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sproutedpages's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-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
4.5
Thank you SO much to NetGalley, Redhook Books/Orbit Books, and author S.T. Gibson for providing me with a digital proof copy of this novel! All opinions within this review are voluntarily given and entirely my own.
An Education in Malice is a sapphic, vampiric dark academia novel that is dripping with decadent prose, and it is a reminder of why I so deeply adore queer vampire novels: they are deliciously indulgent and passionate. And although the narrative voices are younger and very slightly less luxuriant than that of A Dowry of Blood, it feels appropriate given the more modern setting, and the ages of the viewpoint characters.
It is beyond evident that S.T. Gibson loves the characters that she creates (and the relationships that these characters cultivate), and those in An Education in Malice are no exception. The lust-tinged academic rivalry that Laura and Carmilla share is absolutely divine, and the manner in which their relationship continues to develop is very enjoyable. However, I would have prefered more time spent detailing the shift in the dynamic between Carmilla and Professor De Lafontaine, which begins (or becomes perceptible) around the halfway point of the novel. This is not necessarily a fault of An Education in Malice, but rather a reflection of my love of S.T. Gibson’s character writing, and my willingness (and desire) to read even the minutiae of the development of these characters.
I truly cherished A Dowry of Blood, and An Education in Malice has reaffirmed to me that S.T. Gibson is among my favorite contemporary gothic authors. I cannot wait to read what she publishes in the future!
An Education in Malice is a sapphic, vampiric dark academia novel that is dripping with decadent prose, and it is a reminder of why I so deeply adore queer vampire novels: they are deliciously indulgent and passionate. And although the narrative voices are younger and very slightly less luxuriant than that of A Dowry of Blood, it feels appropriate given the more modern setting, and the ages of the viewpoint characters.
It is beyond evident that S.T. Gibson loves the characters that she creates (and the relationships that these characters cultivate), and those in An Education in Malice are no exception. The lust-tinged academic rivalry that Laura and Carmilla share is absolutely divine, and the manner in which their relationship continues to develop is very enjoyable. However, I would have prefered more time spent detailing the shift in the dynamic between Carmilla and Professor De Lafontaine, which begins (or becomes perceptible) around the halfway point of the novel. This is not necessarily a fault of An Education in Malice, but rather a reflection of my love of S.T. Gibson’s character writing, and my willingness (and desire) to read even the minutiae of the development of these characters.
I truly cherished A Dowry of Blood, and An Education in Malice has reaffirmed to me that S.T. Gibson is among my favorite contemporary gothic authors. I cannot wait to read what she publishes in the future!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gore, Drug use, Murder, Sexual content, Blood, and Alcohol
Minor: Homophobia, Racism, and Religious bigotry
CWs, as provided by the author: Uneven power dynamics, inappropriate relationships between a professor and students, toxic academic environments, blood, gore, murder, consensual sexual content (including public sex), kink (negotiated and spontaneous), alcohol and drug use, smoking, as well as brief references to: racist political policies, homophobia, and religious discrimination against women.takarakei's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
First and foremost I want to say that if you (like me) did not care for A Dowry of Blood - you might give this one a shot anyway!
I absolutely devoured this book. Almost read it in a day but ended up taking a little more time with it intentionally. Some beautiful writing and lush descriptions:
I absolutely devoured this book. Almost read it in a day but ended up taking a little more time with it intentionally. Some beautiful writing and lush descriptions:
Mississippi was a study in green, crawling with Spanish moss and bedecked with heavy-laden magnolia trees, but I never realized how many colors there were to be found in nature until that first fall in New England.
I am obsessed with Laura’s character and I really identified with aspects of her personality. There were some just real good quotes about female rage, feeling othered, and life. The academic rivals to lovers I thought was well done with the appropriate amount of angst.
Slight pacing issues that dragged about 70-80% of the way through. The ending was both expected and unexpected in different ways.
🌶️4/5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Murder, Blood, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Alcohol, Abandonment, Gore, Emotional abuse, and Violence
Minor: Drug use
The teacher is the emotional abuse/toxic relationship w a studentvreyna20_2004's review
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0
First and foremost, thank you Netgalley and Redhook Books for giving me an eARC in exchange for my honest review. Now onto the review.
I had high hopes for this book and they sadly didn’t achieve it. I’ve heard plenty of great things about how beautiful S. T Gibson’s prose is and I expected nothing less but while reading it I thought I would come out a different person like when you would read a book in English class and feel a new person with this new revelation but I felt none of that. It was a simple story that went too long in my opinion.I wished Laura hadn’t kept her mouth shut and just told De Lafontaine to kill Isis or De Lafontaine to not drag out the situation so much. I get it she was in love and didn’t want to kill either Isis or Carmilla but when she killed Isis she even said that she knew how it would end between them so there’s no real reason for her to delay the inevitable. Also despite so much going on in this story, it felt as if nothing happened there was no progress made in the story it felt like the last 10% maybe even 20% of the book was when the book started to make progress at what they would do with Isis.
Now the romance between Laura and Carmilla. It didn’t evoke any emotion within me or make me scream at Laura/Carmilla to confess their love for each other it felt rushed almost instalove because Carmilla hated Laura for her writing and how much De Lafontaine liked her and talked about her but when Carmilla got turned to a vampire (because of De Lafontaine wanting to wake her lover) and Carmilla being hungry had to drink Laura’s blood that’s when her distasteful actions towards Laura switched and now she wanted to be near her all the time like a crying puppy. As you can tell, I didn’t enjoy the characters as much as I would like to me they did things for no reason their actions made no sense and once they explained why they did what they did it was a dumb reason.
The only thing about this story that I enjoyed was that Laura was a plus-size girl since there are not a lot of stories about that but even then I would forget she was plus-size.
If someone asked my thoughts on this book I would say, “It had the potential to be great but fell short.” What I’m trying to say is some may enjoy it some may not and I’m sadly not those people.
I had high hopes for this book and they sadly didn’t achieve it. I’ve heard plenty of great things about how beautiful S. T Gibson’s prose is and I expected nothing less but while reading it I thought I would come out a different person like when you would read a book in English class and feel a new person with this new revelation but I felt none of that. It was a simple story that went too long in my opinion.
Now the romance between Laura and Carmilla. It didn’t evoke any emotion within me or make me scream at Laura/Carmilla to confess their love for each other it felt rushed almost instalove because Carmilla hated Laura for her writing and how much De Lafontaine liked her and talked about her but when Carmilla got turned to a vampire (because of De Lafontaine wanting to wake her lover) and Carmilla being hungry had to drink Laura’s blood that’s when her distasteful actions towards Laura switched and now she wanted to be near her all the time like a crying puppy. As you can tell, I didn’t enjoy the characters as much as I would like to me they did things for no reason their actions made no sense and once they explained why they did what they did it was a dumb reason.
The only thing about this story that I enjoyed was that Laura was a plus-size girl since there are not a lot of stories about that but even then I would forget she was plus-size.
If someone asked my thoughts on this book I would say, “It had the potential to be great but fell short.” What I’m trying to say is some may enjoy it some may not and I’m sadly not those people.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Drug use, and Alcohol
Moderate: Violence and Sexual content
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