Reviews with content warning for Injury/Injury detail - An Education in Malice

Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

An Education in Malice by S.T. Gibson

26 reviews

fseely's review

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense slow-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? Yes

2.0

Content Warnings

lovelymisanthrope's review

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad fast-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

I was so excited to pick this book up because of how much I enjoyed "A Dowry in Blood".
"An Education in Malice" is a novel that follows Laura Sheridan as she begins her academic journey at Saint Perpetua's College. On her first day, she meets an enchanting peer named Carmilla, whom she grows to have a vicious rivalry with. Laura and Carmilla are both trying to prove that they are the best poets to their professor De Lafontaine, whom is also obsessed with Carmilla, but for very different reasons.
S.T. Gibson has a beautiful way with words, and her prose is captivating in the most stunning of ways. However, I was not as enamored with this book as I was with "A Dowry in Blood". I still very much appreciated this story, and I enjoyed seeing the author write something new.
Laura and Carmilla are both beautifully flawed women, and I really enjoyed seeing their relationship evolve from enemies to something more. I think they both helped to bring out the best in each other because they both pushed each other to never be complacent. I think they both also brought out the softness in one another, which is so important, especially for a hopeful poet.
This story is about vampires, but I think the vampiric elements are much more of a subpoint in comparison to the other themes going on. I found this story to be more about love, self-discovery, and finding your niche in your art.
I will definitely be picking up more of S.T. Gibson's work in the future.

Content Warnings

blacksphinx's review

Go to review page

dark mysterious medium-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

3.0

Dark Academia started its life as collages of stolen photos posted on Pinterest and tumblr. Gothic churches, colleges in autumn, people in flowing blouses. When I started reading for pleasure again in 2022, I was shocked to discover this was now a literary genre. How do you take collections of pretty photos and turn them into themes and plots?

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.

Content Warnings

bookishvicky's review

Go to review page

dark hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

ST Gibson has done it again. She’s made me cry over vampires. Again.

Where do I start. The characters. Each one so unique, so strong and detailed and mysterious and beautiful. Carmilla’s inner voice, her brattiness covering for her deep loneliness, just SCREAMED vampiric longing. She wanted so deeply of the world that she had to change to get it, and even then she only found that refuge in Laura.

Oh Laura. Oh man. The only character. The best girl. I’m so proud of her. She deserves everything. EVERYTHING.

De Lafontaine. Holy shit. I don’t know if I want to brush her hair or run her over with a car. What a complex character. I’d pay to watch her and Constanta duke it out.

SPEAKING OF

MAGDALENA!!!! I’m bummed we didn’t see Alexi or Constanta but oh man seeing her play mother at the end? I love it

Great dark academia, steamy with yearning and longing and hope peeking through the misery. Utterly beautiful prose. I’m going insane at how much I adored this.

Content Warnings

madlysoph's review

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I fell deeply in love with the imagery and overall vibe established in the beginning of the book. Never have I yearned more for a traditional college experience on a campus with ancient buildings and a rich history. The first few chapters feel sunlit, not necessarily light, but the sun is shining and you, nor the characters, yet know the horrors possible. The characters are all beautifully developed and the three main characters feel whole. De Lafontaine never feels fully known by the reader, because she keeps so much of herself from Carmilla and Laura, as much as they know, we know. This entire book is poetry, I found myself constantly finding lines I wanted to write down. An important thing to know about this book is there is a very distinct first and second half of the book. It is not marked, but there is a specific plot point that very clearly marks the two halves of the book as different. The first half does an amazing job of establishing and creating this world that they live in. The St. Perpetuas campus felt real and I could vividly see it in my mind's eye as though I were there. I loved the creation of the routine, the focus on academia and the obsession with the poetry seminar. The beginning of Laura and Carmilla's obsession with one another, how it slowly but surely goes from embers to a burning fire. The second half is where we delve more into darkness and De Lafontaine, she becomes more known and yet held at arm's length. Academia becomes more of a background part of the story and vampires take the forefront. The evolution of Laura and Carmilla's relationship is so delicious to read, the rivalry to obsession to lovers was done so beautifully. Once their relationship blooms it's so much softer than one would think yet also just as depraved as one expects. I deeply love S.T. Gibson's writing and was thrilled to have a cameo of Magdelena my darling! The ending was bittersweet yet not painful and left the door open for future adventures with Laura and Carmilla in this vampiric world. Fair warning that is book is incredibly horny and there is an orgy scene, all characters are twenty or older and there is very clear consent for everything sexual that happens.

Content Warnings

maddiereadswords's review

Go to review page

5.0

If I'm being completely honest, this book should probably have been in the 4ish star range for me thinking about the pacing and all of that, but something about it has bewitched me, body and soul, and giving it anything less than a 5 feels sacrilege. I don't even normally consider myself a dark academia girly, but sapphic vampires at a creepy old women's college in rural New England?? Say less.

I loved quite literally everything about this book. The writing is poetic and beautiful, I enjoyed both Laura and Carmilla as characters, and frankly I too would risk it all for a hot older vampire with too much of her own shit going on. The atmosphere was simply incredible, and even though it took me longer to read than I expected, I found myself savoring every second of the experience. There were some minor details that I could nit pick, and I do wish that this book was like a hundred pages longer so that the actual plot portion of the third act could have been a little more fleshed out, but my enjoyment and love for it as a whole won out. I'm literally never going to stop thinking about this book, and I know I'll be revisiting it time and again in the future.

Content Warnings

caseyreadslol's review

Go to review page

emotional fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

I want to make a double entendre about the irony of a majority of this novel being so rushed given the care to crafting some intricately erotic moments but nothing's coming to mind

[the toxic relationship tw is not in reference to the main coupling]

Content Warnings

bookboxbabe's review

Go to review page

dark reflective tense fast-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

2.0

*thank you netgalley and the publisher for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

oh boy…ummm, where do i start? *sweats nervously*

this was such a letdown. i was so excited to start reading this because even though i hadn’t read a dowry of blood, i had heard amazing things.

unfortunately, this book was, shall we say, not good.

the prose is overly flowery, the plot was virtually nonexistent, the characters were bland and i didn’t care about what happened to any of them, and the conflicts just never really felt fleshed out enough for me to care

also, the vampire aspect could’ve been taken out and nothing would’ve changed. like the vampirism was so non-important that i’m struggling to see how this was a “carmilla” retelling, aside from the name

Content Warnings

phoricho's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

This book was my introduction to dark academia and also S.T. Gibson, and it did not disappoint.

Gibson writes such individual and layered characters, and it really shines through. Although the main cast of characters is quite small, they are realistic and complex, each with their own struggles and journeys that, at times, align with each other and, at others, conflict. This creates extremely complex relationships between them.

Although told in dual POV, this book is narrated only by Stephanie Cannon, who did an incredible job. Cannon didn’t just read, she put on a performance. Distinguishing the characters with different accents not only helped to know whose POV I was in but also added to the depth of the characters and the overall immersion of the story. At first, I didn’t even realise that there was only one narrator.

Some of the themes in the book include the exploration of sexuality and desire, discovering who one is as a person, complex relationships and power dynamics, the dangers and consequences of getting what you want and losing yourself in obsession. These were such powerful themes that each character explored in their own way.

Overall, I loved this book. Even days later, I still find myself thinking about it. It’s the perfect book if you love dark academia, complex characters & themes, and a dark, twisted and thought-provoking story.

CW/TW: Uneven power dynamics, inappropriate relations between professor and students, toxic academic environments, blood, gore, murder, consensual sexual content, public sex, kink (negotiated and spontaneous), alcohol and drug use and smoking. Brief references to racist political policies, homophobia, and religious discrimination against women.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hachette Audio for sending me this audiobook for review consideration. All thoughts and opinions are 100% honest and my own.

Content Warnings

henrygravesprince's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

In the interest of full disclosure, this review is specifically regarding an ALC copy of the audiobook from Net Galley, so while I imagine this audiobook was pretty close to finalized, some details may have been changed between my copy and the official release.

If you’re interested in sapphic adult romance, dark academia aesthetics, intense relationships, and vampires, I think this book is worth the time. My usual strongest vs weakest aspect evaluation is a little different this time: they both deal primary with character dynamics. The strongest aspect of this is the core relationship between Carmilla and Laura, from rivalry to infatuation; the weakest, to me, is the failure to really bring the subplot about Carmilla and De Lafontaine’s relationship to a meaningful conclusion. I would have really liked for the book to get more into dark academic themes and historical (1960s) elements; they work fine as set dressing for the novel, but I feel it would go from a good book to a very compelling one if those elements were more developed. I’m very interested in checking out the author’s other work.

The narrative at hand is coherent overall, but it did leave me wanting. It feels a little undercooked. I enjoyed the overarching development of Laura and Carmilla throughout the narrative as individuals and as a pair, growing from rivals to friends to lovers. The dynamic shift after Carmilla’s transformation in particular is very interesting. Character voice was compelling, particularly in conjunction with the stellar narration of the audiobook. The extended cast wasn’t really memorable, though for the purposes of this book, I think that’s just fine.

The secondary plotlines, I think, could have been bolstered some to really make this book feel complete. It sometimes feels like the Isis subplot was only put in to justify

Carmilla’s transformation

, and was otherwise rushed over. I feel like the dynamic between

De Lafontaine and Carmilla

is realistic

to one where someone is being preyed on by a person in a position of power

, and as a result, I find the conclusion to that relationship very unsatisfactory. It does feel like the author is trying to portray it that way, but I feel like the amicable ending to it just doesn’t track, especially with how

emotionally abusive De Lafontaine was towards Carmilla for a majority of the book

. I think the dark academia aspect would be heightened beyond its aesthetics if the story actually delved into the weeds

of how much power professors have over their students

The writing style is very well-developed and characteristic, being one of the better parts of this book. The use of visual and sensory description is, for the most part, poetic and pleasant, but I’d have enjoyed more being present. Some of the themes were strong and well-incorporated, particularly that of power and control; others were a bit murky and vague. The pacing is adequate, and paired with the straightforward flow of the book, makes a pretty quick read. Exposition was relatively effective, not bogging the story down much or detracting from the linear quality of the story. I think the narrator did a stellar performance here, and enhanced the reading experience.

Content Warnings

More...