Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC to review voluntarily.

I did not finish this book.
I’m normally a sucker for fantasy with political intrigue, vampires and strong FMCs. The first part of the book did keep my attention well and I became more interested, however, about a third of the way through, I found the plot dragging quite slowly to the point I wasn’t as interested in what was happening.
I loved the writing style and found the descriptive language beautifully written. The setting was something new I hadn’t read before and this I enjoyed.
If the pace had maintained at the same pace as the start of this story, I think I would’ve been kept more interested in continuing the story.

In this captivating dark fantasy set against the rise of the Ottoman Empire, two sisters, Yara and Aylin, navigate a world of vampires, love triangles, and political intrigue. While the story starts slow, the second half is a riveting mix of suspense and forbidden romances. The sibling bond between Yara and Aylin stands out, adding depth to the story. The book expertly balances dual perspectives, offering diverse representations of Muslims and plus-size main characters. Despite the initial slow pace, the novel is an original, fast-paced read that hooked me until the end. Its richly layered plot, intricate world-building, and unpredictable character dynamics left me eagerly anticipating the next installment.

The Court of the Undead is about two polar opposite sisters. The beautiful Yara and the headstrong Aylin. Yara is kidnapped and sold to the vampire twins, and Aylin takes it upon herself to save her sister with the help of one particular soldier.

I saw so much potential even though I found the novel very simple. I understood what the author was aiming at but the writing didn’t quite take me very far. The characters were almost one dimensional, the dialogue wooden. Many of the choices made by the characters were confusing or frustrating.

Yet… I’m still curious to see where the sequel takes us because there were moments I enjoyed. Most of them were with Yara and one of the brothers.

The court games were good, with better writing I think they would have been excellent. I found the romance to be more of an obsession, in both cases. The author touches upon race, religion, sex and class. I would recommend this book to readers who enjoyed Belladonna.

We have a brand new vampire book coming to market and that is Court of the Undead. This is a gothic story set in the Ottoman Empire about two sisters. One of being taken by vampires and the other runs away to train with a group of vampire hunters to help rescue her sister. Simple enough plot but there are a ton of things to like here, it's filled to the brim with action and the historical setting is to die for so if you are craving a new vampire book to read this winter, check out Court of the Undead.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC. This novel was so spellbinding and absorbing. I have always loved anything vampire-related and this was such a treat as a reader. The relationships, storyline, setting, and atmosphere were all exceptional. I really loved it. This was a perfect book for the winter season! 5 stars.

Damn, this is in no way what I was expecting! It's a VERY dark fantasy novel with some very questionable romances that I am very much rooting for. It was very different from a lot of formulaic fantasy romance - Muslim main characters, Byzantine setting - can't wait for book 2!!

Sexier than Bram Stoker's Dracula or the Cullen's of Twilight and with a delicious darkness like the Kate Beckinsdale Van Helsing movie! Highly enjoyed this foray into a vampire fantasy world again, since fae and shifter romances have become so popular these days!!

NOTES:
⭐⭐⭐.5/5
🌶️🌶️/5 - Love the tension!
Curvy heroine!!

**Thank you to Northern Light Press & NetGalley for the advanced reader copy. I received this book for free, but all thoughts are my own. – SLR 🖤

I really really wanted this to be a five star book. It sounded so interesting but unfortunately it was incredibly flat.

There was a really slow start. I honestly was a bit bored until about a third of the way through when it did finally pick up but I wanted to dnf several times in that first 30% . It was a good pace once it picked up, though, and held my attention for the rest of the book.

The characters were flat and one dimensional. For me even if a book is really not my thing I'll still rate it highly if the characters are dynamic. I need to understand why characters do certain things and fall in love with their personalities but that just wasn't possible here.

I could definitely see where it was going it just didn't get there. I think if it was written a bit differently it could be a 5 star because the bones and guts are there essentially it just needs put together.

I got an arc through Netgalley, this in no way influenced my review.


I stopped at like 35%. I could immediately tell this book wasn’t going to be for me when I started reading it, but I gave it a chance. There are just way too many characters, the plot wasn’t going anywhere and I was just pushing myself to read it because I had the ARC.

Got the ARC from Netgalley.

A unique take on a vampire story starring two heroines who are POC. It is not every day that you see the Ottoman Empire and its culture depicted. The story is engrossing and keeps you invested all the way to the end.

While the juxtaposition between different POVs was done successfully, I wish that we would only have Aylin and Yara's POVs. Eldar's POV tagged on another storyline that took attention away from what Aylin and Yara were doing. Aylin was working toward finding her sister while Yara tried to survive politics of the vampire court. It would also make Eldar's character more intriguing as we tried to figure out his deal with Yara (much like Domenico's interactions with Aylin).

Obviously, this book is setting up for a sequel as it is clear that Aylin and Yara's story is far from over.

Spice scale (as defined by <a href= https://www.mystgalaxy.com/>Mysterious Galaxy</a>): 

🔥 [Sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G]

4.5

Oh, my word. I loved this book. I struggled putting it down. All I wanted to do was read it. The love triangles in this book!? Ahhhhh I was kicking and giggling the whole time. I love how similar and yet different the sisters are from each other. It was so nice to see two really full-bodied female characters in a fantasy novel like this one. I also just really enjoyed the Vampirs of this book. I’m not a huge Vampir girly but I was loving it. The tension and growth as the girls try to work their way back to each other was so well written. It’s also one of the few duo pov books where I was so happy reading each pov. There wasn’t one I liked more than the other. I was happy to see each sister while reading. This book is felt fast paced like a nice steady jog is that makes any sense. It never really slowed down, but it wasn’t a dead sprint either. I loved the pacing of this book. I am so thankful for this ARC read and cannot wait for the rest of the series and to share it with my friends. (Vampir loving and non)

The cover is absolutely beautiful and I cannot wait to buy a physical copy of this book, not only because of the cover, but because of the writing and the beautiful little artwork with the chapters inside. I was so happy to see that this is the first book of a series. While I thought that the beginning was a bit slow and dragged, it started picking up around a third of the way in and I really came to enjoy Yara’s point of view. I also loved the Muslim representation in the story. I think this is the perfect romantasy and nobody can convince me otherwise. 4 stars because I found the beginning a little slow and it took me a minute to get in to, but once I did, I couldn’t stop reading.

The Court Of The Undead is a book that unfortunately I just couldn’t get into (no one is more sorry than this than me as I hear that the romance is top tier). My main issue is the fact that at least once on every page there’s a word that I won’t know the meaning of and would have to look up, and as a mood reader the more I did this the more I couldn’t get into the book as I wanted to be immersed in it. From what I did read however, the book itself looked great so hopefully I’ll come back to this one day!
Thank you so much to NetGalley for an arc 💗

My main issue throughout the time I was reading was this book was that it seemed to have a pacing issue. The beginning of the book felt so rushed and therefore there wasn’t really an understanding of the relationships. The one between Aylin and Ilyas was hard to get to grips with because there were whole years skipped. It wasn’t clear how exactly Yara and Aylin were as sisters because of the missed years and a lot seemed to be made of them being very different but it wasn’t clear why. Another issue I had was that I preferred what was going on in the Court of the Undead and I wasn’t really invested in what was going on with Aylin. Even then there was still a pacing issue and everything seemed to escalate very quickly.

I did enjoy the backdrop of the Ottoman Empire and I did like the vampire lore of it and there were moments of greatness in parts of it as well but overall I felt a little bit underwhelmed by it all.

The Court of the Undead is book 1 in the Trueborn series.

Aylin and Yara are sisters who have been brought up in the Ottoman Court. One day when Yara is kidnapped and sold in the Court of the Undead, Aylin decides to join a group of hunters in the search for her sister.

This book had a little bit of a slow start. I think both the sisters were a bit rash and made stupid decisions. The twin Vampire brothers were fun and interesting too and I was of course reminded of The Vampire Diaries and the Salvatore brothers.

I was surprised when I realised they were Muslims but then I thought it would be okay, but I don't think vampires and Islam should be mixed, for various reasons.

This was giving me Red Queen vibes but with vampires! I loved the love between Yara and her sister Aylin. These two grew up on tales of the vampir whispered to them in the dark by their superstitious nursemaid. 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.

I love seeing a muslin representation in this book. Also it's nice seeing a plus size female character portrayed as well! There is also forbidden romance and a love triangle or two.

This book started off very strong. I was loving it, but then it started getting a little too flat for me. I didn't mind the use of other languages but I feel like it needs to also be brought up the definitions sometimes because I am very forgetful.

ALL THE TROPES IN THIS BOOK. i love!! the writing was incredible, the plot kept me invested, the love triangles *chef’s kiss*. it was truly a breath of fresh air.

how could you not love this book plssss i ate it up

The story had potential and started off okay but fell flat pretty quick. I could not get into this story no matter how hard I tried. I just couldn't get into it, it was confusing at some points. It wasn't for me. I also didn't like all the different languages and having to look up some words to make sense of some stuff.

I just reviewed The Court of the Undead by F.M. Aden. #TheCourtoftheUndead #NetGalley

Worth the read!! Fun, great characters, great world building, supurb storyline.

This was such a good, fun read and something different then the genre I usually read I really enjoyed it