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krispi_kebob's review
- 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
Graphic: Abandonment, Blood, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Death, Grief, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Gaslighting
Minor: Forced institutionalization and Infidelity
gabburrit0's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
in all seriousness, this was a nice, bite-size story that I instantly liked. the atmosphere was really what drew me in as well as Fontaine. i personally would've given this book a glowing 5 stars if we had delved further into Fontaine and Irene's background (like an off chapter from Fontaine's POV) but I understand that she's supposed to be this brooding and mysterious character and I can respect Gibson for sticking with that til the very end
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship
Moderate: Body horror
egheinze's review
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.75
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body horror, and Death
Moderate: Alcohol
themagicalworldofnian's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
5 ⭐️
2 🌶️
Wow S.T. Gibson did it again. If you have read A Dowry of Blood this gives the same vibes ✨
An Education in Malice is a sapphic Carmilla retelling, do I even have to say anymore 🤯
It follows both Carmilla and Laura, two academic rivals who are infatuated with poetry and getting the approval of their demanding professor De Lafontaine.
While Laura is timid and very insecure about herself and her sexuality, is Carmilla the complete opposite, she is very confident and a bit of a mean girl. They both want the approval of the professor. But there is a thin line between desire, obsession and academic approval.
Again S.T. Gibson her prose is just so captivating an poetic, which I just love💕. She just has a way with words that I can’t describe in any other way than just read her books and stories. The use of literary devices such as metaphors, imagery, symbolism and repetition is done just perfectly. It just adds this extra layer to the writing.
I also just loved the inclusion of a couple of poems written by Laura and Carmilla, tho I would have liked seeing even more of them.
The story is also again very character focused and driven just as her other books. The relationships are written soo good. The relationship between Laura and Carmilla, but also between Carmilla and De Lafontaine. The jealousy, the desire, the obsession, the lust, but also the love and friendship.
I also loved how you could really see the imbalance in power between everyone, but also how it is challenged in certain situations.
I love dark academia and I love S.T Gibson and her poetic writing, so for me this was the absolute perfect combo.
So overall, I would definitely recommend this if you love a dark academia that is mainly character driven with sapphic relationships, vampires and obsession and desire packaged in poetic writing.
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Gore, Blood, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Sexual content
amina_writes_books's review
- 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
4.75
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Sexual content, Body horror, and Blood
Minor: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Bullying, Addiction, Death of parent, and Kidnapping
bergha1998's review
- 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
Fantasy, Enemies to Lovers, Emotional, 2 1/2 🔥
“Life doesn’t seem worthwhile without synthesizing my experiences into art, the catharsis of putting it all out onto the page. It’s the only way I’ve ever been able to get other people to understand how I’m feeling.”
Graphic: Sexual content, Alcohol, Body horror, Gaslighting, Gore, Murder, Toxic friendship, Blood, Toxic relationship, Cursing, Bullying, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, and Death
madlysoph's review
- 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
Graphic: Blood
Moderate: Body horror, Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Alcohol
Minor: Abandonment
phoricho's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Body horror, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Blood, Death, Grief, Toxic relationship, Drug use, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, and Murder
Minor: Vomit, Sexism, Racism, and Religious bigotry
steen19's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
A sapphic enemies-to-lovers, on a college campus, with dark themes and crisp fall vibes. It’s dual POV, there’s catacombs, there's a monster, and a possessive poetry professor.
I flew through this. Quite literally I started it at dinner and stayed up until 1am to finish it. The writing was so smooth and vibrant.
Thank you so much to NetGalley, the author, and publisher for my advanced digital copy!
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Blood, and Death
Moderate: Grief, Murder, Toxic relationship, and Sexual content
tinybluepixel's review against another edition
- 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
Oh boy. Oh boy! I loved this.
I admit, I had a hard time with S.T. Gibson's A Dowry of Blood, not because it wasn't good, but because it featured a man who was very clearly abusive and reminded me a lot of my father, which is a big yikes for me! But I could still see that Gibson is a most talented writer with a grasp of language that is almost unparalleled in this genre.
Gibson really leans into this retelling of Carmilla, having it mainly take place in a poetry class. I admit two things, here: One, I have never read Carmilla. Just ... it wasn't on the curriculum in my very conservative school, and I could barely stomach Dracula, so I never reached for it. Two, I hate poetry. God, I hate poetry. I hate reading it, I hate writing it even more. I see poetry in life, and I see poetry in prose. Writing it down on a page, and even worse, analyzing it and taking it apart in metaphors and similies and other technichalities makes it lose all of it's appeal. Thankfully, Gibson didn't make me suffer through a whole bunch of poems, just two at the beginning, and then only references. So if you're a big old poetry hater like me, don't fret.
While A Dowry of Blood features some innovative storytelling in the way of its formatting, An Education in Malice is written in more of a "typical" structure. Instead of Dowry's almost letter-like writing, adressed to Dracula, An Education in Malice has two first-person narrators, being Laura and Carmilla. These two obviously correspond to the Laura and Carmilla in the original story of Carmilla. However, in that book, Carmilla is the villian. In Education, she's more of a rival to Laura, and eventually, of course, a lover. Since she's also a narrator, she loses that villain-appeal of the original story. Instead, there is not a clear villian (except for the more-or-less minor character of Isis, who is clearly evil), but I would argue that Carmilla and Laura's poetry teacher, Evelyn De Lafontaine, is one of the more nefarious villians in modern fiction. At the beginning, she seems almost alike to Julian from The Secret History, and we all know how that story ended. She is clearly an antagonist. If she's actually a villian - that's up to the reader. However, their relationship in this sort-of love triangle is clearly abusive, but you get the sense that she really cares about Carmilla.
I'm honestly really glad that Gibson decided to make Carmilla a protagonist, and not a villain. There's just not enough sapphic books that have a good, happy relationship at the center. And I truly believe that what Laura and Carmilla have in this book will be a good and happy relationship, even though it can get kind of oppressive at times. And sometimes you just need a good and happy ending. And I think we got the best sort of ending possible with this book. Gotta admit, I was kind of worried at around the middle that it would end in tragedy. And, spoiler alert! It didn't. Sometimes, it is good to see even a very toxic character make a turnaround instead of spiraling downwards. I would still send all of those girls to therapy, though.
Two more things I loved but I don't necessarily need to elaborate on: One, maybe a non-important thing to others, but very important to me and probably a lot of others - the inclusion of trigger warnings at the beginning. Two, the positive portrayal of Laura's religion. I don't know why, but it was really heartwarming to read.
That's it, now. Do yourselves a favor and read this book.
Graphic: Death, Body horror, Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, Medical trauma, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, and Blood
Moderate: Alcohol and Murder