First of all, I LOVVVEEE the vibes. This is a proper gothic where you can tell the author read and was heavily inspired by the classics. It has all the thematic trademarks: moody setting (especially spooky buildings), insanity, has wolves/dogs (idk ask Bram Stoker, references the supernatural, loves a good moon, romance, obsession, morally ambiguous characters. I ate this bad boy up like a vampire 🧛🧛🧛🧛

I also loved the theme with being hungery (if you couldn’t guess by the title and the vampire inspo). The book doesn’t have vampires really. It’s never explicitly stated, only weird vampire stuff happens like Carmilla being spooky by popping out of nowhere from a moonbeam or something. The vampire-ness is substituted with the idea of being insatiably hungry; which, in turn, is used as a metaphor for the female experience, especially in that time period. You want to do these things, live a life, be yourself, but are unable to. You hunger to live, but are never sated. 

And this idea is run through THE ENTIRE BOOK with the main character, Lenore. Lenore HUNGERS and properly comes to realize this after meeting Carmilla, who indoctrinates her with ✨the feminism✨. It’s written in a way as if Lenore becomes a vampire once she’s aware: she is even more hungry and more violent. (That revenge quest was really satisfying ngl.) Vampirism, in this book, is allegory for the female experience.