The vampire tale I didn't know I needed. I adored the vivid, descriptive writing and the pace of reading- it was easy to get through in one sitting and I couldn't put it down. While it's short and the ending a bit anti-climactic, I appreciate how the ideas of it take on a life of their own that can extend far beyond this. 

this SHITS on dracula and deserves a film adaptation too!! 

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!

RIP Carmilla you would have loved to watch First Kill on Netflix

The blueprint for the lesbian vampire subgenre, but watch out! Because that DOES mean the book is written from a homophobic pov obviously. Still a classic and recommend reading to get a feel for the genre's origins; it also has beautiful prose. Highly recommend the version with an intro by Carmen Maria Machado; adds a lovely (but fictional) layer of depth to the novel's writing. I love that it provides a modern context to a story without interrupting the original work.