Carmilla and Laura
S.D. Simper
In the late 19th century, Laura lives a lonely life in a schloss by the forest, Styria, with only her doting father and two governesses for company. A chance accident brings a new companion, however – the eccentric and beautiful Carmilla. With charm unparalleled and habits as mysterious as her history, Carmilla’s allure is undeniable, drawing Laura closer with every affectionate touch and word. Attraction blossoms into a temptation Laura fears to name, a tantalizing passion burning brighter than the fires of hell. But when a mysterious plague begins stealing the lives of young women in her home and the village beyond, Laura wrestles to reconcile the truth – that the gentle, fragile woman she loves may be a monster cast out of heaven. Carmilla, the classic vampire novella written by J Sheridan LeFanu, receives new life in this gorgeous retelling, centered on the provocative, controversial leads of the original, Carmilla and Laura.
Publication Year: 2018
this book is honestly everything i WANTED from the original Carmilla. not to hate on a classic but did anyone else find that book mostly...flat? i feel like this book is expanding on the actual potential of the original work and doing very well with it.
1Your rating:
04.25 stars! I really enjoyed this! The original Carmilla was a huge letdown for me, both in terms of being lauded as 'the first queer vampire story' and just as a story on its own. I don't think it really had any queer undertones at all and the ending fell completely flat for me. This retelling took all of the potential the original Carmilla had and expanded on it beautifully; it was pretty much everything I wanted from it. A heartbreaking tale of queer love in a time when it was seen as an abomination. The parallels between being gay and being a vampire were obvious but still well done. I will say this one also suffered from being too short. 70% of the book was just them growing closer and it moved quite slowly just for the action and violence to come out of nowhere at the very end. It felt very rushed even if I did still enjoy it. I vastly prefer the ending to this one than the original Carmilla, though I did feel so sad for Laura's dad. He really got fucked over and he didn't do anything wrong. Still, a very good time!
0It's ~100 pages and ga- I mean well written. 5 stars is a no brainer.
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