gaslighting
sympatheticdroid's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Sometimes its absurdity made it absolutely hilarious, but I think overall it's more about the dark romantic undertones than the funnies. The dark romantic undertones are between this weirdo Carmilla and this really sad girl Laura, both who you can interpret in a billion different ways. There's a lot of speculating to be done while reading, and even more to be done after you're finished. The length is short, it's in the public domain and the pacing is lightning quick so there's really not much reason to avoid reading it if you're at all interested in vampires, lesbians, lesbian vampires, historical queer fiction and/or historical fiction featuring women.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail and Death
Moderate: Gaslighting and Emotional abuse
Minor: Racism and Child death
Racism is minor the same way your seemingly okay acquaintance one day walking up to you, slapping you in the face and never referencing or repeating the offense would be a minor assault. To be explicit, a handful of unnamed brown characters show up as the servants of mysterious white women characters. The description in the book and commentary of other white characters paints these brown characters as being ugly and evil, and that is all the characterization they are given. It seems to reflect the views of the author. Once that scene ends you only ever see similar characters one more time as background characters in a flashback and there's no more overt racism anywhere in the book. I honestly highly recommend this novel, but I don't want anyone to not expect the racism. Every other warning is just standard vampire stuff.aparker89's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
A classic tale, older than time.
We all know Dracula, his real life niece Bathory ,and their reigns of terror. But what if there was someone else waiting in the dark? Camilla is charming, beautiful and witty but something dark is lingering behind her sparkling eyes. Meet Laura, a lonely young woman who wants nothing more than companionship and follow her tale of terror!
We all know Dracula, his real life niece Bathory ,and their reigns of terror. But what if there was someone else waiting in the dark? Camilla is charming, beautiful and witty but something dark is lingering behind her sparkling eyes. Meet Laura, a lonely young woman who wants nothing more than companionship and follow her tale of terror!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Gaslighting, Blood, and Death
Minor: Bullying, Lesbophobia, Toxic relationship, Chronic illness, Classism, Confinement, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, and Misogyny
filipa_maia's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
How come I had never heard of this book before?
I have this book for so long in my shelves and never looked at it twice... how? I know why... is this horrible cover, this cover is ugly. Anyway, I really loved this book. Who would thought that the predecessor of Dracula was a lady vampire...
This is a very short book with a great story in it. Very raw, very cruel, very tough. The way Carmilla manipulates people around her is very creepy and, at the same time, appealing. There is this constant sexual innuendo between the two (aparent) little girls that for todays standarts would be completly canceled. And there's also this thing with Carmilla choosing little girls... Maybe because they are virgins? Probably is from here that the myth around virgins and pure blood emerged... who knows? Maybe was just the author trying (and succeeding) to scandalize society back then.
The point it that this is a awesome book that every horror/vampire lovers should know about.
I have this book for so long in my shelves and never looked at it twice... how? I know why... is this horrible cover, this cover is ugly. Anyway, I really loved this book. Who would thought that the predecessor of Dracula was a lady vampire...
This is a very short book with a great story in it. Very raw, very cruel, very tough. The way Carmilla manipulates people around her is very creepy and, at the same time, appealing. There is this constant sexual innuendo between the two (aparent) little girls that for todays standarts would be completly canceled. And there's also this thing with Carmilla choosing little girls... Maybe because they are virgins? Probably is from here that the myth around virgins and pure blood emerged... who knows? Maybe was just the author trying (and succeeding) to scandalize society back then.
The point it that this is a awesome book that every horror/vampire lovers should know about.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Blood, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Murder, Stalking, Child death, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Death of parent and Sexual harassment
maeverose's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
4.25
I guess I’m eating my words about not liking the writing style of classics, huh?
I loved the writing style of this book. It was atmospheric and gothic, I loved the setting of the castle and the grassy hills and the ruins of the old town. I just pictured fog over everything anytime they were outside. Now I just wanna have a picnic at old castle ruins in the fog with a pretty vampire. (Sadly that doesn’t happen in this book but it could’ve). This might be my favorite classic I’ve read so far… it’s at least tied with Dracula, but I think it tops it. It actually got pretty creepy at times.
Was also a little surprised how explicitly sapphic it was, given when it was written. I was expecting it to just be homoerotic in the way that classics sometimes are, or overtly homophobic. I think it’s safe to assume that the combination of sapphic elements and vampirism was very intentional.. automatically villainizing lesbianism by portraying it as a ‘virus’ that you can ‘catch’, something that’s evil and scary… But reading it it isn’t actually explicitly homophobic. It’s all subtext. It could easily be read through a more modern lens, removing that subtext.
I loved the writing style of this book. It was atmospheric and gothic, I loved the setting of the castle and the grassy hills and the ruins of the old town. I just pictured fog over everything anytime they were outside. Now I just wanna have a picnic at old castle ruins in the fog with a pretty vampire. (Sadly that doesn’t happen in this book but it could’ve). This might be my favorite classic I’ve read so far… it’s at least tied with Dracula, but I think it tops it. It actually got pretty creepy at times.
Was also a little surprised how explicitly sapphic it was, given when it was written. I was expecting it to just be homoerotic in the way that classics sometimes are, or overtly homophobic. I think it’s safe to assume that the combination of sapphic elements and vampirism was very intentional.. automatically villainizing lesbianism by portraying it as a ‘virus’ that you can ‘catch’, something that’s evil and scary… But reading it it isn’t actually explicitly homophobic. It’s all subtext. It could easily be read through a more modern lens, removing that subtext.
My only complaints:
•The racism. It’s only in one or two scenes, but it’s pretty bad in one scene especially.
•How naive Laura was, especially at the very end. She was supposed to be 19, right? How did she not connect the dots after the general’s story??? 😆
•It ended a bit abruptly, I felt.
•And lastly, I just wish we got more pretty atmospheric descriptions of the ruins. I was waiting the whole book for them to go there and when they did we didn’t get much :/ I would’ve liked more atmospheric descriptions in general, but at least we got some.
Overall, I’m really happy I liked this! I was starting to worry that classics just weren’t for me. Hopefully there are still more out there that I’ll love.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Death
Moderate: Child death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Lesbophobia, Physical abuse, Racism, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Death of parent, Sexual content, Suicide, and Ableism
Religious themes, beheading, cremation, sleep paralysis (not really but the descriptions are similar)leanne_miron's review against another edition
dark
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Chronic illness, Gaslighting, Death, Gore, and Murder
Minor: Racism
shrutislibrary's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cannibalism, Murder, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Confinement, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Physical abuse
bugcollector's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
The book read like someone trying to imitate a classic today, and I kept having to remind myself that it was actually written in 1800s
Perhaps the illustrations are to blame-they were lazy and disconnected from the story.
I felt like I was reading those modern-day romance books, with horrible, faceless characters design cover, that keep popping into your head at unwanted times . (except you couldn't escape the illustrations in this edition of Carmilla, They kept coming back with different backgrounds throughout the book)
It's kind of a shame, because scrolling thorough Wikipedia afterwards, you find that Carmilla has inspired many paintings and drawings which would have done a much better job delevering the gothic, eerie feeling it tried to convey. (instand of the children-coloring-book drawing attempt we got here)
What I did enjoy was the editors introduction, which brought a nice touch and a fresh perspective on the book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Blood, Death, Grief, and Toxic relationship
jojo_'s review against another edition
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Death, Ableism, Murder, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Lesbophobia, Medical content, Racism, Sexual assault, Misogyny, Classism, Incest, and Sexual content