Immortal Dark: Characters, spice, trigger warnings & review
Immortal Dark synopsis/summary:
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.
It began long before my time, but something has always hunted our family.
Orphaned heiress Kidan Adane grew up far from the arcane society she was born into, where human bloodlines gain power through vampire companionship. When her sister, June, disappears, Kidan is convinced a vampire stole her—the very vampire bound to their family, the cruel yet captivating Susenyos Sagad.
To find June, Kidan must infiltrate the elite Uxlay University—where students study to ensure peaceful coexistence between humans and vampires and inherit their family legacies. Kidan must survive living with Susenyos—even as he does everything he can to drive her away. It doesn’t matter that Susenyos’s wickedness speaks to Kidan’s own violent nature and tempts her to surrender to a life of darkness. She must find her sister and kill Susenyos 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. There she discovers a centuries-old threat—and June could be at the center of it. To save her sister, Kidan must bring Uxlay to its knees and either break free from the horrors of her own actions or embrace the dark entanglements of love—and the blood it requires.
Immortal Dark characters.
Our female main character (FMC) is named Kidan Adane, and Immortal Dark is narrated in third person from her perspective. The secondary main character is Susenyos Sagad, a dranaic (vampire), and Kidan’s rival-enemy. Here is the full Immortal Dark character list:
Kidan Adane
Susenyos Saga
Dean Faris
Professor Andreyas
Professor Soliana Tesfaye
Mama Anoet
Etete (Ruth)
Omar Umil
Aunt Silia
Yusef Umil
Iniko Obu
Taj Zuri
Ramyn Ajtaf
Tamol Ajtaf
Slen Qaros
Koril Qaros
GK
Arwal
Asmil
Rufeal Makary
Yonam
Sacro
Titus Levigne
Asuris
Arin
Samson Sagad
Leul
Warde
Immortal Dark book review.
My rating: ★★★☆☆
Spice level: 0.5, steamy, but not explicit
Note: A 3-star rating means "I liked it overall."
If you thought Jude and Cardan’s enemy dynamic in The Cruel Prince was ruthless, buckle up because Immortal Dark takes the enemies-to-lovers trope to a whole new level. The passionate hatred between FMC Kidan and MMC Susenyos makes The Cruel Prince look like a cute rom-com.
I really wanted to fall head over heels for this one because I’m all about fantasies with representation. Immortal Dark really drew me in with its premise: a sentient house, rich Ethiopian culture and history, a broody vampire who’s part of the real estate deal, and searing tension that could be hatred or something more. But while the premise was golden, the execution had me trying to get my head around a sea of intricate world rules and plot threads for the first 45%. Some may perceive the execution as an info dump.
With a fragile peace treaty between humans and vampires, ancient artifacts that could cause chaos, the binds placed on vampires, twelve houses with their own rules, a complex power hierarchy, an abduction mystery, a murder mystery and more, there’s a lot to unpack. Honestly, if this story and some of the exposition were trimmed by 100 pages, I think it would make for a more impactful read. But that's just me, art is subjective.
Once I finally got the hang of the world, the plot did eventually keep me curious enough and yes, I traded some beauty sleep for this. The slow-burn enemies-to-not-quite-enemies dynamic was mesmerising and pretty sexy. While this is YA and doesn’t venture into explicit territory, it still manages to keep things pretty steamy somehow.
Spice level: 0.5 🌶
Interestingly, FMC Kidan is a whirlwind—brutal, violent, and downright cruel when we first meet her. She wants to burn the world down to rescue her abducted twin sister and she doesn’t care if she takes herself with it. Initially, I struggled to connect with her and thought her brash and insufferable, but as her backstory unfolded, I saw the layers beneath her rage. Still, her extreme grudge against Susenyos and vampires, in general, felt a bit too close to real-world bigotry. But hey, fiction is supposed to challenge us, and this book certainly made me question who the real monsters are.
Before diving into this one, it’d be a good idea to be mindful of some of the trigger and content warnings, as it’s quite a dark, gritty and heavy read: Blood drinking, death, gore, murder, violence, suicidal ideation, strong language, one animal death, and parental abuse.
All in all, while Immortal Dark doesn’t gift us with glittering vampires, it does serve up a platter of fabulously unique vampire traits unique to this world that I'm sure Edward Cullen would be envious of. I recommend this one for dark academia, dark romance and paranormal fantasy genre enthusiasts who like true enemies-to-lovers tropes with a bit of bite.
Congratulations to Tigest Girma for a dazzling debut—I'm left both satisfied and curious to see what happens in the next book of the trilogy.
My heartfelt thanks to NetGalley and Hachette Australia & New Zealand for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
View my review on GoodReads here!
Immortal Dark book FAQs.
SPOILER ALERT:
Some answers may spoil Immortal Dark if you haven’t read it already. Proceed with caution.
What are the content & trigger warnings for Immortal Dark by Tigest Girma?
Blood and gore
Bullying and threats
Violence
Death
Mentioned death of a parent/s
Complicated family relationships
Blood drinking
Suicidal ideation
Strong language
One animal death
Parental abuse (mentioned)
Is Immortal Dark part of a series?
Yes, Immortal Dark is book one in a trilogy, so you’ll have more books to look forward to!
What is Immortal Dark’s age rating?
Immortal Dark is Young Adult (YA) so roughly aimed at readers above 13+. It does have some steamy scenes that aren’t explicit but could be considered foreplay territory.
Is Immortal Dark spicy?
Immortal Dark has some very sexually charged scenes but they never get explicit although one does veer into a grey area that could be interpreted as foreplay territory
Spice level: 0.5/5, very mild.