“Her spine was steel. Her heart was armor. Her eyes were fire.”

3 out of 5 stars

And I Darken by Kiersten White

While I can understand the fan love for this one, I never found myself rushing back to pick it up and start reading the next chapter. At some points I had to make myself push through in hopes the book would pick up some momentum.

Based on the ending of this instalment of the series, I have a feeling the next few books become more interesting - not inspired to try them out at the moment, but maybe one day.

Also - I love history, study history - and I took zero offense at the retelling of Vlad the Impaler as a girl. This book is YA fiction, with a little bit of historical references sprinkled throughout, and I don’t think the author at any point is trying to claim this is historical fiction. If you are offended by authors who take liberties with history, this series might not be for you.

What I enjoyed:

  • The first few chapters were on point. Immediately captured my attention.
  • Loved how White writes, the characters of Lada and Radu each had a different feel when reading their independent chapters
  • Not the typical YA. Still not sure how I feel about main character. Maybe you like her, maybe you don’t. Maybe you agree with her choices, maybe you don’t. But you have to admit she has a certain power.

Reasons for 3 stars:

  • The storyline hit a point about half way through where it seemed to go on repeat, circling around the same issues, then just dragged on. I am not a big fan of unnecessarily dragging out a story in order to fill the pages or create more books in the series. If these were details that had importance, sure, but the cycle in this instance was so mundane/teen angst-y.
  • Towards the end, the story finally picks up again - perhaps leaving you with hope for the next installment - but in the time it took me to become interested again I was over it
  • Honestly can’t say I connected with Lada. I really didn’t care about her or understand the reasoning for the “thing” she loves so much. I actually had more emotions for Radu.

Better than some YA, but not a page turner for me.

“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?”