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claryssam94's review against another edition
4.0
It had a slow start but the pace does pick up as the story goes on. I enjoyed all of the characters in this book mostly because we got to see them grow up and experience what were living through rather than being told about it later on. I will say that towards the end of the book I am not sure how I feel about Mehmed. I loved the relationship between Lada and Radu. They both love each other but show it in very different ways that it made the story that much more interesting. I cannot wait to read more about these characters and see how much more they grow in the next two books.
swaye's review against another edition
1.0
I was thinking about giving this book two stars because I feel like there were glimmers of real potential but the plot, or rather, lack of plot, moved at the pace of a slug wading through molasses. And honestly?
brisingr's review against another edition
1.0
Kiersten White deciding to write this: "Diversity win! The ottoman warlord desecrating your small village is a bottom!" (original post on tumblr by @saltysalmonkid)
(This was initially a way longer review, detailing all the way in which the author shat all over my country's history. Please be aware whatever you think of saying to me about my low rating, I've probably heard it already. People saying "but it is fantasy" do not understand that my issue is not with a poorly written FICTION, but by one which used my HISTORY as a marketing technique, to then stomp over every single thing my ancestors took pride in. She could have just written a fantasy on its own (Grishaverse style), but if she decided to use a feminized version of Vlad the Impaler, then she should be able to swallow the situation in which someone points out the inaccuracies. But no one cares about those from small and poor countries with weird languages and convoluted histories anyway, right? )
This woman just doesn't know how to stop. Now she is going to write a retelling of Dracula... which is in itself a xenophobic depiction of Romanians, haha, lovely!! :) I got annoyed, so here's a breakdown of some of the most obvious, painful atrocities she added to this book:
- Red flag!! From the reason of why she decided to write this book!! Oh, her husband went on a religious conversion mission to my country, and she thought she knows enough about it now to write about it? Wrong, wrong, wrong!!
- The protagonist's name is 1) actually masculine if we follow the rules of the languages she decided to write a book inspired by 2) it means "wooden box" in Romanian. So this should very obviously point to the fact that absolutely no research has gone into this book supposedly retelling the life of one of the most important figures in my country's history
- The narrative constantly calls Romanian peasants and all other ethnicities within the area "pigs" and other such words. You will NEVER find a ruler fighting against Ottoman rule call its subjects something like that, and it is in fact just attempting to hide blatant xenophobia with 'history'
- Speaking of, pretending that Vlad the Impaler is nothing but a great ruler to Romanians... like, was he cruel and firm? Yes. Did he keep invasion at bay, and the torture he's most famous for was inspired from his political imprisonment at the Ottoman court? Also yes, and we love him for it and we are possibly a country thanks to it.
- It's clear no care has been given to the turbulent history of the day. Starting from the very stale brand of white feminism (god forbid a father was happy he got a daughter! when it didn't even matter to the nobles back then!) to the utter lack of critical thinking on colonialism, tribute paying, political imprisonment and forced religion conversion (betting 10 dollars she doesn't know what half of those words mean).
- Do I honestly look like I care when people argue it is a 'fiction'? Again, if thousands of readers learn about my country's existence from this book, then that is an immense damage left to reign free that will never be undone.
I am SO tired of americans being allowed to write the most VILE shit about countries that half of their population doesn't even know exists. And when I know the care can be there, the research can be done, then I am not going to be forgiving for purposeful ignorance.
(This was initially a way longer review, detailing all the way in which the author shat all over my country's history. Please be aware whatever you think of saying to me about my low rating, I've probably heard it already. People saying "but it is fantasy" do not understand that my issue is not with a poorly written FICTION, but by one which used my HISTORY as a marketing technique, to then stomp over every single thing my ancestors took pride in. She could have just written a fantasy on its own (Grishaverse style), but if she decided to use a feminized version of Vlad the Impaler, then she should be able to swallow the situation in which someone points out the inaccuracies. But no one cares about those from small and poor countries with weird languages and convoluted histories anyway, right? )
This woman just doesn't know how to stop. Now she is going to write a retelling of Dracula... which is in itself a xenophobic depiction of Romanians, haha, lovely!! :) I got annoyed, so here's a breakdown of some of the most obvious, painful atrocities she added to this book:
- Red flag!! From the reason of why she decided to write this book!! Oh, her husband went on a religious conversion mission to my country, and she thought she knows enough about it now to write about it? Wrong, wrong, wrong!!
- The protagonist's name is 1) actually masculine if we follow the rules of the languages she decided to write a book inspired by 2) it means "wooden box" in Romanian. So this should very obviously point to the fact that absolutely no research has gone into this book supposedly retelling the life of one of the most important figures in my country's history
- The narrative constantly calls Romanian peasants and all other ethnicities within the area "pigs" and other such words. You will NEVER find a ruler fighting against Ottoman rule call its subjects something like that, and it is in fact just attempting to hide blatant xenophobia with 'history'
- Speaking of, pretending that Vlad the Impaler is nothing but a great ruler to Romanians... like, was he cruel and firm? Yes. Did he keep invasion at bay, and the torture he's most famous for was inspired from his political imprisonment at the Ottoman court? Also yes, and we love him for it and we are possibly a country thanks to it.
- It's clear no care has been given to the turbulent history of the day. Starting from the very stale brand of white feminism (god forbid a father was happy he got a daughter! when it didn't even matter to the nobles back then!) to the utter lack of critical thinking on colonialism, tribute paying, political imprisonment and forced religion conversion (betting 10 dollars she doesn't know what half of those words mean).
- Do I honestly look like I care when people argue it is a 'fiction'? Again, if thousands of readers learn about my country's existence from this book, then that is an immense damage left to reign free that will never be undone.
I am SO tired of americans being allowed to write the most VILE shit about countries that half of their population doesn't even know exists. And when I know the care can be there, the research can be done, then I am not going to be forgiving for purposeful ignorance.
snoopydoo77's review against another edition
4.0
http://snoopydoosbookreviews.com/review-darken-conquerors-saga-1-kiersten-white/
I heard mixed reviews of this book and when I checked it out I thought it be something I enjoy and it be something I don’t read much of, historical fiction.
After reading it I can say while it is not my go to genre I still really enjoyed it. I actually enjoyed it more than I thought I would.
We follow Lada and her brother Radu basically since birth. As they being used as pawns in a major political power struggle. Mehmed, the son of a sultan is also a main character.
Lada is the coldhearted, cruel and calculating one. She will stop at nothing to protect herself but also Radu her brother. While she is pretty cruel and cold, you can’t help but feel for her as you follow her through life. She is born in a time where girls where nothing more than a breeding machine, but she doesn’t want anything to do with that stigma. She wants to fight along the men.
We also have Radu her brother; he is the complete opposite to her. At first he seemed weak and whiney but as you get to know him better you see that is not the case. He has other strengths he uses in this ongoing battle. You also can’t help to feel for him. While he is not cruel at all he still has his own battles . I jusat wanted to hug him and tell him everything will be fine…. I hope/
Next we have Mehmed and I must say I kept flip flopping with him. One time I liked him and the next I doubted him. One thing is for sure he grew in character the more powerful he became. I must say he was rather funny and actually brought some humor in this rather darkish book.
Overall I really enjoyed this book. While it was rather slow paced it still kept me glued to the pages and I had hard time putting it down. Romance is also a big part of it. There is sort of a love triangle but yet not. It is hard to explain without spoiling it . It is also political and some religious aspects as we go through their time in the Ottoman Empire. But I was never bored and it has many unique twists and turns in it which kept you asking for more. I look very much forward to the next book.
I rate it 4★
I heard mixed reviews of this book and when I checked it out I thought it be something I enjoy and it be something I don’t read much of, historical fiction.
After reading it I can say while it is not my go to genre I still really enjoyed it. I actually enjoyed it more than I thought I would.
We follow Lada and her brother Radu basically since birth. As they being used as pawns in a major political power struggle. Mehmed, the son of a sultan is also a main character.
Lada is the coldhearted, cruel and calculating one. She will stop at nothing to protect herself but also Radu her brother. While she is pretty cruel and cold, you can’t help but feel for her as you follow her through life. She is born in a time where girls where nothing more than a breeding machine, but she doesn’t want anything to do with that stigma. She wants to fight along the men.
We also have Radu her brother; he is the complete opposite to her. At first he seemed weak and whiney but as you get to know him better you see that is not the case. He has other strengths he uses in this ongoing battle. You also can’t help to feel for him. While he is not cruel at all he still has his own battles . I jusat wanted to hug him and tell him everything will be fine…. I hope/
Next we have Mehmed and I must say I kept flip flopping with him. One time I liked him and the next I doubted him. One thing is for sure he grew in character the more powerful he became. I must say he was rather funny and actually brought some humor in this rather darkish book.
Overall I really enjoyed this book. While it was rather slow paced it still kept me glued to the pages and I had hard time putting it down. Romance is also a big part of it. There is sort of a love triangle but yet not. It is hard to explain without spoiling it . It is also political and some religious aspects as we go through their time in the Ottoman Empire. But I was never bored and it has many unique twists and turns in it which kept you asking for more. I look very much forward to the next book.
I rate it 4★
Some of my favorite quotes:
“The last time she was up here, she had been... staring up at the sky and dreaming of stars. Now, she looked down and plotted flames.”
***
“..If anyone is going to kill you, it will be me. Understand?"
Radu nodded, snuggling into her shoulder. "Will you protect me?
"Until the day I kill you." She jabbed a finger into his side, where he was most ticklish, and he squealed with pained laughter.”
***
“She plucked a rose and held it to her face. She hated the way roses smelled, their sweetness too fragile. She wanted a garden of evergreens. A garden of stones. A garden of swords.”
***
“The sooner you stop fighting, the easier your life will be. That is what your purpose is."
Lana stood so abruptly she nearly fell backward. "No.”
***
lyakimov's review against another edition
3.0
I have complicated feelings. On one hand, I thought that this book gave interesting concepts and character arcs, but on the other hand, the writing was so incredibly repetitive at times and all the romances were absolutely not believable and were extremely underdeveloped.
Why does everyone love Mehmed? Who gives a crap about his lame loser ass? He is out here having a million kids with concubines and with a wife and Lada is out here thinking that he loved her in a way he doesn’t love other women? He’s a nasty manwhore who can’t take care of himself. Additionally, the entire romance arcs for Lada and Radu barely had any development. It was all “they love Mehmed” but just TELLING us, not showing or making us understand WHY they actually grew to love him. He’s just a crusty dude and he’s for the STREETS. He will not ever deserve Radu, who is the best character in the book. It just annoyed me so much because the romance was so unnecessary and caused so many dumb issues and led me to be pissed off. In my opinion, Mehmed doesn’t actually love Lada, he just sees her as something else to conquer and chase because she won’t just sleep with him. She’s like a challenge. Ugh, I hate his character so much.
Also, the story was so repetitive at times. I think listening to audiobooks makes me realize just how repetitive this writing and prose was. The beginning of the book was also super slow and I struggled very hard to get through it. I was not interested until at least halfway through the book where it started picking up.
Why does everyone love Mehmed? Who gives a crap about his lame loser ass? He is out here having a million kids with concubines and with a wife and Lada is out here thinking that he loved her in a way he doesn’t love other women? He’s a nasty manwhore who can’t take care of himself. Additionally, the entire romance arcs for Lada and Radu barely had any development. It was all “they love Mehmed” but just TELLING us, not showing or making us understand WHY they actually grew to love him. He’s just a crusty dude and he’s for the STREETS. He will not ever deserve Radu, who is the best character in the book. It just annoyed me so much because the romance was so unnecessary and caused so many dumb issues and led me to be pissed off. In my opinion, Mehmed doesn’t actually love Lada, he just sees her as something else to conquer and chase because she won’t just sleep with him. She’s like a challenge. Ugh, I hate his character so much.
Also, the story was so repetitive at times. I think listening to audiobooks makes me realize just how repetitive this writing and prose was. The beginning of the book was also super slow and I struggled very hard to get through it. I was not interested until at least halfway through the book where it started picking up.
eesh25's review against another edition
Another book I didn't finish. But this is one I wouldn't have had much problem finishing if it weren't for some things that I found out.
Before I started reading, I though this was a fantasy novel (Goodreads said so). I had no clue that it was historical fiction, much less an alternate history version, or I might not have read it. Because, you see, I have absolutely not clue about the Ottoman Empire. I've heard the name a couple of times but that's about it.
The book tells the story of a historical figure who grows up to be a powerful and ruthless leader (I Googled some stuff), but with the added scenario of 'what if he was a she'. We start of with Lada as a kid. She's a strong and somewhat savage little girl. Her father is the ruler of Wallachia but he's a coward who, in exchange for help from the Ottomans, gives his children into their custody. And while Lada herself is very strong, her brother Radu is sensitive and she now has the job to not only protect herself but to make sure her brother isn't killed or used against her. And while the two are being held hostage, they befriend Mehmed, the youngest son of the Ottoman emperor.
So basically, we're dealing with a lot of historical figures and events, and playing around with what-ifs. That's something that requires a lot of reasearch. And from the complaints I've heard of historical inaccuracy, I don't think the research was done. Sure, there are plenty of people who love the book but they're mostly "westerners" who've never studied the history.
But still, I may not have let a few negative reviews persuade me if they didn't ring so true. For example, there was criticism regarding Radu's conversion to Islam, which allegedly never happened. I understand that in a time when people are deemed terrorists just because they're Muslim, it's important to show that the religion isn't the problem. But even I know that conversion, in the past, wasn't a good thing. Mainly because people weren't given a choice. I may have no knowledge of the history of the Ottoman empire but I've studied Indian history so I know how people were forced to covert at the thread of death and torture. And to show a significant figure willingly convert without addressing the atrocities committed on those who refused... that's offensive, don't you think?
In the end, what I'm trying to say is that I don't know enough about the Ottoman's to risk reading something that isn't accurate. I don't want to be falsely informed. Besides, the fact that I was fully willing to jump on the let's-not-finish-this-book bandwagon says a lot about how much I was enjoying it.
It wasn't a bad book... just kind of dull. If I told myself to read, I could keep reading it, but if I didn't, I'd probably never pick it up. The characters were interesting but I wasn't psyched by the romance or the love-triangle. The writing was good and so was the plot. Honesty, this is a book that I can definitely see myself liking if it wasn't for the problems I mentioned above. Personally, I think alternate history is just better with an added supernatural element.
Overall, I'm sorry to put you through this long essay about why I'm not finishing this book. I could be wrong about all of what I wrote and I have a splitting headache at the moment so just... read it if you want.
Before I started reading, I though this was a fantasy novel (Goodreads said so). I had no clue that it was historical fiction, much less an alternate history version, or I might not have read it. Because, you see, I have absolutely not clue about the Ottoman Empire. I've heard the name a couple of times but that's about it.
The book tells the story of a historical figure who grows up to be a powerful and ruthless leader (I Googled some stuff), but with the added scenario of 'what if he was a she'. We start of with Lada as a kid. She's a strong and somewhat savage little girl. Her father is the ruler of Wallachia but he's a coward who, in exchange for help from the Ottomans, gives his children into their custody. And while Lada herself is very strong, her brother Radu is sensitive and she now has the job to not only protect herself but to make sure her brother isn't killed or used against her. And while the two are being held hostage, they befriend Mehmed, the youngest son of the Ottoman emperor.
So basically, we're dealing with a lot of historical figures and events, and playing around with what-ifs. That's something that requires a lot of reasearch. And from the complaints I've heard of historical inaccuracy, I don't think the research was done. Sure, there are plenty of people who love the book but they're mostly "westerners" who've never studied the history.
But still, I may not have let a few negative reviews persuade me if they didn't ring so true. For example, there was criticism regarding Radu's conversion to Islam, which allegedly never happened. I understand that in a time when people are deemed terrorists just because they're Muslim, it's important to show that the religion isn't the problem. But even I know that conversion, in the past, wasn't a good thing. Mainly because people weren't given a choice. I may have no knowledge of the history of the Ottoman empire but I've studied Indian history so I know how people were forced to covert at the thread of death and torture. And to show a significant figure willingly convert without addressing the atrocities committed on those who refused... that's offensive, don't you think?
In the end, what I'm trying to say is that I don't know enough about the Ottoman's to risk reading something that isn't accurate. I don't want to be falsely informed. Besides, the fact that I was fully willing to jump on the let's-not-finish-this-book bandwagon says a lot about how much I was enjoying it.
It wasn't a bad book... just kind of dull. If I told myself to read, I could keep reading it, but if I didn't, I'd probably never pick it up. The characters were interesting but I wasn't psyched by the romance or the love-triangle. The writing was good and so was the plot. Honesty, this is a book that I can definitely see myself liking if it wasn't for the problems I mentioned above. Personally, I think alternate history is just better with an added supernatural element.
Overall, I'm sorry to put you through this long essay about why I'm not finishing this book. I could be wrong about all of what I wrote and I have a splitting headache at the moment so just... read it if you want.
bibliophile80's review against another edition
4.0
Recommended by Writing Excuses. This was a fascinating book. When I heard it was about the children of Vlad Dracula, I expected a book about vampires but this was something else entirely. And I Darken is instead a book about family, about loyalty and treachery, about power and love and which to choose when you can't have both. Set in the Ottoman Empire, the novel addresses some very big and modern themes: sexuality, religion, feminism. Lada, Vlad's power-hungry daughter, is desperate to please her distant father. Her younger brother, Radu, is desperate for Lada to treat him kindly, or at least like she treats her friend Bogdan. But their relationship is a rocky one as Lada never seems to master the ability to show love. Her concern for her brother is expressed as attempts to toughen him up, either by physically beating him or by mockery and shame, and she can never understand or appreciate his sensitivity or kindness, traits which will save her life when they are grown. I had so much sympathy for Lada and her impossible circumstances, but I can't say I ever grew to like her. She was cruel and manipulative too often, and she was the type to cut off her nose to spite her face. Radu seemed like the hero more often than not, though a tragic one. The historical details are richly drawn, but it makes for slow going at times. The story really picks up when the pair meet Mehmed, the son of the sultan, who will forever change their paths, and forever earn their love. I see now that this is the first in a series. This book ended well, meaning it suffices as a decent standalone, and while I'm not ready to jump right back into their world, I'd consider reading the next book as well.