And I darken & Now I rise... but then Bright we burn- Kiersten White

And I darken has quickly become one of my favourite series of all time. My girlfriend is probably so sick of me talking about it at this point, but I'm here writing a blog review on it because I can't stop. I love this book so so so much.

And I darken is a historical fiction set in the mid-1400s mostly in the Ottoman empire. We follow Lada, who is a gender-bend version of Vlad the Impaler, and Radu her brother. This book series has so much action it feels like a fantasy, which is crazy in a way. The fall of Constantinople has never been something I've studied in school, which is crazy considering how crazy it was and how much it impacted history. I loved learning about the Ottoman Empire and the way things were. One thing that I loved about this book was how well religion was represented. I loved watching Radu fall in love with Islam, and finally be able to connect to something. We don't really see Islam reflected in a good life in media, and I think it's great for people to read about it. Okay going to go into spoilery section.

I LOVE RADU SO MUCH. Radu was just so amazing over these books, his character arc was insane, it was so crazy watching him grow up. Watching him realize he was in love with Mehmed was actually crazy because I really was expecting another straight historical fiction. This was so amazing though, the representation was such a great surprise. Another thing, I love Radu's wife Nazira. She was so amazing. When they got married, I was so happy. When we saw her and Fatima running in a field I suspected it, I love their friendship so much.
The first two books were absolutely wonderful and I loved them so much. The writing was amazing throughout all three of the books. I truly love Kiersten White's writing style. The first two books had amazing character development, but in the third books, they were both just too broken. I couldn't feel the fire in Radu anymore, and honestly, it just didn't feel the same anymore. Radu quickly became my favourite character, to one where I struggled to get myself to read about. It took me about a month and a half to finish Bright we burn when it took me four days each to read the other books. In general, I was just extremely disappointed. Especially with Lada. I did not agree with her intentions at all, in the end, I just really dislike body gore, and we get that a lot in the last book. I was expecting so much more.

One thing I liked about the ending of the last book was that Lada and died and that Radu took her child. I'm really glad about how things turned out in the end, but I wished they could have been brought together in the end. Also love how Radu, Fatima, Cyprian and Nazira are basically a 4 person family, I find that so adorable.

That's really all for this book series, overall, I still really loved it and it's characters. It was an amazing learning experience for me, and I still highly recommend it.

Also, very sorry for being so inactive. This blog is really only for myself since no one reads books reviews anymore, but I still wish I could be writing more reviews here and there. My goal this upcoming year is probably going to be trying to do at least 2 per month, I think that's realistic.