This was an interesting take on Vampires. I will likely continue on with the series. The comp titles make sense for this one, it has its own feel but definitely has vibes of Ninth house and The Cruel Prince.

I tried so hard, but I couldn’t get into this one. The lore and premise drew me in at first, but ultimately couldn’t hold my attention. I also found that the narrator didn’t have many fluctuations between the different characters voices which also threw me off. I dnf’d at 55%.

I had come across this book through the author’s reels on instagram and felt very blasé with the use of ‘dark academia’ in the promo, since most people think of it as an aesthetic rather than an actual criticism of the romanticization of academia itself. Now let me be clear, this book provided no actual criticism of academia so it falls into that category. It’s not dark academia but gothic!!!! Please, call it what it is, which is gothic, gothic is the aesthetic you’re thinking of. Anyway. The GOTHIC!!!!! vibes were immaculate, I loved the old campus setting and I almost wish we had gotten more descriptions of buildings, decor, etc. I enjoyed this version of the vampires the author created, very much inspired by African folklore but also very dark and, I’m sorry, but you can’t write a vampire book and not make it dark, it doesn’t work otherwise. What truly hit the mark for me was Kidan as a character and her relationship with Susenyos: she is very much morally grey which I truly appreciated and I just liked her depth in general. She was a little too reckless at times and it can become quite annoying but it didn’t happen too much in the second half of the novel so it didn’t bother me too much either. The enemies-to-lovers was mwah🤌😙, they had great chemistry and I’m really curious how that will unfold in the next books. The plot was overall rather good, I don’t have anything bad to say about it aside from that it was maybe a little all over the place at times? It’s more of a feeling that it wasn’t really perfect but I can’t explain it and it didn’t affect my enjoyment of the book too much. A really good read that I would recommend to vampire lovers! 4 stars

kidan grew up far away from the arcane society she was born into, where human bloodlines gain power through vampire companionship. she decides to infiltrate the elite uxlay academy when her sister, june, goes missing and she’s sure susenyos, the vampire bound to her family, had something to do with the disappearance. as she works on finding her sister, a murder mirroring june’s disappearance causes kidan to sink further into the ruthless underworld of vampires.

i really don’t know if i have the words to do this book justice, but i’m going to try.

immortal dark is such a unique vampire book, while still using some themes we all know and love. i loved how the world was built in an immersive way. i enjoyed learning about how uxlay academy came to be, including how vampires and humans are now friendly (or at least, they’re supposed to be). the companionship and house concepts were also very interesting.

now…let me say, as someone who generally prefers friends to lovers, this book had the best enemies to lovers romance i’ve probably ever read. there was soooo much tension between kidan and susenyos, and every time i thought they were about to give in, it was drawn out just a bit more. i really loved how their relationship played out.

narration: jordan cobb narrated the audiobook and did a wonderful job bringing the story to life. i felt immersed throughout the whole book.

immortal dark is one of my new favorite books, not only in the vampire category, but overall. i can’t wait for book two!

It started off slow, but once the action started I couldn’t put it down. I love the references to ancient African culture, and Kidan’s strength. I can’t wait for the next book in the series.

I tried really, really hard to love this book. From the blurb, this sounds like something that I would absolutely devour but I was listening to it and zoning out every time. There are many readers who are going to love this book and I'm unfortunately not one of them. I will not say this is a bad book, because I think for the right audience it will be great!

Thank you NetGalley and Hachette Audio | Little, Brown Young Readers for access to the ALC in exchange for an honest review.
Expected Pub Date: 9/3/24

I would like to thank NetGalley for giving me an audio-arc in exchange for an honest review.

There's a lot I need to say about this book, from the enemies-to-lovers, slow-burn romance, to the dark academia setting, to the Ethiopian mythology woven with vampire lore, this book packs a punch. I loved the setting of Uxlay University. I loved how everyone is morally grey. I love the whole feuding families. I love the fact that the heirs of the houses bind themselves to vampires in order to protect the world, amongst other things.

Everyone has their own agenda, everyone is out for themselves. There were so many layers to this book that I couldn't figure out what was coming next because of how insanely woven everything was. I loved it.

Kidan and Susenyos were both excellently written characters. I loved how they come together and attempt to work with one another despite their goals not really being aligned. And let me just say, when I say I love the enemies-to-lovers trope, I truly mean it. So when this book fell into my lap, I was all about it, and let me just say: this is true enemies-to-lovers. Kidan and Susenyos truly hate each other and continue to do so throughout the book.

My one issue with this book was that the other characters besides Kidan and Susenyos fell flat for me, and I had a hard time connecting with any of them, and for me that became a bit of an issue in discerning who was who after a while. Thankfully, the audiobook narrator did a fantastic job in making them all seem unique enough that I was able to figure it out. Definitely would recommend this one.

Actual Rating: 4.5 stars

As somewhat of a connoisseur of vampire stories, I was incredibly excited to pick this book up when I first heard about it. Whilst I can definitely see a trend to change this, particularly as we are having a vampire renaissance at the moment, a lot of vampire stories seem to be sorely lacking in diversity and the richness that we get when a story taps into a wider breadth of influences. I don’t know enough about Ethiopian folktales to speculate on how much of the vampire mythos is unique to Girma’s imagination versus drawing on traditional stories however there is definitely a wonderful sense of African diaspora woven throughout this story which adds a beautiful dimension to an already incredible story.


I was talking to a group of new friends earlier about this book and I think the best way to describe this book is to say expect the unexpected and also Yos 🥵 I really loved the fact that this book has so many layers to the story but manages them with an expert hand so that the story never feels as though it has too much going-on. For a thoroughly surprising book, it also didn’t feel contrived during any of the twists and turns. This may be Girma’s debut but it is abundantly clear that she has been writing and honing her craft for a very long time.


I can’t wait to read the rest of this series because I generally have no idea where this story might take me but I do know that I am going to enjoy every moment of the ride to get there.

I loved this book SO MUCH! I feel like I went on this dark, deliciously twisted journey right alongside Kidan, and I loved every single second.

Story: 5/5
For practically the entire book, I was on the edge of my seat and not knowing where to turn next. This is a dark vampire fantasy that is rich in lore. A large portion of the book takes place at a hidden university, and we get to essentially go through an entire semester with these characters. I absolutely love dark academia books that actually let the reader sit in on the classes, and this book executed it flawlessly.

But the true strength of this novel is found within the complexity of the characters. Each person (and vampire) we meet has a deeply complex past that shapes them. Their motives are often fueled by rage, pain, and grief. Girma crafted such intricate histories and complex, difficult relationships that I often found myself loving a character in one moment and then hating them the next. The fact that Girma had me absolutely wrapped around her finger for all 400+ pages is the mark of an exceptional book for me.

Audiobook & Narration: 5/5
I am so so glad I listened to the audiobook because it was such an incredibly immersive journey. Jordan Cobb truly brings each character to life in their own unique way and infuses pain, passion, and grit at the perfect times.

Thank you to Hachette Audio and Netgalley for an advanced copy of this audiobook.

THIS BOOK WAS SO DANG GOOD!!!!! Dark academia with vampires yummm🥵 I loved our FMC, and I loved the slow burn!

Thank you Hachette Audio & Little Brown Young Readers for allowing me to listen to this arc.

This book is INCREDIBLE.

But the audiobook brings it to life even more. The narrator is perfectly cast, and I will continue to listen to this series on audio!

This will be my favorite book out of the entire year. The writing is masterful, and unbelievably good. The characters have well-written flaws, and you can feel their feelings as you read. Several times, I gasped, screamed, and laughed.

As a vampire lover, this book have everything I love about them. There isn't a doubt in my mind this will be a bestseller.

It's fast paced while still being mysterious and addictive. I'm counting the days to pick up a copy to relive all my favorite parts during spooky season because this is the perfect read for it.

Young Adult leaning New Adult | Paranormal Dark Academia with a hint of romance
While there’s implied sexual activity, it’s not described, so if this book were a movie, it’d be PG-13.

This book delivers a dark paranormal story set in the halls of Uxlay University.

The real star for me was the audio narration by Jordan Cobb. They expertly captured the "haughtiness" of Uxlay University and brought the main female character to life perfectly. Their ability to switch to a more silky, nuanced voice for the male character was also appreciated, adding depth to the third-person limited narrative and allowing me to keep them straight. The side characters however, somewhat blended into each other, but that might have been a problem with audio only. I listened between 1.5 and 1.75 speed, which I felt gave it a nice, natural pace.

The narration carried me through the first 60% of the story, where I often felt dropped into situations with little context. After the 60% mark, the plot tightened up brilliantly and narration and story became best friends. Jordan Cobb's narration created a vivid, atmospheric experience without the need for sound effects.

I recommend having both the audiobook and a e-book (or physical copy) on hand, as the world-building can be dense, especially with the number of houses introduced. A quick reference guide in the physical version, I hope is included. I think it would be a huge help.

The characters were wonderfully morally grey, which kept me engaged, though I felt the romantic subplot was sometimes forced used mainly to drive the plot forward at times. It felt like trauma bonding but despite that I thought the tension between the main characters was well done, and the ending had the characters staying true to themselves, which made it satisfying.

Overall, despite a few pacing issues and some info-dumping, the strong narration and well-developed characters made this a memorable listen. Thank you to Hachette Audio & NetGalley for the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

First off, thank you Netgalley for providing me with the audiobook and Hachette UK/Team BKMRK for the physical ARC.

God where to even start with this book. I’ve been looking forward to this book since I first saw Tigest’s tiktok talking about her work in progress about black vampires set in a university two years ago thanks to one of my mutuals who had reposted it, and I’m so glad I’d come across it. I couldn’t even tell you one book about black vampires, let alone one written by a habesha/Ethiopian writer and can’t even begin to explain the immense joy I felt when Immortal Dark was picked up by a publisher.

I picked it up after weeks of wanting to start it immediately despite having 3 current reads at the time, but I couldn’t help myself and by the time I’d finished listening to the first chapter, I couldn’t stop and had to keep going. This book was so addictive that it completely consumed me and left me spending every waking moment listening to the audiobook, even as I lay in bed, waiting for sleep to take me. The book isn’t even out yet and I’m already stressing about the wait until we get book two. I knew by that by the end, Tigest would leave me yearning for more as it’s a confirmed trilogy, but my god am I already itching for more of Kidan’s story. It’s been a long while since I last spent every second reading a book theorising possible outcomes regarding both plot and this book felt like such a gift.

This book is compared to both The Cruel Prince and Ninth House and I have to say, they’re perfect comp titles. If you’re a fan of Jude Duarte or Alex Stern, then I feel like Kidan is one of the many characters from this book that you’ll enjoy reading about. She’s selfish, at times cold and ruthless, but you also can’t help but root for her and want her to be happy. Did she shock me with her impulsiveness when she first arrived in Adane House (when she did that)? Yes, but it also made me appreciate her more for it. Kidan is a character who you think has no lines she wouldn’t cross and it makes her such a fascinating main character to read about. Then you meet the supporting cast and realise they’re all equally unhinged which makes for a thrilling read.

Susenyos was an interesting male lead, in fact when we first meet him, I thought he was a complete different character to who we meet when Kidan finally moves into Adane House. We really get to see a truly antagonistic relationship between the two which makes for such a great enemies to lovers storyline. I can tell this series is going to be a slow burn and I’m so glad because it’s my favourite trope when it comes to romance/romantic storylines. The angst is going to be insane going into book two and three, I can already feel it. The chemistry between the two leaped off the page anytime the two shared a scene, regardless of whether they were fighting or not.

The only reason why I didn’t give this book 5 stars like I thought I would from the start, is simply because of the fact that at times, the writing felt a bit overdone and it would confuse me a lot. Thee were many moments where I would have to rewind or pick up my book and go back and re-read the sentences over a couple of times to try and understand what was being told. The sentence structures got really confusing, but it also felt like there were too many metaphors and similes been used in a sentence and took away from the impact of what was going on. There were some moments where they were really well done and I would go back to underline and annotate those scenes in my physical copy, but sadly that was outweighed by the times that I’d felt quite confused. I just hope that by the time we get back to that the writing isn’t as overdone, as it was in book one, because I really love the characters as well as the story, and can’t wait to see where it takes us.

There is so much more that I wish to say that I can’t because of spoilers, but I will be adding a spoilery section to my review once we have reached release day (or a few days after).

Immortal Dark is out September 5th so make sure to preorder your copies of you haven’t yet!

I was fully immersed. I loved everything about it, though I will say the chemistry between the two MCs was lacking in ny opinion but other than that I enjoyed the conflict between the different groups and cannot wait to read the second book when it is released.

I couldn’t put this book down! It will definitely be one of my most memorable reads of the year. The sequel cannot come soon enough!

It didn’t feel cliche at all. I didn’t expect what was coming in terms of the story or the characters. The author crafted so many characters that I grew to love, and felt intrigued by. She also crafted a very unique world. It is unlike anything I have read recently. I was at the edge of my seat the entirety of the book.

The narrator of the audiobook did an amazing job, they made the wonderful story even more enjoyable!

Basically, I loved everything about this book so much.

And I will be willing to do anything for the sequel!

The main takeaway from this review should be that you have to read this book!

4.25/5
This is an amazing dark, tense, ambitious story. I think I did myself a disservice by listening to it because of the layout of the story. The narrator is entertaining but her character voices are limited and there are a bunch in this story which made it harder for me to follow, along with the school being broken into houses it was harder for me to remember who was who because I couldn't go back and reference. The story is exactly how I want a vampire book to be dark, eerie, mysteries galore. It is dark academia at the finest. It's fast paced things constantly happening and a great explanation of why things happened the way it did. Lots of twists and turns. The main character is ambitious and very grey and I love it. The banter between the main characters is wonderful and the side characters are good balance to the story.
Thank you NetGalley and Hachette Audio / Little, Brown Young Readers for the opportunity to listen to this audio ARC.

No because this is one of the best dark academia books I’ve read since The Secret History! Plus all the magic and the characters were so beautifully crafted. What a great debut! And the narrator was amazing. I love their voice and it matched the book content.

Thank you NetGalley, and Hachette Audio for this ALC of Immortal Dark by Tigest Girma.

This was a refreshing new take on dark academia and vampires. The FMC is a long lost heiress to a founding house at an elite university, forced to live with the vampire she suspects killed her family and kidnapped her sister.

At first, the story was a little hard to get into, but around the 60% mark, it picked up and captured my interest. Tigest weaves East African characters and myths into the story which made it all the more interesting. I am not sure if this is meant as part of a duology or an extended series, but a second book will definitely be needed to bring the story to conclusion. For a YA story, it was well done, but I would like to see the next book/rest of the series as NA with some more mature themes and content.

From an audio book experience, I enjoyed the narrator and was able to distinguish between all the characters.

I'm ready for Girma to give me Kidane x Susenyos x Samson endgame -thank you in advance! Girma understood the assignment and not only delivered IMMACULATE chemistry between Kidane and Susenyos who do not even need to be altered in any way because they are perfect enemies to lovers but has raised the standard and upped the ENEMIES TO LOVERS by giving them BOTH a potential enemy to lover (please make them a throuple, Samson is a flalwless match suited for Kidane and Susensyos - the childhood friends to enemies to lovers pipeline is giving) the added tension and impact of Samson has ELEVATED story. I hope that's where Girma is taking this story but anyway Immortal Dark is without a doubt in my top 3 reads of 2024!!! Absolutely encourage all to pick up this story to read and while the synopsis recommends this book for fans of Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo, I have to say this far outweighs in Dark Academia fantasy and is what I wish Ninth House had been/ continued to be in Hell Bent but I hope Girma can continue to surpass it by making the sequel even more fantastic!! If it isn't obvious already, the sequel to Immortal Dark is highly anticipated by me and in the meantime I'll be dreaming about this book for the foreseeable. 5000 ⭐stars

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Hachette Audio and NetGalley for providing me with an ALC in exchange for an honest review.

As a fan of all-things vampiric, I had my reservations on this book. For me personally, it has been some time since a 'new' take on vampirism has been done in a solid way, leaving it really resonating with me. That was, of course, until this book.

I LOVED the setting, the background to the houses, the vampiric bondings and everything about the way the world and the vampires were presented, as well as the magic system we see throughout. I would have enjoyed more of the 'academia' side of things, though there is a healthy dose of it smattered throughout the book.

My only real complaint about this book is that I struggled to see the chemistry between the two main characters and, in fact, I was far more concerned with the familial (be it the relationship between Kidan and her sister or the found family she encounters at Uxlay) relationship than the physical one she develops with her romantic partner.