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I'm glad that's over
I'm not even sure why I gave this two stars.
Vampires just don't interest me. I think I was spoiled by Yarbro's St. Germain series; nothing else comes close.
I knew part of the basic story of Carmilla so there was nothing particularly surprising in the reading of it. Everything was predictable, and there was no real development of the characters. This happened, this happened, this happened, then this happened, and finally the end. Boring.
If there was anything about the background of the story that provided some interest, it was the strong undertone of lesbian sexuality. This struck me almost immediately upon reading the dream sequence of the six-year-old narrator in which she is attacked/bitten in the breast rather than the neck. The sexuality of the later, post-Dracula vampire tales has been explored almost to the point of being common knowledge, but because Carmilla predates the Stoker novel by more than 20 years, I had not expected this element in the earlier book.
And of course I tucked that little bit of knowledge away just in case I ever get around to working on my Victorian novel again.
So I read it and it's out of the way, and now I can move on to something more enjoyable.
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