An modernised, college-set revamp of Le Fanu’s Carmilla? I was intrigued from the get-go, and was not disappointed!

A quick disclaimer to start with: I haven’t seen the web series this is based on, so I can’t judge how accurate a novelisation it is, or if it brings anything new to the table. This review will purely be on the book’s own merit (though I would now like to watch the series!).

Okay, with that out of the way, I can shout about how much fun this book is! Sure, it’s not going to win any awards for having super deep things to say about the world, but it’s joyously silly and just a pleasure to read! I ate it up in one sitting. Essentially, the plot is that Laura and Carmilla (from Sheridan Le Fanu’s classic vampire novel), instead of meeting in a Gothic castle, are actually college roommates. It doesn’t follow the plot of the original Carmilla particularly closely from there, but I very much enjoyed all the nods! Bonus points for making it clearly and obviously F/F, too – the original book really started the idea of lesbian vampires, so it’s cool to see it updated where that can actually be played out in a modern relationship!

Other reviews have pointed out the issues around the misgendering of a genderqueer character by their so-called ‘best friend’, and Perry learning to accept LeFontaine is a fairly major subplot, which may be uncomfortable to read for some. I thought it was interesting to show that tension on the page, but I understand the criticisms about its inclusion, and would urge you to read ownvoices reviews to get a more rounded picture on that subject.

The college atmosphere and fun adventure elements actually really remind me of a tabletop RPG I’ve played with some friends, called East Texas University, where college kids have to solve various supernatural mysteries – and it would be silly not to compare it to an episode of Buffy! I think this is where the lack of depth criticisms that I’ve seen in other reviews come in – despite the college setting, it’s way more Season One Buffy than Season Four. Just a light, fun adventure, which was everything I wanted from this!

Essentially, if you’re looking for a nuanced and detailed vampire novel, this isn’t for you. If you’re looking for a quick burst of entertainment that rollicks through a bunch of vampire and college tropes, then this is going to be just right! It’s fun, it’s silly, and it made me want to watch the webseries!

Four out of five stars!

I loved the webseries but the book isn't doing anything for me. Barely adds new information and the writing isn't great either. I think it would attract more people who haven't seen the show than those who did

An adaptation of Shaftesbury's web series Carmilla. This book didn’t work for me, I liked the idea and it was entertaining, but the flow of the story was broken. I also think that there were places that it needed detail. It fits the YA category with no sex but there are a few places that make you wonder well did something more happen or are they in a relationship. I have absolutely no problem with the no sex (it’s actually refreshing) but if you’re going to hint at it then hint so that it is understood one way or the other. You don’t have to be blunt or descriptive about it. Questions bother me when they not answered, and this story left me when a lot of questions. I can see how others would enjoy the story, it’s just the writing let’s me down so give it a try if you think that you might like it. I voluntarily read an advance copy of this book for an honest review.

This was amazingly fun. I'm a big fan of the Web series so experiencing it again in novel form was great.
This was a very direct adaptation, to the point it was basically a transcript of the episodes. It didn't really add anything to the original. Most of the book took place in Laura's dorm room, and while this was a part of the "found footage" style of the Web series I'm a bit disappointed they didn't take the opportunity to flesh out the world and characters more since a novel doesn't have any of the limitations of the original.
I really enjoyed this book but I would recommend the Web series over this, I feel some of the life and atmosphere is lost during the adaptation.

When I heard there'd be a novelization of the Carmilla webseries, I was beyond excited. I've seen the show several times, even stayed up until 3 in the morning for a liveshow of the film that wraps it up. I preordered this book two months ago and was super pumped about it.

Boy am I disappointed. It is quite rare for me to give only one star to a book but this is really not good.

I think it's partially my fault since I had neglected that it would be a novelization and not a novel. It shows. This book, when read on its own with no prior knowledge of the webseries, is mediocre at best, problematic at worst. The characters are over the top. Laura is annoying, Carmilla is very unpleasant, don't even get me started on Kirsh (a clumsy but well meaning frat dude reduced to a dumb misogynistic stereotype). The main problem with that is that the love triangle Laura-Carmilla-Danny just doesn't work. Danny is okay but the attraction between Laura and Carmilla is all tell and no show, which is terrible since it's the main point of the story.

Now I'm not gonna say the show is perfect and realistic, but a lot of things that work in the show thanks to the humour and/or the actors falls flat in the book, like Laura putting on a puppet show of Carmilla's life, and Laura not figuring out Carmilla is a vampire when she literally drinks blood just makes her look stupid. It lacks introspection, depth, chemistry. "Laura said that. Then they did that. Carmilla said this. Laura answered this. Laura did this". That's it, that's most of the book. It's basically a dry transcription of the episodes, with little to no new content, a description of what happens, and the show's dialogue. I was just left wondering "why did I read this instead of watching the first season again? I would have gotten the exact same content, except with visuals, and I would have enjoyed it more".

About LaFontaine, the genderqueer character. I'm not gonna talk about how Perry, their best friend, treats them because it's also an issue from the show (keep in mind she's incredibly obtuse about it, even though she eventually accepts it and corrects her behaviour), but the narrator misgenders LaFontaine at least five times in the book. FIVE, and from another review I've read, I've missed at least one. BUT the narrator gets it right most of the time, so I think it's an editing problem. A big one, but a genuine mistake that should be corrected before publication. Speaking about editing, I also found "an evil frown spreads accross his chiseled jaw" and unless it's an expression I'm not familiar with, I think the author meant "smirk".


So nope. I'm sorry, no one wanted to love this more than I did, but I was just bored. It could have fixed a few plot holes and provided a more layered story but it feels shallow, clunky and rushed. I think I'm gonna cancel my preorder.

Thanks to NetGalley and Kids Can Press for sending me a free copy of this book in exchange for a honest review.

I've never heard of the web series that this novel was adapted from until I began reading this, so I'm not really sure if I'd like it should I choose to watch it. I don't know if it was the writing that made me dislike this book, or the content and the story itself, which would be deriving from the web series.
From the synopsis, I thought I would end up liking this book, but I really didn't. I'm thankful that this was a relatively quicker read, and it wasn't like I was trudging through molasses trying to read through it, it wasn't that boring. But the story itself was.... eh.
A large portion of the problem I had with this book was the writing. It just felt juvenile. It felt like the author was trying so hard to sound like the narrative was coming from a teenager/young adult so much that it came across as trying way too hard and not in the least bit relatable. So, despite the few times I related to the character's lesbianism, I could hardly enjoy the narration of this book at all.
Also, the unnecessary love triangle. I hate love triangles. And the fact that Laura and Danny had zero chemistry made the triangle even less enjoyable. And Laura just falls for Carmilla out of the blue? Like, there's some hinting before, but there's no transition from enemies to lovers, it's just enemies one moment, a little side comment about Carmilla being hot, her thinking she's trying to suck her blood and then suddenly falling for her and casting Danny aside just like that? What?
And the other characters weren't enjoyable at all. They were just annoying. The book made a whole point to show one of the characters misgendering her friend and Laura correcting her, and in the book, it sometimes used "her" instead of "they" completely defeating the purpose and making me second guess which character was being mentioned.
And honestly, the mystery was meh. The entire plot, for that matter, didn't really intrigue me very much. From Carmilla arriving to everyone finding out she's a vampire is a really fast transition. The plot twists came out of nowhere with like, little to no foreshadowing, which made the mystery even less appealing, as a reader, like many others, who like mysteries where they feel they saw some of it coming and can feel like a sleuth. The whole book just felt very rushed, especially the ending. The climax of the story basically happened over 4 pages.
And the fact that the book always had to go into paragraphs about Laura vlogging, I couldn't have cared less about.
This book has little redeeming qualities other than the fact that it's queer. Pretty disappointing.

Not my cup of tea: the story seemed to be rushed and the style of writing a bit sloppy.
I was curious about the content as I'm a fan of Le Fanu but even if the concept is interesting this book somehow fails to deliver.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

The Carmilla was series blew my mind so when I saw a novelization come up on NetGalley I was ecstatic! I couldn't wait to dive into the space between videos, everything that happened outside of the dorm, and actually reading about Laura and her posse living through their adventures instead of just getting a second hand account. Unfortunately, I didn't quite get what I had hoped.

The book follows the webseries particularly closely, the jaunts into other parts of the Silas campus are stilted when they could have replace the longer bouts of exposition that were necessary on the vlog. The main story was still as compelling as the vlogs but there wasn't anything new, no deeper understanding to be found. Had I not already watched the series it is possible that I would have enjoyed the book more fully. In my opinion there was just a lot of missed opportunities. There could have been more about the secondary characters, seen more about Carmilla's lives, more about the Summer Society, more about Perry and LaFontaine's friendship, just more.

If I wanted to read a book about the vlog, I think the script would have done about the same thing. The different format should have allowed for extrapolation which didn't happen. I would still suggest this to those who have and have not watched the webseries because Turrisi has a lovely writing style, capturing Laura's voice well but I don't think I will be purchasing a copy.

Did you know that Bram Stoker was NOT the father of vampire fiction? I mean, Dracula is one of the most recognised names in horror fiction, a monster for the ages. However.....

Year previously, Sheridan Le Fanu had written Carmilla. Without ever using the V word Le Fanu created an entire genre, Carmilla, the beautiful, young, elegant woman who found herself constantly in need of rescue in the vicinity of other beautiful young ladies. These young ladies would find themselves with strange (aka erotic) feeling, strange (aka erotic) dreams, and find themselves changing in many ways. It couldn’t be the fault of their intense, passionate friendship with the mysterious Mircalla, uh, I mean, Millarca, uh, I mean Carmilla, right?

Meet the father of erotic Lesbian Vampires.

Kim Turrisi imagines what would happen if Carmilla existed right here and now. After all of those years hunting young women, all of that death, what if she finally had enough. What if she finally met the girl that she was willing to fight for?

The book is a companion to an Internet tv series. Done as a series of web uploads from Carmilla’s lovely young room mate in college, who knows that something strange is going one, the series is clever. The book not only fills in all of the parts of the web series that are lacking, but it also does the opposite. If you read this book, you want to watch the series.

The characters in the book are ten times more layered. Even just the explanation of the non-binary character LaFontaine makes the book so much more powerful. Plus the sexual tension between Laura and Carmilla is so much more vivid.

Perhaps the thing that I loved the most was giving a reason for Carmilla’s actions. Her agency has been curtailed by her vampiric mother. She has lived and loved and suffered beneath her mothers power, and has only found a reason to fight because of Laura.

I will now be off watching season 2, and hoping for more novelisations

This was an extremely quick (one-sitting) read.

I wanted to like this book. I watched the webseries, but it's been a few years so I was looking forward to refreshing my memory about what happened way back at the beginning. I got that, but that's about all I got. The book sticks firmly to Laura's point of view, very rarely explores outside her dorm room, and the majority of the book ends up being transcriptions of things that are said and done in the episodes. A novel seemed like the ideal place to throw off the restrictions that come with having a budget, and it's disappointing that the author didn't take advantage of that.

The book suffers from a lot of talking instead of doing, telling other characters what was done instead of showing it happen. Again, this is from the webseries where they COULDN'T go to multiple locations. Why not use the webseries descriptions as a template and flesh it out?

The oddest thing is that the big climactic battle IS seen in the book... and then Laura proceeds to explain to us what just happened. That was necessary in the webseries, not so much in a book where it literally just happened.

I am glad, overall, that this book is available. Fans will appreciate having a companion version of the story rather than watching hours of videos. But for the uninitiated or people who don't already know the show, this book is not a good place to start.

So many mixed feelings about this one. On the one hand, I loved the web series this novel is based on and it was so nice to read a novelization that filled in some of the off-camera bits. And it was genuinely a fun read! On the other hand, I didn't feel that the writing was very strong, and I really wanted more depth and fleshing out of storylines / characters. I really wanted more overall from a novelization of this web series that I loved. But still, it was fun to revisit these characters and Laura's first year at Silas University, so I'm glad to have read it.

Basically I’d definitely recommend it to people who loved the series, but not as a jumping in point for anyone who hasn’t seen it.

I was really hoping this book was going to be great. I loved this webseries and gay girls deserve way more representation than they get. Unfortunately, I found Carmilla to be mediocre at best. Those familiar with the podcast will note some key differences right off the bat in setting, set-up, and tone. Laura is brought to school on the first day by a father she doesn't even say goodbye to, he literally just disappears between paragraphs. Her first party-minded roommate apparently has long talks with her throughout the night that lead Laura to the out-of-character thought of 'I feel like we've been best friends forever!'. Carmilla's initial description is "the raven-haired girl" which is just ... subpar writing.

All in all, Carmilla could have been a good book but the tone of the dialogue and Laura's thoughts are juvenile in comparison to the audience this book is intended for. I felt like I was reading middle-grade dialogue in a book that should be for YA+ audiences, and it was incredibly disappointing. I would have quit reading a few chapters in if it wasn't an ARC book. Had potential because of the initial idea and familiarity with the material but ultimately fell short.

Sapphic vampires, you say? Please and thanks.
Except I didn't really like Carmilla. Going into the book I was aware it's based on a Web Series I haven't watched. I didn't want to have any expectations to compare the book to because once you've seen a live-action that's pretty much what you picture.
I couldn't stand the over dramatic characters. It felt too soap opera(y). I ended up skimming most of the book. The closest thing I can compare it to in my opinion is The Vampire Academy. I also didn't like that but I know many people did. I hope others enjoy it. If nothing else it has made me want to check out the Web Series. 💞

Thank you to Netgalley and Kids Can Press for the opportunity to read Carmilla.