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flowerkitties's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Murder
vocaltomes's review against another edition
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!
Content Warnings
Minor: Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
filipa_maia's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
How come I had never heard of this book before?
I have this book for so long in my shelves and never looked at it twice... how? I know why... is this horrible cover, this cover is ugly. Anyway, I really loved this book. Who would thought that the predecessor of Dracula was a lady vampire...
This is a very short book with a great story in it. Very raw, very cruel, very tough. The way Carmilla manipulates people around her is very creepy and, at the same time, appealing. There is this constant sexual innuendo between the two (aparent) little girls that for todays standarts would be completly canceled. And there's also this thing with Carmilla choosing little girls... Maybe because they are virgins? Probably is from here that the myth around virgins and pure blood emerged... who knows? Maybe was just the author trying (and succeeding) to scandalize society back then.
The point it that this is a awesome book that every horror/vampire lovers should know about.
I have this book for so long in my shelves and never looked at it twice... how? I know why... is this horrible cover, this cover is ugly. Anyway, I really loved this book. Who would thought that the predecessor of Dracula was a lady vampire...
This is a very short book with a great story in it. Very raw, very cruel, very tough. The way Carmilla manipulates people around her is very creepy and, at the same time, appealing. There is this constant sexual innuendo between the two (aparent) little girls that for todays standarts would be completly canceled. And there's also this thing with Carmilla choosing little girls... Maybe because they are virgins? Probably is from here that the myth around virgins and pure blood emerged... who knows? Maybe was just the author trying (and succeeding) to scandalize society back then.
The point it that this is a awesome book that every horror/vampire lovers should know about.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Animal death
rory_john14's review against another edition
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Chronic illness, Mental illness, Violence, Grief, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Minor: Gore, Homophobia, Suicide, Medical content, Cannibalism, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
eva_vva's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Confinement, Stalking, Murder, and Abandonment
Minor: Animal cruelty, Gore, Sexism, Suicide, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
softgalaxy's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
I’ve been meaning to read this book for a long time and it was finally in my local library!!!
It has such an eerie atmosphere from the start. I struggled to put it down. The strangeness of Carmilla was compelling to read. The way Laura describes her shows the depth of Carmilla’s alluring ways.
As a modern reader and someone who watched a lot of vampire media, it’s interesting to read the tells of Carmilla’s vampirism. Carmilla’s burning hatred for religion was hilarious to read, but I guess for the readers at the time, it would be quite shocking.
I can see how it shaped future stories of the dreaded vampire…
It has such an eerie atmosphere from the start. I struggled to put it down. The strangeness of Carmilla was compelling to read. The way Laura describes her shows the depth of Carmilla’s alluring ways.
As a modern reader and someone who watched a lot of vampire media, it’s interesting to read the tells of Carmilla’s vampirism. Carmilla’s burning hatred for religion was hilarious to read, but I guess for the readers at the time, it would be quite shocking.
I can see how it shaped future stories of the dreaded vampire…
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Racial slurs, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Sexual content, Suicide, and Classism
elliott_the_clementine's review against another edition
dark
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
An odd novella, to be sure, and yet one that has earned its place among my favorite classics. An interesting take on sapphic desire, love, and identity accompanied by very intriguing, lore-heavy vampirism.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Medical content, and Murder
Moderate: Child death, Stalking, and Injury/Injury detail
el_be_readin's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Violence
Moderate: Blood and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Suicide
clovetra's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
easily out of all the classics i’ve read from before the 1900s, this is my favourite.
yes technically this edition is modern as it was edited by carmen maria machado but SHUT UP.
also shout out to carmen i loved her editing!!!! her little end notes plus her prologue? honestly without her editing i don’t think i would’ve enjoyed this as much. so happy i chose to read this edition. the fact that carmen doesn’t add the additional letters simply to spite the author for hiding just HOW DOWN BAD laura was???? god her prologue was so fun. usually prologue’s for classics are a snooze fest where it’s literally just them recounting the authors life, but carmen somehow managed to breathe life into a short summary? plus i don’t know if the original edition has this or if carmen added it, but the images!!!!! did not expect them, and honestly it added to the story quite nicely, especially the images where laura is so incredibly down bad. she’s so me coded (falls head over heels in seconds without checking for concerns and becomes absolutely infatuated with someone she knows jack shit about). i love stupid lesbian rep in my 1800s gothics.
god what can i say. this book immediately gets bonus points because i am infact a lesbian who loves vampires and horror. like this book was set up for me to love it. plus carmen’s editing made all the fanciful 1800s english actually coherent! cuz im sorry english pre-1900s is so hard for my brain to comprehend. sorry booktwt im not smart enough for classics sue me. but this? this made so much sense and i loved it.
i also loved that the classic vampire traits we’ve grown to know don’t come from this. i mean this was literally the blueprint of vampire tales. i love that carmilla is just a sleepy girl who wakes up at 1pm and is moody. me and carmilla are one in the same. she gets me fr. like fuck that shit about garlic give me an enchantress who happens to be perpetually tired. like my girl has CFS/ME and is goth she’s literally me!!!!!!!! plus she turns into a cat!!!!! all lesbians love cats!!!!!! carmilla is the same as modern day lesbians i said what i said.
also props for the lesbianism being so explicit! in other classics there’s a lot of subtext…., nah in here we see carmilla and laura kiss and laura has a sleep orgasm cuz she dreams about carmilla. she’s so down bad.
i wish i got a bit more time with my homegirl carmilla and saw her be more explicitly a vampire but im not too mad about it. i like the fact her vampirism is more of an undertone and is less explicit honestly. fuck lesbianism being in the subtext let’s make the fact she is an ancient supernatural being the subtext 🔥
anyways this might actually be my favourite classic. I LOVE LESBIANS!!!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Medical content, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent
mandareads222's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Chronic illness, Death, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Lesbophobia