Immortal Dark Review

By Celeste Daniels

TW: Suicidal Ideation

Hello, audacious readers!

Welcome to Spooky Season! Time for ghost, ghouls, and mythical creatures galore. Last month, we’re fighting alongside African gods in The Black God’s Drums by P. Djèlí Clark. This month, we’re stepping into the world of dark academia and vampires in Immortal Dark by Tigest Girma.

Kidan Adane’s, June, sister is missing. After losing her parents and being hidden away for most of her life, Kidan is desperate to get her back. To do this, she’ll have to go to the one place she’s been running from her entire life.

Uxlay University is a key part of the arcane society attached to Kidan’s bloodline, one in which humans gain power through companionship with a vampire. She and June have grown up fearing the creatures, but all roads seem to lead to the vampire bound to her family, Susenyos Sagad. The plan is straightforward: find a way into the university, inherit her family legacy, find her sister, and kill Susenyos.

One roadblock she doesn’t see coming is having to share her family home with the very vampire she suspects. Susenyos is cruel but captivating, pushing Kidan to the edge for his own gain, but she refuses to give up. Only more questions arise when a student is murdered in the middle of the semester, making Kidan wonder if June has met a similar fate. As her rage boils over, Kidan sinks deeper into the world of vampires and the centuries-old threat that looms over the entire university. But Kidan has already made bad choices in her life. What’s one more, no matter how bloody?

I do my best not to suggest series because you never quite know how a series is gong to end up, but there’s always a few that I have to bend the rule for.

When I first finished Immortal Dark, the term that came to mind was feminine rage. Kidan is definitely a “shoot first, ask questions later” type of character and it is so cathartic to read. I love female characters that are unabashedly angry at the world, especially when it has done so much to piss them off. She’s explosive but smart, which can be a hard line to walk when creating a character. There’s a roughness to her, but she also has a clarity that she moves with that makes her captivating. In many ways, she reminds me of Claudia from Interview with the Vampire (the AMC show, not the books or movies. I don’t know those.).

I’d also say this is one of the few books that is truly enemies to (almost) lovers. The tension between her Susenyos, how their dynamic constantly shifts is so freaking good! I feel like so many books with this trope rely on the physical attraction between the characters rather than giving reader real development and Girma doesn’t do that at all.

Also, I appreciate how unapologetically Black the vampires are. They’re not European or Euro-centric. They have their own style and background coming out of Africa, both of which aren’t treated as footnotes. It’s truly embraced in all its reverent but violent glory.

Lastly, what I appreciate about the story is how it shows that so much of Kidan’s violence is rooted in love. Whether it’s from her trying to save it or a reaction to losing it, the story shows the consequences of being denied it. A person without love can turn unrecognizable and, even if the person they love comes back, they won’t be the same; a lesson June will unfortunately learn the hard way. This book is truly a tale of prey becoming a predator and I cannot wait to see what happens next in the series.

I hope you enjoyed Immortal Dark. Feel free to comment your thoughts below and make stay tuned for October’s book club read, coming soon. Until next time, don’t forget to read audaciously!