Immortal Dark is a captivating dark academia. A dangerous tale of lies, murder, betrayal, plotting, secrets and tension.

There are so many reasons to love this book, cultural representation in a genre predominantly white-washed, Ethiopian mythology, feminine rage, vampires, romance, academic settings, forced proximity, enemies to lovers vibes, houses that hold power, found family, political intrigue and secret societies.

You never knew which way was up in this novel, while reading it felt as though you were right their with Kidan, our FMC, while she tried to figure out who took who sister, who was lying, who was telling the truth and who was on her side. You could feel her frustration and blind-hatred for Sosenyos, our MMC. Learning his story as we go, with her. Never fully being able to put the puzzle pieces together. There were a few times where I wanted to scream at the FMC to trust, but, this book is written so well in showing you how HARD it is for her to trust, that you just know why she can’t.

I loved the gala scene and I damn near SCREAMED with satisfaction when she returned with her items. I loved the ending and I am on absolute tenterhooks now while I wait for book 2.

Tigest went out with a bang (iykyk) and left us with not 1, but 2 cliffhangers, more secrets, more lies, more betrayal, more suspicion, more mistakes, and a lot more demanding need for a book series that is set to take over.

Thank you to NetGalley, Hachette and Tigest for allowing me the opportunity to read and review this beautiful book.

Oh my soul, this is epic. One of the best fantasy/romantasy books that I have read in ages. All the things that I love vampires, morally grey characters and a bloody trail of family secrets and political intrigue. A must read.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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.

I am absolutely IN LOVE with this book 😭. I did another buddy read with @daniellereadss and I was screaming the whole time about how obsessed I was 🥹. Go read her review!

The romance is genuinely one of the best enemies to lovers romances I have ever read 😩. They are ACTUALLY enemies. Their banter was absolutely hilarious and I was cracking up the entire time. The tension was SO GOOD - every time there was a scene with the two of them I could literally feel it as if I was there too 😭. You know when people say they were ‘giggling and kicking their feet’ over the romance? THAT WAS ME 🥰. Like I was giggling and slapping my book with giddiness multiple times during this book.

The characters in this book were all so morally grey (including our FMC) and I spent the whole book both loving and hating them and not being sure who I could trust 😩 and I absolutely loved it. I can already see the beginnings of such a good found family and I can’t wait to see how it develops over the trilogy 🥹.

The plot itself was also sooooo good! Think secrets and lies and hidden societies and brutal vampires. (I’m terrible at explaining the plot okay but trust me I was hooked the entire time, it was addicting 😍).

Overall, I absolutely loved this book 🥰. The vampires, the romance, the characters, the mystery, were all so so well done and I am so excited to see where the story goes in future books!

This book releases on 11th September in Australia 💞 EVERYONE GO PREORDER A COPY OF RIGHT NOW!!!

This is a gothic fantasy book with dark academia and vampires! The plot is centred around the main character, Kidan who is trying to find her sister, June. Reading the synopsis of this book left me wanting more, however this book whilst certainly unique, struggled to keep me engaged as an avid fantasy reader.

Firstly, I would like to acknowledge that Tigest Girma wrote a phenomenal debut book and I look forward to following her writing journey. However, I found many issues with lack of proper world building and pacing in this novel, which left me wanting more.

A highlight for me was the complex and unique world Girma created with myths and lore. It was obvious that this is a passion for the author and it was interesting to read about. That said, I felt most of the world just wasn’t fleshed out enough for my liking and lacked detail in important parts of the story.

Girma created some complex, morally grey main characters and some interesting side characters. The main characters I found difficult to connect to as they had questionable morals and ethics and were quite singleminded in terms of their goals. This may be desirable for some, but I would liked to have been able to connect to the characters better.

Overall, if gothic fantasy, philosophy, vampires and dark academia is your vibe, you will thoroughly enjoy this book.

This book single-handedly reignited my love for dark academia, secret societies with murder and intrigue combined with vampires and morally grey characters. Everything was so expertly crafted down to the details. The history, world building, the relationship between vampires and humans (the idea that a bite in a certain place evokes different memories? Genius) and the characterisation (some of the best enemies to lover's and morally grey character's you'll ever read about).

The story follows Kidan, a young black girl desperate to find her sister who was stolen away one-night by a vampire. The only way for Kidan to find her sister is to infiltrate Uxlay University, a prestigious institute protecting the fragile peace between humans and vampires. But first she must survive living with Susenyos Sagad, the vampire bound to her family and the one who she believes took June.

This book has everything you could ask for:

🩸Vampires
🩸Enemies to Lovers
🩸Forced proximity
🩸Dark academia
🩸Secret societies
🩸Murder and intrigue
🩸Morally grey characters
🩸Ethiopian history

A stellar debut. Trust me when I say you don't want to miss your invitation to enter Uxlay University. I love, love, LOVE this book and can't wait to see which direction the story takes next.

This book may have reignited my vampire obsession from my high school years 👀

If you like complex and multi faceted FMC, this book is for you. Kidan has a black and white belief system, but that doesn’t stop her from going to any length it takes to find her sister after she disappears. She must enter the dark and mysterious halls of Uxlay University to seek vengeance against Susenyos Sagad, a vampire she is convinced stole away her sister.

I loved the way every character had moments to shine, and nobody ever remained who they were at first impression. This book pushes morally grey so far but in such a fascinating way that I was hooked from the first few chapters. I was also pleasantly surprised by the amount of philosophy present through the classes Kidan at Uxlay. It is a fantasy book yes, but most of all I think it is a book that forces the reader to confront their own ways of thinking, and if we hold ourselves to the same standards we hold others to?

The romance in this is exactly what I love and is true enemies to lovers and slooooowwww burn. (If knives aren’t pulled on each other I DO NOT want it 😂)

Tropes:
⚔️Enemies to lovers
⚔️Dark academia
⚔️Slow burn 🔥
⚔️Morally grey to the max
⚔️Mystery

I rated Immortal Dark 4.5 stars!!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Tigest Girma’s debut, ‘Immortal Dark’, is a gripping entry in dark academia. It masterfully blends gothic horror with academic intrigue. Set in a shadowy, mysterious institution, the novel explores the chilling intersections of knowledge and power. Girma’s rich settings and atmospheric details make the dark mood come alive, creating a compelling experience from the first page.

Girma’s writing stands out! It is both elegant and precise. Her characters are intricately developed, each with their own secrets, adding layers to the story. The prose captures the eerie setting while exploring deep themes of mortality and ambition.
As a debut, Girma’s narrative control is impressive.

Fans of:
✨ Romantasy
✨ Vampires
✨ Morally gray characters
✨ Dark academia .

I want to thank Hachette Australia and Tigest Girma for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.


Top 5 book of 2024 🖤

I liked:
Morally grey characters - literally all of them are flawed & beautiful.
Vampires from Africa
Elite secret university
Magic houses
The ending 🤯

I struggled with:
Understanding the magic system
The college studying that the students did & all the history
The middle draggeddddd

Thanks to netgalley, Hachette & Tigest Girma for my earc

Immortal Dark is the perfect blending of vampires, morally grey characters and an enemies to lovers relationship that will leave you panting!

Kidan Adane grew up away from the arcane society, where human bloodlines gain power through vampire companionship. When Kidan's sister June disappears, Kidan has no choice but to accept an offer for a position at Uxlay University where students study how to peacefully coexist with vampires. But Kidan is convinced a vampire stole her sister and it turns out he was willed her parents estate. Unfortunately for Kidan she needs to pass her studies in order to inherit her family legacy and uncover the truth about her sisters disappearance.

Immortal Dark is an atmospheric, dark academia read. The societal structure and political aspects of the story were really well thought out and extremely captivating to read. While I typically don't read a lot of Dark Academia, I found myself unable to put Immortal Dark down. The interactions between Kidan and Susenyos were complex yet believable and I was extremely invested in the development of their relationship. I would have liked to see some more interactions with Kidan and her group of friends, it felt like a bit of their development occurred off page but I love that everyone had their flaws.

The ending of the book had me on the edge of my seat and I am keenly awaiting for the next instalment.

Thank you to Hachette Australia for gifting me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book was on my radar for a while, so I was excited when I received an ARC. I’m so close to giving this 5 stars, but it did take me a few tries to get through the beginning. I think it was just my brain adjusting to the complex concepts.

This book was beautiful with its vampires, dark academia, secret societies, and dark enemies-to-lovers theme. The world-building was intricate, and the magical houses introduced so many interesting concepts. The tension, desire, twists, and vampire lore kept me captivated.

I fell in love with both Kidan and Susenyos, who are both morally grey characters and true enemies-to-lovers. They genuinely despised each other and attempted to kill each other multiple times.

I’m eagerly anticipating the rest of this series. This debut is a real work of art.

First impressions 💭
From the perspective of a white Australian, I Loved to see representation of African heritage in a setting that we don’t usually see it. We might often get a side character who is a POC but to see representation across a whole cast of characters was amazing, the dedication hit me right in the feels!
I also loved how this take on vampires and their relationships with humans, felt fresh and not explored before.

What I Loved ❤️
- the underlying themes and internal struggles of the FMC were confronting at times but so important to see. Self acceptance and self worth, identity and belonging, finding a reason to live for yourself and not just for others.
I love that we didn’t just scratch the surface of these characters but explored deep into their personalities and what makes them, them!
- the dark academia 🤌 there’s just something about it that always gets me hooked!
- I loved that the romance was there, but it took a more subtle backseat to focus on other important themes in relationships like learning to trust, lean on and find companionship… in this case in the most unlikely of places! So often we see this blind lust between characters but are not SHOWN the important things that draw them together in the first place.
- Kidan and Susenyos relationship was fiery, and fueled by so much loathing and hate and yet the banter had me blushing, it was steamy, without actually being explicit, it was perfect!

What I didnt love 👎🏻
- I Struggled that kidan was able to so easily forgive her friends for their “indiscretions”. I know that it was important for her to do so in order to also forgive herself. But for me the line between right and wrong was just a little bit too blurry and the characters a bit too morally grey.
I would have preferred there to be better reasons behind why they did what they did. To me it felt so self serving that I worry I’m going to struggle to relate to them in later books!

Favourite Quote 📝
“ Your hatred burns like ocean ice, and it’s entirely… mine. I’ve never owned something so completely.”

Final verdict ⭐️
Immortal Dark was emotional, it was deep, it was intriguing and mysterious. It was paced perfectly and I was utterly entranced as we unraveled the mysteries and secrets of Uxlay and Susenyos. I can’t wait to read more from Tigest Girma!

❥ B O O K R E V I E W ✿ (ARC)

Title: immortal dark
Author: Tigest Girma @tigestgirma
Genre: dark academia

Rating : ★★★★✩
Spice: n/a

My thoughts: this was brilliant. Parts of the story took a little for my brain to grasp, but I didn’t hate that at all. I loved the unique lore, how the society was built, the complexity of the relationships. I enjoyed the questionable morality of the characters, while still being encouraged to feel empathy and respect for their decisions. I don’t often read dark academia but this has definitely encouraged me to try it more!!

Wow! I want to start by saying this is an absolutely incredible book for a debut author.

Dark academia but make it vampires set in an arcane society, where our FMC is forced to live IN THE SAME HOUSE as the one she believes killed her sister! If you’re thinking hmmm… this sounds like it could be enemies to lovers- I can guarantee you this gives you everything you could possibly want in an enemies to lovers book 🥵 talk about a dark and dangerous romance with an insane amount of tension.. I was grasping at crumbs I tell you.

I was utterly obsessed with this from the very beginning. It reminded me of The originals x vampire diaries and our morally grey MMC was fully channeling his inner Klaus Mikelson. The hatred he showed towards our FMC was so deeply felt, it enraged me to my core and just as I thought I couldn’t hate him more… we would be given glimpses of humanness in his behaviour, which had me questioning everything.

I adored the found family in this novel and how we explored the development of these relationships alongside our FMC, who truly struggles to come to terms with caring for others. Our FMC’s determined nature and inability to back down from a challenge had me so captivated by her and it was such a refreshing change in a fantasy novel.

Everytime I had to put this down I was constantly thinking about picking it back up again and it has been so long since a book made me feel this way. One of my favourite books so far in 2024 and highly recommend adding this to your tbr!

Thankyou so much to NetGalley for the eARC of this book.

Immortal Dark captured my attention with its vampire, dark academia storyline. The family secrets, politics and dark magic throughout had me guessing and accusing alongside the main protagonist Kidan. Kidan is next level, crazy but she is willing to do anything to protect the ones she truly cares about. Susenyos the family vampire (has my heart) is just as troubled as Kidan and their relationship whether good or bad you’ll have to read to find out truly had me giggling, blushing, screaming and getting cranky. I absolutely adored this book and I’m so grateful to have this book as I believe one of the first books I’ve read with people of colour and different ethnicity. Although it shouldn’t have been the first I’m grateful that Tigest has created a world and story that has opened up my eyes to new cultures. The only reason I’m not rating it 5 stars it is a very high 4 though… I am one who loves a lot of character description and for someone who hasn’t read this culture before I didn’t really know how to picture the characters well.

Thank you so much for the opportunity for letting me read Immortal Dark as an ARC I am truly grateful

Tigest, I absolutely love your brain, and I'm gonna need to process this one for a few more days before I can write a review that doesn't make me sound completely obsessed and unhinged (I am, but that's not the point).
--------------------
EDIT: Updated review posted 25th July, 2024

Thank you to Netgalley, Hachette Australia & New Zealand, and Tigest Girma for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Tigest.... Tigest, Tigest, Tigest... How do I create a fan club for you? I am very ready to pay the registration fees to start one after reading this incredible book. All fresh converts are welcome.

As an avid fan of vampire books, a fan whose journey began in their early teens, grasping at literature with a cultlike zealousness, I've read a lot of novels featuring those (beloved?) blood-suckers. Yet here I am, left completely reeling after reading Tigest Girma's debut novel. How the heck was it so original? How did I read an age-old rendition of an overused (not a criticism, by the way) supernatural entity and feel like the entire experience was fresh and new? As mentioned during my earlier post-reading mental breakdown, I love this author's brain. I love it. I love the writing style, the characters, dynamics, imagery, motifs... I stayed up until 3am reading this, which I haven't done (incidentally) since I was a teenager. Very high praise.

To the curious reader of this review, the premise of Immortal Dark begins with our main character, Kidan Adane, beginning an unhinged "quest" to find her missing twin sister, whom she believes to be kidnapped by a specific vampire. This mission leads her to the gates of Uxlay University, an elite private university where many humans study to become companions to the vampires (known as Dranaic). Trust me when I say there's far more to it than this, and it is compelling, but for the sake of remaining spoiler free, I'll leave it up to you to uncover it.

Tigest writes like she's some kind of reincarnated bard who rolled a nat 20 charisma check:

For a dead language, it possessed an unnatural amount of life, dancing on the tongue like a stirred snake.

Then there's the roster of characters featured in Immortal Dark, each and every one of them (and there's a lot of them — yet it never becomes overwhelming) feeling unique and distinguishable from the other. Kidan, the lead female character whose perspective we follow for the duration of this story (third person pov), somehow remains entirely likeable despite toeing the line of morality and hypocrisy the whole book. She's real, flawed, stubborn, and volatile. She's capable of learning, and capable of missing lessons. I adored her, and consequently, she has become one of my favourite main characters.

And then there's Susenyos, one of our main male vampire characters, who is fascinating and otherworldly. Every time he was on-page, I was left feeling an unusual combination of dread and curiosity. A quote to sum up that feeling:

"The world loves to punish girls who dream in the dark. I plan to worship them."

Okay, king. Go off.

This book also hits the mark for those of us who love a good "found family" dynamic. You'll eat this up, believe me. It's the blueprint. And the ending. TIGEST. I'm gonna need you to finish writing book two stat, and I'm gonna pray to the universe that I somehow make the ARC readers list then, because you will be famous. I know this debut is going to make numbers. I know it in my heart of hearts, sincerely., because this isn't just my favourite debut of 2024. It is my favourite debut of the last ten years.

Guys, you have got to read this book. I am being so serious right now. Please go pre-order it. I promise you, it will not be a regretful 2am impulse purchase for a pretty special edition. I'm going to buy it several times and gift it to friends.

Tigest Girma, you will always be famous to me. And if you have no fans, I am dead.

Love from your #1 fan,
Kyles

There was so many things to like in this book, the writing, the setting a secret university, secret societies, mysteries, missing person and betrayals. So addicting. I love a dark academia and with vampires, chefs kiss!

I gave this a four star as the pacing was a bit of bit hard for me in the middle of the book.

I will be recommending this book, This is a must read and so great to see diversity in a fantasy novel!

I was so excited to receive an ARC of this book from Hachette ANZ.

I absolutely absorbed this book. Finished it in one sitting. It was gorgeously written. The college location, the lush world building.

I am a Susenyos Stan. He is the benchmark for all flute vampire characters in film or novel. He was so gorgeous and so eloquent. His mysterious demeanour has me curious the entire book. EVEN with that twist about his life

Kidan was a perfectly written character as well. I loved her growth, her grief and her journey to find her sister June. The love she showed for her sister was unmatched.

The dark academia elements in this book were so beautiful I felt like I was part of an underground universe

I love loved this book.

Can’t wait to read more

This book was a rollercoaster. I was on the edge of my seat, shocking thing after shocking thing.
This gave me nostalgia for my teenage self reading Vampire Academy. If you loved that series, you'll love this.
I love how unhinged and morally grey the characters were. MMC was giving major Klaus Mikealson vibes.
The question of how far are you willing to go for those you love? Perfection.
The sentient house. Amazing.
This book had so much mystery, I never knew where it was going to lead. I probably was a little bit more confused than I would have liked but it all came together.
I think this book is a really great start to a trilogy and am excited to see what happens next!!
It was dark and gritty. I think it's going to reignite everyone's love and obsession with vampires. They were powerful, they were dark. I loved the little touches of how biting different areas of the body showed different memories/emotions!

I did find the writing a little jarring at time, and I had to reread sentences to make them make sense. But I also found myself highlighting certain phrases!!

I really loved, just not quite that 5⭐ feel. 4.75⭐

(ARC reader)

Rating – 3.5/5 stars

Spoilers ahead

Immortal Dark is a YA dark academia/fantasy debut novel that follows Kidan Adane as she infiltrates a prestigious university to live with the vampire who she suspects kidnapped her sister.

I really enjoyed this book, it was my first dip into the world of vampires and dark academia. That mixed with a murder mystery plot made it an exciting read. I liked the writing and was really intrigued by the history behind the world and the story. The pacing was a bit slow at times, but there were multiple scenes that were so enthralling I couldn’t put the book down. I felt like the world building was lacking a bit, I would’ve liked some more detail on the university setting and the world in general.

Immortal Dark is marketed as an enemies to lovers, which to an extent it is, but I was a bit disappointed by it. I never got the feeling that the two main characters really hated each other. Kidan suspects that Susenyos (the mmc) has kidnapped and possibly killed her sister, but yet she still stays and lives with him, and Susenyos doesn’t really ever have any true hatred towards Kidan he more just ignores her. In saying all that once I got to the ‘lovers’ portion of the book I enjoyed it, there was angst and banter, and by the end of the book I was rooting for them.

The mystery aspect of the book was so good, there were so many twists and turns, that it left me not knowing who to believe or trust. There were multiple moments where I was left genuinely shocked at what I had just read and had to keep reading to see how it all unfolded.

While I didn’t absolutely love this book I need the second one right now! I haven’t stopped thinking about the cliffhanger since I finished it, and there are so many questions I need answers to. I can’t wait to read it when it's released.

Immortal Dark by Tigest Girma
adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75 Stars
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Content warning: parental abuse, blood drinking, death, gore, murder, sexual content, strong language, suicide ideation, and violence.

Immortal Dark takes place at Uxlay where students study to ensure peaceful coexistence between humans and vampires.

Kidan, our MC, is so chaotic, stubborn and almost loyal to a fault but I loved (though some of the decisions she was making was infuriating). You will definitely never be able to guess what move she is about to make which was the only thing really keeping me going about 20-40% in.

Something about the pacing was just not sitting right for the first 50% of the book. At times I felt like a really important scene just happened but then the chapter just cut of and moved on to Kidan, somewhere completely unrelated with different characters, talking about mundane university homework. I didn’t really find it info dumpy but we do learn about a whole hidden worlds unique history and about the innerworkings of Uxlay which could bear weight to the slow start depending on how quickly you are able to make connects and understand it.

Overall, I loved this book! It was such an enjoyable read and a refreshing take on vampirism. The story really takes off after the 50% mark and I could not put it down.

I had Immortal Dark preordered the second it was announced and was so excited when I got approved for the ARC. Even though I have stated that the first part of the book was a struggle, please keep in mind that I received an uncorrected proof. I’m so excited to read Immortal Dark once it has be published and to continue on with the trilogy!

Thank you to Tigest Girma, Hachette Australia and NetGalley for the uncorrected book proof which I requested out of my interest for this book.