Book Club - Tigest Girma’s Immortal Dark

Final Draft - Great Conversations

Tigest Girma is an Ethiopian writer based in Melbourne. Her debut novel is Immortal Dark.

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Kidan Adane has been living a half life since the disappearance of her sister.

Ever since Kidan and her sister June were rescued as children they have lived in fear that they will be discovered by the dranaics, immortal creatures who live on the blood of humans. The dranaics power has been tempered somewhat by their bond to specific human bloodlines. Unfortunately Kidan’s family is one such bloodline.

Kidan has crossed lines to try and recover her sister and has all but given up when she is summoned by the Dean of Uxlay University. The University's long relationship with the dranaics is threatened by the ambition of one Susenyos Sagad. Susenyos is bonded to house Adane and now Kidan must return and take up her birthright, or risk an imbalance that threatens her whole world.

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Immortal Drak is a fresh and compelling reinvention of vampire lore that dives deep on the parasitic relationship between the immortal bloodsuckers and the humans they prey on.

As Kidan returns to Uxlay University and enrolls in the courses that will allow her to come into her inheritance, we are taken on a history tour of the world of Immortal Dark. A world where vampires and humans are bound to each other. It limits the blood loss but ramps up the intimate tension to eleven.

Kidan presents as a loner, but she’s no Bella Swan or even Buffy Summers. For starters Immortal Dark’s mythos traces its origins to Africa and this feeds into the history and character of the families of Uxlay.

Kidan is also neither a clear slayer, nor consort of the sexy vampire/dranaic. Rather there is a lot of brooding and even more on and off screen violence.

The journey into the world of Uxlay University works hard to balance world building and driving narrative. We are privy to this strange outpost of humans and vampires through Kidan’s eyes and so it is appropriately strange. The novel doesn’t seem to want the reader to get too comfortable and so be prepared for blood and angst in equal measure.

Immortal Dark, Kidan and Uxlay defy any stereotype about supernatural schooling you might bring to your reading of the novel. There are obvious parallels to be drawn here with other franchises both magical and bitey, but that’s only going to thwart the reader. It’s not until you take Immortal dark on its own terms that the narrative of legacy, disenfranchisement and attraction can work their own magic on you.

I’ll confess, I think this is my first foray into the genre known as Romantasy (a portmanteau of Romance and Fantasy) and I was pleasantly surprised. The angst is heavy, but no heavier than I’m sure I was when I was an angsty, university aged person. The lore and the worldbuilding offer a hook that lets you discover and rediscover what you thought you knew about undead bloodsuckers. As for the narrative, it provides mystery and suspense in a pacy way that invites page turning.

Immortal Dark is a must for lovers of genre but should also be on the TBR of readers who like to challenge their preconceptions. You know what they say about vampires; into every generation a new take on the undead is born. Maybe Immortal Dark is the latest to take us by storm.