Snippets From "And I Darken."
11:55:00 PM
Born not as what many wanted, Lada is subjected to ridicule and rejection. The same becomes of her brother, Radu. Lada may not have been born beautiful, but with fire in her heart and soul. As she grows, she becomes more and more ruthless and firm, while Radu grows into a man contradicting all of her sister.
The two end up intertwined in Ottoman politics when their father, the king, seals away their fates by inadvertently selling them away to the empire. In exchange for an army with which to return home to and claim a lost kingdom.
Lada and Radu explore themselves in the corners and corridors of their captive's strongholds. They make a friend out of Mehmed, the bastard son of the sultan. A tryst buds in between Mehmed, Lada, and Radu. Both siblings know of what the other holds Mehmed as; it's a triangle involving two of blood and one of promising power.
This book has been highly acclaimed and is a must read for all.
Here are some snippets from the novel that I found quite intriguing, thought-provoking, and relatable.
1. She dressed in chain mail and the Janissary uniform, except for the cap. She left her hair down, a tangled mass of curls in defiance of both Janissary custom and feminine styles. At her hip was her sword, and on her wrists were her knives.
Her spine was steel. Her heart was armor. Her eyes were fire.
2. “These are lives, Lada,” Radu said. “How can you speak of them like they are matters of simple mathematics, a problem to be solved?”
Lada stood, a hand to her side against the pain of her wound. “Because thinking like that is the only way to keep from losing our minds.”
“What about our souls?” Mehmed whispered.
Before Lada walked out, she paused at the door. “Souls and thrones are irreconcilable.”
3. "Some victories are merely defeat wearing the wrong clothing.”
4. "If we were not pushing, fighting, claiming what is ours and challenging what is not yet ours, others would be doing it to us. It is the way of the world. You can be the aggressor, you can fight against crusaders on their own land, or you can stay at home and wait for them to come to you. And they would come. They would come with fire, with disease, with swords and blood and death. Weakness is an irresistible lure.”
5. No. Huma was wrong. First, they needed to destroy the web. Then the spider would be powerless.
6. “Your brother, though. People will pluck out their own hearts to create a place for him. He will never have to get his hands dirty.”
She held her hands beside Lada’s and smiled. “But hands painted red are hands that do what needs to be done.”
7. Lada scowled. “You should have fought them. You should have escaped.”
“To where? I was angry, for many years. And frightened. But there are many ways to be powerful. There is power in stillness. There is power in watching, waiting, saying the right thing at the right time to the right person."
8. Fire burned in her heart, and her wounded soul spread out, casting a shadow like wings across her country. This was hers. Not because of her father. Not because of Mehmed. Because the land itself had claimed her as its own.
“Not Dragwlya,” she said. “Lada Dracul. I am no longer the daughter of the dragon.” She lifted her chin, sights set on the horizon. “I am the dragon.”
0 comments