Wednesday, October 30

Audiobook Review: Carmilla by J Sheridan Le Fanu

Author: J. Sheridan Le Fanu
Narrator:  Phoebe Fox, Rose Leslie, David Tennant, David Horovitch, James Wilby, Susan Wooldridge, Hannah Genesius
Title: Carmilla
Genre: Horror, Classic, Paranormal, Fantasy
Pages: Audiobook
Published: 1872
Where I Got It: My shelf (Audible)



One of the very first vampire thrillers, this audio adaptation follows 18-year-old Laura as she recounts the story of her mysterious, intriguing and beautiful house guest Carmilla, who is stranded in the forest after a carriage accident and taken in by Laura's widowed father. The girls develop a friendship which turns into a passionate meeting of souls. A relationship of vampire and prey, the story is told through Laura's eyes as she is drawn further into Carmilla's terrifying world of pleasure and pain.

A masterpiece of erotic Gothic horror, Carmilla encompasses mystery, suspense, forbidden lust, violence...and lots of blood...

Couldn't resist this one especially when they said David Tennant was one of the narrators! Plus it is perfect for the season of spooks!

The story follows Laura as she recounts the story of her house guest Carmilla who is mysterious and intriguing and oooo so beautiful. They brought her in after Carmilla's carriage was in an accident. The girls develop a quick friendship which turns into something more. But nothing is as it seems. 

I had never heard of this before and I am shocked it is not more popular! It was an intense story for sure. And very Gothic horror with some passion. I could not stop listening. I had to know what was going to happen next. It was very predictable, but it was still intriguing and mysterious. 

Poor Laura. I felt bad for her. 

There were a lot of narrators at play here and they all did well. I wish we had gotten more David Tennant, but I am biased for sure on this. They were all so dramatic. Sometimes overly so. The sound effects were fun, but I do feel like that was over-done sometimes too. A touch over-the-top performance-wise, but I still enjoyed the cast. 

Overall, this was a quick listen but it is perfect if you want a little horror in your life. The narrators did well, sometimes over-the-top in the drama, but I was entranced! I'll give this 4 stars. 







4 comments:

Blodeuedd said...

That cover was just so non assuming to me ;)

Carole Rae said...

Yesss, boring but it works in an odd way.

Sophia Rose said...

I got an Anne Rice vibe off it when you were describing the narration from the human girl's eyes and the gothic horror feel to it. It does sound great. Bummer David Tennant wasn't the dominant narrator for you.

Happy Halloween, Carole!

Carole Rae said...

It was good overall minus my biased wants! LOL Happy Halloween!