Reviews with content warning for Toxic relationship - Carmilla

Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu

42 reviews

bugcollector's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

The book read like someone trying to imitate a classic today, and I kept having to remind myself that it was actually written in 1800s
Perhaps the illustrations are to blame-they were lazy and disconnected from the story.
I felt like I was reading those modern-day romance books, with horrible, faceless characters design cover, that keep popping into your head at unwanted times . (except you couldn't escape the illustrations in this edition of Carmilla, They kept coming back with different backgrounds throughout the book)
It's kind of a shame, because scrolling thorough Wikipedia afterwards, you find that Carmilla has inspired many paintings and drawings which would have done a much better job delevering the gothic, eerie feeling it tried to convey. (instand of the children-coloring-book drawing attempt we got here)

What I did enjoy was the editors introduction, which brought a nice touch and a fresh perspective on the book.

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lil13's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

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jojo_'s review against another edition

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dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

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paladinosaur's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

If you’re in the mood for some very gay, gothic vampire literature I can’t recommend Carmilla enough. Its a good length little novella, only took me a little over an hour. It’s also available for free on Project Gutenberg so…

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ingloriousgigi's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book was so unbelievably gay. I know Fanu was probably wrote it this way as anti-homosexuality morality play but honestly if it wasn't for the last 30 minutes of the book, it very well came off as a romance. But atlas, the ending is tragic but comparing this to Bramstroker's Dracula, I have to say it's better.

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deadeye's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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_piercingwords_'s review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

As a bi vampire lover, I liked this book and found it interesting to see the resemblance and differences to more modern adaptations of the vampire myths.

I also liked how Carmilla's and Laura's queerness was not directly demonised and found it very progressive for its age in comparison to other classics.

It was, as one of the first influential vampire stories, predictable but nevertheless an enjoyable read.

Did I get that right though? That Carmilla was actually remotely related to Laura? The thing I actually did not expect and threw me off a bit oof

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