Timothy Baril

This was a tough book to get through, but not in a bad way. I had so many issues I had to put it down, walk away, and work on my anger management techniques. Breathe, count to 10 (or maybe 20). WoW!!

Lord Ruthven is the evilest of evil. He preys on the poor as well as the rich and mighty. His reasons are slightly different, but the common theme is anyone can be corrupted when given a little push. There definitely is a connection between the nature of the vampire and high society. I’d love to voice my take on it, but that would be revealing the ending of the book. Lord Ruthven’s speech at the end of the book tells of my theories.

I felt so bad for Beatrice. So loving, caring, and trusting. An innocent. She had to endure so much. At one point, I was almost begging Aubrey to end her life; put her out of her misery.

I loved watching romance bloom between Aubrey and Ianthe. Spoiler? Eh, I don’t think so. In a sense, Aubrey is a knight in shining armor, while Ianthe is Joan of Arc. These two people were made for each other. Their values and ideals were in sync. They both strive to bring hope into their world through love and cooperation.

And then there is the Italian Countess, Messaline Borgia. At first, I loved her. Then I hated her. Apparently, she’s making another appearance in a future book so maybe I’ll like her again?? I’m thinking Mr. Author had some inspiration for this character.

Events in this story made it very difficult for good to win over evil. Just when I thought Aubrey and his friends had won, Ruthven reappears and all hell breaks loose - again. I wasn’t sure if Ruthven could really be defeated. All in all, I’m thinking good has won this battle, but there is still a war.
… (meer)

I've read the original Carmilla years ago (definitely have to re-read it sometime soon), so I don't have a word for word comparison ready. Anyway, I remember Carmilla being a very cumbersome read, which of course is caused by the old language. On the other hand, that is what also defines the gothic charm of this story and enables the reader to lively envision the past times.

While this new version of Carmilla keeps a lot of the original story, it adds a some modern language and several new twists, especially the addition of characters known from Dracula. Now there are two possible ways to regard this approach: either condemn it as a mutilation and exploitation of some great classic novels, or as a fresh and modern tribute to them. Personally, I am not a fan of remakes, because the majority of them fail miserably.

Regarding this retelling of Carmilla, I found that while the implementation of modern language made reading a lot easier, it bereaved the story of its unique personality. As for adding characters of Dracula to the story, I at first thought that was a fascinating idea, but found that the impact on the plot was too negligible to really make me care.

Overall, the story was an ok read, especially towards the end, but honestly I was bored too many times to call it a truly fascinating read. While I can forgive the original work for its long-winded writing which is justified by the time it was written in, the new version has no such excuse. I think it would have benefited from some radical shortening instead of preserving everything. Imho, the author's quite noble intention to keep as much of the original work alive as possible may at the same time have hindered him from creating something truly outstanding.

(I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review)… (meer)