Book Review: ‘An Education in Malice' by S.T. Gibson
This 2024 release was high on both mine and Sophie's wishlist, and so being granted access to a proof on Netgalley felt like a winning a real boon. There is much hype surrounding S.T. Gibson following the much hyped ‘A Dowry of Blood', which Sophie has already read, and I have on my TBR.
Many thanks to the publisher for giving us an e-copy, thoughts and opinions remain our own both in this review, and in the subsequent podcast episode.
Here's the summary:
“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.”
It's got a real Gothic flavour, hasn't it? And I am a real sucker for anything with a historical setting, and I'm espeically found of modern historical setting at the moment. So anything 60s-90s, that chunk of time I find particularly compelling right now, I think partly because of that sense of being on just out of reach of the internet age, which ultimately changed the world, but still modern enough to feel contemporary enough to estrange the reader.
I actually quite enjoyed the read, a lot more than I thought I would. There is something about the cover, and yes yes, you can slap my wrist as say I shouldn't judge a book by its cover. I know. But it's still gonna happen. I can't control it, merely temper it.
Anyway, the cover does this book a disservice in my honest opinion. I think that it gives it a vibe that is more earthy-fantasy YA and less sapphic vampires at college. Two very different vibes. I was actually pleaseantly surprised by the contents of this book, I liked how easily I sank into it, and also how it didn't try too hard to be a carbon copy of Carmilla (but set in a different time period).
As you can find our podcast episode for ‘An Education in Malice', we had a lot of mixed feelings about this book as a whole. There are some clunky plot holes, some slapdash attempts at covering them up, and the story really falls short in places. We both feel that the length of the book is to blame, in part. It needed an extra 100 pages or so to really dive deeper into character development and laying the foundations for a solid plot to grow out from.
That said, this book is a lot of fun to read, and I easily flipped through it in about three sittings.
Is it memorable? Not particularly. But despite the lacklustre ending, I still felt quite satisfied with the movement of the story.
Would I recommend it? Yes. If Gothic and/or classic horror are your bag. If you like Carmilla and/or Dracula and you want something fun. And if you're an S.T. Gibson fan. It's one of those books that won't disappoint, it just won't necessaily round off in the way you were hoping.
It hits high on the enjoyment factor, and more often than not, those are the books that you will continue to look fondly upon when you're doing your monthly/yearly roundups.
Written by Sarah
