Title:
And I Darken
(The Conqueror's Saga #1)
And I Darken
(The Conqueror's Saga #1)
Author:
Kiersten White
Kiersten White
★★★★
4 out of 5 stars
No one expects a princess to be brutal. And Lada Dragwyla likes it that way.
Ever since she and her brother were abandoned by their father to be raised in the Ottoman sultan’s courts, Lada has known that ruthlessness is the key to survival. For the lineage that makes her and her brother special also makes them targets.
Lada hones her skills as a warrior as she nurtures plans to wreak revenge on the empire that holds her captive. Then she and Radu meet the sultan’s son, Mehmed, and everything changes. Now Mehmed unwittingly stands between Lada and Radu as they transform from siblings to rivals, and the ties of love and loyalty that bind them together are stretched to breaking point.
The first of an epic new trilogy starring the ultimate anti-princess who does not have a gentle heart. Lada knows how to wield a sword, and she'll stop at nothing to keep herself and her brother alive.
Ever since she and her brother were abandoned by their father to be raised in the Ottoman sultan’s courts, Lada has known that ruthlessness is the key to survival. For the lineage that makes her and her brother special also makes them targets.
Lada hones her skills as a warrior as she nurtures plans to wreak revenge on the empire that holds her captive. Then she and Radu meet the sultan’s son, Mehmed, and everything changes. Now Mehmed unwittingly stands between Lada and Radu as they transform from siblings to rivals, and the ties of love and loyalty that bind them together are stretched to breaking point.
The first of an epic new trilogy starring the ultimate anti-princess who does not have a gentle heart. Lada knows how to wield a sword, and she'll stop at nothing to keep herself and her brother alive.
And I Darken tells the story of Ladislav and Radu Dragwlya, both children of the infamous Vlad The Impaler. Lada is a girl born with no evident beauty but that has a fierce personality and a strong will, on the other hand, Radu is a weak yet charming boy that depends on his sister to be rescued from his bullies. The story is told from both characters perspectives which are very different from one another so there's the perfect combination between heart and muscle that make the story very interesting.
Lada is a strong leading female, her main goal is to show her father -and the world- that even though she was born a female she can fight as well as any man would, if not better, she is brutal and would stop at nothing. I adored having Lada as the main character, she is the perfect representation of the anti-princess, she is rough, knows how to fight and has a very explosive personality, her relationship with her younger brother is very complicated and you can tell she despises the fact that even though she has all of what her father is looking for on a son she was born a female. She is such a complex character that might deserve to be hated but I just couldn't do so, in fact, I disliked Radu -her counterpart- and I understand he is only looking to be noticed but I thought he was too codependent.
When Radu and Lada are separated from their father and brought to a new country with a different culture and religion, their already unstable relationship gets even more complicated when love, jealousy, power, and political intrigues become part of their everyday life after they meet Mehmed, the sultan's son. Soon both siblings will start working on getting Mehmed to the throne for them both care deeply for him and will do whatever it takes to keep him safe. The complexity of these three characters and their dynamics amazed me, their loyalty is impressive and even though Radu and Lada have their indisputable problems Mehmed gets the best of them both without even realizing how bad things really are.
The romance was slow and believable, it was substantial for the second half of the book without it being the main focus. It was obvious Lada and Mehmed had feelings for one another, however, Lada is very conscious that Mehmed has concubines and will be able to marry as many women as he wants, thing that makes her feel uncertain about a afuture between them. As for the love triangle, I didn't really feel it was much of a triangle since Mehmed only seems to love Lada not taking much interest in others, yet it was bothersome.
Overall And I Darken is a well-written story about the search of power in its different forms, can't wait to read the next installment.
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