The publisher and netgalley kindly provided me with an e-arc.

This wasnt for me, I just have such trouble reading the language in a classic. It's a me thing, I just don't care for it and find it very difficult to get through.

As for the story I just wasn't interested in the way it was told also it was obvious from the beginning so it was very boring.

Isolated in a remote mansion in a central European forest, Laura longs for companionship - until a carriage accident brings another young woman into her life: the secretive and sometimes erratic Carmilla. As Carmilla's actions become more puzzling and volatile, Laura develops bizarre symptoms, and as her health goes into decline, Laura and her father discover something monstrous.

As a fan of gothic fiction I was surprised when I came across this and didn’t realise it existed, but now it will forever remain in my list of favourite books.

I enjoyed every page of this novella which is a vampire tale that predates and possibly influenced Stoker’s Dracula, one of my favourite novels.

Carmilla is the perfect villain and Laura our unsuspecting protagonist (who’s perspective the story is told from) reminds me Mina from Stoker’s later tale, a female protagonist I have always admired.

It was refreshing to see the story unfold from a female perspective and explore the relationships between women during this time. An enthralling read that I will definitely return to again and again.

#bookreviewsbymrsc #carmilla #sheridanlefanu

Lesbian vampire novels from the 1800s is a genre I didn’t know I needed until now.

Laura is devastated when her summer companion dies before making it to her household. When the bewitching and beautiful Carmilla shows up shortly after, it seems like a stroke of good fortune. But with a strange illness sweeping through the town and increasingly odd events surrounding Carmilla, everything may not be as it seems.

So full disclosure, I haven’t read Dracula, but I know this book is supposedly its inspiration. And when I found out it was the sapphic inspiration, I was even more intrigued (although slightly disappointed when I found out it was written by a man, but I guess we can’t have everything).

My biggest fear/issue with the classics is the cumbersome language, so I was surprised to find that this book moved pretty fast. It wasn’t too much work to wade through, and felt more entertaining than analytical. The fact that it was only 160 pages probably helped. I know some other people wished it were longer, but honestly I thought the story worked pretty well with the small page number.

Carmilla was an interesting character, and I really wish we got to see more of her. I almost think the story would have been more interesting from her point of view, but at the same time the mystery surrounding who she was and where she came from was a big draw of the story. The romance was more subtle than in modern books, but definitely more explicit than I would expect from a book of this time period.

The plot seemed pretty standard, but I wasn’t really disappointed about its predictability. It felt like a familiar kind of story that I didn’t mind slipping into again. Almost like revisiting a comfort read. However, I will say that the ending, combined with the fact that it was written by a man, makes me question the message. I won’t spoil anything, but as another reviewer alluded to, it seems to paint sapphic relationships in quite a sinister light.

Overall I’d say this was a solid book. It wasn’t earth shattering for me, so I don’t think there’s actually too much more for me to say. But I can also appreciate how revolutionary it probably was for when it was written, despite the questionable message. If you’re a fan of sapphics, vampires, atmospheric writing, or classic literature you’ll probably enjoy this book.

Happy reading!

Rating: 3.5/5
Intended audience: adult
Pacing: medium
Content warnings: death of a loved one, murder

I absolutely LOVE the story of Carmilla. It’s a wonderful gothic tale that captivates you, and I enjoy how it really is the original vampire story. The characters are so interesting and the new cover for the book is gorgeous. I do think it was a bit slow at parts but overall a worthy read. It definitely is an important piece of literature to read, especially for wlw fans of horror and gothic storytelling.

I really enjoyed Carmilla! I found it surprisingly easy to get into the rhythm and the writing style of the story despite the different language. I especially enjoyed the first half of the story, it was very atmospheric and suspenseful. However, I took off a star because the second half slowed down remarkably and the ending wrapped up very quickly. Despite my criticism, I would recommend this classic to everyone, readers who are just getting into classic literature and readers who have read a fair amount of classics!

A short story and one of the first vampire novels written 25 years before Dracula, this book is short but intense and keeps you reading to finish it in one sitting with a plot that is intriguing and keeps you wanting more. I already knew the story vaguely but reading it adds another layer to the background and adds details I didn't know. It was also interesting to hear the story from the General which almost completely paralleled Laura's story to add an extra creepy layer to the overall story.

Carmilla is a foundational novella for vampire narratives, ghost stories, the gothic genre, and is regarded as the first occurrence of the occult detective trope. The suspense is a gorgeous slow burn characteristic of the gothics, and truly brings the reader along for Laura’s fear when Carmilla visits in her vampiric state, and anxiety as she tries to rationalize what she’s seen.

The influence this novella has on horror, thriller, and vampire narratives makes it an essential read for all fans of these genres.

I'm going to start by saying Dracula is my all time favourite classic.
When I found out that Carmilla was the inspiration for Bram Stoker to write Dracula I added it to my TBR and kind of forgot about it until Netgalley had this edition up for review.

Aside from the writing style of the time you can quite clearly see the similarities between the two works, aside from the fact Carmilla is sapphic vampire gothic novel and the story line is much simpler.

I really enjoyed it, and would recommend fans of any kind of Vampire Fiction check this out to see where it all began.

I'm so glad I read this book because it's so important historically! I'm not sure why this book was ever on NetGalley, because it's been published 200 years ago and this edition itself has been out for 2 years at least. But, nevertheless, I was very happy to receive this "ARC" and the cover is absolutely gorgeous!

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC !

I didn't know this story, and I liked it.

The story was interesting and the way it was written was very enjoyable to read.
I was a little afraid of how the story between Carmilla and Laura would be treated, but in the end it was amazing. The tension between these two women was palpable throughout.

I read this book so quickly, I recommend it. It's short and interesting, you get into it quickly and you don't get bored! On the contrary, we just want to keep reading to know what will happen next.

CW: blood, death

I've always been enamored with the tale of Carmilla. This edition is enchanting, the writing vividly captures the fever dream that the protagonist went through. I particularly adore the cover very much!

i saw this as a 'read now' title and gothic sapphic vampire novel that's the origin of vampire novels? hello. there's just something about the inherent homoeroticism of vampires and gothic novels and CARMILLA ticks all the boxes.

the only thing i know about anne rice is her vendetta against fanfiction but i can definitely see how bram stoker and many other writers of vampire novels were influenced by fanu's work. CARMILLA has clearly laid down the roots of what we love about the genre and why vampires and the gothic are still so popular.

the e-arc has formatting issues that made it a bit difficult to read on kindle/the kindle app since it's a converted pdf, but this is a great gothic classic, perfect for the spooky season just around the corner.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this title. This was a quick read, and interesting to read the volume that influenced Dracula. It was very much written in that vague classical way where much of the horror (and romance) was alluded to vs. explicit. Which is not necessarily bad, just something to note. If you're into vampires or old novels, this is for you.

Thoughts
💭Let me just start off by saying that reading this novella was a great way to prepare for spooky season! “Carmilla” is such an atmospheric, mysterious read. It has the gothic vibes that I didn’t know I was needing. Plus, it has VAMPIRES!

💭The sapphic rep is something that I was honestly not expecting to find in this novel, as it was published in the 1870s. The attraction between two characters (not going to say who. I don’t want to spoil the story for anyone.) is quite clear from the start, and the romance… I was expecting it to be portrayed in a more platonic, subtle way (again, because of when it was written), which it wasn’t. As Pushkin Press puts it, the relationship between these two *mysterious* characters is “infused with an implicit but undeniable eroticism.”

💭Also, isn’t the cover for this Deluxe Edition sooo pretty?!?!?!


Thank you to @netgalley , @pushkin_press for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

As with the original Dracula story by Bram Stoker I found myself lacking in interest whilst reading this. I’m disappointed as well as I had high hopes for it.

I’m not sure if it was the formatting of the book once it hit my kindle or if was just a lack of grip with the story.

I know it’ll be a hit with lovers of Bram though

I read this back in 2017 for a university course on Gothic fiction. By that time I had already been wanting to read it for a while—ever since I first found out about it—and it did not disappoint. This is your typical vampire story, Dracula before Dracula, only it’s sapphic.

Carmilla is a compelling character to read about, and the more we learn about her, the more engrossed in her story we are—much like our protagonist, Laura. Carmilla is equal parts possessive and sweet, and it’s this dichotomy that makes her character so interesting.

Its length is also part of its charm. This is a rather short novella, and as such the story is condensed and extremely fast to get through.

All in all, I really enjoyed this homoerotic vampire tale. Both the Gothic atmosphere and the fact that it’s such a short read make this definitely worth your time.

I must admit that it's not my first time reading "Carmilla", and it certainly won't be my last. I absolutely adore this book and truly believe that it deserves the same admiration as (if not more than) Bram Stoker's "Dracula". One of my favorite classics of all time and a must-read for anyone who's enchanted by vampires and the legends surrounding them.

The classic tale that set the stage for the vampire craze that Dracula would bring, this edition has a "revamped" cover and textual design. The same great novella, with a new dramatic look that draws the mind to other teenage horror stories such as Carrie! I like the cover, but I don't think the German gothic text is in line with the image of Carmilla. The cover is a more youthful, less overtly vampiric take while the text is hard to read, and while Gothic, it dates the cover and feels counterintuitive.

“You are mine, you shall be mine, you and I are one for ever.”

This is the story of a teenager called Laura, that lives with her father in an isolated castle in Austria. She finds out that her cousin died because of a mysterious illness, and so are other young women. One night there in an accident outside the castle and Laura's father offers a bed to the woman involved. But this is not the first time Laura is meeting that beautiful woman, she remembers her from a dream. The two become very close but strange things start to happen...

Before Bram Stoker's Dracula and Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles, there was Carmilla: the original vampire story, written in 1872, steeped in the sexual tension between two young women and gothic romance.
Being an old novella, and with all the vampire literature that followed it, there are no particular twists that a modern reader wouldn't immediately catch. But the beauty of this story is its delicate and dark prose, the gothic atmosphere of the isolated castle, the tension felt by the characters. And the unexpected sadness of a young woman / vampire, doomed to hurt and kill the people she loves.

The language is not always the easiest to read, but just like many other classics it's worth the effort. I'm glad I finally read this story and I would definitely recommend it to all horror and classics lovers!
4 stars.

* I'd like to thank Pushkin Press and NetGalley for providing a copy of "Carmilla: Deluxe Edition" in exchange for my honest review.

18th century gothic lesbian vampire? YES PLEASE.
This edition, of one of the most exciting gothic stories EVER, is beautiful. It's a story that twists suspicions and secrets with a growing female-fondness... The grandeur of a gothic castle sets a beautiful backdrop for the compelling relationship between sultry Carmilla and Laura's naive narration. It's beautiful, complex, and fantastically imaginative!