An Education in Malice Review — Is It Worth Reading?

This post contains affiliate links, including Amazon and Libro.fm. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases, at no extra cost to you.

Verdict: A gorgeously atmospheric sapphic gothic about obsession, poetry and appetite — shelved as dark academia romance, and read by a great many people as horror with no romantic payoff at all.

Best for: Readers who want mood, menace and a genuinely transgressive triad, and who do not need likeable characters or a happily-ever-after to feel satisfied.

Heat level: ★★★★☆ (4/5 — explicit open door)

Rating: ★★★☆☆ (3.3/5 — a 3.48 Goodreads average across 25,000 ratings, with Kirkus and readers landing on the same complaint)

Tropes: Dark academia, vampires, academic rivals, student and professor, obsession, polyamorous triad, dual POV, fem-dom, queer awakening, gothic horror.

An Education in Malice by S.T. Gibson is a sapphic gothic fantasy published by Redhook in February 2024 and set at Saint Perpetua’s College in Massachusetts in 1968, where Laura Sheridan — a churchgoing transplant from Mississippi with desires she has not admitted to — competes with Carmilla Karnstein for the attention of Evelyn De Lafontaine, a poetry professor who has been alive for roughly two hundred years.

It has a 3.48 average across 25,075 Goodreads ratings, a 3.6 across 11,666 StoryGraph reviews, and an Amazon listing that shelves it under Horror rather than Romance. That last detail is the most honest piece of metadata attached to this book, and it explains most of the arguments about it.

What Is An Education in Malice About?

This is a direct retelling of Sheridan Le Fanu’s 1872 novella Carmilla — not a loose riff. The character is literally named Carmilla Karnstein, keeping the surname from the original, and Kirkus describes the book as a retelling outright. Gibson moves it to a women’s college in 1968 New England and hands the predation to a professor.

The register is dark before it is anything else. StoryGraph readers mark it 93% dark, 69% mysterious and 45% tense, with 56% calling it character-driven and only 7% plot-driven — which tells you where the book puts its weight and where it does not. It runs on dual first-person POV between Laura and Carmilla, and the relationship it builds is a three-cornered one rather than a pair.

What Makes This Sapphic Gothic Work

• The atmosphere: the near-universal point of agreement. Candlelight, poetry seminars, blood and want — even reviewers who disliked the book concede Gibson can build a room.
• The triad is real: the Laura–Carmilla–De Lafontaine entanglement is a genuine three-person dynamic that resolves into something openly polyamorous and not remotely healthy, which is rarer on the page than its reputation suggests.
• The heat is transgressive: romance.io rates it 4/5, explicit open door, and its trope list includes fem-dom, exhibitionism and BDSM. This is not decorative spice.
• It stands alone: despite the “Vampire Companion #2” label, this shares no characters with A Dowry of Blood and draws on Carmilla rather than Dracula. You do not need to read anything first.
• Organic reach: unusually for a book this visible, the BookTok activity comes from seven or eight independent creators rather than the author — and Amazon carries a genuine “Best of #BookTok” badge.

Book Synopsis

Laura Sheridan arrives at Saint Perpetua’s from Mississippi with a Bible, a scholarship and a carefully maintained idea of herself. She is good, she is devout, and she has been very careful not to examine what she actually wants.

Professor Evelyn De Lafontaine teaches poetry with an intensity that makes the seminar feel less like a class than an initiation, and she takes an interest in Laura that Laura does not know how to refuse. She has taken an interest in Carmilla Karnstein too — Laura’s rival for the professor’s attention, and the other point of a triangle none of them will name.

What Laura discovers, slowly, is that De Lafontaine’s appetite is literal, that Carmilla has been feeding it for longer than Laura has been alive, and that the version of herself she has been protecting was never the version she wanted. The question the book runs on is not whether Laura will be corrupted. It is what she will choose once she stops pretending corruption is being done to her.

My Review

Gibson writes atmosphere better than almost anyone working in this space, and that is the reason to pick this up. Saint Perpetua’s in 1968 — the poetry seminar, the candles, the specific hush of a women’s college in winter — is rendered with real control, and the erotic charge she builds between competition and desire is genuinely well done. StoryGraph readers mark this 93% dark, the highest figure I have recorded for any book on this site, and that is not an accident of tagging. The book commits.

The triad is the other genuine achievement. A great many books gesture at a three-person dynamic and then quietly resolve into a pair; this one does not. What Laura, Carmilla and De Lafontaine end up in is openly polyamorous, unmistakably unhealthy, and treated as a real configuration rather than a phase. Combined with a heat rating that includes fem-dom and exhibitionism on the trope list, this is a book willing to be genuinely transgressive rather than merely gothic-adjacent.

Where it struggles is people, and this is the rare case where professional and reader criticism land in exactly the same place. Kirkus wrote that all three leads are somewhat lacking in dimensionality, each an archetypal collection of traits, and that the plot builds to a stale conclusion. Four or five independent readers say the same thing in blunter terms — “all tell no show” is one formulation. StoryGraph’s likeability split is brutal: 45% find the characters loveable, 37% call them complicated, 16% say no. When Kirkus and the crowd agree, that is not a matter of taste.

The second complaint is boredom, which is a strange thing to say about a book this lurid, but six or more readers report it and several did not finish — abandonments at fifty, sixty-nine and seventy-two per cent turn up in the reviews. The mechanism is the 7% plot-driven figure: almost nothing happens for long stretches, and if the atmosphere stops working on you there is very little underneath it. A smaller group disputes whether this earns the word retelling at all, arguing it takes Le Fanu’s names without his nerve.

One expectation to reset, and it is the one that matters most: this is not a romance and it does not have a happily-ever-after. Amazon shelves it under Horror and Dark Fantasy rather than Romance, and Amazon is right. The ending is ambiguous — darkly hopeful at best — and organised around Laura’s autonomy rather than a couple. Readers arriving from the dark academia romance shelf expecting emotional payoff are the ones writing the angriest reviews, and they were mis-sold rather than wrong.

My honest note: A beautifully built mood with thin people inside it, and a book far more interested in appetite than in love. If you want gothic horror about obsession, this delivers completely; if you want a romance, this will feel like being lied to.

Element	In An Education in Malice
Central relationship	Laura Sheridan, Carmilla Karnstein & Professor Evelyn De Lafontaine — a genuine triad, not a pair
Core tropes	Dark academia, vampires, academic rivals, student and professor, obsession, fem-dom, polyamory
Setting	Saint Perpetua’s College, Massachusetts, 1968 — a retelling of Le Fanu’s 1872 Carmilla
Heat level	4/5 — explicit open door, with fem-dom, BDSM and exhibitionism on the trope list
Series	Vampire Companion book 2, but a companion rather than a sequel — no shared characters with A Dowry of Blood, reads standalone
Content notes	Graphic blood, sexual content and toxic relationship dynamics; murder, alcohol and death; death of a parent, abandonment and homophobia in the background

How Spicy Is An Education in Malice?

A 4/5. romance.io rates the steam level “explicit open door” — one band below its top rating — and the content is more transgressive than that number alone conveys: the trope list includes fem-dom, BDSM and exhibitionism, and multiple readers reference a group scene. StoryGraph places sexual content in the graphic tier alongside blood and toxic relationship dynamics.

The element worth flagging is tonal rather than mechanical. Two readers describe the eroticism as performative or inconsistent given how Laura is characterised early on, and the intimacy here is bound up with predation and power throughout — it is not separable from the horror. If you want this heat band without that, Pirates of Aletharia and Outdrawn both sit at a verified 4/5 in much warmer registers.

Who Should Read This Book?

You’ll likely love it if: you read for atmosphere above all, you want a triad written as a real configuration rather than a tease, you like your eroticism entangled with menace, and an ambiguous ending is a feature.

You may want to skip it if: you need characters with interiority, you want a plot that moves, you came for romance and expect a happily-ever-after, or you loved Carmilla enough to be protective of it.

In short: superb gothic mood-making with archetypes rather than people inside it, mis-shelved as a romance almost everywhere except Amazon.

What Readers Are Actually Saying (August 2026)

Two and a half years on, this book’s reception is unusually legible, and one detail about it is worth knowing before you read anyone’s praise. Amazon’s editorial reviews block looks impressive — Rachel Gillig, Hannah Whitten, Katee Robert, Publishers Weekly — but almost all of that praise is recycled from A Dowry of Blood rather than written about this book. Only three quotes there actually concern this title: Sydney J. Shields, People, and Kirkus. There is no Publishers Weekly review of An Education in Malice, no Library Journal and no Booklist, despite what that block implies at a glance. The BookTok picture is the opposite and genuinely to the book’s credit: seven or eight independent creators, no author seeding, and a real “Best of #BookTok” merchandising badge on the listing. Reddit, by contrast, is quiet — the book appears in recommendation lists across r/LesbianBookClub and r/sapphicbooks but there is no argument thread about it anywhere, which for a book this divisive is genuinely surprising.

Why readers love it (according to the discourse): The atmosphere, first and by a wide margin — gorgeous, moody, immersive are the recurring words, and it is the one thing critics concede. Then the eroticism, which readers describe as both explicit and genuinely dangerous rather than merely steamy. The dark academia texture — poetry, rivalry, a closed campus — is what people came for and largely got. The triad draws real admiration from readers who wanted a book willing to follow through. And the Carmilla framework earns credit from readers who know the source and enjoyed seeing it moved to 1968.

What readers argue about and complain about: Characterisation, above everything, and this one is unusual because Kirkus reached the same verdict independently — all three leads described as archetypal collections of traits rather than people, building to what the review calls a stale conclusion. Four or five readers say it more bluntly, and StoryGraph’s likeability numbers back them: only 45% find the cast loveable. Second: boredom. Six or more readers report the middle dragging, with did-not-finishes recorded at fifty, sixty-nine and seventy-two per cent — a consequence of the 7% plot-driven structure. Third: whether it is a real Carmilla retelling, disputed by at least two readers who found it less daring than the 1872 original. Beyond that, the narration divides listeners sharply, a couple of readers find the eroticism inconsistent with Laura’s early characterisation, and one recurring note is that the prose reads younger than its adult cast. The single biggest complaint underneath all of it is expectation: the book is sold as romance and does not deliver a romance.

The series question worth asking first: the “Vampire Companion #2” label is misleading in the reader’s favour. This shares no characters with A Dowry of Blood, retells Carmilla rather than Dracula, and reads completely standalone — you can start here. Worth knowing that A Dowry of Blood is by far Gibson’s most-read book, at 3.91 across nearly 111,000 ratings, and rates notably higher than this one. Readers arriving from that book expecting the same thing are a meaningful share of the disappointed reviews.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to read A Dowry of Blood first?

No. Despite being labelled Vampire Companion book two, it shares no characters with A Dowry of Blood and retells Carmilla rather than Dracula. It reads completely standalone and multiple reviewers confirm the order does not matter.

How spicy is An Education in Malice?

A 4/5. romance.io rates it “explicit open door,” and its trope list includes fem-dom, BDSM and exhibitionism. StoryGraph places sexual content in the graphic tier. The intimacy is bound up with predation and power rather than separable from it.

Does An Education in Malice have a happy ending?

Not in the romance sense. The ending is ambiguous — darkly hopeful at best — and organised around Laura’s autonomy rather than a couple. Amazon shelves the book under Horror and Dark Fantasy rather than Romance, which is the more accurate label.

Is An Education in Malice a Carmilla retelling?

Yes, directly. The character retains the surname Karnstein from Sheridan Le Fanu’s 1872 novella and Kirkus describes it as a retelling outright, moved to a Massachusetts women’s college in 1968. Some readers dispute that it earns the label, arguing it is less daring than the original.

Is there an audiobook of An Education in Malice?

Yes — narrated by Stephanie Cannon, running about eight hours and fifteen minutes, released by Redhook in February 2024. Listener reaction to the narration divides sharply, with some abandoning the book over it.

Prefer audio? Listen to An Education in Malice on Libro.fm — the audiobook shop that supports independent bookstores.

If You Loved An Education in Malice, Read These Next

If it was the academic rivalry and the folkloric dread, A Dark and Drowning Tide runs the same engine with a murder mystery and a closed-door heat level. If it was the dark magic and the obsession at a much higher temperature, Her Spell That Binds Me puts a rivalry inside a magical college at 5/5 spice. And for literary gothic intertextuality done with a different classic, A Star-Cursed Heart rebuilds The Scarlet Letter as a four-hundred-year curse.

For more in this register, browse our guide to sapphic romantasy books or the full Book Reviews collection.

The Bottom Line

An Education in Malice is the best-atmosphered book on this site’s gothic shelf and one of the most mis-sold. Gibson builds a 1968 women’s college you can smell, writes an erotic charge that is genuinely dangerous rather than decorative, and follows a three-person dynamic all the way through instead of flinching. It is also thin on character in a way Kirkus and its readers agree on, structurally static enough that a real share of readers stopped partway, and not a romance in any sense that a romance reader would recognise. Go in for gothic horror about appetite and you will get something very good. Go in for a love story and you will not. Check An Education in Malice on Amazon →

The Eikna Overall Ranking

On the Eikna scale, An Education in Malice ranks as a superbly atmospheric sapphic gothic — transgressive, moody and genuinely committed to its triad, held back by archetypal characters and an almost absent plot, and best approached as horror about obsession rather than as the romance it is shelved beside.

The Evidence Scorecard

Overall ★★★☆☆ 3.3/5

• ✓ 3.48 average across 25,075 Goodreads ratings
• ✓ Genuine Best of BookTok badge on Amazon
• ✓ Organic reach across seven-plus creators
• ✓ Kirkus and readers agree on thin characters

Romance ★★★☆☆ 3.2/5

• ✓ Triad written as a real configuration
• ✓ Erotic charge genuinely dangerous
• ✓ Rivalry-to-desire arc convincing
• ✓ Not a romance, and no HEA delivered

Characters ★★★☆☆ 2.9/5

• ✓ Laura’s repression-to-appetite arc lands
• ✓ 56% of readers call it character-driven
• ✓ De Lafontaine is a memorable predator
• ✓ Only 45% find the cast loveable

Writing ★★★★☆ 3.6/5

• ✓ Atmosphere is the near-universal praise
• ✓ 1968 campus rendered with real control
• ✓ 93% of readers mark it dark
• ✓ Criticised as all tell, no show

Emotional Impact ★★★★☆ 3.5/5

• ✓ Obsession and appetite land hard
• ✓ 41% of readers mark it emotional
• ✓ Power dynamics carry real menace
• ✓ Thin characters blunt the payoff

Heat Level ★★★★☆ 4/5

• ✓ romance.io rates it explicit open door
• ✓ Fem-dom, BDSM and exhibitionism on the list
• ✓ StoryGraph files sexual content as graphic
• ✓ Inseparable from the predation

Ending ★★★☆☆ 2.8/5

• ✓ Ambiguous but darkly hopeful
• ✓ Centred on Laura’s autonomy
• ✓ Triad resolves without flinching
• ✓ Kirkus calls the conclusion stale

Re-read Value ★★★☆☆ 3.2/5

• ✓ Atmosphere rewards a second visit
• ✓ Eight-hour audiobook is a short revisit
• ✓ Carmilla parallels repay knowing the source
• ✓ Six-plus readers report the middle dragging

Affiliate disclosure: Lesbian Romance Reads participates in the Amazon Associates Program and the Libro.fm affiliate program. If you buy through a link on this page we may earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you.