A stunningly dark, blood-soaked gothic fantasy novel set during the rise of the Ottoman empire. Perfect for fans of Netflix’s Castlevania and Jennifer L. Armentrout’s, From Blood and Ash.

I wasn't sure if I'd like this but I ended up loving it. Well crafted story and characters. Recommend.

I really enjoyed this book. It was fact paced and it kept me yearning for more. It was so good!
I just reviewed The Court of the Undead by F.M. Aden. #TheCourtoftheUndead #NetGalley
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3.5 stars. I was given a copy of this book by Net Galley, all opinions are my own.

Aylin and Yara are two sisters who love each other deeply, unconditionally. They are happy with their lives until Yara suddenly goes missing. Yara finds herself in a new court, transported from her home in the Ottoman Empire to a Court of Vampir. Aylin is devastated. Her father is sending out all his resources to try to find her, but Aylin turns her devastation into determination to find her cherished sister. Meanwhile, Yara isn't going quietly into her good night. She first plays a weakling but quickly realizes that the weak don't survive, especially in a court of Vampir. She changes tactics and instead relies on her existing knowledge of court games and politics to prove herself a cunning adversary.

I enjoyed this. It definitely has enemies to lovers vibes, times two actually. Yara did not go the direction I had anticipated...and I liked it. It reminded me of Caraval (two sisters who are both determined to do their best for the other), From Blood and Ashes (deadly courts whose lives revolve around blood and classes) and a hint of Mulan. You'll know it when you see it.

I liked that there was a glossary in the back (although I felt the author also wrote in such a way that one could derive basic meanings of unknown words without immediately needing to research them, which is nice), but I prefer to see glossaries up front! Or if they must be in the back of the book, perhaps a note up front letting the reader know that there is a glossary at the end. I also appreciated the map.

I loved the world and the Ottoman Empire backdrop of this book. The author clearly has a good imagination when it comes to creating a world and a story; however, the pacing felt a little off to me. The first 20-30% of the book felt slow and was difficult to get into, causing me to feel disconnected, whereas the ending felt a little rushed. This does appear to be a debut so the pacing issue is understandable. But I did love how the stories of the two sisters almost mirrored each other, in a way, with both becoming stronger in order to survive. While Aylin was also viewed as the “stronger” sister, she was definitely impulsive (and made sarcastic comments at inappropriate times leading to more trouble for her), I felt she was able to mature a bit throughout the book.

Some of the characters seemed to switch personalities very quickly. Originally, Volkan was the “evil” twin who was torturing Yara but then all of a sudden the two are flirting with each other and he is her safe space? And she just forgives him?!. The same can be said with Domencio and Aylin. They hated each other (he almost bit her ear off!) but then they have a weird bond (with him saying he’s fallen in love with her) and she trusts him. At one point, they share a tent when, a couple of chapters before, she decided she wanted to kill him and tried to poison him. All of this happens so fast and there doesn’t seem to be a lot of explanation or build up to that change.

I really enjoyed Eldar’s “progression” throughout the book. It isn’t so much a progression as it is having Yara get passed initial impressions and learn more about the world she is thrust into. Definitely an entertaining read and a solid 3 stars. I will likely pick up book 2 when it comes out to see where the story is going.

Thank you to Netgalley and Northern Light Press for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

it was enjoyable and fun and honestly the writing was so very great too!! so many stars. Flew through it and hope for more to come

I’m on the line about this book. It started off fairly slowly and something about the writing made it hard for me to get into. I love the premise and the story between the two sisters. This book is definitely different than others in its genre and became more enjoyable further into the book. The world building was there, but a little choppy at times. Overall, The Court of the Undead is a good read if you’re willing to stick with it until it picks up.

This was unlike any vampire story I've read and I truly enjoyed the weaving of Turkish Transylvanian and other cultures/countries into one! As an avid Turkish tv and movie fan it was very fun seeing a bunch of Turkish throughout book and obviously the ottoman references as well! The sisters and the men in their lives were interesting... I waffled back and worth who I wanted Yara with until towards end then it was more firmly on one side. The chemistry was there for both love triangles which is insane when one of each of the guys is toxic af!! As for Aylin I don't understand why both have love interests that are straight up abusive psychopaths that was my biggest NO from this book and going forward I hope that's rectified, it was hard to read and root for them when they were acting so horribly. That said I'm excited to read rest of series and find out what our sisters and the brothers are up to!

A dark and twisted tale during the time of the Ottomon Empire with Vlad holding the crown of the Undying King.

The Court of the Undead is not for the squeamish, and there's no way this could be a standalone. Though there hasn't been a mention of a sequel yet, but that ending? Oh, I can't wait to see how the debauchery and treachery ends!

The Court of the Undead is a very intriguing premise! And I Darken is one of my favorite books, and the similarity in era and setting is what really caught my eye with this book. The main characters being strong, beautiful African women was an amazing plus as well.
Unfortunately, I don't think this book was as strong as it could've been. The writing felt clunky, and deciphering the dialogue took me out of the story. The way both Aylin and Lara had implied romantic interest in characters who had abused and terrorized them earlier in the novel was also unbelievable. No amount of redemption arc, let alone the bare bones one we received for Volkan is compelling enough to make these relationships believable.

I think FM Aden came up with a very unique idea and plot, but I overall don't think it was executed very well. I wanted to keep reading to see what happened but also kept being let down by the lack of in depth explanation for characters motivations and the preoccupation with the beauty of the characters without a believable description of them.
I look forward to seeing where Aden goes with their continued writing and will probably pick up a later work! Thank you NetGalley and publishers for the early readers ebook.

This had a pretty slow start but it does get better early on. I did enjoy the characters more than I thought I would but would have loved more romance! I do understand it’s a slow burn so I’m willing to wait for the next book lol.

Dark and enticing with a wonderful setting during the Ottoman Empire, this was an intriguing read with so much promise.

There is so much to like about this one. The setting is exotic and unique, set in the difficult times of the Ottoman Empire. The two sisters share an amazing bond, and the switch between them gives a chance for two very different personalities to take their views. Then, there's the vampires and the dark atmosphere surrounding them. Yet, this just didn't grab me.

The plot is complex and the world could be rich, but the entire thing just isn't as smooth as it could be. There were few details given from the surroundings, and the culture didn't come to life like it could have. So the amazing world simply didn't get the depth it deserved. This is also true of the events and time flow. While the sisters begin as children and listen to tales, these are cut short with no real deep digging before switching them to their older selves. Events sometimes cut in and out, after that, without the needed blossoming, leaving some moments feeling clunky. But then, the writing style in the first half of he book is this way, too, as if the writer needed to settle into the flow first. After that, it gets better.

There was so much wonderfulness in this read, but it just wasn't ready.

Dark Vampire tale full of morally grey characters! Slight spoilers below.

The book is not for the faint hearted as contains the following: human trafficking, scenes of gore and violence in graphic detail and cannibalism (Vampire cannibalism). Surprisingly, no sex scenes.
I devoured this book in one go and am writing this review fresh from reading the book (it's nearly midnight- it's one of those books where it's so fast paced and intriguing I had to keep going!). I received this as an ARC from netgalley but chose to read it due to the book synopsis. Really thankful as one of my favourite reads of 2023 and i look forward to reading the next in the series.

So this was… a weird book. First off, the authors description of ‘for fans of Castlevania’ was the most accurate ‘for fans of that I’ve legitimately ever read. This is Ottoman empire, dark romance, Castlevania, and it <i>delights</i> in that identity. The two protagonists and worldbuilding are fascinating, I really enjoyed both sisters and the very strong focus on Islam. My biggest issue with the book however, was all the technical aspects of the book. The writing style, the pacing, the communication of worldbuilding, are all incredibly clunky and poorly done.

However the book remained incredibly fun with it’s oddly quick pacing and off beat writing style. At the end of the day the best thing to say about it, is that the author genuinely shows promise. I can imagine them going on to write fantastic epic fantasy. Like there were lines and moments in this that I genuinely couldn’t help but laugh out loud at. The dialogue is witty but not unrealistic, and the characters feel so real. But the author genuinely needed to go through 5 or so more drafts of this story to flesh it out, evening the pacing, and rewrite like 80% of the sentences. All in all I honestly do look forward to seeing what they write in the future, but this book wasn’t it.

The premise of this book is amazing and honestly, with a bit of revision this could be a 4/5 star book! I just wish the author would find the flow of her writing a little faster - the beginning felt clunky and the worldbuilding lacked that immersive, all consuming escapism needed to make the world believable. There is a LOT going on plot wise and I know this is book 1 in a series, so hopefully it all gets wrapped up!
A really really promising start!!

Oh, this book was something else. slow-paced for sure, as it took a lot of time for me to get into the novel but the moment I got through that wall I was hooked. I mean who doesn't like a vampire novel with a touch of romance? I love a good enemies-to-lovers trope when it comes to books, and this definitely has it, extra points to possessive men too. chef's kiss to the author

I love vampire stories and I instantly requested this in netgalley after reading the blurb.

I always find it fascinating to read about vampires in other culture and this book was about Turkey vampire renaissance, The Ottoman’s Empire.

The story was about two sisters who grew up listening to vampir stories until Yara got kidnapped in the fortress of The Undying King.

The pace of the story was very slow and confusing for me. It jumped from when they were children to adulthood without any background whatsoever. The character building was lacking for me and I didn’t connect to any of the characters at all.

I was really looking forward on world building but I find it lacking which was disappointing as I was really looking forward to read vampire stories from other culture.

Thank you NetGalley, F.M. Aden and Northern Light Press for the ARC.

If I could give two different ratings - 2 stars for Aylin's POV and 5 stars for Yara's, I would. If this book was only Aylin's POV, I do not know if I could have finished it, every time it switched to Aylin, I found myself skimming because I was so looking forward to switching to Yara's POV. Yara's arc is perfect for vampire aND dark romance lovers. I really enjoyed it.

Thank you NetGalley, Northern Light Press, and F.M. Aden for granting me a copy of this book in return for my honest opinions.

Vampires? Yes, sign me up!

It was wonderful! The characters Yara, Aylin and Volkan became my favorites.
The author a great job and I felt like a knew them personally. I felt Eldar could use a bit more development. Would love to get to know everyone more in a series perhaps (hint, hint).

I became deeply invested in the story and the complex storyline was perfect. I did not have difficulty following, but I would recommend reading with no outside distract as it is complex.

Love the touch of romance, but hoping we get a series and see some more romance in future books!!!

The Court of the Undead releases in December 2023. It is a great read for vampire lovers like me!

Recommend.

I enjoyed this book! It did take me a while to get through the first 40% but once I got past the 40% mark I absolutely flew through! The world building was well done and I really enjoyed the court dynamic. The scheming and backstabbing was fun to read! I liked some characters more than others, and some siblings more than others but that is to be expected. When the sequel comes out I will definitely pick it up! If you are looking for a book with vampirs (vampires) and tension, no spice, this is definitely for you!

thank you netgalley and f.m aden for the ARC!

From a young age, Yara and her sister Aylin grew up on tales of the vampir whispered to them in the dark by their superstitious nursemaid. It isn’t until the fateful day, Yara is kidnapped and brought to the fortress of the Undying King that she realizes that she is far from the safety of the Ottoman court. Tucked into the high mountains of Wallachia, the court of the undead is home to the trueborn vampir, their sired vampir flock, and their miserable hoard of blood slaves.

While Aylin joins a group of trained hunters to bring her sister back home. Yara finds herself trapped between a set of beautiful and manipulative twin brothers who intend to use her for their own amusement and deceptions. Caught between the free-spirited and obsessive Volkan and the power-hungry and villainous Eldar, Yara must betray them both if she ever hopes to make it back home alive.

As tension builds at the vampir court and the hunters start their march, Yara must decide who to trust with her loyalty. And with her heart.

REVIEW:
okay - the synopsis is the main reason i applied for this ARC. i was so looking forward to reading an angsty book with vampires and a badass FMC. however, i was left disappointed. the world building and the character development felt a little clunky and all over the place. while i will say the setting is unlike any ive ever read, i just couldn't fully imagine it. there was so much more 'telling' instead of 'showing', and i feel like in order to help a reader form a clear picture in their head, you need to be able to show. the characters were in desperate need of more depth and emotion - they kind of seemed as stiff as a board as far as personality goes.

the potential of this book, though, is unreal. f.m. aden has a knack for storytelling, and she knows it. with a little bit of polishing, she could do great things with her writing.