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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Trashy but mildly entertaining, November 26, 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: Carmilla : The Return (Paperback)
First, the good news: the attention to detail is commendable. The author has clearly made a priority of getting to know the things and places he writes about well enough to be able to incorporate them convincingly into the story. The bad news: the prose is sophomoric at its best, awful at its worst. In fact, certain sections seem to display every characteristic of bad writing that I can think of, including cliches, excessive use of adjectives and adverbs, mispunctuation and misuse of paragraph breaks. The dialogue is wooden, especially when the author attempts to transcribe colloquial speech to create character. The author's attempts to create eroticism between female characters fall flat; one cannot help but think of the contrived "lesbian" porno fantasies written by heterosexual men. I can't help but believe that in the hands of a different editor, the book could have been much better. The most interesting (and best written) part of the book is the author's note at the end of the book regarding LeFanu's original novella. The author's insights here are interesting, and well worth reading. I am left with the impression that the author chose to produce a trashy, marketable novel rather than a good one.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Cover better than the book, January 29, 2003
This review is from: Carmilla : The Return (Paperback)
The problem with this novel is one of characterization. Carmilla is not particularly interesting, and comes off as a run-of-the-mill movie vampire out on conquest. She is somewhat juvenile and one-dimensional. The protagonist is even worse, amost like a castmember of "friends." Horror novels need to be scary. They need moments of dread, tension, and angst. Carmilla: The Return simply fails to create a spooky atmosphere, and instead degenerates into late-night soft-porn. Even the sex is poorly handled. Please read the original Carmilla by LeFanu -an infinitely better book.
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5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Sad, March 1, 2002
This review is from: Carmilla : The Return (Paperback)
A rather sad story, actually. For two reasons. What happens to the primary characters, including Carmilla herself, is heartbreaking. But also, the author possesses a mediocre command of the English language, and the manuscript is rife with typos and grammatical errors. The author's writing is generally dry and uninspired--except for the last 75 pages or so. Then he seems to suddenly get turned on, or something, and he applies himself 100%. I basically liked all the plot developments, but they were blandly portrayed. I find that to be very sad. There was no fire, no lust, no fascination on the author's part. Until the last portion. So what happened? I can't explain it. I think another customer reviewer remarked that the book's foundation--Carmilla's very existence--was implausible. I agree. I think you would, too, if you read this book. The story's girl-girl love scenes brush up against an "R" rating . . . but they're basically prime time. That was sad, too; the first "Carmilla"--from the 19th century!--is widely acclaimed as the cornerstone of the lesbian vampire genre. Surely its "sequel" should do more than merely titillate. So that's it. A vampire femme who likes girls . . . but her author is afraid to push the envelope. And you know what else? I bet I could write a story like this and it would ROCK.
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