Immortal Dark an enthralling blend of dark academia, romance, and gothic intrigue. Orphaned heiress Kidan Adane plunges into the perilous halls of Uxlay University to rescue her missing sister, June, facing a ruthless underworld of power and betrayal. Standing in her way is Susenyos Sagad, the cruel yet captivating vampire tied to her family, whose wickedness tempts Kidan toward her own dark desires.

With a richly atmospheric setting, morally gray characters, and a simmering “enemies to lovers” dynamic, the story masterfully explores themes of identity, vengeance, and the seductive pull of darkness. Fans of A Dowry of Blood and The Atlas Six will revel in the novel’s intensity, razor-sharp prose, and unexpected twists.

I really enjoyed this one. The audio mixing was fantastic, and the narrator did a really fantastic job of convey what was going and imparting personality to the characters they were voicing. My biggest frustration is probably the fact that this was marketed as YA, with the context of the book I feel that it probably should have been marketed as NA instead. Very much looking forward to the sequel

Thank you to Hachette Audio and NetGalley for a free advanced listener’s copy. I received this copy in exchange for my honest review.

This book was a slow blooming flower, the world building in the beginning felt hefty and blunt and was honestly hard to get through but as you go through the book, reaching the 30% then the 40% mark it absolutely sucks you into this dark and fun world made for those people who’ve always wanted main character to just takes power for herself. For those people who’ve thought that the MC should become the villain and just stop being a goody two shoes about everything, that’s who Kidan is and while she was hard to love at first, she has my whole heart now. She’s a messy character who sabotages herself just as much as she sabotages her enemies but that soon became half the fun of watching the mystery of Immortal Dark unfold.

Jordan Cobb really did an amazing job the whole book, embodying the seething rage hiding around every corner and keeping the ambiance present and heavy. Overall, I really enjoyed the book and am excited to see where the series takes us.

Most addictive novel ever!!!
I flew through this audiobook so fast. I just needed to know what was gonna happen next all the time!
A real page turner. Characters were amazing, the whole plot fabulous, twists were crazy!
If you love vampires you need to get your copies!!!

A promising start for a YA series that is all vampire fantasy and (sort of) Dark Academia.

This book’s best selling point is perhaps it’s very intriguing, very complex characters, many of whom are morally gray and flawed without feeling like they were drawn that way to created a contrived, tropey antihero. Girma gives us a heroine we want to root for whose actions occasionally make us uncomfortable, perhaps mostly because we don’t disagree with her.

This is mostly a vampire novel rather than Dark Academia, and I wish it had leaned more into the fact that it could be both. The early chapters are excellent on the DA front, but all that stuff disappears about halfway through the book. What comes after is solidly plotted and narrated fantasy, but I wish the author had hung in there on the DA, especially since the book has been billed as being very much of that genre. The plot allows for the story and the setting to get back to this in the next installment, and I hope that’s what happens.

Otherwise I think the world building in this is very good. The”rules” are a little wonky and probably don’t hold up to close scrutiny from a logical perspective, but it works for the story and has some interesting complexities to it. It reminds me a little of Vita Nostra. This is less intellectually demanding, but also on the whole a better book.

A lot of credit to Girma for both character development and original world building in a genre that doesn’t see much of that anymore. I’ll be curious to see where the series goes.

This was one book that sounded good in the description, but it failed in execution. The short summary: Kidan’s sister disappears, and she sets off to a university that educates vampires and has a haunted/personified house to investigate. When she starts to suspect one of the vampires there, things get complicated.
Perhaps this book would have made more sense if I had read the actual book and not listened to it on audio, or perhaps there is just too much going on, but either way, it didn’t hold my interest and I had to try too hard to figure out who was who and what was going on. The enemies to lovers subplot was too abrupt–I couldn’t figure out why they were all of a sudden making out–and more background information was needed to flush out a lot of the plot in general.

4.5 / 5 stars

Kidan Adane has been holed up in her apartment awaiting her murder trail and leaving only to see whether she has received word from her Aunt Silia. Kidan is desperate to hear news of the whereabouts of her missing twin sister June and hopes her only living relative will have the answers she seeks. Instead, Kidan receives news that Silia has died and now Kidan must return to her ancestral home to prevent the vampire Susenyos Sagad from inheriting her family's legacy.

Kidan agrees to return to House Adane and the arcane society of vampires and human companions from which her parents fled. But not because she has any interest in inheriting a home or a fortune. But because Kidan's murder victim named Susenyos Sagad as June's captor.

I was incredibly impressed with the amount of world-building that was accomplished in this book. Immortal Dark blends familiar tropes of dark academia and vampire lore with elements from African folklore and tradition. The Twelve Houses and their ties to Uxlay was well-established and explained. The concept of the physical house being emotionally tied to Kidan and Susenyos was particularly interesting, and I'm glad that the author was able to use it to such great effect. On top of the vampires and magical houses, there is also the university system and the classwork that Kidan is taking. The elements all blended together so nicely to make a cohesive whole.

The people and vampires that populate the world are also very nicely developed. Morally gray characters are fun when they're well done, and they are well done here. Kidan is not a very likable character, but she does grow over the course of the story. The vampires are ferocious and sensual, and the book has erotic scenes that are tantalizing but not hardcore explicit.

I was so glad to have listened to the audiobook for portions of the book. Jordan Cobb provides excellent character voices and helped me establish proper pronunciation for so many words and names in this book. I never would have known how to pronounce Susenyos Sagad's name correctly, which is a shame because it is a thing of beauty.

I don't usually love vampire books, but I really enjoyed this one! I am looking forward to reading the next book to see how the story progresses! Tigest Girma is an exciting new voice and I'm so glad to have had an opportunity to have read this debut!

Daringly dark, utterly unhinged and incredibly ambitious, this was such an exciting introduction to Tigest Girma’s voice.

What I enjoyed:

• The fact that Tigest was all like ‘what if I made everyone the bad guy?’ and totally pulled it off.
• The way Tigest just said ‘you get to die and you get to die and you? oh yeah, you totally get to die’ without any qualms.
• It was completely unafraid to let the dark be dark.
• The ~vibes~ were vibing and super atmospheric.

What I struggled with:

• The way the world and vampire/human relationships worked. I just couldn’t quite get a grasp on it.
• My brain is far too small to understand what these kids were working on in their philosophy class.
• The romance just didn’t quite work for me. It was so hot and cold in extremes that I didn’t find there was enough time to have groundwork/chemistry.
• The 13th. I think I might have just missed something here but I didn’t get their motives/goals.

Overall, this was a great read and one I really enjoyed my time with. I just wish there has been a little more explanation of certain aspects or my brain was big enough to understand it a little better.

WOW is all I have to say, I loved this book from start to finnish and the only thing I would change is that it comes to an end and I want more. The writing is superb and the characters kept me engaged and interested the entire time I didn't want to put the book down. Again did I say WOW?

The first half of the book was amazing, packed with mystery.. However, as the story progressed, I found it difficult to follow the plot. It felt all over the place, with several plot points seemingly going in different directions. I understand this may be setting the groundwork for the following books in the trilogy, but the pacing in the latter half felt rushed. Many scenes felt like they were thrown in solely to keep readers guessing about what’s next, sacrificing the cohesion of the story.

The violence in Immortal Dark was also a bit overwhelming and underwhelming at the same time. While I appreciated the action and had expected a darker tone, it became repetitive, to the point where it lost its impact. There were instances where it seemed like violence was the only resolution, and at times, it felt like character deaths were used as convenient ways to sidestep potential plot challenges.

Regarding the characters, I struggled to feel any connection with them. They seemed almost like variations on the same character, without enough distinct personalities to make them truly stand out. Even the enemies-to-lovers subplot fell flat for me; the banter lacked the tension and angst I usually enjoy in such tropes, and the relationship felt more like a extremely unnecessary prolonged hate-fueled standoff than the typically enemies to lovers trope that I was used to.

That being said, the lore and the magic system of the houses and vampires are the best aspects of the book. The exploration of family secrets, the dynamics within the sentinel houses, and the supernatural elements had me wanting to know more. It was these elements that kept me turning the pages, despite the issues I had with pacing and character development.

Overall, Immortal Dark started strong but fell flat for me in the latter half. I hope that Book 2 will address some of the multiple plot points and further explore the lore, as there’s great potential here.

Thank you Hachette Audio for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I really enjoyed this book! If you like dark, academia and vampires, you will definitely enjoy this one! The narration was easy to listen to as well!

This book was great on audio. The narrator was great. The story just felt drawn out and took forever. I could have done without so much descriptive detail. It made it hard to stay involved in the story

This book did not work for me. I love a dark academia university setting, and I was really hopeful this would be a fun read because we have a severe lack of good vampire books. I was also very excited about the representation and the idea that this book would freshen up the genre a bit.

Unfortunately, I just could not connect with the main characters and their struggles. As a result, I was not looking forward to moments when the plot moved forward.

I would also like to note that I switched to ebook after release date because the audiobook experience did not work for me. Half of it was that I found it difficult to pick up on the world building and character relationships in that format, but also the narrator was extremely monotone and did not do a good job with inflections in their voice to carry the story along.

Black vampires + morally gray character + enemies to lovers + slow burn romance = a yes from me! Very enjoyable.

This was a good book but it too me about 30 % before I felt myself getting really invested and then I didn’t want it to end. I can’t wait for the next book. Thanks NetGallery!

Kidan wants to find her sister after she was taken by a vampire. But after her aunt died her family house was left to the vampire Susenyos Sagad. And she could not let that happen. In order to take control of her family’s house so it did not go to the vampire that took her sister she has to attend Uxlay University and pass all the courses. The more she learns the more she realizes there is more at play. The Susenyos is being set up and there is more trouble than what she thought. Enemy now a friend Susenyos and Kidan work together to figure out what is really happing at Uxlay and help protect their home.

Immortal Dark is a YA dark academia story with vampires. And that's all it takes for me to want to read a book!

I was so excited to read this book to kick off spooky season. For about the first 50% I was totally hooked and couldn't wait to see where it was going! It ended up going really dark with a lot of character deaths that I wasn't really expecting for a YA book. I'm notoriously bad at following fantasy plots and I don't super know what happened after about the 50% mark. The vibes were very strong, though, so I was happy to carry on without 100% understanding the plot. I do wish it had been a little more clear, though! I LOVED seeing Black vampire representation and hope we get more books like this! I didn't realize that it was a series when I started it and I'm looking forward to seeing what happens in the future!

I this this book leaned more "dark" than "academia" and I would have liked to learn more about the classes and how the school worked, but I liked what we got. I appreciate that the book "went there" with a dark story as I know a lot of people enjoy that, while not super my cup of tea. I prefer more "academia" than "dark" but very much a personal preference!

I highly recommend the audiobook, the narrator was fantastic and really helped to set the mood for the story.

Definitely recommend giving this book a try! 5 stars for the first half and 4 stars for the second, so I'm going to go with 4 stars. Thank you to Hachette Audio and NetGalley for the eARC of this book, my thoughts are my own!

CW: violence, blood, on page deaths, graphic descriptions of blood and injuries

This was absolutely incredible and I loved every second of this book. The combination of vampires and dark academia was done so so well. It was addicting to read this one.

You know that time Aretha Franklin was asked what she thought of Taylor Swift’s music and she just said “she has beautiful gowns” … I’m kind of having one of those moments. The first edition of this book is beautiful, the premise sounds good on paper, and the racial representation is critical to representation in publishing as a whole, but other than that … there sadly aren't any other highlights that I can point out. This book has so much potential, but where it consistently fell short for me is that it clear wants to be edgy. The romance goes past the normal point of enemies to lovers, and veers into abuse and bullying territory. It doesn't help that I never really sensed any connection or tension between the two main characters. And on the subject of characterization, the characters aren’t morally grey, they're just bad people. They’re impossible to root for. And this character and relationship writing really messes up all attempts at a theme. You can’t tell me that this book is a character study of Kidan or about the grey area of morality when I can’t stand behind a single decision she or Susenyos makes. The prose is simple, which is fine, but again, you can feel the author trying to add some bite, and it just falls flat. Overall, I really wanted to like this, but when I realized about 25% in that the forced snark and cruelty between character’s wasn’t going to fade out, I knew it wasn’t for me. If you like intense enemies-to-lovers, this book may be for you, but personally I couldn’t connect with any of these characters.

This book was so good. The atmosphere, the writing, and the story is just one of my favorites. It makes vampires new, yet familiar. Not many people will like the main character, but I loved how she was messy and chaotic and passionate about finding her sister.

I highly recommend this book especially for the autumn season.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for a copy of the audiobook in exchange for my honest review. I did purchase my own copy of the audiobook 30% into it because I loved it so much.