I really enjoyed this one! "Immortal Dark" by Tigest Girma has a fresh take on a vampire story that's rooted in Ethiopian culture, which I found super intriguing. I absolutely LOVED the dark academia vibes, and Kidan is one bad-ass character. The writing style is fantastic, and the gothic vampire atmosphere is just the best. I got strong 'Ninth House' vibes from it, probably because it's set at a university, but also because of the characters. All in all, 'Immortal Dark' is very well done and an absolute must-read if you’re craving a new vampire book!

Immortal Dark is an exciting YA romantasy with a gothic atmosphere and elements of dark academia. I think this might be the next romantasy obsession for many readers. It has all the ingredients, like enemies-to-lovers romance, an entire cast of morally grey characters, and a fascinating vampire MMC. The book is also well written, has complex world-building that includes Ethiopian mythology, and is filled with secrets, intrigues, politics and power play. It’s a bit dark and sensual for a YA novel. The romance is a slow burn, where the characters start as true enemies and continue to be cruel to each other throughout the book. Honestly, it seemed to me that the romance was overtaking the narrative, which I never enjoy. I would rather read a compelling story with romance as a subplot.

Still, I think it’s a fantastic position, and I am curious about the second book in this series.

Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC.

My feelings are mixed for this book: on the one hand I enjoyed the characters and worldbuilding, but the prose was a bit too purple for me and the narrative was all over the place. I wish that the author would have given more time for us to connect with the characters instead of having so many plot points.

Dnf 40%
I can’t believe some of my most anticipated reads were such big disappointments
This one had such a lot of potential and i was expecting so so so much more than this but the characters felt bland to put it mildly, i didn’t expect for them to annoy the heck out of me
The story itself had such a great promise and also premise but unfortunately it did not live up to the expectations and the hype that surrounded the book

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the arc

This is slow to start but even as I was infuriated with Kidan I was gripped and by the end fully invested in her relationship with her friends and Susenyos. Girma has created a rich world, with fantastic lore, savage politics and brutal secrets that keep Uxlay's students surviving on a fatal knife edge.

The ending was great and I'm keen for the next book which is fun cos I'm not usually a vampire girly and I make very few exceptions! Well worth a read!

Tropes include Enemies to Lovers, Romantasy, Vampires, Sentient Houses and Dark Academia.

Tick, tick and tick. These tropes checked all my boxes for me and I loved it. The only con for me is that it went on alittle too long but if you love world building and quite alot of things to unpack in the book then this is for you.

We follow Kidan Adane who is trying to track down her missing sister, who is the only family she has left. To find her sister, she attends a secret university that is full of Vampires. When she gets there, her main suspect is her enemy Susenyos. This gothic tale full of secrets, politics, magic and of course a slow burn romance. This book also has morally grey characters and it does not disappoint in that area. Both of our main characters and love interests are brutal and cold. People compare this to Cruel Prince and I'd say it's even more brutal than that.

And the cliffhangers -chefs kiss-

For a debut novel, Girma did a great job! I can't wait to see more of their work.

“𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐥𝐨𝐲𝐚𝐥 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥. 𝐃𝐢𝐝 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐬? 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐝𝐨𝐠?”


–---

If it's a literal enemies to lovers, you want— literally trying to kill each other every now and then, then yes. You must read this.

The Cruel Prince but vampires? Read this.

As expected, I love everything vampire, especially if it's done in a captivating and immersive flow. Put an interesting myth/ lore along with it that would make it even more compelling. There, you have it. 

Also, the writing for Immortal Dark– it was one of the page turner writing I ever read.

I also enjoyed the boarding school type of a setting or the academic setting of the plot. That part was also interesting for me. Getting to know the other families was a ride, if I'm being honest. Additionally, the mystery solving going on here was another thing I enjoyed. 

Taj, Inoki, Sen, The Dean— side characters that I was really intrigued and liked having around, and the other characters at the end that I shall be not naming that I am 50/50 about. I'm looking forward to them in the next book.

Kidan, and Yos. Their dynamic is really fun. As a reader, or as I get on the story– specifically, you can't help but feel frustrated, rooting, and like meditating for them. That's what I felt honestly. They really give off the vibes of Jude and Cardan, but more intriguing for Yos, for me (I think at some point I did hate Cardan once upon a time on the early chapters but I could be wrong). I believe I regard Kidan the way I regard Jude (frustrated and rooting for my girl). 

Anyway, their tandem was really fun, I also did enjoy their relationship growth. It was just perfect for their dynamic. 

Overall, this was a good read for me. I'm really looking forward to how the story goes. Also, the world-building here to be more fleshed out since I noticed that it wasn't really that visible here and more of character focused plot built.


Thank you, publisher, for the e-arc opportunity via Netgalley 🫶

—----

Released Date: September 5, 2024
Date Read: August 28- September 5, 2024
Ratings: 4⭐️

4.5 stats

This was such a dark, addictive and tense read that had me on the edge of my seat. I found myself loving the world Grima has created and found myself so intrigued by the different families and the idea of human bloodlines gaining more power through their companionship with vampires.

I really liked how ruthless and flawed the main characters were in this book. They are incredibly complex and morally grey which I loved! I really liked getting to know Kidan who is angry at the world and the fact that she is thrown into a crap situation because of her bloodline. All she wants to do is find her sister June and she will do whatever it takes to accomplish that.

If you're a fan of enemies to lovers then this is the book for you. I'm a sucker for the trope and it was executed so well in this one. I mean they truly hate each other and are literally ready to kill each other even though they aren't allowed to. They push each other's buttons and do whatever they can to ruin the others existence.

Full of family secrets, politics and gothic dark academia vibes, Immortal Dark is the perfect book for fans of vampires and darker young adult books. I cannot wait to see how the story progresses in the next book!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Kidans sister June is missing, and Kidan is convinced she has been kidnapped by a vampire... you see, their family is part of an ancient bloodline, one of the select bloodlines that can feed vampires.

In order to secure her heritage and find her sister, Kidan must attend, and graduate, at Uxlay University. Uxlay offers a peaceful co-existance between vampires and humans, as long as both play by the rules.

Susenyos is the vampire tied to Kidans house, Adane, and if Kidan doesn't keep her place in her ancestral home, Susenyos will gain control. The two form a *very* uneasy alliance whilst Kidan tries to find her place at the University whilst also finding her place in her family line and figure out what part Susenyos plays in the bigger picture as well

Kidan will face even more challenges than this, along with finding her place amongst the people she gets to know during her studies. Can she survive the year and solve the many mysteries that surround her...

Such a great story. I loved the rich history around Uxlay and its residents. I also liked that even with the rules in place, the dark nature of the vampires was ever present.

This is a book I've been very excited to read and so happy it lived up to what I hoped! Out 05 September so still time to get your preorder in

Thank you to NetGalley and Hachette/Hodder for the early review copy, all opinions my own

Thank you to Hachette Children's Group, Hodder Children's Books, and Tigest Girma for sending me a physical proof of Immortal Dark. What a fabulous debut! This a phenomenally stunning book with a gripping plot, intriguing world-building, and fiendishly good characters. Not sure what they put in Susenyos and Kidan's coffee, but we need more of that in enemies-to-lovers stories across the board!

Tigest Girma's writing is vivid, simply elegant, and steals your breath away. She's unleashed a deliciously dark, violent story with lots of bite, perfectly straddling the line between horror and fantasy. Her style is easy to consume and fast-paced, with intricate storytelling that sinks teeth into you with the mystery and subterfuge afoot at Uxlay. Rich characters fill the halls and house of the Uxlay campus with secrets, emotional conflict, grudges, and relatable flaws, and you can understand why they turned into monsters or dark deeds. The campus of Uxlay immerses you into this gritting, fascinating world based on African influences celebrated in the gorgeous representative form of the culture, history, and characters (we need lots more of this in the publishing). The vampire lore is fresh, unique and builds an intriguing dynamic between the Dranaics and Actis companionship bonds and the history of their binding.

Susenyos and Kidan are pitted against each other in the most deviously and debauched ways by their own making and phantom enemies lurking in the shadows; you never know who is behind the powerplays, scheming, manipulating, or plotting until the next plot twist. The animosity drips like blood from the pages of Immortal Dark between Susenyos and Kidan as they are constantly at each other's throats and desperate to rid themselves of each other. I swear I could hear the snarling, hissing, and murderous plotting vibe humming from the pages with the question, 'Will they kiss or kill each other?'

When they aren't trying to murder one another in their tumultuous relationship, Susenyos and Kidan make a deadly team with a talent for masterminding evil, revengeful plans, and possess a smouldering seduction vibe and tense tenderness for one another. A perfect match of violent, unapologetic, and unhinged forces of nature with internal compasses pointing to the darker side of morally grey, hiding their true personas, which are caring, loyal, and unafraid to do whatever it takes to protect those they care for, even if it costs their soul.
Vampires are bringing sexy back with a rich, intoxicating dark academia story in Immortal Dark! How do I sum this book up? A blend of the grittiness and fiendishness of the vampires from Buffy, house rivalries from Game of Thrones, sent it to university and gave it houses like Hogwarts inspired by the sentient castle from Howl's Moving Castle to make a devilishly dark and decadent vampire story. If this isn't on your Vampire era TBR, quickly make it so.

What a great book to kick off the creepy season! After discovering Immortal Dark at BOOKFEST, and completing a fun questionnaire I was placed into House Quaros. That’s when I knew I had to read it! Being one of my first Dark Academia Fantasy reads, it’s set the bar high! The twists and turns were relentless, the pace was FAST and just when I thought I had a characters morals figured out, I was proven wrong, repeatedly…

I adored GK and Yusef’s characters so much and thought the character development of Kidan evolved perfectly and I can’t not mention ‘Little Bird’ - every time those two words were mentioned my heart melted 🥺

Im torn, I can’t decide if I hate or annoyingly love that this book has been left on multiple cliff hangers, but I can’t wait for book two. Although book one technically hasn’t been released yet!

The only thing that could have made this even better would have been duel pov’s, but that’s probably just my personal preference. I just think seeing inside Susenyos’ mind- (biting aside) would have been a delight and some more released tension wouldn’t have gone a miss either, but we’re getting a triology, so there’s time!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

UK Publication Date - September 5th 🗓️

#ImmortalDark #NetGalley

black vampires. enemies to lovers. dark academia. everything I love in a book and more. I experienced an array of emotions whilst reading this and I loveeeee it.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ebook in exchange for my honest opinions and views.
This is the vampire book I've been waiting for, deliciously dark and brooding I couldn't get enough of this book. Dark Academia isn't usually my good too read but this book satisfied all my reading joys from the opening chapter I couldn't put this book down.
House Adane all the way.
Well written and evenly paced I was bogged down with too much world building and exposition.
Dark and wickedly good I was pulled in by the characters and the drama, the complex relationships makes this dangerous world even more intriguing.
Immortal Dark is the book I never knew I needed; can't wait for my Waterstones exclusive edition.

No one was more excited than me for this book.
Black vampires? Yes.
Dark academia? Yes.
Enemies to lovers? Yes.

All the ingredients for what should be a 5 star read but didn't quite hit the mark for me (and I feel like I'm in the minority LOL).
The story started off well - Kidan hunting for the vampire who took her sister, which has been revealed to a person she eventually murdered. From this, I expected a cold-hearted, emotionless, pragmatic and calculating 18-year-old who will stop at nothing to find her sister. That...wasn't what we got. Instead, Kidan is very forward with her accusations and goals of why she's in Uxlay, which kind of made me question her way of thinking. We're told that her sister has been missing for a year (which isn't immediately clear) or why she killed that person who she seemingly had a good(-ish?) relationship with. Then we get to Uxlay, have some pages thrown in from her aunt's journal (I assume to avoid exposition of world building but I would have much preferred Kidan learning through her own means of investigation).

Then we meet the vampire, Susenyos (initial villain and eventual love interest). He was my favourite part of the book and was what kept me reading to the end. Dialogue between Susenyos and Kidan kept me intrigued as they verbally danced around each other and tried to get under each other's skin. I enjoyed the element of vampire bites at different parts of the body eliciting different emotions/memory sharing. However, points of tension didn't end on a satisfactory note and, instead, came to an abrupt end which was quite jarring to read.

The dark academia element of the story was good as it focused on Dranacti - the co-existence between vampire (Dranaic) and human (acti - also found the restrictions placed on vampires interesting as it gave a unique spin to the age-old paranormals). HOWEVER, while the dark academia, romance and discovery for June (albeit, it did seem quite force fed to the reader up until the 50% mark) stood fairly well on their own, all together it made for a disjointed narrative. The continuity of each arc didn't blend well for me and I felt like I was stopping and starting as if I was dropping one book and picking up another.

I do think there's something good in this story which clearly a lot of people enjoyed, but maybe my expectations of what it would be were off the mark of what it actually is and that's on me!

Immortal Dark by Tigest Girma is the vampire romance that we’ve all been waiting for. After what was previously a glut of vampire novels and stories, I was becoming a little jaded as they all started to feel very samey but, this story has stormed in like a whirlwind of dark, tempestuous, moody war for power!

There are no good characters in this book, each and everyone is morally grey, the romance is one of the best enemies to lovers journeys I have read in a very long time, and the plot, it twists and turns as the battle for power and control ebbs and flows. The main characters themselves are truly layered, and the chemistry between them is so, so strong that it leaves you on the edge of your seat as they come oh so close to launching off that cliff and then keeps you pacing as you almost pant for it to happen.

As for the plot, it does get a little confusing at times but, you have to remember that this is a debut, and whilst it got a bit murky at times, it still flowed, with sudden revelations and labyrinthine twists that took me by surprise.

Whilst the dark romance is most definitely the star of this book, the world building and plot have a lot going for them, and that ending has definitely left me with an appetite for the next book in this series. If you love vampires, morally grey, dark and mysterious characters, enemies to lovers romance, dark academia and all things in this genre, then Immortal Dark is definitely the read for you.

Thank you Hachette Children’s Group, Hodder Children’s Books and Netgalley for this arc in exchange for my honest and sincere review.

4.5 stars

Tigest Girma's 'Immortal Dark' was one of the most anticipated books on my list and I was so excited when this dropped on my NetGalley bookshelf. The book is rich in dark vampire lore. The two central characters are complex and have their own set of problems, rage and sadness.

I love vampire stories so much (Thanks to Twilight. #TeamEdward), and it have everything. It's dark, mysterious, and eerie. I, personally, had no issues with the pacing. I think this book is so perfect from start to finish. It is quite long but the worldbuilding, the characters, the tension, and the mystery are all worth it!

This is an incredible debut novel. I can't wait to read more of Tigest Girma's novels.

“It’s not poetry I want but punishment. What if I want to burn?”

I’ve always loved dark academia because it explores the stories of terrible people and their thirst for knowledge and the power it brings. With a story described as a vampiric dark academia you might be forgiven for thinking it is the vampires who are the terrible, the forbidden; but in this story, the humans can be just as monstrous.

Girma explores many themes in this book: morality, guilt, redemption, passion, hypocrisy - the contradictions that make us human, or monstrous; and also the will to live, to go on - the motivations that might drive an immortal. And she does so with an intensity that takes the breath away and a keen eye for psychology. Step into a strange nightmare with Kidan, a girl investigating the disappearance of of her sister: to gain the answers she seeks she must study at a strange university in order to gain mastery of her House, its powers, and… its vampire.

You may hear comparisons to Cruel Prince (which, by the way, I love). Let me tell you that Jude and Cardan’s enmity is like a brief squabble compared to the intensity of the emotions that Girma pours onto the page. The hatred is seething, the horror is abject: not just the body horror gore you might expect from a vampire novel, from which Girma does not hold back, but the psychological horror. This includes being trapped in a house which mimics and reflects the inhabitant’s state of mind, their fears and guilts, and being haunted quite literally by failure and the past.

I could name tropes, although really it’s not sufficient. They are not the cookie cutter reflections you might find in other YA or NA. They are startling and overwhelming. I frequently had to put the book down just to process. But here they are anyway:

- forced proximity
- morally grey everybody
- found family
- Sentient houses
- Touch her and die
- Enemies to lovers (sort of…)
- stressful university examinations, you know, just to add that touch of reality amidst all the
- secrets and lies and murder mysteries and betrayal etc

I had a lot of feelings about this book which I am going to go stew in, but before I go here are my no-context and thus spoiler-free favourite moments:

- 🚫🦷
- 🛁
- 💃🕺
- 🩻👊
- 🛁 🛁

This is a dark vampire fantasy story for older teens and adults. From the beginning I found this a very different take on vampire stories. The world building is superb. Tigest Girma, the author, has produced something very unique. Without spoilers, the author also handles her characters in an usual way. It makes for a dark, tense read. And then the ending. Well, book two should be equally fun! Can’t wait. Thank you to Hachette Children’s Books Group and NetGalley for the ARC. The views expressed are all mine, freely given.

This is one of the best fantasy books that I have read all year!
If you love the dynamic of Jude and Cardan in The Cruel Prince with morally grey main characters and enemies to lovers who are genuine enemies who might kill each other, then this is the perfect book for you as it does all of that and more. There are also vampires, found family trope, and dark academia - all things that I love and are done to perfection in this book.
I am shocked that this is a debut because every page drew me in and left me wanting more because it is so amazingly well written. I cannot wait for the next books in the trilogy!

Thank you to Hachette Children's Group and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC 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.