Review - An Education in Malice by S.T. Gibson

 

 

 

 Title: An Education in Malice

Author: S.T. Gibson

Pages: 367

Publisher: Orbit

 Release Date: 13th February 2024

 

Blurb from Goodreads:

 Love is sacrifice. One of us was always going to bleed for the other.

Deep in the forgotten hills of Massachusetts stands Saint Perpetua's College. Isolated and ancient, it is not a place for timid girls. Here, secrets are currency, ambition is lifeblood, and strange ceremonies welcome students into the fold.

On her first day of class, Laura Sheridan is thrust into an intense academic rivalry with the beautiful and enigmatic Carmilla. Together, they are drawn into the confidence of their demanding poetry professor, De Lafontaine, who holds her own dark obsession with Carmilla.

But as their rivalry blossoms into something far more delicious, Laura must confront her own strange hungers. Tangled in a sinister game of politics, bloodthirsty professors and dark magic, Laura and Carmilla must decide how much they are willing to sacrifice in their ruthless pursuit of knowledge.

  

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My Review:

 *I received an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to Little, Brown Book Group UK and NetGalley*

When Laura Sheridan starts at Saint Perpetua's College, she finds herself drawn to Carmilla, another student.

The two develop a rivalry in their poetry class, both wanting to please their professor, De Lafontaine.

Laura finds herself drawn into Carmilla and De Lafontaine's unusual relationship, and a dark secret that will change everything.

I believe that this a retelling of Carmilla, which I haven't read, but the blurb intrigued me enough to request a copy of this book.

The story is told from both Carmilla and Laura's perspectives, which I liked as it was interesting to see both their opinions of events. However, I struggled to connect with either of them, and found Laura lacking in personality.

I liked the dark academia aspect, and found the student-teacher relationship between Carmilla and De Lafontaine interesting.

The plot was lacking for me as not much really happened, and I wasn't invested in what did happen. I didn't like the romantic relationship, as I couldn't feel the spark between the characters.

I didn't love the writing style as it felt like there was a lot of telling rather than showing what was happening.

I'm disappointed that I didn't enjoy this more.

Overall, this was an okay read.