And I Darken book review | 3 star read

And I Darken by Kiersten White
Series: The Conqueror's Saga #1
Published by Delacorte Press on June 28, 2016
Pages: 475
Goodreads

No one expects a princess to be brutal. And Lada Dragwlya likes it that way. Ever since she and her gentle younger brother, Radu, were wrenched from their homeland of Wallachia and abandoned by their father to be raised in the Ottoman courts, Lada has known that being ruthless is the key to survival. She and Radu are doomed to act as pawns in a vicious game, an unseen sword hovering over their every move. For the lineage that makes them special also makes them targets.
Lada despises the Ottomans and bides her time, planning her vengeance for the day when she can return to Wallachia and claim her birthright. Radu longs only for a place where he feels safe. And when they meet Mehmed, the defiant and lonely son of the sultan, Radu feels that he’s made a true friend—and Lada wonders if she’s finally found someone worthy of her passion.
But Mehmed is heir to the very empire that Lada has sworn to fight against—and that Radu now considers home. Together, Lada, Radu, and Mehmed form a toxic triangle that strains the bonds of love and loyalty to the breaking point.

And I Darken has sat on my TBR for a long time. It has been on my radar before it came out but I never took the plunge and dove into it. I think I was expecting something completely different based on the reviews and I don’t think this one particularly worked for me. I really wanted to fall in love with Lada as a main character and a fearsome woman. But something fell flat for me, I felt as though her reactions as a whole were off for me. Some things became the end of the world and the others were brushed off. Which is what the entire book felt like for me unfortunately. I was expecting a beautifully told story and everything just felt a little disjointed for me.

Characters in And I Darken

I don’t think the characters in And I Darken work as well as I wanted them too. We follow Lada and her younger brother Radu from childhood up to adulthood as they are hostages of the Ottoman Empire. I really wanted there to be something more to the pair’s relationship, they never seemed to grow out of their childish ways. I would have loved to see them trying to work out their differences and finding some kind of peace. However this is a series so they may deal with it in the other books.

The ‘love interest’ and I use that word lightly. I’m still not sure what makes him the most loved person alive. Apart from the power he holds, the representation wasn’t perfect for me. Plus there was the fact that these children kept turning up. Especially as the harem is just for appearances. The set up was an odd one and I wasn’t sure about it all. I would have loved more development within their relationship and how they turn out. Plus, Radu doesn’t do well in this one. His ending didn’t sit right with me. Revisiting it is the best thing to do, in my opinion. Because he deserved a lot more than what this book gave him.

The Good and the Bad

I really loved the setting in And I Darken. I love the way the story encapsulates all of these different places. The writing is beautiful. The culture and the religion is really well done. There were great explanations and descriptions. I felt connected to the characters. The way the book discusses religion definitely helped flesh the characters out.

This is going to be a shocker for a lot of people. But my worst bit of And I Darken is the political side of it. I know, I am usually a huge fan of anything with great political intrigue. However, this one bored me. I was waiting for the drama to happened consequently for something to take everything that one step forward and it just didn’t happen. I also thought the reasoning for the loss of power is never looked at. It bothered me that the Sultan wouldn’t listen to the people who were going to fight his battles for me. I think there was more development that was needed. More explanation and the ending therefore needed a little more work.

Recommendations

I don’t know. I don’t think I will be continuing the series. There is far too many books on my TBR and I wasn’t bowled over by the story. Unfortunately, I don’t this one is going to be for me. It’s a shame and as a result has left me undecided.

Have you read this one? What were your favourite parts? Let me know in the comments.