An Education in Malice was my most anticipated read of 2024. And to me it did not disappoint. S.T. Gibson’s prose carried over but with a totally different story. It’s not Dowry of Blood, but I still loved it. It also a five star for me..but in a totally different way.
This time it’s told in Carmilla and Laura’s alternating points of view. It fully leans in to the dark academia aspect and does include an inappropriate relationship between a student and professor. For how many things that are normally turn offs for when I’m reading , I ended up devouring this book.

Content Warnings: Inappropriate Power Dynamics (Teacher/Student)

An Education in Malice switches perspective between Laura and Carmilla, two students at the same school who compete for the attention of their poetry teacher. Laura and Carmilla share the names of the characters in Le Fanu's novella, so that this book focuses on obsession, lesbianism, and vampires is not surprising. The early parts of the book, where each character struggles with alternating between hating and craving each other, were honestly the parts I found the best. As the romance went on, though, I found it tiring. Everything just went too easily, too quickly. As an aroace (sex neutral, occasionally sex repulsed), the sex scenes are telegraphed well and can be skipped without missing much.

One area I found especially lacking was the setting outside of the school. This book happens in the late 1960s and makes a few cursory remarks about things like racial integration in schools and the Black Panthers -- but other than that a few song titles, there was nothing that made it feel like 1968. In other words, the characters didn't feel like they really lived in that world. This book could have been in the 1920s just as easily as the 1960s and have no change in the characters or world they inhabited. Likewise, vampire society is pretty... bland, a mix of blood drinking and exhibitionism seen in tons of other vampire fiction but without feeling really important or well built.

People who like dark academia, enemies-to-lovers, and lesbian vampires may enjoy this book. Gibson's writing style overall was enjoyable in exploring her characters, even if I found this book lacking in setting and didn't connect with her characters.

This dark academia take on Carmilla was a treat to read. I loved Gibson's A Dowry of Blood, so I was very excited for this one. An Education in Malice lived up to the hype!

This was such a quick read. I devoured it in a night. I really liked the relationship dynamics with all the characters, especially the growth of Laura.

This is my second book by the author and I would pick up her next book. 3.5 stars.


Thank you Netgalley for a chance to read this ARC.

I liked the book. I wouldn’t say I LOVED it. It was a fast read so that was a great change from my other books. The story was captivating. I however was able to tell the plot very quickly. I also didn’t realize it was smut. It was done well. But it was a lot and repetitive.

This was a very interesting reimagining of Carmilla that had a different take and an on-page sapphic romance. The tension between Carmilla and Laura was interesting in the beginning, particularly because of their combatant need for approval by their mysterious and alluring professor. The dark academia vibes are definitely here if you are looking for them, but I found the plot in this novel to move a little too quickly for my liking. It's obvious where this novel is going (whether you have read the original novel or not) so I didn't find it to be thrilling. I think the power imbalance between De Lafontaine and the girls would be criticized more, but I just did not find this to go the lengths I expected - especially after reading A Dowry of Blood. It felt more simplistic than what I would have expected from this author. I think it's a fun, quick novel, but just a little too simple for me.

I was so happy to be chosen as an ARC reviewer for this book prior to its release date. s.t. gibson very quickly became one of my all time favorite authors after I read a dowery of blood and an education in malice is, imo, even better. it's a dark, sapphic, kinky retelling of camilla set in a dark academia boarding school and gave me absolutely everything i ever wanted in a book, while also (kinda) continuing the stories of characters i fell in love with in a dowery of blood. I cannot recommend this book highly enough and cannot wait to see what else s.t. gibson has in store!

4.5/5

“My heart skipped a beat. I had always so loved being loomed over, especially by beautiful people. I was, at my core, a brat who adored the guidance of a firm hand.”

Laura is starting at Saint Perpetua’s College and is excited to begin her writing journey, especially with poetry Professor De Lafontaine. However, from the first day in her class, Laura becomes a fast rival with her favorite student, Carmilla. As the days progress and Laura becomes invited into De Lafontaine’s private study group, she realizes that her professor’s infatuation with Carmilla is darker than she could’ve imagined. Following both Laura and Carmilla’s perspectives on their blossoming relationship, both girls undergo transformations confronting their desires and willingness to sacrifice for knowledge.

“But this girl…she undid all my domestication. One smile from her and I wanted to loose my hair and chase her barefoot through the woods, I wanted to knock her to the ground and on her like a butterfly, I wanted to dig my teeth into her plush lower lip, I wanted, I wanted.”

I read A Dowry of Blood last year by S.T. Gibson and loved it. The writing style in An Education in Malice is definitely different, much to the dismay of many people from what I’ve seen on social media. It’s a different format following the two main characters, Laura and Carmilla, in first-person rather than a letter style and set in a different age, 1960s. However, I went into this with the only expectation being that it was a vampire story with sapphic love, and really enjoyed the story. Maybe because I also never read Carmilla, I went into this book blind and I think that helped my experience a lot actually. Because of a few negative reviews, I was a bit hesitant to pick this book up but regret it now because I honestly enjoyed it.

4 out of 5 stars

“A bloodstained love letter to ambitious girls, all-consuming desires, and the agonies and ecstasies of academia.”
― S.T. Gibson, An Education in Malice

**SPOILERS AHEAD**

Trigger Warnings: Imbalanced power dynamics, Teacher-Student relationships, Murder, Blood, Gore, Public sex, Kinks, Homophobia, Racism, Religious Discrimination

Before I begin my review, I'd like to thank Redhook Books and NetGalley for providing me with this e-ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

The Premise & First Thoughts
First, the premise: This is an... interesting story. It's a modern retelling of Carmilla, and the premise revolves around an academic enemies-to-lovers mixed in with an obsessive teacher and a dash of vampires-- all in 1960s America (though one of the characters is originally from Europe). My initial reaction was curious, albeit skeptical: I'm a lover of Dark Academia novels, but I tend to be hesitant when vampires are involved, as it is oft hard for an author to pull the trope off cleanly and without very high levels of cringe.

SPOILERS BEGIN:

Characters
First off, who are we even talking about? We have Carmilla, a foreign student who is a poetry genius and is currently in an obsessive relationship with her teacher, De Lafontaine. We also have Laura, a Southern girl who is very timid and seeks the approval of others while experiencing inward turmoil about her sexuality. De Lafontaine is Carmilla and Laura's demanding poetry teacher who turns out to be a vampire. Quite a lot of backstory, right?

My Opinions
I rated this story a 4/5, and I most likely would have rated it lower had it not been for the atmosphericness of the book itself despite the obvious flaws in the actual plot. But let's dive a bit deeper into what I thought were the most important takeaways (aka pros and cons) of this book overall. Additionally, I personally did not like the prose at all: it felt very "cheap" in a way (not to take a dump on the author or anything) and the same few words kept cropping up, which was just made worse by the fact that those words were obviously meant to evoke the "dark academia"-ness of the story but just ended up making me cringe and leading to me struggling to get through it.

1) The story itself felt very rushed
I felt as though while writing this whole story, S.T. Gibson was on a time crunch. This is because, throughout the whole story, the plot developments seem very forced. For example, the relationship between Laura and Carmilla feels very rushed-- from the beginning, the author set up what to me looked like a slow-burn: Carmilla, in love with her teacher, De Lafontaine, and Laura, in love with Carmilla (albeit slightly in denial). Sounds logical, right? No. This is where it all goes south: the change between "academic rivals" to lovers was very rushed in my opinion, and the impacts of De Lafontaine's relationship with Carmilla, as well as Laura's discovery of De Lafontaine's true nature, felt very unrealistic and "muted", in a sense. Not only were Laura and Carmilla very quickly able to form a relationship, but they immediately started beginning to suspect De Lafontaine after a bit of convincing of Laura's side combined with Carmilla's suspicions regarding De Lafontaine's recent activity. Overall, the flow of the book just didn't seem very smooth

2) The tropes were executed poorly
Throughout the entire story, the execution of tropes was very flimsy. I felt as though the teacher-student relationship between De Lafontaine and Carmilla, while at the beginning interestingly obsessive, became a later hindrance in the plot. Due to how character-driven the plot was, De Lafontaine's involvement soon began to weigh down on the main story, but that might have just been me, as she was supposed to be a main character-- I just didn't see her fulfilling the role she should have fulfilled (in my eyes). Additionally, as I said before in my previous point, I felt that the "academic enemies" to lovers trope was very rushed and almost forced, and that the impact De Lafontaine had on Carmilla as a result of their relationship, as well as Laura's seemingly passive reaction to the teacher's true identity was very disbelievable, especially considering the "timid" character she portrayed in the books, as well as her overreliance on De Lafontaine's approval (just like Carmilla).

3) The atmosphere
This is probably the only positive item on this list. The book did-- at least to me-- fulfill the "dark academia" atmosphere well enough. I liked the Northeastern college and the spooky atmosphere, as I'm a sucker for Gothic novels as a general rule of thumb. The time period kind of threw me off, as the 60s don't scream (or even really whisper) "dark academia" to me, but I assumed it had something to do with the implied homophobia and Laura's interest in Victorian Erotica, though I feel that could have been solved by just having the time period be set earlier, like during the 1940s or earlier. But that's just one of my pet peeves-- overall, this book has a wonderful Gothic atmosphere that I thoroughly enjoyed.

4) The relationship
While I did think that their relationship was very rushed, I did enjoy watching it unfold-- especially the parts where Laura began to come to terms with her sexuality and began exploring her kinks with Carmilla, especially because it felt like Laura reclaiming her freedom, which I loved seeing, especially in a book whose whole premise is power imbalance and manipulation (courtesy of the original Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu). Overall, the relationship was nice, albeit rushed, and I liked how it progressed in the end.

Conclusion
To conclude: this book is a modern retelling of Carmilla, and while I think it goes very off from the book it cites, I see the inspiration and the twist that the book made on it, with the power imbalance and manipulation coming from not in the relationship but from a third party directly connected to them. I liked the Gothic and "dark academia" atmosphere but I wish that the plot, tropes, and reactions/impacts of the plot on the characters were slower, better constructed, and more realistic.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the arc of this book. All opinions are my own.

Incredible! I absolutely loved this one. Such a great book to curl up with. It was hard to pull myself away to do things, but I always looked forward to diving back in. Highly recommend!

Laura Sheridan can’t even get through her first day if classes at Saint Perpetua’s College without being thrust into an academic rivalry with Carmilla. Carmilla is beautiful and enigmatic and in a weird mentorship situation with their poetry teacher, De Lafontaine. As Laura is drawn into their relationship, secrets are revealed, and the two young women are drawn closer together, until their rivalry turns to something more romantic. As they learn more, they have to decide how much they are willing to sacrifice in the pursuit of knowledge, and for love.

I only knew a little about it when I started, so I was surprised by several things. The cover is beautiful and might hint at a young adult book, but this one’s for adults. In addition to some of its darker themes,
there are a couple of steamy scenes, too. It’s got big dark academy vibes, checks my boarding school box (because college), and I’m a sucker for teacher/student relationships (in my fiction only!), and I appreciated the depths of the relationship between De Lafontaine and Carmilla. It’s much deeper than the stereotypical one, and there’s more to it than meets the eye. Of course, no spoilers, but I love the way it ended, and I definitely recommend it.

I have a lot of mixed feelings about this one! I absolutely adored S.T. Gibson's A Dowry of Blood, and because of that I will always read everything S.T. Gibson puts out, but unfortunately I just didn't connect with An Education in Malice as much as I'd hoped to. Something about the characters and general setup felt a bit overplayed and didn't really seem to bring all that much to the table. There were a lot of things about the characters and the vampires that felt a bit cliche as well and left me wanting a bit more. All that being said, Gibson's prose is by far the best part of this book and continues to show her talent for writing–and also what keeps me coming back to her work! No matter the content, I seem to enjoy her books for her writing alone and look forward to seeing what's next!

I just read <i>An Education in Malice</i> by ST Gibson and here is what I thought about it:

…I did not like this book and I am devastated by that. I was looking forward to this more than almost any other book this year. Lesbian vampires in a toxic poetry cohort? It is like the premise was Made. For. Me. How could it possibly flop?

<b>The Good</b>
Before I really dig into this, I will say that I can see a world in which a particular kind of reader enjoys this book. I think if you are brand new to “dark academia” and have absolutely nothing else to compare it to, this could be for you. I think the loose (and I mean extremely loose) connection to <i>Carmilla</i> holds this book together. So, go for it. Beyond that, I thought the cameo from ST Gibson’s very good first book with Orbit, <i>A Dowry of Blood</i> was fun. I liked the antagonist of this book for the first half until the book absolutely absolved her of all of her bad behavior… and that it.

<b>The Bad</b>
This book felt like an unedited first draft. The writing was a mix of over written and under written. It felt like the author was struggling to get the story on the page (which is fine, that happens) so to compensate, completely overwrote atmospheric descriptions and visuals that never paid off in any noticeable way.

In turn, everything else felt underwritten, underdeveloped, and underbaked. The characters were flat with very little personality or internal motivations outside of obviously reacting to the plot structured around them. They felt like archetypes more than they did characters for most of the book. The dialogue felt like 80% of posts from 2012 Tumblr. The *angst* and *emotion* was absolutely unbearable. Here is just a tiny example:

“I am not being hysterical. Hysteria is a made-up tool of patriarchal oppression. You know that?”

It’s almost like the scene surrounding this quote was set up for the delivery of that line to show just how “super-feminist” this woman at a girl’s college is. I get that the characters are young women discovering themselves and that that whole process is awkward and difficult. But the writing should make you feel engaged in that process. The cringe should be nostalgic and critical. At the very least you, the reader, should believe that these characters <i>feel</i> this desperately engaged in their own lives and craft that it is admirable to a certain extent. Right? Instead it feels like opening your own Tumblr from 2012 and praying that no one anywhere ever finds your old entries.

Speaking of 2012 Tumblr… the poetry in this book was horrendous. You cannot expect me to believe one of the main characters was hand-picked to join a special program alongside a handful of other girls based on the quality of her poetry. I know there were *other* reasons, but there is absolutely no way, even if it was a cover for other nefarious purposes, that other people would believe it. The poetry was insufferable. I felt embarrassed reading it.

“Poetry was the only anecdote to my temper.”

Really? Can you show me that instead of just saying it and writing a godawful 6 lines filled with the most obvious metaphor and imagery that it made me put the book down and not pick it back up for 2 weeks? I know I am being harsh, but if the parameters of the book depend on the characters’ mastery and participation in a particular field, then I do expect some research and imitation of that field to make the story believable.

Another part of this book I didn’t enjoy was the romance—which was supposed to be a rivals to lovers exploration. I felt the depiction of the relationship was unrealistic in a bad way. The transition from rivals to lovers was too quick and the book didn’t have much to say about their relationship within the structure of their environment nor had any additional commentary about their sexual repression before and after the development of the relationship (which we are TOLD is a big part of the book, but again it never FEELS important).

The overarching themes that dark academia does well like the exploration of abusive power structures, the boundaries and harm established by the colonialism and/or patriarchy, the conflict over the rejection and desire of pretentious classism… nothing. nada. If it was mentioned it was quick and abandoned just as quickly.

All this is to say, why the hell didn’t this book get any help? Where were the developmental edits? Where were the line edits? Didn’t this frontliner at Orbit get any help at all? It kind of felt like they were banking on the success of this being marketed as a follow up to ADoB and just wrote it off.

It’s too bad. I wanted to love this and it will probably go down as my most disappointing reading of 2024. Regardless, I still plan on checking out ST Gibson’s <i>Evocation</i> with Angry Robot. Maybe a different team will actually put effort into developing the bones of an interesting concept.

2.25/5

This was my first ST Gibson book and I really enjoyed it! I felt the relationship between Laura and Carmilla a little insta lovey but the overall plot kept it interesting enough. I look forward to future ST Gibson books!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me access to this E-Arc

"An Education in Malice" is a tale of obsession, jealousy, desperation, desire, and love. In this book, S. T. Gibson delivers a Carmilla retelling set in the 60s, which I thought I would like more than I did.

I honestly didn't care for any of the characters. Normally, I don't have any problem with unlikeable or morally gray characters, but I couldn't connect with any of them in this book.

Even though I didn't care for the characters, what kept me captivated throughout the entire story was the beautiful prose from the author and the well-executed dynamic of academic rivals to maybe toxic lovers.

If you love:
🩸Complicated relationships
🩸Morally gray characters
🩸Dark academia
🩸A sapphic academic rivals-to-lovers dynamic
🩸And vampires
You should try this one. It didn't fully work out for me, but I think it's a great book nonetheless.

An Education in Malice is a more modern retelling of the book Carmilla taking place in 1960s Massachusetts. This book had a lot of promising elements to it: it's a sapphic dark academia with vampires, all things that I typically enjoy in books. I didn't really connect with the story or the characters and it was a struggle to get through for me. I enjoyed the book at the beginning but got bored quickly. I wanted a lot more from the story that I got, and it had a lot of potential. I am still looking forward to reading Gibson's other books though, especially A Dowry of Blood that I've heard so many good things about.

S.T. Gibson's prose is as haunting and gorgeous as the setting in this retelling of Carmilla that takes place at an all-girl college in New England the 1960s. The way the relationship between Carmilla and Laura grows, especially in regards to their rapport with professor De Lafontaine, is expertly written and navigated. The dark academia setting is perfect for the classic vampire tale, and the yearning between Laura and Carmilla is top-tier. If you love your vampires historical, sapphic, and smart, you'll want to read this book.

The pacing and occasionally fluid prose combined with a semi-committal choice to root the story in the 70s makes this book really difficult to digest. The characters have a great yearning and that is definitely exciting on the page but when that yearning takes a backseat for the plot or explanation, it felt like the book fell flat. I did love the premise and the treatment of the power dynamic.

I really enjoyed this book. "An Education in Malice" by S.T. Gibson is a captivating and thrilling mystery novel that keeps readers on the edge of their seats from start to finish. Set in a prestigious boarding school, the story follows protagonist Emma Donovan as she navigates the dangerous and cutthroat world of academia and privilege.
Gibson does an excellent job of creating a rich and immersive setting, bringing the elite school and its characters to life with vivid descriptions and nuanced characterizations. Emma is a complex and relatable protagonist, struggling to balance her loyalty to her friends with her desire to uncover the truth behind a series of mysterious incidents at the school.
The plot is well-paced and filled with unexpected twists and turns that will keep readers guessing until the very end. As Emma delves deeper into the school's dark secrets, she uncovers a web of lies and deceit that threatens to upend everything she thought she knew about her friends and herself.
One of the strongest aspects of the novel is Gibson's expert handling of the themes of power, privilege, and moral ambiguity. The author explores these complex issues with nuance and depth, making readers question their own assumptions and biases along with Emma.
Overall, "An Education in Malice" is a gripping and thought-provoking read that will appeal to fans of both mystery and literary fiction. Gibson's sharp prose and compelling characters make this a must-read for anyone looking for a fresh take on the traditional boarding school mystery genre.
4 Stars!

After reading this, I need to pick up the source novel, Carmilla, immediately.
I definitely needed a gothic dark academia with female students and professors rather than the traditional male cast; think The Secret History, but everyone is sapphic. This novel, at its core, explores the finding of self that ends to occur in the process of entering into higher education, while simultaneously exploring the loss of oneself into obsession with academic idols and rivals. I was not surprised with the academic or vampiric threads of this novel, but I was slightly surprised with how deeply it would launch into the more sensual aspects of obsession, though that seems like a misinterpretation of what this book would be on my end. Really, I could have seen this being a personal favorite, but i was somewhat underwhelmed with the third act, and feel as though a certain character's arc was not given the time and space it needed to develop and felt a bit rushed and unearned.