A gothic novella of vampire fiction, which predates Bram Stoker's Dracula. Although I liked it and appreciated the shorter length, I found the build-up was too long and often repeated itself. There are long descriptions of the environment and the mother and daughter episode is revisited unnecessarily multiple times. It is a work of its time but its resolution felt rushed and not a surprise. Despite this it is an interesting work.

Carmilla is a short tale following Laura, a lonely, isolated girl in a castle who one day meets Carmilla, a girl her age who by an unexpected event leads her to staying with Laura. Strange happenings start to occur within her home and in the surrounding area - and over time Laura uncovers secrets that she can scarcely believe.

I really enjoyed this. I loved the writing style despite it being unfamiliar to me, and I was totally immersed in this haunting, gothic and atmospheric story from the first page. I was eager to find out what happened next and adored the way this story was told.

I can see where the inspiration for Dracula has been derived, fascinating as it is. I especially enjoyed the fact this original tale was of a woman, where Dracula is male. The characters were a little ignorant when events were unfolding, but it also makes sense for the story and how bizarre the revelation was. I’m so glad I read this. It was eerie and entrancing and I loved it.

Great gothic tales, which still hold up, even after all the vampire fiction publish afterwards. Much more interesting than Dracula.

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Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu
Carmilla
by J. Sheridan Le Fanu
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TW: Suicide, murder, blood, grooming

*****SPOILERS*****
About the book:In an isolated castle deep in the Austrian forest, teenaged Laura leads a solitary life with only her father, attendant and tutor for company. Until one moonlit night, a horse-drawn carriage crashes into view, carrying an unexpected guest -- the beautiful Carmilla.So begins a feverish friendship between Laura and her entrancing new companion, one defined by mysterious happenings and infused with an implicit but undeniable eroticism. As Carmilla becomes increasingly strange and volatile, prone to eerie nocturnal wanderings, Laura finds herself tormented by nightmares and growing weaker by the day...
Release Date: 1872
Genre: Horror
Pages: 156
Rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

What I Liked:
• The story sucks you in (see what I did there..)
• The characters are interesting
• You actually get to know about the vampires

What I Didn't Like:
• Could be repetitive at times

Overall Thoughts: I liked this book a lot. Way better than Dracula. I think Dracula is over rated because he's barely even in it.

The characters just make you want to hear about what else is going to happen. I thought it was interesting how Laura and Carmilla somehow knew one another from before. Of course then you question whether she's tricking Laura into believing this or not.

I like that their love is talked about like it's a regular heterosexuál relationship. Some things don't need to be pointed out just let the story flow and take the readers with you. Pointing out how it wouldn't be socially acceptable would have weighed down the story with conversations that were not needed.

Final Thoughts: I adored this book and thought it was a fun, scary, short read.

This is a classic vampire story from 1872. The mysterious Carmella is left by her mother at an isolated castle with the narrator Laura and her father. Then young local peasant women start dying, and Laura herself sickens. A enjoyable quick read.

"But to die as lovers may - to die together, so that they may live together."

Carmilla is one of my favourite classic gothic novels, and this edition is beautiful. Thank you to Pushkin Press for sending me an ARC. This is a lesbian gothic novel classic. Camilla stalking her human prey predates Dracula, and is just as good. Like every good vampire novel, it is sexual while repressed, dramatic as well as ridiculous, horrifying and entertaining. This is the original gothic horror vampire story, and everyone should read it.

"'I have been in love with no one, and never shall,' she whispered, 'unless it should be with you.'
How beautiful she looked in the moonlight!
Shy and strange was the look with which she quickly hid her face in my neck and hair, with tumultuous sighs, that seemed almost to sob, and pressed in mine a hand that trembled.
Her soft cheek was glowing against mine. 'Darling, darling,' she murmured, 'I live in you; and you would die for me, I love you so.'"

Carmilla, an eery vampire gothic written a quarter of a century before Bram Stoker’s Dracula, takes place in the isolated forests of Styria in Austria and makes for a great little novella. The psychological horror our characters endure, paired with the chilling atmosphere Le Fanu creates, makes for quite the unnerving read.

Upon reading this, one can have an interesting view on how both vampires and lesbians were viewed in the past, and how those could be connected at times. While it isn't really a book to read with the perspective of how 'woke' and 'ahead of its time' it is, considering sapphicism is described as if a sin, with a creature of the shadows "turning" a young, innocent girl into a sinful creature as well, taking her from the light, it's still an interesting and noteworthy object of study.

The original classic vampire story! An amazing new edition of this timeless classic. This has everything you could want out of a vampire story; it’s sapphic, so creepy, with wonderful gothic imagery and an uncanny atmosphere surrounding the entire work. Dracula is often credited as the first vampire story but this book did it first and in some ways better as it is truly the perfect vampire tale.

I'm in love with the cover, is just amazing.

As for the book. Carmilla appeared for the first time between 1871 and 1872 as a series in the publication In a Glass Darkly. It wasn't the only work the author had there and this story is linked to other works by the supernatural detective doctor Martin Hesselius.

This is really important as Carmilla not only precedes Dracula in the vampires but also in the character of Van Helsing.

Is mezmerizing to read about Laura, the protagonists, and Carmilla's relationship. This is a dark tale, full of atractions of every type, solitude and company, fear and pleasure.

Highly recomended for every vampire lover outher.

I always liked Carmilla, but there is actually nothing new in this edition besides aesthethics. I was expecting something different, maybe some illustrations or a different layout, but the typography didn't work for me, and didn't catch my attention. I'm giving it 2 stars for the good story, and 1 for the nice cover.

Disclaimer: Not saying that the story is bad, I actually love it; just being critic on the edition.

I found this to be an enjoyable read, keeping me on my toes throughout. The storyline was written well and flowed seamlessly. I look forward to reading more by this author!

I didn't think I would enjoy this one that much. I knew that Carmilla is the original vampire story so I was really interested in reading it. The writing is so beautiful and the story super interesting, Definitely enjoyed it more than Dracula!

Thank you to the publisher for my eARC copy of this book. Unfortunately I didn’t love this book and therefore didn’t finish, I just didn’t connect with this one. Not for me, sorry.

This is a truly beautiful rendition of this sapphic vampire classic. I won't hesitate to recommend this edition to my friends and fellow lovers of classic literature.

The ultimate thing that first drew to this book was the cover, and I applaud whoever made the choice because owning this book just to look at would be great. The thing that made me want to read was the fact I was being promised (implied) sapphic vampires. And to its credit, this book did give me that, but that in all honesty is about it.

To go over my unfortunately short list of positives, the thing that was most enjoyable to me was the slow building of tension that Sheridan Le Fanu created, never relying on the word vampire or the specific naming of what was going on to create the suspense of the story. To me, the best parts of the book were at the end as Laura slowly realises what’s happening to her and what Carmilla really is. It’s truly a testament to his importance in this genre of fiction, and Carmilla’s importance to that of the vampire mythos. Ultimately, the barest essence of the story was enjoyable, but delving further into the details is where it fell apart for me.

In terms of the actual book, like I said, I enjoyed the bare essence of the story but fewer of the details. For those who are more interested in older or more classical books, this might be the kind of thing that you would enjoy, but I don’t think this is the book to draw me into either the older fiction genre or even horror/supernatural. The natural building of the plot begins to feel unnatural, packing in the twist at the very end. The development of characters felt almost nonexistent. Even further, the development of what the vampire is fell extremely flat. Maybe if I’d read this when it was originally published and hadn’t been so bombarded by the popular culture vampire, this view would be different, but since none of us escape that, it still stands.

Ultimately, this book isn’t the worst vampire story ever and could be the right thing for some people. The cover is beautiful and the ending is somewhat redemptive. But the characters fell flat for me and the storyline just felt a little bit wonky. I’m glad that I read it, but I don’t ever plan on reading it again.

I love all things vampires and Carmilla is a classic, so of course I had to read it. Was not dissapointed! Inspired by Dracula, Carmilla is the tale of - well- Carmilla, the beautiful female vampire and her friendship with Laura. There are some subtle romantic/sexual undertones (for the time) as the two go about their time together. But weird things keep happening and as each day (and night) progresses, Laura seems to be getting weeker as Carmilla becomes stronger and more beautiful.

Highly recomend for fans of Dracula or fans of Vampire paranormal fiction in general. It's cool to see how vampires have grown and changed throughout pop culture and the few things that have remained the same over time.

A million times better than Dracula. Great to see newer edition if this books making it out into the world! If you're into vampires and powerful women, you'll love this.

Carmilla is a short early vampire novel written about a quarter century before Bram Stoker's Dracula full of lust. fear, and confusion. The main character Laura lives with her father in a large house and is lonely due to the isolated nature of their estate. She is expecting a visit from a neighbor but instead receives a letter saying that said neighbor's daughter has passed on. The father seems to be mad with grief - he doesn't write clearly and so neither Laura nor her father have any suspicions of what could have happened. No one in the story is expecting another beautiful young woman to quite literally crash into their lives and attempt to sweep Laura off of her feet.
The book might seem preposterous at times for a modern audience - the family taking in a stranger's daughter for an unspecified amount of time while being expected to ask her no questions about who she is, where she's coming from, where she's going, or even her family name - but the plot has enough intrigue to carry you through the whole story without feeling like I did at times while reading Dracula (namely that the thing was dragging on and on into infinity). Le Fanu did a lot of heavy lifting for the vampire genre with this one story as well. He reinforced the sensual rich vampire trope we got in Polidori's The Vampyre, he acknowledged sexuality of women in the 19th century (even if it's not how we would acknowledge it today), he relied heavily on psychological horror and suspense instead of gore, and he created a story that is incredibly atmospheric. It's also readable in an afternoon, which is saying a lot considering the time period it came out of. I loved the cover art of the Pushkin Press deluxe edition.

This was an interesting book. it's difficult to think what it would be like to read this at the time without knowing anything about vampires.

I really enjoyed the voice of the narrator. The 'you'll think it's crazy but it really happened' tone of the book.

It's a quick read, that must have been so groundbreaking when published.

My thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.