Book 1 in the Conquerors Saga
AUTHOR: Kiersten White
PUBLISHED: June 28th, 2016
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Historical Fictionish/slight fantasy
PREMISE: A retelling of Vlad the Impaler's teen years if Vlad was female.
MY REVIEW: You guys know by now I'm pretty much here for anything Kiersten White does. Even her underwhelming books like The Chaos of Stars, I have managed to enjoy. I wanted to read this one the minute I heard about it and I'm glad to say it is one of the few this year that has managed to live up to its awesome premise.
The premise is very simple: it's a retelling of Vlad the Impaler's story if Vlad were a girl. It's so simple, yet so awesome. White clearly did her research. Despite not knowing much about this time period, I was able to understand everything going on. The characters are all wonderfully complex. This is a tad darker then what I'm used too from White, but considering the story of Vlad, it'd be weird if it wasn't dark. You know all those books trying to claim they're the YA Game of Thrones? This book actually might be that. But it treats its female characters ten times better and doesn't have unnecessary rape scenes. Yes, the rape scenes are unnecessary. Historical accuracy does not mean you have to have rape. I like Game of Thrones but that aspect of it (made worse on the show) drives me through the roof.
But back to And I Darken! If you're looking for a political intrigue with a kickass female character and just interesting characters all around, I recommend this book. The only complaint I really have about it, is that it drags somewhat in the middle. Other then that, it's a near perfect book. Definitely going to be one of my top ten books of the year.
WHO SHOULD READ: Game of Thrones fans, historical fiction fans, political intrigue/court fantasy fans, Kiersten White fans
MY RATING: Four and a half out of Five knives
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