3.5
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the arc!

I am here for the vampire renaissance!

Immortal Dark is the story of Kidan, a troubled young woman who is facing murder charges when the Dean of Uxlay, a mysterious university, asks her to lay claim to her family's home on the grounds. If Kidan doesn't go, the resident vampire, Susenyos, will inherit the house. Kidan accepts the offer. She doesn't care about the house, but getting into Uxlay will get her one step closer to finding and punishing the vampire who took her sister.

A blend of dark academia and vampire fantasy, Immortal Dark is a deliciously dark YA fantasy. Girma doesn't shy away from heavy themes as Kidan deals with PTSD, overwhelming grief and self-loathing, and a stunning capacity for violence. Kidan is not an especially likable character in the beginning, but she's interesting, and the world around her is equally intriguing, which will keep you reading until your heart starts to ache for this girl who has been failed by everyone who was meant to protect her.

The pacing was slightly off for me, particularly in the second half of Act 2 and into Act 3. Act 2 began to drag, while Act 3 felt a little rushed. It's difficult to write an investigation and keep it intriguing, and Grima's world provides a few opportunities to break up the arc. However, it did feel a little long as I got towards the end. At the beginning of the story, Kidan is on bail awaiting her murder trial. This seems like a big deal to me and is treated as such by the narrative until it's swept away and mostly forgotten. Perhaps I missed something, but at a certain point, she just stopped thinking about it altogether.

The relationship between Kidan and Susenyos is interesting. They feel like two moths dancing around a flame, just waiting for the other to dive in. At first, they are bitter enemies. Kidan hates Susenyos for what he is and his suspected involvement in her sister's disappearance. For Susenyos, Kidan could take everything he worked for away from him. They slowly, carefully build a strange relationship, which seems based on appreciating the worst in each other. For the most part, I think this was well done, however there are some shifts in the dynamic which felt sudden and a bit unbelievable to me. That said, the characters are well drawn, so it was easy to breeze past this.

Overall, this is an accomplished debut. Grima is pushing the boundaries of YA fantasy and vampire stories, and I look forward to the next installment in this series.

𝓘𝓶𝓶𝓸𝓻𝓽𝓪𝓵 𝓓𝓪𝓻𝓴 𝓫𝔂 𝓣𝓲𝓰𝓮𝓼𝓽 𝓖𝓲𝓻𝓶𝓪

1⭐️

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ DNF at 25%

: ̗̀➛ Enemies to lovers
: ̗̀➛ Dark academia setting
: ̗̀➛ Ethipopian vampire lore
: ̗̀➛ Sentient houses
: ̗̀➛ Morally grey characters

╰┈➤ 𝒮𝓎𝓃𝑜𝓅𝓈𝒾𝓈

Kidian attends a secret historic academy for vampires, where she has to live with her mortal enemy Suseynos, whom she suspects of abducting her sister, to claim her families inheritance.

⁺˚⋆｡°✩₊✩°｡⋆˚⁺

Sentient houses x Ethiopian vampire lore x dark academia vibes...I wanted to love this so much and I tried so hard to stick it through but I found myself literally dreading picking this up.

While the ideas in this book are unique, the magic system was muddled and poorly explained, and the world building was utterly confusing. I read the first 15% of this book and then re-read that 15% again to make it make sense.

The amount of info-dumping at the beginning might not have been a problem if the writing wasn't trying so hard to be poetic, but what I read was totally lacking clarity. I felt as though this book was too ambitious and the author tried to include way too many elements to excecute thoughtfully and clearly in a book this size. It needed to be fleshed out more, the timeline needed to be linear.

The characters spoke in riddles, and what was said lacked substance. I found the FMC irrational and annoying and the MMC boring. Unfortunately nothing about this worked for me and I just couldn't bring myself to continue reading into a slump.

⁺˚⋆｡°✩₊✩°｡⋆˚⁺

Kindly thanking NetGalley and Hachette Australia & New Zealand for the advanced e-ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts. ₊˚⊹♡ ౨ৎ*˖

There is something so magical about being halfway through a book, and realising you are currently reading one of your new favourite books.

From the moment I started reading Immortal Dark, I truly was entranced in a way I have very rarely been with a book. What begins as a book about a girl (Kidan) trying to find her missing sister (June), rapidly builds into a colossal web of plotting, conflictions and power struggles in the landscape of a secret school that is home to both humans and vampires. For all dark academia lovers this is a book to indulge in.

For me the real special elements of this book were the characters and the writing style.
Kidan is an intricately crafted main character. She is fleshed out and detailed in an intentional and rich manner. She is flawed and constantly at odds with herself, which in turn concocts quite a wonderfully unreliable narrator. As a reader the lack of trust in Kidan’s narration intensifies the suspense, and exaggerates the uncertainty of what will happen next, or rather what Kidan will do next.

And our main male character Susenyos, just oozes power, and knowledge and anguish - which I guess isn’t all too different from Kidan, he's just quite a bit older. And again, with all his mystery and conscientiousness, he is too, an unreliable voice. And as you can imagine two characters who can’t trust themselves, each other, or frankly anyone else, makes for quite a nail biting read.

Tigest’s writing style is something so incredibly special. It is detailed, yet succinct. It is the kind of writing that reminds you how powerful words are. Tigest is a personification of the art of writing, the fact that THIS is her debut novel is incredible. Immortal Dark, and any future work of Tigest’s are guaranteed all my appreciation.

This will be a stand out this year. The prepublication hype is justified and the author, Tigest Grima, on debut, has talent to burn.

There is so much that makes this stand out in the realm of fantasy, vampires and dark academia. This young adult tale with East African mythology at its heart is unique, captivating and complex.

I do wonder if YA is the best place for this book. My understanding is that YA is written for the 12-18 year old space. Absolutely, this book engages with the better known themes of YA but, some of the horror-esque elements, and psychosis type encounters felt too much without greater caveat. There is morally grey and there is the gamut of grey….these characters all dip their toes in the darker end of the colour spectrum. If I were a teacher-librarian, I would be sure to read this before putting it to open borrowing.

The writing is rich. The first third of the book was orientation, world-building, and the ins and outs of this secret society. The action was subtle and I had to work hard to stay engaged yet, I was caught in the web of Uxlay University. There were definitely moments throughout that I lost track and became confused in the nature of reality being presented. I wonder if the formatting on Kindle contributed to my occasional confusion?

At times the words punch. Kidan Adane, our FMC, is a heiress, murderess, truth-seeker, loyal, unstable, and, most often in my character notes, unhinged. Her complexity spoke of the assuredness of youth and the instability of ideology when challenged. I did wonder at the nature of some of her behaviours, if they were the result of psychosis? At other times the words offer layers. There is little to no softness in the plot. The sentient house, was a horror unto itself. Our MMC, fallen vampire Susenyos Sayad, was multifaceted and as his insights snuck through the story he was the grounding force. At other times there is a staccato particularly after the halfway point when the ideas and twists are relentless. Oftentimes the developments were in such rapidity that I wasn’t sure which way I was looking.

You have to squint quite hard to see the romance. It is so far, “I see your evil and I am not frightened, in fact I’ll match it.” between our main characters, Kidan and Susenyos. There is an element of hurt/comfort but it is subtle. This might be the honest place it needs to be before Books 2 and 3. I am looking forward to seeing where the author takes the found friends. This motley crew are surely going to face more danger, more conniving and more murder before the trilogy is over.

Although there were times I lost reading flow, all in all, the language and conceptualisation was a standout. However, I.felt that I had to work hard to enjoy the story at times hence, not quite a 5* for me. . I look forward to the rest of the trilogy.

With thanks to Hachette Australia and New Zealand, NetGalley and the author, Tigest Girma for the eARC ahead of publication. All opinions are my own.

🧛‍♀️ immortal dark review 🧛‍♀️

Oh. My. Gosh. Immortal Dark is deliciously dark and full of bloodthirsty characters and I am here for it!

After the disappearance of her sister, Kidan is convinced vampires are to blame. And she will go to any lengths to bring ruin to those who wronged her. There is no limit to how far she will go.
Susenyos is the morally grey dranaic bound to Kidan’s family’s house in Uxlay University. And she is determined to prove he’s the source of it all.

The plot is complex which made me enjoy it more and more and the story got deeper! The fact nothing is off the cards for them all kept me intrigued with just how far they would go to find the truth! I could not put this book down once I was about a third of the way in 😍 I did originally think it would be a bit more romantasy vibes than it ended up being, but once I adjusted my expectations, I really loved reading it 🖤

These characters go so heavily into morally grey that I’m not sure any of them still have morals left after reading! This story is the darkest dark academia book I’ve read and deals with some very heavy themes like blood, trauma and bodily harm, and I’d recommend checking content warnings before reading if you’re not sure.

Tropes:
🧛‍♀️ enemies to lovers
🩸 touch her and d!e
🧛‍♀️ found family
🩸 mental health/trauma rep

Thank you so much to Hachette and the author for the review copy! 🖤

I was over the moon to be able to read this early, such an anticipated read for me, especially after hearings some great reviews. Since it had such glowing reviews, I went in with decently high expectations – and they were for sure met!

Immortal is full of vampires, dark academia, revenge, and morally grey, chaotic characters that are woven into Ethiopian culture and mythology. The representation of this culture and an all Black cast (in a genre that typically seems to be white-washed and leans more towards Western/European mythologies), was so so refreshing and engaging to read and explore.

This was such a gripping, fun read and I honestly thought that the plot without the romance was amazing – but the romance was an extra cherry on top. I think the fact that Kidan as a character was so fleshed out and complex, meant that the character itself was didn’t NEED the romantic plot, rather it added a larger picture and didn’t take anything away from the their personality and strengths.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hachette Australia for providing an e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Both Kidan and Susenyos were such intriguing characters and I enjoyed how incredibly unhinged they were. Now this is what I mean when I say I love morally grey characters. The romance was also a proper enemies-to-lovers story which will drive you mad from the slow burn of it all.

The world-building and magic system were both so massive and complex, but knowing that this is only the first book in a trilogy has me excited of what more there is to come. The lore was also quite unique and incredibly rich in history, and I could really tell how much the author cared about these details of the story.

My main gripe was that the story did get confusing at times due to the writing style of the author. I found myself re-reading certain parts because I could not grasp what the situation was or who was speaking in that scenario. Descriptions of characters were also lacking and I struggled to visualise them while I was reading the story.

Be warned, there are a lot of dark themes discussed in this book and certain sections can get incredibly graphic, which I found surprising for a YA classification. Please ensure you read the trigger warnings beforehand.

If you love Vampire Academy and Ninth House, then you’ll want to add this book to your TBR.

I really loved the idea of vampires drinking from certain parts of the body eliciting different emotions and memories. That part of the lore really added to the sensual nature of the act and I admittedly got a little flushed when it was being described by the author. Man, I love vampires.

“Your hatred burns like ocean ice. And it’s entirely mine. I’ve never owned something so completely.”

THE SCENE WITH THE FANGS!! OMG 🧛‍♀️

Take some morally complex characters with a gothic academia backdrop and add secrets and murder and you have Immortal Dark.

If you’re looking for something a little different, mysterious and angsty with a plot that will keep you guessing until the end, this is the perfect read!

The only reason it was a 4 ⭐️ was the writing style was personally a little jarring for me at times especially during the first ~15%, but there are truly some fantastic quotes and moments in this book (I highlighted so much reading this!) so I would recommend not letting it dissuade you from reading! Tigest is a clearly very talented author and I’m excited to see where the next book goes.

“It had seized every part of her, that rage. It was the sort that slipped into the depths of hell and rose cloaked in eternal flames.”

“My fangs are aching, pulsing like throbbing bone. I’m going to bite through everything in this house, including you, just to please them. I won’t just feed on you. I’ll kill you.”

Thank you to Netgalley and Hachette for an advanced copy of this book!

Thank you Hachette Australia and New Zealand for providing this ARC for free via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

I’m so grateful for the opportunity to have read Tigest Girma’s debut novel early!!!

This was my first fantasy after a solid run of small town romance so I wasn’t sure how I’d go, but I devoured this. I couldn’t say no to a book on human/vampire companionship.

I was intrigued from the prologue and the little crumbs of information kept me reading and reading. I loved that the chapters were on the shorter side too.

I’d heard that this was an enemies to lovers situation and the enemies aspect was done so well I had to double check the tropes 😅 There isn’t much romance in this book, but the pieces we got were 👌🏼 The tension was well and truly there.

This book is full of strong, morally grey characters so if that’s your jam you’ll love this. Don’t be scared if dark academia isn’t your usual genre either - I found it fairly easy to follow.

I loved learning about the dranaics (vampires) and the rules that govern them. There’s still a lot to uncover, so I will definitely be continuing with the series.

Immortal Dark is out September 11th 2024 🩸 (maybe earlier depending on where you are!)

Thank you to Netgalley and Hachette for this Arc, I was so excited when I got approved for this.

Tigest Girma’s debut novel, Immortal Dark, follows Kidan Adane, a human, convinced her sister has been kidnapped by a vampire. To find her, Kidan enrols into the elusive and elite Uxlay University, where her sister’s kidnapper resides. Unfortunately for Kidan, the vampire she suspects, Susenyos Sagad, is dangerous and captivating, and also happens to live in her new house…

This book hooked me right from the start! I love a good mystery, especially when there is ¿murder? involved. It’s full of gothic/dark academia vibes, secrets, dark magic, romance, morally grey characters and VAMPIRES.
Kidan is 100% morally grey, with a side of unhinged which is really enjoyed, especially as a lot of books go for the opposite effect with FMC.
Tigest has done an amazing job of creating a unique world, with an all black cast along with Ethiopian mythologies, I can’t wait to read more of her work

Wow! I loved diving into and learning about a new world with Vampires, dark magic!! I loved all of the dark academia vibes

I loved all of the characters! I’ll say the author has done a great job in terms of it is definitely a great mix of both romance and Dark Academia

I am excited to see where this story goes and what comes next!!

Thank you to NetGalley and Hachette Australia for the ARC!

This book started off very strong and unfortunately ran out of steam around the 50% mark.

What I liked:
Gorgeous world map that helped with visualisation.
The blend of paranormal with dark academia and thriller. This book was actually very far away from being a romantic fantasy, therefore I don't think the Cruel Prince comparison is accurate.
The FMC is genuinely angsty and borderline morally black.
The concept of African vampires was very unique and refreshing.
Magical house that influences the feelings of its inhabitants, and that it was the underdog house.
Some early plot twists that were shocking.

What I did not like:
About halfway, the plot twists just kept going, and made less and less sense. The truth was hard to keep track of, and this is where I started to lose interest. This is also where I started to feel like it was overwritten with flowery prose and metaphors. For example the line "We are tragedy itself".
"Samson was the silence at the end of the world" actually made me roll my eyes. "Samson was silent" would have had just as much dramatic effect.
Again, around the 50% mark I also started to feel like the romance didn't make sense. Real enemies to lovers is possible, with the main characters feeling genuine hatred and love for each other, but it felt like whiplash as to whether they were "on" or off".

This book is published and marketed as YA, but the characters felt older than what would appeal to a YA audience.

This is good for people who were fans of series like Twilight, or Campire Academy as a kid! It was such a nostalgic read, but with the diversity we didn’t get from books published in the early 2010’s. The characters were likeable and the world building was seamless. The plot had me hooked from the first chapter, I can’t wait to read more from this world!

This book's take on vampires mixed with secret societies and dark academia is truly unique and unlike anything else I have read. Susenyos is the perfect morally grey (leaning towards black) main male character who is somewhat of an enigma with his multiple layers and constant surprises. I will admit that I struggled to relate to and like Kidan's character but her growth and arc during the book was intriguing. The downside for me was too many riddles, philosophy and metaphors and this constantly made me struggle and felt like the book was dragging. Despite that, I did still enjoy the story and I'm looking forward to seeing what further dark and twisted adventures lie in store in the next book.

I absolutely devoured this book. I am obsessed! I love Tigest’s writing so much.

Things I loved about this book:
- Vampires. I will read any book about vampires.
- THE MAP! I love when books have a map! This one features all the Houses in Uxlay.
- The characters! They all had their own unique personalities. Kidan is an absolute badass! A bit unhinged at times though. But same, lol.
- The history of Uxlay and the families were very interesting.
- ENEMIES TO LOVERS THAT I WAS NOT EXPECTING
- The plot twists! There are a few plot twists in this book that had me so shocked!

I am on the edge of my seat for the second book in this series!

Immortal Dark is a captivating dark academia. A dangerous tale of lies, murder, betrayal, plotting, secrets and tension.

There are so many reasons to love this book, cultural representation in a genre predominantly white-washed, Ethiopian mythology, feminine rage, vampires, romance, academic settings, forced proximity, enemies to lovers vibes, houses that hold power, found family, political intrigue and secret societies.

You never knew which way was up in this novel, while reading it felt as though you were right their with Kidan, our FMC, while she tried to figure out who took who sister, who was lying, who was telling the truth and who was on her side. You could feel her frustration and blind-hatred for Sosenyos, our MMC. Learning his story as we go, with her. Never fully being able to put the puzzle pieces together. There were a few times where I wanted to scream at the FMC to trust, but, this book is written so well in showing you how HARD it is for her to trust, that you just know why she can’t.

I loved the gala scene and I damn near SCREAMED with satisfaction when she returned with her items. I loved the ending and I am on absolute tenterhooks now while I wait for book 2.

Tigest went out with a bang (iykyk) and left us with not 1, but 2 cliffhangers, more secrets, more lies, more betrayal, more suspicion, more mistakes, and a lot more demanding need for a book series that is set to take over.

Thank you to NetGalley, Hachette and Tigest for allowing me the opportunity to read and review this beautiful book.

Oh my soul, this is epic. One of the best fantasy/romantasy books that I have read in ages. All the things that I love vampires, morally grey characters and a bloody trail of family secrets and political intrigue. A must read.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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

I am absolutely IN LOVE with this book 😭. I did another buddy read with @daniellereadss and I was screaming the whole time about how obsessed I was 🥹. Go read her review!

The romance is genuinely one of the best enemies to lovers romances I have ever read 😩. They are ACTUALLY enemies. Their banter was absolutely hilarious and I was cracking up the entire time. The tension was SO GOOD - every time there was a scene with the two of them I could literally feel it as if I was there too 😭. You know when people say they were ‘giggling and kicking their feet’ over the romance? THAT WAS ME 🥰. Like I was giggling and slapping my book with giddiness multiple times during this book.

The characters in this book were all so morally grey (including our FMC) and I spent the whole book both loving and hating them and not being sure who I could trust 😩 and I absolutely loved it. I can already see the beginnings of such a good found family and I can’t wait to see how it develops over the trilogy 🥹.

The plot itself was also sooooo good! Think secrets and lies and hidden societies and brutal vampires. (I’m terrible at explaining the plot okay but trust me I was hooked the entire time, it was addicting 😍).

Overall, I absolutely loved this book 🥰. The vampires, the romance, the characters, the mystery, were all so so well done and I am so excited to see where the story goes in future books!

This book releases on 11th September in Australia 💞 EVERYONE GO PREORDER A COPY OF RIGHT NOW!!!

This is a gothic fantasy book with dark academia and vampires! The plot is centred around the main character, Kidan who is trying to find her sister, June. Reading the synopsis of this book left me wanting more, however this book whilst certainly unique, struggled to keep me engaged as an avid fantasy reader.

Firstly, I would like to acknowledge that Tigest Girma wrote a phenomenal debut book and I look forward to following her writing journey. However, I found many issues with lack of proper world building and pacing in this novel, which left me wanting more.

A highlight for me was the complex and unique world Girma created with myths and lore. It was obvious that this is a passion for the author and it was interesting to read about. That said, I felt most of the world just wasn’t fleshed out enough for my liking and lacked detail in important parts of the story.

Girma created some complex, morally grey main characters and some interesting side characters. The main characters I found difficult to connect to as they had questionable morals and ethics and were quite singleminded in terms of their goals. This may be desirable for some, but I would liked to have been able to connect to the characters better.

Overall, if gothic fantasy, philosophy, vampires and dark academia is your vibe, you will thoroughly enjoy this book.

This book single-handedly reignited my love for dark academia, secret societies with murder and intrigue combined with vampires and morally grey characters. Everything was so expertly crafted down to the details. The history, world building, the relationship between vampires and humans (the idea that a bite in a certain place evokes different memories? Genius) and the characterisation (some of the best enemies to lover's and morally grey character's you'll ever read about).

The story follows Kidan, a young black girl desperate to find her sister who was stolen away one-night by a vampire. The only way for Kidan to find her sister is to infiltrate Uxlay University, a prestigious institute protecting the fragile peace between humans and vampires. But first she must survive living with Susenyos Sagad, the vampire bound to her family and the one who she believes took June.

This book has everything you could ask for:

🩸Vampires
🩸Enemies to Lovers
🩸Forced proximity
🩸Dark academia
🩸Secret societies
🩸Murder and intrigue
🩸Morally grey characters
🩸Ethiopian history

A stellar debut. Trust me when I say you don't want to miss your invitation to enter Uxlay University. I love, love, LOVE this book and can't wait to see which direction the story takes next.