Immortal Dark by Tigest Girma Series: Immortal Dark #1
Published by Little Brown Books for Young Readers on September 3 2024
Genres: Fantasy
Pages: 432
Format: Hardcover
Goodreads
The Cruel Prince meets Ninth House in this dangerously romantic dark academia fantasy, where a lost heiress must infiltrate an arcane society and live with the vampire she suspects killed her family and kidnapped her sister.
It began long before my time, but something has always hunted our family.
Orphaned heiress Kidan Adane grew up far from the arcane society she was born into, where human bloodlines gain power through vampire companionship. When her sister, June, disappears, Kidan is convinced a vampire stole her—the very vampire bound to their family, the cruel yet captivating Susenyos Sagad.
To find June, Kidan must infiltrate the elite Uxlay University—where students study to ensure peaceful coexistence between humans and vampires and inherit their family legacies. Kidan must survive living with Susenyos—even as he does everything he can to drive her away. It doesn’t matter that Susenyos’s wickedness speaks to Kidan’s own violent nature and tempts her to surrender to a life of darkness. She must find her sister and kill Susenyos at all costs.
When a murder mirroring June’s disappearance shakes Uxlay, Kidan sinks further into the ruthless underworld of vampires, risking her very soul. There she discovers a centuries-old threat—and June could be at the center of it. To save her sister, Kidan must bring Uxlay to its knees and either break free from the horrors of her own actions or embrace the dark entanglements of love—and the blood it requires.
BookTok got me on the hype train with a novel that promises stunning insights into Ethiopian culture and vampires.
Unfortunately, this book just didn’t hit it for me. But before I get into what I didn’t like, let me speak about a few positives:
In this novel, Kidan and Susenyos brilliantly execute the enemy-to-lovers trope. Their unhinged natures fueled a passion and chemistry that were truly off-the-charts. Is it appropriate for teens? I’m not too sure.
I quite liked Kidan’s character. She is unflinchingly brutal and it was refreshing to read about a FMC with so much rage and desperation. This book repeatedly asks readers to reflect on who the real monsters are and Kidan’s character is great in depicting the cruelty of humans.
However, Kidan is the only developed character in the story. All of the other characters, including Susenyos, fell flat. Their personalities were all stunted and I just didn’t care for any of them. Even when we see Kidan interacting with them, their lack of depth made those bonds feel superficial.
The worldbuilding was confusing as hell to me. There is no seamless integration of the lore; we just get info-dumping where necessary. And then that point won’t be mentioned for ages until it is convenient to bring it up again. It was absolutely jarring and left me with more questions than answers. My biggest gripe is when authors “tell” me things rather than “show” or unveil things to me as the story progresses; well, this story was just full of “telling”, especially when it came to the university courses that Kidan needed to take (which also just seemed absurd to me because ??? your sister is missing, you killed someone, but now you have to take a course with other kids so that you can deal with this vampire?!).
The plot is passable, but the multitude of side characters and info-dumping moments can make it hard to follow.
This novel really had so much potential. The novel’s physical form is a testament to the marketing team’s diligence. Unfortunately, the editing process didn’t receive the same level of attention, resulting in a story that could have been even better.
2 stars because I made it to the end.
Happy reading ~
