Saturday, July 16, 2016

Let's Talk: And I Darken

Title: And I Darken
Author: Kiersten White
Series: "The Conquerors Saga" #1
Genre: Alternative History/Fantasy
Page Length: 484 pages
Publication Date: June 28, 2016
Date Started: July 7, 2016
Date Finished: July 12, 2016
Rating: 4.5/5 stars

*Semi-spoiler free review*

This book was fantastic. I honestly loved it so much...

When I first heard about this book, it was described to me as a "gender-bent Vlad the Impaler" story. As in, what would it have been like if Vlad had been a girl? In this case, Ladislav.

Oh Lada was awesome. She was wicked, right from the beginning, but you got to see her grow. You got to see what made her become who she was. She's different than all the other women in that time--she doesn't just want to be considered equal, she goes out and does it.

Radu, her brother, is like an innocent flower in comparison to Lada. He doesn't take the brutal or physical way to get what he wants. He plans and plots to get it, but he's such a kind-hearted person. He cares about people and he's not ruthless.

We got to see Lada and Radu's story (the book was told in dual perspective) from the moment they were born. We followed their childhood up until about the age of 17, which really helped me connect with these characters. I felt my heart go out to both of them, the cruel Lada and the kind Radu. I was rooting for both of them.

Then we add in Mehmed, the heir to the Ottoman Empire. We meet him when Lada is about 12, so well before the ages at the end of the book. It was interesting to see him grow up as well as the siblings. I wasn't expecting that going into this book.

There was romance and heart-breaking friendship in this book, which I also did not expect. There wasn't as much blood and violence as I thought there would be, but I definitely enjoyed it more than I expected. Lada is the antihero I didn't know I wanted.

I definitely recommend this book and I am infinitely excited for the second book to come out next year.

~

Thanks for reading
xoxo
Lauren

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