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julies_reading 's review for:
An Education in Malice
by S.T. Gibson
4.5 stars
In this 60's set retelling of Carmilla, Laura is dedicated to her poetry. For the first time in her life, she leaves her sleepy town to go to a prestigious women's college to grow her craft. Despite her being a freshman, her work impresses the distinguished Professor de Lafontaine enough to let her into the class. de Lafontaine's star student, the beautiful and enigmatic Carmilla, feels her spot is threatened, despite all the secret time she spends with the professor. As the two students are pitted against each other, they find themselves on the line between obsession and hatred - but the professor's dark secret may tear them asunder.
I read this in a vlog! Watch me give my thoughts in real-time here: Reading Authors I've Given 5 Stars To Before
The biggest question about this book is going to be: Does it live up to A Dowry of Blood? I think it does. I don't think it's quite as strong, but I do think it lives up to that legacy. The atmosphere and the metaphoric writing style made it very clear that this was a companion. The vibes were the same, and I got the feelings that I was looking for! There were so many quotes that I read and reread because they gave such a complete image of these characters. I absolutely love the rivals to lovers arc of Carmilla and Laura; I was so obsessed with them getting together despite the circumstances. Gibson is unmatched in how she writes desire and desperation; you can feel their want oozing through the page. I thought it was an interesting twist on the original text to have Carmilla originally be a vampire's blood supply and be a victim of grooming rather than Carmilla being the ultimate villain of the story. This showed how strongly a young person can be manipulated by someone older because they believe they're in love. There is a side plot of the professor vampire dealing with her sire which took up a good amount of the back half of the book, but I didn't think that portion was developed enough to really feel successful. This made the book split focus despite it being pretty short. Dowry is so short and still works flawlessly because it is singularly focused in a way that Education is not. Because of that, I think that this book could've been longer to flesh out the arcs to their fullest.
Overall, this is definitely a spiritual sister to ADOB and while I adored so much of it, I think it could have delved even deeper to flesh out its multiple plotlines.
In this 60's set retelling of Carmilla, Laura is dedicated to her poetry. For the first time in her life, she leaves her sleepy town to go to a prestigious women's college to grow her craft. Despite her being a freshman, her work impresses the distinguished Professor de Lafontaine enough to let her into the class. de Lafontaine's star student, the beautiful and enigmatic Carmilla, feels her spot is threatened, despite all the secret time she spends with the professor. As the two students are pitted against each other, they find themselves on the line between obsession and hatred - but the professor's dark secret may tear them asunder.
I read this in a vlog! Watch me give my thoughts in real-time here: Reading Authors I've Given 5 Stars To Before
The biggest question about this book is going to be: Does it live up to A Dowry of Blood? I think it does. I don't think it's quite as strong, but I do think it lives up to that legacy. The atmosphere and the metaphoric writing style made it very clear that this was a companion. The vibes were the same, and I got the feelings that I was looking for! There were so many quotes that I read and reread because they gave such a complete image of these characters. I absolutely love the rivals to lovers arc of Carmilla and Laura; I was so obsessed with them getting together despite the circumstances. Gibson is unmatched in how she writes desire and desperation; you can feel their want oozing through the page. I thought it was an interesting twist on the original text to have Carmilla originally be a vampire's blood supply and be a victim of grooming rather than Carmilla being the ultimate villain of the story. This showed how strongly a young person can be manipulated by someone older because they believe they're in love. There is a side plot of the professor vampire dealing with her sire which took up a good amount of the back half of the book, but I didn't think that portion was developed enough to really feel successful. This made the book split focus despite it being pretty short. Dowry is so short and still works flawlessly because it is singularly focused in a way that Education is not. Because of that, I think that this book could've been longer to flesh out the arcs to their fullest.
Overall, this is definitely a spiritual sister to ADOB and while I adored so much of it, I think it could have delved even deeper to flesh out its multiple plotlines.