I had to slow down and savour this book, hence the late review, but it was so worth savouring.

This book had a very shocking start, I had to process the beginnings of Kidan's decent into Uxlay because bloody hell it was so brutal. You slowly come to understand her decisions and I will say I support her rights and wrongs.

I cannot wait for book 2 because that ending left my jaw hanging on the FLOOR!

Thank you to NetGalley and to Hodder and Stoughton for the digital ARC, it has not affected my honest review. 


TW: death, gore, murder, parental abuse, torture, suicidal ideation, violence, fire

This is such an atmospheric book and one of the most original takes on vampires that I’ve read, with vampires originating in Ethiopia. However I struggled with the main character of Kidan and found the other characters to be inconsistent and a little underdeveloped. I had really high hopes for this because it started so well but it was ultimately not for me.

A delicious and dark read spilling over with vampires and mystery.

Kidan Adane is suddenly pulled into the thrilling world of Uxlay University on her mission to find her missing sister June. Kidan is sure that the house vampire of the house belonging to her family is behind it all, Susenyos. To keep her place at Uxlay Kidan must graduate her classes in order to claim her house and not let it go to the scary yet alluring Susenyos. But when a murder takes place on campus Kidan realises that it seems to mirror June's disappearance. Soon she is completely swept up with trying to find her sister and really get to the bottom of what is happening.

Whilst I found a few parts slightly too long I felt that the overall pace was good! I was intrigued and wanted to find out more. Also black vampires? YES PLEASE! This world of Immortal Dark has such a rich history and lore that I can't wait to explore it even more in the next book. I enjoyed this and I will be looking forward to the sequel!

This may be the most misleadingly marketed book of the year. If you're reading this for the dark academia label, don't.

First off, one of the things I did like: I loved that we had a completely unhinged, angry female MC. Kidan was ready to do anything to save her sister and I found it admirable that the author didn't soften Kidan's anger or her mental health struggles. Her inner monologue read like that of a sociopath at times which was a ballsy choice for a YA book. I also liked the exploration of literal and inner demons and the posed question of what evil truly is.

Speaking of hatred and evil, this could qualify as true enemies to lovers. Kidan and Susenyos truly loathed each other for the majority of the book and tried to murder each other multiple times. We love to see it. However, thinking back on it, the romance did feel a bit lackluster to me. This was mainly due to the fact that we did not truly get to know the love interest until the middle of the book and both of them were far too guarded and distrusting to truly work together. By the end, it felt more like enemies to lust to begrudging trust (maybe). As a result, the emotional scenes didn't catch me and I wasn't buying into them truly having feelings for each other.

Moreover, as I already hinted at, my main gripe with this book was the dark academia label. The structure of the vampire university was nebulous at best and there was barely any academic pursuit. We see Kidan meet up for study groups, which usually get interrupted, and attend "vampire philosophy" classes which she needs to solve riddles for which end up as vehicles to push the romance. Since the book failed to resemble actual academia, it also failed to criticise academia in any meaningful way. There was some influence from Donna Tartt's The Secret History, mainly the unhinged murder friend group, but that was all the academia I could parse. The murder friend group shtick was also pushed to ridiculous dimensions to the point where I felt like it may have been satire. Similarly, the setting felt more like a theatre backdrop than a real place. If the book had been set in, say, a Gothic vampire castle à la Dracula, not much would have changed. Reminiscent of Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo, there were some secret societies on campus. Sadly, they had really low stakes goals, which was a shame. Like the campus itself, its secret societies were a bit nebulous and I couldn't quite grasp what their goals were or how they were organised.

What I did like was when the book veered into the thriller genre. Kidan trying to solve her sister's disappearance and possible murder was easily the most engaging part of the book and also I felt like when Kidan's character came truly into her own. The female rage was raging and I was eating it up, thank you very much. Delicious, give me ten more. Still, it appeared as if the book couldn't decide what genre it wanted to be - thriller, fantasy romance or dark academia? Adult or YA? As a result, it ended up in a weird in-between space.

The quality of the prose varied - some turns of phrase I found really beautiful, others made me cringe. The dialogue was a similar case. There were some phrases I knew the author included to have quotes for marketing or social media, or ones that were supposed to be "deep" but didn't work. As Girma is a debut author, I'm cutting her some slack. Prose is usually the area that authors most improve in after writing a few books, so we're turning a blind eye to the prose here. I definitely saw potential in her writing.

The ending felt really convoluted to me and around three quarters in, I lost all motivation to continue. Since this was an ARC, I felt obligated to finish and review it, but had I bought it, I would have likely DNFed.

Now, I have already seen many positive reviews and I'm truly happy there's a crowd who loves this. This will probably be big with the TVD Klaus Mikaelson girlies. Unfortunately, it wasn't for me and I probably won't continue the series.

Immortal Dark is an absolutely captivating masterpiece that breathes new life into the dark academia subgenre. It is the sort of book that grips you from the very beginning and leaves you entirely consumed by every little detail. If there's one new novel that must be on your reading list this autumn and winter, it needs to be this one!

Kidan is such a compelling and multi-layered character. I adored her moral ambiguity and just how unhinged she could be. True enemies to lovers is at its finest here. Other reviewers have mentioned this but Immortal Dark reminded me a lot of Ninth House and The Cruel Prince. Combine both of those novels' strongest elements and you get Immortal Dark.

The setting felt so real and atmospheric and I was deeply impressed with how creative the story was, particularly to its nods to East African folklore. I am desperately in need of book two and I cannot wait to see how this series develops. Tigest Girma has an exciting career ahead of her.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!

- Vampires
- Enemies to lovers ish
- Family
- Friends
- Dark academia
- Violence
- Magic

This book I've been looking forward to all year and omg did it not disappoint. This was amazing.

The lore in this is detailed and deep and had me gripped. The rules within this world is very cool and unique( to me anyway)

The main characters are indeed enemies from the start and it's so deep. The sarcasm and feelings between the characters is so gripping and really grabs you.

Honestly can't recommend this enough if you like vampires, dark academia and the darker side of books think of the level of the Scholomance trilogy.

I would say this is on the darker side of YA I wouldn't recommend this to anyone on the younger side, it reads more adult that YA with the main character being in the YA age range.

I cannot wait for the next one in this trilogy.

Thank you Netgalley and Hachette Children's Group for an arc in exchange for an honest review

Amazing, absolutely loved this. A great mix of dark acamdei and vampires. The world and the structure of the school and houses is unique and keeps you interested in the characters and what their motives are. Will definitely be continuing the series.

An amazingly unique take on a vampiric world that will bring any vampire lover to want to read every book this debut author will write

This was such a deliciously dark, mysterious and brilliant book. I couldn’t help but be swept up by the history and complex ways of Uxlay University - and its inhabitants - and the writing style was just incredible. There’s nothing I love more than a woman hellbent on revenge, and Kidan was just that. Her trauma and sisterly loyalty was intoxicating, as was her angry, inquisitive and relentless nature. I loved her!!!!

Susenyos - I wanted to hate him but it was impossible. There were so many points in this book that I wanted to knock Susenyos and Kidan’s heads together!

The action? Immaculate. The tension? Continuous thrilling. The complex world building and lore? Incredibly done. The twists? My head is still spinning. The dark academia vibes? PERFECT for this time of year. I actually can’t believe it’s over and can’t wait to return to Uxlay…

Let me know if you’ll be reading this one, or if you’ve already fallen right into the grasp of these complex and bloody incredible characters. I certainly have.

How wonderful to see another new author coming through with such a superb first book? A story full of adventure, romance, tension and magic - my students are going to adore this!

We’re starting off the ninth season of The Dark Academicals podcast with a hyped new release that we’ve both been so excited to read - Tigest Girma’s Black vampire fantasy debut, ‘Immortal Dark’.


I’ve said an embarrassing number of times how glad I am that vampires are back and going from strength to strength, and nothing makes me happier than that. There’s a whole host of possibilities with vampires and their lore and ‘Immortal Dark’ takes it in a direction that I’ve never seen before.

Hidden in our world, a society of vampires originating in Africa, can only feed from select human bloodlines. Each bloodline represents a House more cutthroat than the next. To ensure peaceful co-existence and inherit their legacy, human children of these families must study at an elite university before choosing a vampire companion.

Lost Heiress, Kidan Adane grew up far from Uxlay University. She is obsessively protective, mildly nihilistic, and willing to do anything to save her loved ones. When her sister, June, disappears, Kidan is convinced a vampire stole her - the alluring yet dangerous Susenyos Sagad, the same vampire bound to her own House.

To stay in Uxlay, Kidan must study an arcane philosophy, work with four enigmatic students, and survive living with Susenyos - even as he does everything to drive her away. It doesn't matter that Susenyos' violence speaks to her own and tempts Kidan to surrender to a life of darkness. She must find her sister and kill him at all costs.

When a murder mirroring June's disappearance shakes Uxlay, Kidan sinks further into the ruthless underworld of vampires, risking her very soul. Here, she discovers a centuries-old threat. And June could be at the very centre of it.

The Cruel Prince meets Ninth House in this dangerously romantic dark academia debut, where a lost heiress must infiltrate a secret society and live with the vampire she suspects kidnapped her sister.

Within only a few pages of this book I was completely absorbed by the atmosphere. It’s dark, tense and instantly foreboding, and that atmosphere lasts for the entire novel which is a serious feat. Atmosphere is one of the most important things for me, especially in dark academia, and ‘Immortal Dark’ completely nails it. I was on the edge of my seat every time Kidan and Susenyos interacted and the tension wracked up consistently, particularly in the last quarter of the book.


Most of that tension is because Kidan is so consistently angry all of the time. It never lets up. Never. It’s exhausting to spend nearly 500 pages with Kidan as she’s just a roiling ball of anger with nothing else ever really overtaking that anger - it’s always at the forefront of every interaction she has and every decision she makes. It clouds her and makes her very young and naive which adds to the confusion that I felt over the age range that this book falls into. It’s marketed as and published by a YA imprint, Kidan reads younger emotionally, but everything else about her reads older, and the intimate scenes push the age range even higher.

It was a big issue for me while reading as it’s something that I’m noticing in YA a lot more recently with the rise of BookTok and the nuts approach to spice being a requirement in every single book. It’s a very dark and intense novel and there were a few scenes between Kidan and Susenyos that felt rather uncomfortable in the light of this being a YA novel and I almost wish that it would have been published as an adult novel and leaned into that space.

The slow build between Kidan and Susenyos is a really solid way to move from true, mortal enemies to reluctant allies to possibly friends with benefits to the possibility of love. They’re complex characters, okay? I didn’t always feel the attraction between them because Kidan is so, so angry that there often didn’t feel like she had enough room for her to feel anything else when it comes to Susenyos. I wanted more from him as there’s so much in his history and so many secrets that are begging to be unravelled.

‘Immortal Dark’ by Tigest Girma is a rich, atmospheric and dark vampire fantasy with a bold and new mythology. I’m very much looking forward to how Kidan and Susenyos handle the revelations of the end of the novel as the trilogy progresses.

Written by Sophie

3.5 Stars

The book started out a little slow, but after about the halfway mark, I felt it picked up. I enjoyed seeing the underlying mystery unfold and I did not expect the twist at the end.

The characters were all quite lovable, and I enjoyed seeing their relationships grow. I loved the enemies-to-lovers (ish) relationship between Kidan and Susenyos. Overall I did enjoy this book and I am intrigued to see what happens in the next one, I think this was a great start to a series.

TIigest Girma is the moment! Like yaaaaaaaas give me more black vampires! I can't describe how it feels to see characters who look like me depicted in popular tropes that had the world in a chokehold (Twilight) and it's so much better that this isn't a "love letter" to those kinds of books it's just BLACKITY BLACK BLACK with no apologies.

Now, I did think Kidan was annoying AF, but Susenyos!!! HONEY he was sooooo amazing! Give me book two neeeeoooow

Tigest Grima is the queen of vampires! Stop it, this was so fun. The academy setting, the vampires! I’m obsessed

Okay, give me a second to catch my breath…

This book was everything. It had everything. It WILL be everything. I don’t think someone could’ve pried my kindle from my hands if the tried to. I may have growled at them, that’s how obsessed I was with this book.

For a debut novel, Tigest Girma truly couldn’t have done better, and she will no doubt go very, VERY far after a book like this.

The vibes were immaculate, the characters fully fledged and well developed, and I was gripped from the first chapter. A lot of YA books struggle to hold my attention as they can fall short in a lot of areas like world building and character development, but Girma truly said “hold my pen” and delivered a knock out book.

I couldn’t recommend this more.

It's hard to put into worlds just how much I enjoyed this dark and refreshing masterpiece by Tigest Girma. As one of my most anticipated releases for this year, Immortal Dark was a very exciting concept for me; black vampires, family feuds, everchanging houses and of course, enemies to lovers.

I don't think I released just how much I would devour and love this book after reading the first few chapters, but I can easily say it's the best debut I have ever read. This book is an utterly irresistible decadent tale weaved full of dark magic, family secrets and morally grey characters.

Tigest Girma has outdone herself with the detailed worldbuilding, interesting characters - even the 'side' characters I felt were particularity intriguing. I loved Kidan, she was everything and more from what I wanted in an FMC. She is dedicated, well thought out and my personal favourite; a big nuisance to Susenyos.

There are no awkward details or banter between characters, it's very cutthroat and straight to the point, which I enjoyed. I felt like there could have been a bit more detail as to the Uxlay rules, it felt as though the students really did whatever they wanted at Uxlay and got away with it. But, that being said I thoroughly enjoyed reading about the immoral things the MCs got up to.

The relationship development between Susenyos and Kidan was superb. It was made very clear from the get go that these two were not your typical enemies to lovers, no - they actually wanted to kill each other and are not shy about acting on it. They were very harsh to each other throughout the book and very late in we start to get these tender moments between the two.

Everything about this book screams dark seduction, vampires and secrets. A powerful debut that will stick with me. I can't wait for the rest of the triology.

I’ve been really struggling to write a review for this book for over two weeks now because I loved it so much. I could write you a whole lot of incoherent gibberish and half formed sentences (this review will probably be that anyway, and I am TRYING) quite easily. I could fangirl. I’m part of a whole street team group chat dedicated to fangirling over this book (it’s epic).

This book is just EVERYTHING!! Angsty and angry and romantic and tense and atmospheric and fun and entertaining and dark and well written and well plotted and well paced and fire-y and ugh…so many more adjectives.

I wish this book was longer. I wish the story wasn’t broken up. Why is this a trilogy. Why Tigest!!!! I would have happily and sat and read this book for like a 1000 more pages. I wasn’t ready for it to end. I kept swiping and swiping on my tablet (e-arc via Netgalley, don’t judge me) and I was like no….no….WHAT!! I thought the file was broken. I HOPED the file was broken. Because GAH that ending!!!! SEQUEL TIGEST PLEASE!!!!

Only thing stopping this from a 4 is sometimes the world building was a little confusing for my brain and I didn’t always keep up, I think somethings could’ve been better explained / explained a bit more…but like always maybe that’s just me being thick and

This book was a lot of fun, but I don’t think it was for me! I really didn’t connect with the main character, she felt very bratty to me and when she started destroying stuff it just kind of annoyed me? I really liked the side characters though and would love to see more of them! The love interest also wasn't for me, I just couldn't connect to them at all.

I thought the vampire lore was interesting but there were so many moving parts I was getting confused. I was also left unsatisfied with the ending.. (which is probably my fault as I didn’t realise it was a trilogy).

Overall I feel this book has a lot potential and I think it could be a really strong series, and I will be picking up book 2 as the cliffhanger has been stuck in my head for days!

Whilst I appreciate that Immortal Dark is a brilliant and richly crafted debut I found that I just couldn’t get into it myself. I definitely think this is more of a me situation than the book. Others have suggested it’s a slower start that is worth sticking to as the story builds and I certainly anticipate going back to it. I think it was a case of right book, wrong time. Though I’m pleased that it’s finding its audience and is being enjoyed by others.

Immortal Dark was one of my most anticipated releases of the year and it absolutely delivered.
I originally started reading it in early August but put it aside as it has such good fall vibes and the summer heat just wasn't a match for it, and I am so glad I waited until I got some fall weather finally.
I picked it back up yesterday and was GLUED to it!

The vibes are just immaculate, it's not really overly descriptive but the whole atmosphere of the book was so on point, it just felt eerie.
Academic settings are always a favorite and I really appreciated the way the academic side of this story was designed, it felt quite unique but perfectly matched the story and the worldbuilding.

Speaking of the worldbuilding, I was obsessed! I generally love any book that has vampires, but having deep background lore and politics just really takes my excitement to the next level. The history and workings in this book were so unique and I love how it was really like a puzzle that you have to piece together to understand all the mechanics and how it is all connected.

I adored the main characters. They were truly morally gray in every sense of the word, and I especially loved the revelations that made it all a bit more sick and twisted.
The romance also had me kicking my feet, there's just nothing that quite compares to two morally corrupt characters slowly falling in love and lust, especially with the vampiric elements adding to it all.

The plot was amazing and kept me at the edge of my seat, I love how it started as a bit of a mystery and that kept getting bigger and bigger.
I am very excited to see what the sequel brings, I just know it's going to get epic!

The book is a bit dark, so make sure to check TWs.
I'm also not sure what made the publisher classify this as YA, as there is nothing YA about this book in my opinion.

Overall, I absolutely loved this and highly recommend.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC.