And I darken 4.75 
 And I Darken is a gender swap historical YA coming of age fiction (love saying that title) based around Vlad the impaler. This book follows three kids; Lada, Radu and Mehmed as they grow up in the Ottoman Empire. Lada is trying to prove herself to be as good as any man can ever be while Radu would prefer a pen to a sword. The two siblings are opposites while Mehmed brings the two siblings together. The three of them find themselves mixed in with each other though loyalty, betray and love. 
 Non spoiler 
 I really do love this book. It was very refreshing to see a character have a darkness that was always there since they were young. The character were amazing they were all so different from each other, the character dynamitic just worked so well. All the characters were so intriguing to read about. I heard that this book was going to be really dark and gruesome but to be honest there was nothing that bad compared to something like Sarah J Maas works. I love how many idea are explored though each character and how each character brings a different skill to the table. 
 There were time jumps in the start that made the book feel really slow (why I didn't give it 5 stars) but the time jumps were needed to show a coming of age. As for the world building, I thought that it was done very nicely. It's so weird how this book is fiction but is set in our same world back in time. At first I was expecting a fantasy world but then when smellier places started to pop out I realised that it was actually real. You really do learn a lot about the Ottoman Empire in this book and there are so many new words that are introduced that I have never heard of before. 
 The descriptions was written so well and the really beautiful scenes where just amazing to read about. Overall I loved this book and I can't wait to see more darkness in the series. 
 Spoilers 
 This book is amazing, I loved every bit of it. I really do appreciate how Lada was evil from the very beginning. I loved the start of this book, just seeing Lada fight for her father's approve was so sad, she I just such a strong girl. I really loved Lada's character she was so refreshing to see someone so dark. It was so hard reading Lada grow up without a female role model. The pressure she felt was so heart breaking. When she accepted that she would never be one of the Janissaries it just showed how strong she is. Her training scenes were awesome I love those types of scenes. 
 I also really liked Radu's characters, I love how different the siblings are. I felt more sympathetic towards him than admiration. I really like the contrast between the siblings at how they handle gaining power in different ways but they both love the same man. Just think of the power that Radu and Lada would have if they worked together. 
 Their sibling relationship was also very refreshing it was nice seeing a complicated relationship, but we know that they still love each other, but to see their struggles was very relatable. I love how this book has two aspects to gain power through sword and pen, you don't normally get that we mostly only get one of those methods when it comes to YA books. 
 Without Radu and Lada Mehmed is helpless he would not know anything. But he did bring Radu and Lada together. Mehmed's mother was very intimidating, at first I was so afraid at what she was going to do but after a while when she was losing her power I did feel sorry for her only a bit. But she did help Lada with a bit of female presence in her life. It really sucks how Lada always loves Radu but Radu always has second thoughts about his sister and even says that she cannot love anyone. 
 I loved it when Lada made her own group of fighters, those moments where just so nice and peaceful. But then there was that question as to why she hasn't left for Wallachia yet I loved how she left because Mehmed wasn't really doing anything towards the love that they had especially about the harem and his two sons???? I was really happy when Bogdan came back but we couldn't fully trust him but it was so nice seeing Lada have her old friend back. I really didn't like Mehmed's jealously after that he was just a douche. I also love Nicolae, I love how protective he is of Lada and how loyal. 
 The whole show down at the end was intense ugh that line 
 'Ilyas sighned,pulled out a dagger, and slid it into Lada's side' 
 When even that line scared me so much and it was Radu's chapter after that. I was always sceptical about Lazar. After that battle I am so glad that Lada chooses to leave but I feel like she is defiantly going to get darker in the next book because she doesn't have Mehmed who is the positive influence in her life. Nicolae and Bogdan are going to be there but I don't know if they will be able to pull her back if she descends into darkness. 
 Overall I loved this book and I feel like im going to love the next one even better because there will be no time jumps hopefully.