An Education in Malice by S.T. Gibson

⭐⭐⭐/5

A Sapphic vampire romance, with great dark academia vibes, but the main characters didn't jump off the page for me.

It's hard not to compare this book to A Dowry of Blood (my review here), since both stories take place in the same universe, and there's even a little character crossover (although you do not need to read ADoB first). I felt like I knew exactly what ADoB was trying to tell me about feminism, power and obsession. With an Education in Malice, I'm not sure what the book was trying to tell me.

An Education in Malice follows three main characters, two students at a women's school, and the poetry teacher they are obsessed with. Early on we know that the teacher is a vampire, and one student is her willing blood donor. There is a rivalry between the two students, which turns into a romance. The teacher plays a strange role of mother, sister, jealous ex, and goddess for our two students, which I didn't fully understand.

S.T Gibson did a great job with the setting. I felt like I was at that school, in the ancient library, touching the books. I also liked the idea that our main characters started as rivals before realizing their complimenting strengths. The beginning of the book was my favourite. I didn't want to leave the poetry class where our rivals were competing and discussing the big themes within poetry. Unfortunately, I didn't fall in love of any of our main characters. They didn't seem to move the story forward, but wait for it to happen to them, which led to pacing issues.

Thank you to NetGalley and Redhook Books for this advanced reader copy.

This book is best read at a house party where you don't know anyone, but everyone is beautiful, relaxed and looking at you like you're their next snack.