I adore the original Carmilla and I'm obsessed with the Carmilla YouTube series, and as soon as I heard S.T. Gibson was writing a dark academia retelling, I was over the moon excited to read it, so it pains me to say that An Education in Malice doesn't pack a bite.
At a sentence level, yes, the writing is poetic and lovely. The romance scenes themselves were deliciously written. I have no doubt about Gibson’s technical writing skills here.
Rather, it’s the rest of the book that falls flat to me.
I think my core issue was with the story's poor character writing and overall lack of stakes and conflict. There’s no threat of Laura losing a scholarship or a compelling reason for readers to care about her. There are no missing girls or any looming sense of danger for approximately half of the novel, which I feel should have been introduced earlier on in order to amp up the tension. Instead we get a lot of banal conversations about eyeshadow or the weather that add nothing substantive to the plot.
Overall, the premise itself sounded fantastic and had so much potential, but I feel this book would have benefited from further developmental editing.
Thank you, NetGalley and Redhook, for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Book Details:
Publication Date : February 13, 2024
Publisher : Redhook
ISBN: 031650145X
Pages : 368
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