Oh, man, this book was dark, but so good! This world of vampires, and of Kidan and Susenyos, is dark and wicked, and like Kidan keeps repeating to herself, she must destroy all evil, including herself. Yeah, this was such an epic read!

The way that the vampires and the magic worked, with bloodlines being tied to vampires, house magic, and the depths of what they were being taught at school-in a course that Kidan needs to pass in order to keep her house, it's important. And so fascinating to learn!

Kidan is completely convinced that Susenyos had something to do with her sister's disappearance, and is pretty focused on her goal to take him down any any other vampires she can along the way, no matter the cost to herself. To the point where her concern for her own well-being is at the bottom of her priorities. His motives were much more murkier, and oh, the story delighted in throwing obstacle after obstacle, reveal after reveal in our paths!

Since this is the first in a series, it's setting up a lot, from the characters, the world, and the plot. What with the ending of this book, I'm really anticipating the sequel, because I need to know what's going to happen next in this wonderful and gripping story! Where we left these characters-and the possibilities for the future story have lit up my imagination and I'm so excited to see what happens next!

Loved reading this book and the wait for the sequel is going to incredibly awful!

The narrator was awesome. I actually preferred the audiobook performance over the book itself. The story was not my favorite, but the narrator brought it new life. Great

4.5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Hachette Audio for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

I have been looking forward to this book since the moment Tigest Girma posted about her novel being about Black vampires originating from Ethiopia, so I was floored and honored to receive an advanced copy!

This dark academia book is filled with romance and magic. I’m obsessed with Kidan and Susenyos. The hatred they have for each other !!!! Omg I was pulled in from the very first page. Girma was able to weave all of this mythology in with this university and political environment Kidan’s agreed to come into to find her sister, June, who’s been missing for sometime. All of the “trials” that Kidan had to go through reminded me a bit of Legendborn, and I knew it was going to get intense. And any time Susenyos says, “Little Bird” ???? Excuse me but I will simply faint !!!

The last 15% of the book had me completely stressed out of my mind, and I am LOCKED IN to the rest of this series. I must know what happens!!! I cannot wait for book 2.

The narrator did a great job of narrating the book. I was entranced by her voice and how she portrayed each of the characters.

CW: violence, murder, death, blood, injury/injury detail, fire/fire injury, terminal illness, toxic relationship

Loved every second of this book. Thankfully I already had this preordered the minute that I saw it on amazon. I highly recommend this book to everyone. I will be posting a review on my amazon the minute I have my physical copy in my hands.

A fantastic debut and perfect start to a trilogy!

Dark academia, a mystery to solve and an incredible secret society full of lore and Black vampires!

If you’re tired of your enemies to lovers books being super low on the hatred scale, then you NEED to read this book! I spent half the book wondering how they were going to chill long enough to spend 5 minutes in the same room without trying to unalive each other. And when they did? Whew! The spice was spicing. Can’t wait for the next installment!

Thank you to NetGalley and Hachette Audio for this ALC. I really enjoyed this book! It was definitely out of my comfort zone genre wise, but I was enticed by the black vampires. Even though most of the characters were morally gray, I liked them all. Considering the situation the behaviors were unsurprising. Kidan is literally try to save the one family member she has left so her distrust and anger is very understandable to me. I really enjoyed the chemistry between the two main protagonist, Kidan and Susenyos. They hated each other but it was still intense. There moments together fueled by lust combined with the hate were crazyyyyy, but it a good way. The contents of those scenes weren't graphic, but they were heavily implied. Not to the point that it was blatant and inappropriate. I think this was done very well!

I was a little nervous to listen to this as an audiobook out of fear of being confused by the story along the way, and at times I did, but for the most part the story and the lore was easy to follow. Even when I did get a little confused I found that it was easy to pick up what's going on with context clues. Since this is a story that will be a three book series, I wasn't shocked that there was a cliff hanger at the end, but I like that it didn't feel so abrupt.

The narrator of this story did a great job as well. She really made the story engaging and entertaining to the point. It helped along with the story itself being entertaining. It was a 17 hour book, but it really didn't feel like it which was a good thing to me! There was never a time where the story felt like it dragged.

Overall, I was really impressed with this book and I'm excited to read the next book when it comes out next year.

The main reason I requested this book is because I saw the author on social media promoting it and it seemed interesting.
I have to say I m not a fan of vampires as mythical creatures, but I only ever read of "white" vampires, so I thought I would give a chance to a complete different mythological view of vampires, and, although they are still not my favourites, it was refreshing seeing a whole new system in which they work. This was a huge plus for me.
Together with the fact that the setting is a secret university where mysteries are the norm, I was hooked very quickly, and I could not wait to listen to what was going to happen next.
One thing I have to point out is that the story does not really pick up (at least for me) until about 45-50% of the book, which could be a little late for some people, but when it does, it's impossible to stop listening.
The best part about this book for me are the characters, all complex, all round. They all have wants and needs, and they all have variying limits on what they would do to get those.
I can honestly say I cannot wait for the next book.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this story.
SPOILERS TO FOLLOW

I N C R E D I B L E! In the past month I've read three vampire books (including this one) and none of them were as atmospheric as this one. Listening to the audiobook made me feel like I was immersed in the story itself. I loved the descriptions of the Adane House and how it affected Kidane and Susenyos in different ways. It made me feel like I was living in the house with them. The world building was impeccable too. The Ethiopian culture interspersed throughout the narrative along with the addition of how vampires work in this modern society was so much fun to read about. I was so enthralled by the Draconi class (I think that's what the class was called that they were taking I'm not sure how it's spelled though because of the audiobook) that they were taking. All the twists and turns that course took them through always shocked me when Kidane and her friends came to their conclusions. The dynamics of the friend group were so filled with tension too that I felt like I was going to crack and I was on the outside of it honestly! The tension between Susenyos and Kidane was so much fun too. There are some books who proclaim to be enemies to lovers but fall so short of the idea of enemies to lovers. Either one of them is straight up a bully towards the other, or the characters aren't even enemies to begin with (they just have a silly misunderstanding) or they're not even actively trying to kill one another (that's the true kind of enemies to lovers everything else should be classified as rivals to lovers imo). I'm so excited to read this trilogy and can't wait to see where the story takes me!!!

4.5⭐️
"Hate me for eternity."

Actually, ATE THIS UP!
The first bit is a little hard to get into and you really have to tough it out through all the world building and boring bits that I've come to expect with the first book in a dark acedemia series, but oh my god is it worth it.

If there's one thing about me, it's that I am a ride or die for a crazy, cold, tortured main character!!💳💥💳💥💳 and the love interest, UGH THE LOVE INTEREST. I didn't read the description before picking up the ARC ( I will only judge a book by its cover) and so I didn't know that there was going to be romance in it at all and I am very happy there was. It was seamlessly integrated into the story, and although it did play a more prominent role than I expected (seeing as the entire first third of the book was so far removed from a romantic plot line) I really enjoyed that aspect of the story. As well as the main plot, which was absolutely captivating. I did get a bit bored every once in a while, and towards the end of the book, I kinda just wanted it to wrap up. However, now that it's over...idk what to do with myself.

How am I supposed to function until the next book comes out??? (This one isn't even out, yet😭 I have to wait even longer now)

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I was shocked multiple times in this story! Dark Academia Romantic Fantasy 😮‍💨 soooo much tension you could cut it with a knife! 😏 Enemies to lovers, slow burn 🔥 and secret society 🏫

A Badass FMC. I enjoyed all the characters in this story. Human and Vampires at the same secret school what could go wrong 😬. I loved this Authors ✍🏾 writing style hands down I was hooked from beginning to end.

I need book 2 ASAP!!!!

A dark and twisted tale filled with vampires, murder, and missing family set against the backdrop of an exclusive private university. This was a great read. The audiobook was so immersive. I can’t wait for the rest of this series.

Thanks Netgalley for the ARC of the audiobook.

Immortal Dark was just WOW! This book was amazing. I immediately felt whisked away into a whole new world of vampire lore.

This story was dark, twisty, gritty, and kept you guessing about what would come next. Kidan Adane is searching for her sister June, who was stolen by a vampire in the middle of the night. Kidan has one name tied to the disappearance... Susenyos Sagad. To get her sister back, Kidan has to enter Uxlay University, a place where vampires and humans coexist. Worse for Kidan is that she has no choice but to inhabit the same house as Susenyos, and it's a battle of wills between which of them will win the house.


If you are looking for a true enemies to lovers book this is it, not only is it done well, it's done beautifully. I love the gritty tension between Susenyos and Kidan. They truly can't wait to get rid of each other. The way these two scheme against each other makes them pairing up to find June all that much more delicious.


Ultimately, I loved every aspect of this story. We get to see Kidan, who is essentially alone in the world (outside of June) create her own family of sorts. We get to see her truly question how she feels about things and create alliances she isn't sure about. Every moment of this book felt like an adventure. I can't wait to see where this story goes.

The audiobook version was done so well. It created a rich atmosphere and I felt like I was there in the story with Kidan through all her trials and tribulations. It felt like a decadently delicious whisper in your ear. The audiobook version slayed, adding dimension to this richly developed world and story.


If you love enemies to lovers, dark fantasy, and unique vampire stories I absolutely recommend you pick up Immortal Dark. Thank you to the publisher for providing an advance copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

3/5 An ambitious yet somewhat confusing world of humans and vampires.

What I liked: East African lore, the connection between the vampires and the “houses,” many of the /ideas/ in this novel (like the class assignments and “the house law”). Dark academia where they actually go to class.

What didn’t work for me (personally): the expectation v. the reality.

I had high expectations for IMMORTAL DARK due to the marketing and how the book has been pitched on social media. For example, I had to squint to find the romance. (It gave enemies-to-allies, not lovers.). Both MCs are morally grey in the sense that the reader is left confused about their backstories and motivations for the majority of the book; once we learn them, these characters are good! Just angry and edgy.

Do I recommend? Yes, but for upper+ YA (this is pushing NA), and not on only audiobook. This is the type of book where it helps to see all the in-world vocab on the page and review past chapters (because plot points can get confusing).

This book was good. I don't think I was really in the mood for vampires so that's always hard. It was really good though. I loved the storyline and it did give ninth house vibes which is one of my favorites. Only, the enemies to lovers was much more prominent.

Check out the Dark academia 4.25⭐️
Book of the season! Fall Cannot be complete without you picking this story up!

I devoured the audiobook, Thr narrator did a great job at bringing the characters to life! Also, if you haven’t pre ordered the physical copy, I just got a copy of it and O M F G! *gasp* so hard when I opened the package and saw the stencil edges…it’s a COLLECTOR’S MUST!

Kidan, Our heiress MC was such a conflicted character, I loved every moment of it and all I wanted was MORE.. the banter between Kidan and our MMC Susenyos.. *absolutely delicious* 🤤

A story filled with secrets, lies, murder mystery, vampires, humans, .. found family, loyalty and how far we will go in the name of LOVE 🖤

I had to DNF. I could not get into this book and I felt like so much information was being thrown in my face. The characters seemed annoying to me, making it harder for me to want to continue with this story. I really wanted to like it because it seemed interesting and it has vampires but I was ultimately disappointed.

Thank you to the author, Hachette Audio, and NetGalley for this audiobook.

Finally! An enemies to lovers that are actually proper enemies!!

I've been waiting for this book for so long and it didn't disappoint. It's dark, enticing, seductive and with the perfect amount of feminine rage.

I absolutely can't wait to see what else Tigest writes and to see how she can only grow as an author. This is a strong debut and Tigest is someone to watch!!

Thank you Netgalley for the gifted copy. This was a good read and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys vampire stories.

I was really excited about this book. I typically love vampires and dark academia. However, this was a bit of a struggle for me to get through. I will say that I listened to the audiobook, and while the narrator did a fantastic job, this one is long with a lot of characters and details. I personally would have likely gotten more out of eyeball reading it. I found the amount of details in this book overwhelming at times. It often felt like the characters were speaking in riddles just to draw out the story in unnecessary ways. Kidan was a frustrating FMC who seemed to rush to conclusions and be quick to anger. The house systems and magic were really intriguing. I’ll probably pick up the next book in this series to see what happens next.

The narrator, Jordan Cobb, did a great job bringing each character to life. There were a lot of characters, and each one had their own distinct voice.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hachette Audio for the ARC!

This feels very much like if the character of The Mortal Instruments were in The Atlas Six. I can see this being appealing to a lot of people, but unfortunately I'm not one of them.

The world building of Immortal Dark is very rich and textured, I loved the African folklore and culture on which it was based and I wished it was even more present. At points, it felt like the mythology was used more as a plot device to expose something that would justify the characters' actions instead of being there to make the world feel more compelling and vivid, but overall the lore was fascinating and elevated the story.
Uxley University was also very interesting - I was especially intrigued by a curriculum that revolved around philosophy and moral issues - but again it felt like the whole academic environment was just an excuse to enforce close proximity amongst the characters and at times it fell into Riverdale territory (i.e. the first dance where they randomly need to mingle).
The characters were a bit one-dimensional in my opinion, especially Kidany, which was the classic YA protagonist - half "not like other girls", half "the coolest girl" - and spent most of the book being either angry, afraid or horny, without any other nuance. I didn't really buy the protagonists as "morally gray" characters, it just felt like they were doing random awful things that were motivated by very weak inner conflicts and even weaker emotional responses.

That said, I do believe that someone that really likes YA and dark romances just for what they are would find this book very exciting and compelling, because the lore and the academic backdrop are very interesting concepts.
Moreover, I would recommend the audiobook, because the production of it was great and the narrator did an amazing job at portraying the characters each with their unique and distinguishable voice. The voice acting was superb and it made the listening experience incredibly immersive.