A review by woolerys
An Education in Malice by S.T. Gibson

adventurous dark medium-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

3.25

Writing - 4/5 
Plot - 3/5 
Characters - 4/5 
World-building - 3/5 
Personal tastes - 2/5 
TOTAL: 3.2
 
I feel very conflicted about this book. The writing was great and drew me in right away. Even when I thought, eh, I don’t know if I like where this story is going, I kept thinking about it and felt compelled to finish it! 

My main issue was the two main characters’ relationships with the professor. It is included in the author’s content warnings (thank you) and—vague spoiler here—
technically it resolves in what I would consider an appropriate manner, but it happens so late in the book, there’s no time for any reflection, character growth, or real moving past it.
While I don’t read a lot of vampire fiction specifically, I gather that exploration of deviance is part of the shapeshifter/paranormal genre, and in some ways, this book does that quite beautifully—the enemies-to-lovers romance between the main characters is a treat. I am just a little extra squicky on teacher/student boundary-trespassing. 
 
Points off the world-building for setting the story in 1968 in America and including racially diverse characters (yay!) but ignoring the reality of racism? That’s how it read to me, anyway, simply because there was zero mention of it, even when there were clear opportunities for it to have been part of the conversation. Otherwise the setting was enjoyable (see: compelling writing), and the characters were well-rendered, if not always likable! 
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