A review by vocaltomes
Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu

dark mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

It's was very interested in reading the original vampire story (26 years before Dracula). While it may not meet today's standards great LGBT+ representation, it is refreshing to see a very blatantly queer (and female centric) story for this time period and it not be through a homophobic lens. Tonally, Carmilla is mysterious, dark, and filled with sexual tension in the way you'd expect a gothic / vampiric tale to be. Le Fanu crafts a very grounded story and the visual descriptions are great. Carmilla's actions and changes in personality really grab your attention. As a character, Carmilla should be as famous as Dracula in terms of vampiric pop culture, it's a shame she isn't (and we can probably guess a myriad of reasons why). I can see why modern adaptations of this story have been so well received and I agree! Overall it's a solid read, not too long, the mystery and dread build well, and the plot moves fairly quickly. If you're already a fan of gothic literature or the supernatural genre you'll enjoy it. You can see how this story inspired and has acted as sort of the staple of the entire Vampiric genre and it still holds up well today. A downside is not much character development but stories like these were usually meant to entertain like ghost stories and leave the reader wondering about Carmilla's backstory and vampires as a whole. It also turns out the phrase "love will have it's sacrifices" was coined in this book!
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