And I Darken

I've always had a bit of a thing for Dracula, and by extension Vlad Tepes, but I think this story was made more powerful by the change of making Vlad the Impaler a woman, with all the additional trauma, struggles, complications, and twists that come with that choice.

Lada is presented as complicated, brutal, emotionally closed off, vindictive, and just as dangerous as any man. Good for her. ;)

In all seriousness, I love that she is presented in all her complex glory, a character capable of making heartrendingly bad decisions, one who makes a conscious decision not to love so much that she has too much to lose, thus insuring she won't ever hold on to anything that really matters.