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The Cruel Prince meets Ninth House in this dangerously romantic dark academia fantasy, where a lost heiress must infiltrate an arcane society and live with the vampire she suspects killed her family and kidnapped her sister. It began long before my time, but something has always hunted our family. Orphaned heiress Kidan Adane grew up far from the arcane society she was born into, where human bloodlines gain power through vampire companionship. When her sister, June, disappears, Kidan is convinced a vampire stole her—the very vampire bound to their family, the cruel yet captivating Susenyos Sagad. To find June, Kidan must infiltrate the elite Uxlay University—where students study to ensure peaceful coexistence between humans and vampires and inherit their family legacies. Kidan must survive living with Susenyos—even as he does everything he can to drive her away. It doesn’t matter that Susenyos’s wickedness speaks to Kidan’s own violent nature and tempts her to surrender to a life of darkness. She must find her sister and kill Susenyos at all costs. When a murder mirroring June’s disappearance shakes Uxlay, Kidan sinks further into the ruthless underworld of vampires, risking her very soul. There she discovers a centuries-old threat—and June could be at the center of it. To save her sister, Kidan must bring Uxlay to its knees and either break free from the horrors of her own actions or embrace the dark entanglements of love—and the blood it requires.
These reveals are getting a little too convenient! It doesn’t take much for Kidan to get a confession out of someone… or for them to somehow know her darkest secret. I’m not loving that Kidans main reason for living (and keeping the plot moving) is finding her sister. Ofc I understand the motivation but I’m not emotionally attached to her sister whom we never met, so this intense quest to find her is starting to feel… boring? Is that callous?
0This budding desire/intimacy between Kidan and Susenyos is realllly rubbing me the wrong way, he’s hundreds of years old and I picture him as an older man 😭 seriously hoping this isn’t an enemies to lovers situation
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one of my most anticipated reads of the year almost threw me in a reading slump 😩 This is a dark academia with some unique elements that initially made this fascinating: vampires and humans living in relative peace but bound by harsh rules, secret societies in an elite and magical university, an all Black cast, and Ethiopian lore weaved throughout. Unfortunately, the execution REALLY dropped the ball and I had to force myself to finish. Our MC Kidan is heiress to a magical haunted house in Uxlay academy, where vampires and humans are sworn to live in peace. Her sister June is missing and she believes the vampire living in her family home has taken her. Since we never meet June on page, Kidan's erratic and self-destructive behavior to find her quickly becomes exhausting. I was able to see past it for the most part, but the ghost of June haunts Kidan nearly every other page and I just... didn't care? What really made this impossible to get through was the chaotic and choppy plot and writing. One sentence we're in a bedroom needing to talk to a vampire, and the NEXT SENTENCE we are in the presence of said vampire. How!? I was often so lost on where we were, how we got there, what we were doing - despite going back and re-reading, it still didn't flow. The characters talk in riddles and metaphor, which mixed with the purple prose, made it impossible to decipher what was meant literally or lyrically. By the end I still didn't completely understand the characters motivations, or how all the convoluted plot points fit together. I was exhausted by the pacing - reveals + major plot points jammed together with no reflection or explanation, followed by paragraphs of useless purple prose or sitting in classes. I really wish this one worked better for me since the premise is SO good, but unfortunately I will not be continuing on with this trilogy
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