Thank you NetGalley for another ARC,

Immortal Dark, by Tigest Girma, was one of my most anticipated reads of the year; black vampires in an academic setting? Sign me up! I expected to like it much more than I actually did, and I still can see why many people will flock towards it and, honestly? Good for Tigest! We need more black authors in fantasy, horror, romance, etc…

My problem with it was that Kidan, our main female character, is exactly the type of character that I hate: she is impulsive, she leaps to conclusions, doesn't care about consequences; she is in a tough spot, I totally get that, but throughout the narrative I was screaming at her: KIDAN, BE SMART ABOUT THIS, THINK THIS THROUGH, YOUR ACTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES!!!!

The saving grace (character wise) was Susenyos, the main male character. He is the bee’s knees. He was always so calm and collected, even when he was boiling in anger he was smart and calculating.

Propps to Jordan Cobb, the narrator; it was an “ensemble” cast and she did a terrific job at differentiating everyone.

2.75 ⭐️

I should’ve dnfd this one but i kept hearing about how amazing this book is so I pushed thru. I found it so be both boring but also intriguing. The plot was interesting enough to keep my attention but not enough for me to fall in love with.

The Cruel Prince meets the Ninth House is a very accurate representation of this story. Warning once you start reading this book you won't want to put it down with its irresistable take on vampire lore and on being morally grey. The romance is a big part of the story but it did read much more like a romantasy than a romance which I appreciated.

I received a gifted audiobook ARC from Netgalley. I voluntarily listened/read this book and am leaving an honest review.

Oh. My. Goodness.... Phenomenal! With her first book I think Tigest Girma has already become an auto buy author for me. The tension? Intrigue? Rich backstory? Secrets? All of it was outstanding. I finished approximately 15 minutes ago and immediately began scouring the Internet for a release date on book 2 because I'm DESPERATE. I am already looking forward to rereading this right before book 2 comes out to prepare.... And I may not even wait that long to reread because I already know I will pick up on small details so much more during a reread.

4.5 Stars!
I absolutely loved this!! Tigest Girma has written a beautifully haunting story that has captured the gothic, dark, and violent parts of vampire lore. Tigest Girma is masterful with this morally grey, dark academia, vengeful fantasy that pulls in the readers instantly and you do NOT want to look away. To me, this read more as NA than YA, but I was very happy about that. I loved the complex characters, the "I see the dark sides of you" back and forth from Kidan and Susenyos. I loved all the banter and revenge, blood, and the darkness of this story.

Immortal Dark was also very unique the way Girma incorporates Ethiopian Mythology into the story. Also her creation of a sentient house with each room being different from the last, (you'll have to read to find out what), as well as the location of the vampire bites reveal different memories or emotions for both the biter and the bitee?!

Jordan Cobb did a brilliant job with this narration; capturing each emotion of all the characters and spinning this story with her voice. A perfect match to this book!

Thank you SO MUCH to NetGalley and Little Brown and Hachette Audio for the eARC/early audiobook of this beautifully dark book!

WHAT A PHENOMENAL BOOK. HOOKED FROM PAGE 1. An addictive dark acadamia fantasy featuring Ethiopian folklore and a true enemies to lovers between a murdering heiress and a bloodthirsty, brooding vampire that will stop at nothing to take her legacy.
Beautiful, seductive prose. Magnificent character arcs. This gave me Ikenna from the Blood Trials and absolutely everything I was looking for and did not find from Jude and Cardan (yes I hated The Cruel Prince). Loved the anxiety, depression, and WONDERFUL synesthesia rep. This gave me the best form of reader anxiety; I finished and felt DIZZY.
My only gripe with this is that vampires as a mythological species have an inherently queer history and not a single character in this was queer. Also, IMO this should not be categorized as a young adult book.

Kidan Adane is completely and utterly insane, with both common mental disorders and also some murderous, disturbing stuff sprinkled in. This book would be perfect for fans of Ninth House's Alex Stern. Kidan isn't just morally gray, she's DARK. She's murderous and looking for not only her sister throughout this entire novel, but also like-minded friends at a school for some kind of dark mythological magic. The magic system is pretty ambiguous here so far, but there are vampires and magic houses that are not nearly as friendly as I'd hope my magic house would be. So many tropes we know and love are at work here, and I was into it. At the same time, the plot dragged, and there are too many questions left unanswered by the end. This is the first in a series, so I understand plenty of left on the table for that, but for the length of this book, there should have been a bit more to make it feel truly satisfying. It also felt a bit like a censored adult novel, not YA, though there isn't anything especially concrete that I can point to there aside from the vibe that this story was built to be more.
My favorite parts were the June videos (really wish there were more of those from her early days before the book began) and the complex House politics at Uxlay.
I listened to the audiobook, and Jordan Cobb was seamless. I would absolutely listen to her read this whole series.
Thanks to NetGalley and Hachette Audio for this advanced audiobook to review!

This was a fun read, but definitely pushes the boundaries of YA and might need to be labeled adult with so many issues with book banning and what not, better safe than sorry but man vampires are always THE BEST.

Immortal Dark ARC Review

My rating: 5⭐️
Spice: 1🌶️

OK. This book…THIS BOOK. Ugh. I freaking loved it so so much. Kidan frustrated me in the first few chapters but OH MAN. As we got further into the book, I absolutely LOVED how feisty she was. She played dirty and I devoured that. Her relationship with Susenyos was so entertaining. Nothing like a good ol’ ENEMIES TO LOVERS. I adored everyone’s backstories as it was so interesting to see how it shaped the characters. The plot was excellent. I loved how East African themes were intertwined into the novel. *chef’s kiss*. I don’t think I would quite compare this book with The Cruel Prince. I haven’t read The Ninth House either so I can’t quite compare with that but it might be a bit of a stretch to compare it with The Cruel Prince. Anyways this book will now be my biggest obsession along with FOTA. And I’m sure you know how much I love The Cruel Prince hehe.

Additionally, I listened to the audiobook version of Immortal Dark. Might I say how much Jordan Cobb did an amazing job at narrating. I tend to not like audiobooks so much because I get bored, but wow. This narrator had me hooked!

This novel contains violence and some romantic themes.

If you like books that contain:
🧛 Vampires
🦋 East African themes
🧛 Morally grey characters
🦋 Competent FMC
🧛 And more

This book is for you.

🧛 Immortal Dark releases 3rd of September 2024🧛

Thank you to @netgalley and @hachetteaus and @hachetteaudio for the opportunity to read this ARC.

⚠️ Just a heads up, this book does contain violence⚠️

I enjoyed this book so much. It had a lot of dark and mysterious undertones. The fmc was very dark and it something that I wasn’t use to but I did enjoy it ! I definitely can’t wait to see what happens with the series.

Wow! This was pretty dark and sexy for a YA book but I really liked it. Immortal Dark is a dark academia fantasy with Black vampires and an angry, depressed heroine bent on revenge. It deals with some really intense topics like self-harm and suicidal ideation, so content warnings for that. But the writing is excellent for a debut - it's evocative and sucked me in from page 1. It's also a really interesting and fresh take on a vampire story.

Kidan is an orphan and heiress, but her sister has been taken (supposedly by an ancient vampire attached to the family house) and she's out to find her sister and get revenge. She's ruthless and violent in seeking her ends and ends up having to attend a school in order to officially be the heir to the estate, while living with this vampire that she hates.

This was pitched as Cruel Prince meets Ninth House and I don't think they're far off on that. This is a dark and fairly violent book with an prickly, angry heroine and complex world-building. It easily could have been sold as an adult novel and as it is, it's definitely on the higher end of the age spectrum. But I'm invested and will definitely read book 2. The audio narration is really good- it gives the atmosphere you want and fits well with who this character is. I received an audio review copy via NetGalley, all opinions are my own.

This book had a truly interesting premise, but I felt like for the first 60% of the book, I was very confused. Perhaps it would have been easier to follow in a print format, but I spent a long time trying to compute which characters were which, what they were supposed to be learning, and the point of all of it. It felt like way too much information way too quickly for a casual read.

The cons: The two main characters were not likable for the majority of the book (and I do enjoy a good "love-to-hate-them" character). I know that Kidan was written to be pretty numb and dark- but she got to be insufferable. I wanted to DNF this at 30% in, but I stuck with it, hoping for something that would spark my interest (as I am a big fan of vampires and paranormal books- especially ones that take place in strange school settings). It was only when the "bad guys" showed up, that things got truly interesting for me- and that was about 85% of the way through the book.

Now for the pros: I enjoyed that there were Black characters, as the paranormal/horror genre is usually sparse with diverse characters like that. I loved learning about Susenyos' human life, and I would have loved to learn even more about that part of him. It was a cool concept for humans to have the power in the vampire-human relationship, so that was interesting to read. I think if there is a second book that I may attempt to read it, as I feel like the story finally got interesting for me at the end of the book, but it will depend entirely on the plot that Girma intends to continue with.

I REALLY wanted to love this book. I love vampires and dark academia. But I struggled to care about the characters, which resulted in me just being bored and struggling to get through the book. It just wasn't for me. The concept was intriguing, but unfortunately not every book is for me.

I will start with the positive:
-Great dark academia vibe
-Narrator is great and manage to create distinct voice for each characters
-Full cast of Black and African characters
-True enemies to lovers romance
-Compeling mysteries

As you can see there a lots of thing to look forward in this book, my only problem was with the FMC, Kidan. Unfortunately, since the whole story is told from her point of view and I could not relate to her and her decision at all, it made it hard for me to get into this story.
Let's elaborate a bit, this book has been compared to the Cruel Prince, and while the ennemies to lovers part is on point, Kidan cannot be compared to Jude. While they are both filled with hate and don't hesitate to do despicable things to reach their goals, Kidan lacks all of the cold, calculating side of Jude, which to me is what made her character compelling. Kidan, is more on the impusilve side of things, which means that I often could not stand behind her action, simply because they lacked clarity. She also consistently jump to conclusion and doesn't seek a better understanding of the circumstances around her, which is kind of a problem in a story mostly driven by it's mystery.
She also very often call other girls weak, including her sister, this is something I really don't like in so called strong characters.

So yeah, the story itself is great, if you don't mind impulsive characters or loved book such as the atlas six, I would reccomend to give this a shot. If like me you prefer your morally grey characters to be calculating, then you might get frustrated by Kidan.

This book is just crazy in a level that it’s dark, full of psychotic people characters (I think calling them morally gray would be an understatement), and something that will make you question yourself whether it’s bad behaviour if you’re trying to be a good person every single day.

Immortal Dark is this irreverent story about an unhinged and psychotic character Kidan Adane. She’s an orphaned heiress of one of the oldest arcane houses in Uxlay University. Before the events of the book, she’s living a normal life with her younger sister, June, and foster mother. Kidan’s life made a 360 degree turn when her sister got kidnapped and evidences led her to a century old vampire bound to her family and their arcane house, Susenyos Sagad.

Kidan’s desperate search for her sister triggered the story’s plot to get moving. It’s also the reason why Kidan woke up one morning as a very changed person because to search for her sister in a world where the powerful arcane houses and their bound vampires control the political climate and whether you live or die, Kidan must transform into someone who’s willing to stoop down to a human’s baser needs.

Throughout the course of the story, I was not successful at telling myself to understand what Kidan is going through because she has really become a hateful character. She talks about killing all evil in the world and being hypocrite about the decadent nature of the vampires and the members of the other arcane house, and yet, she’s not any better. She’s this sanctimonious bitch acting so morally superior about saving this guy/girl for being so kind but she does not hesitate covering up for heinous mistakes or doing evil deeds because she thinks it’s her sole right to right the world. What I’m saying is that if you’re someone who wants to root for the main character for their awesome personality then better stay away from this book because I’m not sure if Kidan will have her redemption ARC in the future books. At this point, Kidan is not guilty for all the things that she did in the name of finding her sister and getting revenge for her friends. In fairness though, she also wants to die because she recognizes that she’s one of the evil fiends in the world.

The other characters are also, at this point, unredeemable but nonetheless, still as interesting as our lovely psycho main character. So if you’re into reading about unhinged characters who no longer knows the direction of their moral compass, you better pick up this book because you will surely wake up the inner psycho in you.

Setting aside the characters, there are other things in this book that will satisfy your cravings for something debauch and gothic. The plot has lots of surprises but ultimately leads to deaths and more deaths. The romance is not your typical I’m-going-to-die-for-you or me-and-you-against-the-world but rather a perverse kind of love between two characters who have bared their hearts about wanting each other but would not hesitate in murdering the other one, and vice versa. The lore that involved the sages and vampires is solid and imaginative. The setting and how the world of the Okti and Drinakti were able to make me feel that I’m also strolling the shadowed grounds of Uxlay.

There are only two things that prohibited me from enjoying from enjoying Immortal Dark to it fullest. One is that I did not really feel the Dark Academia vibes this book is aiming for. Kidan and her classmates were supposed to be Uxlay University students and should have been interacting with lots of teachers and struggling with different subjects. But I don’t what happened because Kidan and her classmates were only attending one class and as far as my hearing is concerned, they only interacted with two Teachers; Dean Farris and Prof. Andreas. Although it’s mentioned that they are attending other classes like art lessons, it’s only in the background and the story did not really show us how Kidan and students are faring with their other classes as most of their University time is solely focused on passing the Prof. Andreas’ ever difficult class on Drinakti (Í’m not sure if this is the correct spelling as I listened to the Audiobook). Second grip is that the narration requires some getting used to since it took me a while to distinguish one character from another. In fairness to the audiobook’s narrator Jordan Cobb, however, she’s good but she needs to create more nuanced voices for the characters so I’d not confuse them with one from the other. But may be this is just me since I’m still honing my Audiobook listening skills.

To sum it all up, I greatly enjoyed Immortal Dark and looking forward to reading/listening the second installment of the series. This book is a must for fans of uber dark fantasy lovers regardless whether you’re a fan of Cruel Prince and Ninth House.

I really enjoyed this book, but it’s definitely not in my top 5. I really loved the morally grey characters (specifically Kidan), though. Truly, who doesn’t love a well written morally grey character? And vampires?? Yes please.

While I was not a fan of Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo, fans of that series will absolutely ADORE this book. Immortal Dark hit every note it needed to and was everything I wanted and expected from it. I can’t wait to continue to read this series as it comes out!

Many thanks to NetGalley for this ALC of a HIGHLY anticipated book!

The premise of the story was good and I quite enjoyed the world within the university, but I particularly enjoyed the mythology in this book which I believe was Ethiopian, I’m not familiar with these myths so reading something brand new was really enjoyable. The romance is done very well and it’s teased at the right places, I found myself rooting for a relationship between Kidan and Susenyos, it is very enemies to reluctant allies and not quite to lovers vibes.

What I liked: all the characters are a bit morally grey, the book is surprisingly murderous and I didn’t know who to trust or back throughout the story. I loved that it kept me on my toes. The narration was also brilliant, the narrator did a great job at the character voices and the story really flowed smoothly. I liked the little tidbits of info on the classes Kidan was taking and the secret societies within the university - it was dark academia at its best.

What I didn’t like so much: i didn’t really understand the world, I understood Uxlay university to be almost like it’s own city but on audio you don’t really get a feel for the locations. I know the print version will have a map so I’ll be picking that up to look through in future. I liked the house magic but it almost seemed a little random and not necessary to the story so it didn’t add anything for me.

Overall I really liked the audio of this book and the cliffhanger at the end has me wanting to continue the series in future.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for providing an ARC of Immortal Dark in exchange for an honest review.

I really loved this story. In the beginning, I was interested but not pulled in, however after the first third of the story, I couldn't stop thinking about Susenyos, the morally dark Vampire bound to Kidan's family. Kidan and Susenyos banter and conversations were really giving me Klaus and Carolina vibes from the vampire diaries, which is a huge couple i SHIP and always wanted together. This book scratched that itch for me. This is written so well and the narrator was amazing. This really felt like a true enemies, i hate and want to kill you, to lovers story.

4.5 stars

Kidan decides to take up her position as heir to her house at Uxlay University in order to find her sister who has gone missing. She is convinced the vampire Susenyos (who is bound to her family) has taken her, but she quickly finds out Uxlay University is not quite what it seems.

This may be one of my favorite debuts! All the characters are so unique and beautifully morally grey (the true definition of morally grey!). There are so many twists and turns throughout the book. You think you know what’s going to happen and then the author changes it up. I love the journey Kidan goes through and she has so much growth.

I was able to listen to the ARC and I loved the narrator. She was so easy to understand and follow along with the story. I would highly recommend listening to it.

I don't know where to start. This has been one of the best books I've listened to this year. It's a really long book but I devoured it. It was so poetic and heart piercing. At first, I wondered if the world building would be boring and too complex. But no, the author weaves it all together, creating a very unique story. The only negative thing is having to wait on the next book. I love the fact that it's an academy and young adult, yet so much maturity and adult stuff blended in. As far as the sexiness, it's off the charts without being too over the top for young readers. The immortal beings are so scary yet irresistible.

The narration was over the moon! Such emotion. It's like watching a well produced movie in your head. I even had dreams about being in the world when I slept after listening. This was one of the best performances I've heard.

Thank you to the author, NetGalley and @HachetteAudio for my copy