I havent read vampire books in a long time and was excited to read a book not only with vampires but also inspired by history - it was why I requested this ARC as the premise sounded so great.

Unfortunately, the execution was lacking. There was no character development, the plot was minimal and the romance was not my cup of tea.

With the new trend in fantasy romances tending towards almost abusive bullying male leads, the “romance” (at least on Tara’s story) were monstrous. It was very uncomfortable to read a story where the vampire brothers (who we are supposed to be swooning over I think?) were essentially abusive to one of the female leads who was a victim of human trafficking. I wouldn’t have an issue if the vampires were portrayed as horrible irredeemable monsters and it was about Tara’s escape from them; but instead its portrayed as a very toxic romance. I found it completely unbelievable that Yara would come to care for Volkan after one incident - given that he essentially wants to torture her in the beginning. And dont even get me started on Eldar, who is clearly going to be the “big bad” but also the main romance lead in the future books.

Aylin’s story held no interest for me at all - I skimmed a lot of her parts due to boredom.

I think many people will enjoy this book and I know there is an audience for “bad boy” male leads - I am just not that audience.

This is one of those books where all of the elements that make up the book are intriguing and is what initially drew me in the first place. However, the story itself and how it was written did not keep me compelled long enough to find this truly enjoyable. Here’s the thing, I liked it, but not enough to say that this was worth the read.

Some of the plot points felt rushed and the character development lacking. The world building was great though.

Absolutely not.

It's been a while since my last one-star rating, but it's also been a while since I dnf'ed a novel less than 10% into the story, so the decision feels justified. Besides being blatantly under-edited (I know I should get over repeating or misused words in indie-ish books, but I simply can't), the story practically opens with an off-page kidnapping. I've seen wattpad stories that did a better job.

Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC of Court of the Undead by F. M. Aden

Actual 3.5
Rounded up to 4

I enjoyed the story, although I felt the beginning of the book was quite slow. Of course a book needs an introduction and time to set the scene, build the world, and introduce the characters- but I feel the story didn't pull me in until about half way through.

I loved the diversity in the characters, and loved the use of different ethnic descriptions, I learnt a lot!

Oh my goddddddd this was so good. Not in the way that people shrug and say “yeah it was good.” No. This was SO GOOD. First of all, how refreshing to read a vampire book where both of the women protagonists are African Muslims, historically accurate, and one of them is explicitly plus-size!!! I can count on one hand how many books I’ve read with these attributes: just this one.

The split focus between Aylin and her younger sister, Yara, didn’t detract from the storyline in the way I worried it would. I found myself equally invested in both Aylin’s warrior conquest and her romantic tension with Ilyas (and a surprising third party…), as well as Yara’s political court navigation and her odd love/hate triangle with the twins, Eldar and Volkan.

My detractors from the novel are minor. I found a handful of typos across the book, which happens with all books, but at times there were misplaced commas or apostrophes that entirely changed the structure of a sentence, and I would need to read it a few times to understand what was being said. But that’s something that could easily be fixed, and still didn’t take away from the overall intrigue of the story. The only other negative, which is more my fault than it is Aden’s, is that I didn’t know this was the first book in a series. I do not recall if it was marketed this way when I requested it on NetGalley, or if I knew it was part of a series when I began to read it. I only realized it wasn’t going to wrap up neatly with about 20 pages left in the book, which affected my stress levels immensely and, ya know, my reading experience lol.

Still, now knowing that this is a planned trilogy makes me excited to see what will come next with our great host of characters, all strong, all vulnerable, and all existing in the morally grey range that we as readers love so much. For all of the above reasons, this gets a strong 4⭐️!

*Thank you again to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.*

There's potential in this story and I appreciated the world building. It's well plotted even if I found it a bit slow at time
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

This was very interesting but it fell flat in some ways. I did not like the two POVS. I was mostly interested in the vampire part of it and the whole rescue mission I just wasn't that interested in. At the end that POV got more interesting but by the time it got interesting I didn't know what was going on because I hadn't really payed attention to that side of the POV. It just felt a bit all over the place but it was okay.

Some always looking for a good sci-fi, fantasy book and a good Y a book. This is definitely one of the good ones. I love the Gothic fantasy. I love that you kind of had to build up a little bit to it. Morally Gray characters are always applies.

This book was great! I loved the setting and the overall concept, I found them very original. I was on the edge of my seat towards the end and I think I was so enthralled by this story it took me a whole of 2 days to read it.

1 ⭐️
DNF @ 43%
I was very excited for this book but unfortunately it missed the mark for me.
The story had a lot of potential, it was very intriguing and seemed very original to me. However the writing was hard to follow and not easy to read. Lots of foreign words with no explanation as to what they meant, lots of info dumps that were just telling you a lot of things instead of showing you. It’s just didn’t feel like it flowed very well.

This is one of those where I can see the elements that draw in other readers, but ultimately isn't for me. The world was interesting, especially the details of the Ottoman Empire, but not fleshed out enough to make the scenes come alive. The two sisters were differentiated to a painfully cliche extent--"Sevda knew that Aylin had never been the gentle doe her sister was." Just...pretty heavy-handed, and 300 pages of being told information like that really takes me out of the story.

Overall, it was an interesting premise that fell flat in the execution. It wasn't for me, but I would imagine that others would find places and elements to engage with that didn't work for me.

I had to DNF the book. A lot of clichè in this word that we already read on other story written by Armentrount or Maas. It was boring to see the same think…

Edward Cullen was my first vampire crush. While I’ve proudly moved on from those days, I can’t pass up a good vampire story and “Court of the Undead” by F.M. Aden sounded good just by the title.
What really sealed the deal for me was the comment that said it was good for fans of “From Blood and Ash” by Jennifer Armentrout, my favorite series.
Two sisters with a strong relationship, Aylin and Yara, are the daughters of a man who directly reports to the Sultan in Constantinople.
Yara is known to be pretty and delicate while Aylin would rather yield a weapon than to socialize and wear pretty dresses. When Yara disappears, Aylin knows she has to escape the palace, find her sister and bring her home.
While the sister had heard lore stories about vampires, they had no idea they were all too real. Forced into the land of the undead, Yara is subjected to the world of blood slaves, debauchery and violence. She meets twin brothers Volkan and Eldar and secures herself a safe position with one of the original bloodline families. She has to play a double agent as she is supposed to spy for Eldar and a relative of Dracula himself.
Aylin changes her identity to be able to safely travel with her long-time friend Ilyas and they band together with a group of vampire hunters to figure out where Yara is and how to fight the creatures.
What I immediately liked about the books was the different cultural setting; this is the first vampire book I’ve read that takes place in the Middle East and the Islamic faith is a theme throughout.
Aden switches between points of view, a style that is better suited to fantasy, especially fantasy romance. I didn’t care for the two love triangles and the constant wondering of who’s going to end up with who, but the characters were compelling enough that it didn’t bother me too much.
I’ve decided to get away from reviewing books that belong in a series for the purpose of review because it’s hard to provide feedback when the story is just beginning.
Having said that, “The Court of the Undead” was a good start and I am interested in reading the other books in the series as they come out. For anyone who loves vampires and fantasy romance, this one is worth checking out.

Very cool story, really surprised at the ending. I absolutely enjoyed this and i recommend it to anyone who loves vampires.

Thank you to netgalley and the author for sending me the book in exchange for an honest review

The writing was breathtaking, the plot was immaculate I didn’t have any issues there. Plus, that chemistry seemed spot on. Can’t wait to read more from the author.

I had a really hard time with this book. The writing was very dark (even understanding the subject matter) and felt very choppy. There was a big time jump that was hard to follow and I thought could’ve tied the story in better.

Thank you for the opportunity to read - I decided to DNF at 25%

I was so excited to get this book..... So what went wrong?

I wasn't a fan of the characters. Any of them and I need a connection. The names irritated me too and it felt like they were repeated over and over again.

I had to walk away from this book 4-5 times before I could finish it.

Did I end up enjoying it? No.

I really wanted to love it too. The premise was amazing. It was just so flat for me

2.5 stars

Very good world building and liked the plot! Over all this book was not for me but I respected and appreciated the good writing! Gave me knock of acotar vibes but with good writing! Thank you for the advanced copy!

Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for my eArch.

I enjoyed this book even though it had a slow star, but eventually it captured my attention. The concept of enemies to lovers, the addition of vampiresand the historical setting only made it more interesting. A great book to entertain and engage me.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an E-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I’m new to the world of dark, romantic fantasy but I had a fun time with this book. I enjoyed the setting and the vampire court politics. Some reviews mention not being familiar with the cultural elements but the context clues are right there, plus there’s a glossary in the back. I liked the banter between the characters and was surprised by some of their development.

There were some phrases I found repetitive like a lot of neck grabbing and the pacing was a little off sometimes, like certain events happened so fast and I felt like they could have used a little more development. I didn’t mind the love triangles at all but both sisters had one and they felt too similar in dynamic.

Overall this was a promising debut and despite some issues, I’m interested in reading the next book in the series, especially with the way this book ended.