Liz's Reviews > And I Darken

After the Paranormalcy trilogy, which I had started but abandoned, and the Chaos of Stars, which was far from good as well, I had not expected anything out of the ordinary in this one.
That said - there is nothing ordinary about this story and nothing light or happy either.

I cannot say that I absolutely adored it, but there really is not one negative thing to say about this book. At least nothing, that bugged me enough to write it here.
So let's start the gushing, shall we?

Excellent research. Sure, there is one major twist that changes everything, your whole perception, of the novel, but also plenty of minor changes, as it is to be expected from a historical fiction novel. But apart from this necessary changes for the story many aspects were excellently researched. And I always appreciate a certain degree of historical accuracy in a novel. So kudos for that and the period that was chosen. You know how dozens of authors like to fixate themselves on certain countries? So the countries chosen for this one were like a gulp of fresh air. I hope that more author's will follow White's example so that we'll have more diversity in this genre.
The story of Radu and Lada. Or basically, everything else in this novel. The POVs alternate between Lada and Radu, following their stories as they grow up in a world full of intrigues and conflicts of fate, mentality, gender-roles and sexuality. The writing, which I'll mention but briefly, is beautiful and elaborate. There is no lack of world-building, atmosphere or action. The latter is mostly due to Lada and her fierce personality. Lada is not a typical protagonist, particularly if you take into account that she's a girl. I would not describe her as either psychotic or a psychopath, since Lada lacks all the superficial charm of a psychopath, but rather as someone who is bitter and furious. Lada is all anger and violent passion and cunning, calculating mind. She does not care for anything but herself, her Wallachia, her brother (questionable) and her people. It was fascinating to follow the process of her growth, how she changed and how these changes affected her relationships.
Then, there is her younger brother Radu (the Handsome). While Lada prefers to let physical violence rule conflicts out, has no sense of tact or understanding of human nature, Radu is the perfect opposite. Soft and yielding and all in all a perfect manipulator. He is the perfect spy. And his relationship with his sister is something I enormously enjoyed and I am looking forward to the changes in said relationship in the following books.
Another aspect I loved was how the siblings challanged gender-roles. Not only that of the past, but the echoss of the traditional gender-roles in the present. And in connection with the gender-roles another point comes in. The pyramid of power. It's pretty complicated in this novel, to put it mildly. Watching the characters' attempts at navigating between the different levels of power and intrigue was truly captivating and White did well here. She intertwined gender-roles with power hinting here and there at mistakes that are at times still made in the present. I was deeply impressed by that, but maybe that's just the scholar in me speaking who is slowly loosing the ability to read a novel without interpreting and interconnecting.

But White didn't stop here, oh no. The topic of religion is addressed in a very interesting manner repeatedly and if I recall the actual history of Vlad the Impaler correctly the conflict of religions is yet to come. And I am looking forward to it.
I enjoyed how White's take on the Islam of that time and the various nations that could be found in the Ottoman Empire. There is no negative connotation whatsoever of the Islam, which was unexpected but appreciated. It was like a short excursion in the past and again, White did well.
Of course there is also Mehmed, the Sultan. Yeah, I did not really like him although, I understand why he means so much to both Lada and Radu. Both Lada and Radu are more well-rounded and authentic than him, but perhaps that's the author's intention. Anyway, Mehmed adds to the overall complexity of the novel and especially to the endlessly complex web of relationships between characters.
There is no love-triangle, at least it didn't feel like one to me, but there is unrequired love and forbidden love and the question posed what love is and how powerful it truly is. Love has many faces in this novel, and not all of them are nice, but I still liked the author's take on it. (view spoiler)[And though I knew that ultimately Lada wouldn't choose Mehmed, I still cheered when she finally left him. I've grown rather tired of the mottos - "All you need is love" and "Love will save the world" etc. I am tired of romantic bullshit. There are many types of love and I am sick and tired of author's who focus solely on romantic love. Urgh. So kudos for Lada who chose her country instead. (hide spoiler)]

To sum it up, a very dark and unique read that reflects a lot of research and makes me look forward to the next installment. Though, I am anxious about Lada's future and what Radu and Mehmed will be up to in the next books. So far, it doesn't really look good for her.
Highly recommended.