REVIEW: And I Darken (#1) - Kiersten White

Title: And I Darken (#1)
Author: Kiersten White
Series: The Conqueror's Saga
Publisher: Corgi
Format: Paperback
Pages: 475 Pages
Rating: ⭐⭐

Goodreads Blurb

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. 

Thoughts

I have heard so much about these books that I thought it was high time I started reading them.

With a book of this scale, there is a lot of world-building, you have to introduce the characters with their backstories, as well as build the world around them, and with this being set in the past you also have to include the political climate, which for me took way too long.

I found this to be so slow going, especially with the world-building and creating the relationship between the three main characters, I didn't fall in love with the characters, I liked them don't get me wrong but I didn't fall in love with them.

Out of the three characters, I did like Lada, I thought in the time period that the story was set in, she was such a strong character who didn't take no crap from anyone and was adamant that she was going to rule her home, no matter what anyone said about her gender.

Overall it was an OK start to the series, I will continue on as I really want this series to get better, so I have high hopes for the sequel now that all the world-building is complete.