Publisher: Corgi Childrens
Genres: Young Adult, Retelling, Fantasy, Romance, Historical Fiction
Pages: 484
Format: Paperback

Goodreads // BookDepository
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SYNOPSIS: 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. 

 MINIMAL SPOILERS                                                                                                                               

*I apologise in advance for the length of this review! There is a summary at the end btw
xx

And I Darken by Kiersten White is a refreshing YA historical fiction with strong, raw and diverse characters, feminist themes and a thick plot. I picked up this book when it was first released last year and left it simmering on my TBR shelf until I finally, finally, picked it up last week. 
I’m so glad I did.

And I Darken is a re-imagining of the story of Vlad the Impaler and alternates between the two protagonists Lada (Fem-Vlad) and her brother Radu as they are used as political hostages against their father. Being set in the time of the Ottoman Empire, I particularly enjoyed learning about the culture and setting of the time period and I felt the author did a great job at intertwining these aspects into the prose whilst not overwhelming the story with information. 

This book follows Lada and Radu from birth - at first I was sceptical about following the characters from such a young age, but realised it was crucial to understand who the characters are at heart, and the drive beneath their actions later on in the novel, whilst also allowing a clear demonstration of character development over the course of the book. The aspect of this book that interested me the most was the love-hate relationship between Lada and Radu. It is clear that they both love each other deeply, even though their relationship is a complex potion of jealousy, disdain and misunderstanding. Radu is overshadowed by his sister and seeks her approval as much as he does her protection, Lada feels as though Radu is more her property than her brother (which is ironically what she is trying to avoid becoming) and feels obliged to look after him because of this as well as of his weak nature. “She sat beside his bed for a long while. Finally, she put a hand on his shoulder and whispered, "You are mine." ”

They both struggle for their father’s affection, Lada overlooked because she is a female and can offer him nothing but a marriage alliance, and Radu for being delicate and below his expectations of a son. “If Lada was the spiky green weed that sprouted in the midst of a drought-cracked riverbed, Radu was the delicate, sweet rose that wilted in anything less that the perfect conditions.” This gives Lada a drive to become everything her father wants in Radu, defying what a women is expected to be and thus the roots of her savage nature are built.  Radu, on the other hand, utilises his delicacy and charm (after a quick google search I saw that, historically, he is referred to as Radu the Handsome) to manipulate his way into a high social-political position. 

Whilst held political hostages they meet Mehmed, the son of Sultan Muhrad. They become friends, and as they grow older, both begin to grow feelings for him - Lada is conflicted by this because she does not want to loose the little independence being a woman in this time period has given her, and Radu confused because he feels as though something is wrong with him, and distraught because he can never be with him. The author depicts both characters and their difficulty with what their love means for one another beautifully, whilst not letting the romance consume the entirety of the story. I do loathe love triangles, but this one is well executed. I feel its reminiscent of the infernal devices triangle in that all three of the characters love one another equally which unlike most triangle, actually adds to the story through both the plot and the development of characters.

It was refreshing to have a wide variety of interesting, well fleshed out and unique cast of characters. I especially admired Huma (Mehmed’s mother) and Nazira (Radu’s friend) who were both independent and strong in their own ways, and both utilised their position, sex and intelligence to their own agendas. The world building was superb and never felt overpowering and the third person prose was immersive and allowed great insight into the minds of the characters. 

The author deals with topics not often explored in YA literature, including class and gender roles, religion, sexuality and periods. The last one was my favourite because everyone either seems to ignore or conveniently forget that every women goes through a monthly cycle, and I was pleasantly surprised it was addressed in this book; “When her nurse had told her she would not have to worry about marriage until her monthly courses started, it had been a comfort. Until the morning Lada awoke covered in blood, in her enemy’s house.”

Also, the focus of the story was on Lada and her defiance against gender and class values. This is often depicted as fem-hate in literature, however the author ensures this is not the case through allowing Lada to recognise the advantages to being a woman, especially through her relationship with the Harem wives, and through her constant waver between wanting to be masculine for her own independence vs wanting to utilise her feminine side but fearful of being caged for it. Radu’s homosexuality and the impact that has on him during the time-period was demonstrated well, as was the exploration of Christian and Islamic (so rarely depicted !) religion and its contextual and personal importance.

Summary

I loved;

1. The raw characters and their relationships with one another
2. The complex world building
3. The prose, especially bc it was 3rd person
4. The diversity - LGBT characters, POC, Islamic culture
5. The exploration of what it means to be a woman
6. The exploration of different types of power and how it is taken & maintained

However;

1. I felt this book dragged once I reached the middle.
2. The strategy/war tactic aspect of the book became irksome
3. I felt as though nothing actually happened yet at the same time too much occurred
4. Without the fantastic characters the story would have been very dry.
5. They were very mature for their age at the novel’s beginning…
6. I expected Lada to be more savage in comparison to all her talk.

Favourite Quotes;

“On our wedding night," she said, "I will cut out your tongue and swallow it. Then both tongues that spoke our marriage vows will belong to me, and I will be wed only to myself. You will most likely choke to death on your own blood, which will be unfortunate, but I will be both husband and wife and therefore not a widow to be pitied.”

“I cannot afford to lose you, too"
"You cannot lose something you do not own. Take me with you”

“So the question becomes, Daughter of the Dragon, what will you sacrifice? What will you let be taken away so that you, too, can have power?”