I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
The Serpent & the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent Series: Crowns of Nyaxia #1
Published by Bramble on December 5 2023
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Romance
Pages: 464
Format: Finished hardcover
Source: Publisher
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The nitty-gritty: Thrilling, romantic and charged with emotion, The Serpent & the Wings of Night is the dark vampire tale you didn’t know you needed.
I hadn’t even heard of this book when I was offered a review copy, but a few glowing reviews caught my attention and I agreed to read it. And I’m so glad I did! This was a wonderful surprise, a dark, dangerous, vampire tale with intricate world building, great characters and a little bit of spice. Even better, this is the first book in a series, and I’m so excited to see what comes next. Yes, there are some familiar tropes at work here, but I found the combination of all the different elements to work surprisingly well. If you love The Hunger Games or Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I guarantee you’ll find a lot to love in The Serpent & the Wings of Night.
Oraya was only seven when her village was destroyed and her entire family killed. Plucked out of the wreckage by a vampire king named Vincent, Oraya has been living in the House of Night, one of three vampire factions in the land of Obitraes, for the last sixteen years. Vincent has raised her as his daughter, teaching her how to survive in a land ruled by vampires, and it turns out, preparing her to complete in a once-every-hundred-years competition called the Kejari.
The Kejari is made up of five brutal trials, each one winnowing the contestants down until only two remain. Only one victor can be crowned at the end, though, and Oraya is determined to be the last one standing. The reward for victory is sweet: any wish you want, granted by the goddess Nyaxia. Oraya’s wish? To become a vampire herself and fight side by side with her father in the war against the Rishan, a rival vampire clan within the House of Night.
But once the trials start, Oraya realizes it’s going to be hard, if not impossible, to win. Luckily, she meets a vampire named Raihn who asks her to ally with him and his friend Mische. Oraya and Raihn work surprisingly well together and they become a formidable team against the other contestants. But, as Oraya must keep reminding herself, only one of them will survive the Kejari, and the more she gets to know Raihn, the less she wants to kill him.
This is a lush, complex world, and the author does a very good job of introducing it in this first book, even though I’m certain she’s only scratched the surface. At first it was a little hard to keep everything straight. There are three main vampire “houses,” but within those there are smaller factions. Each house has its own types of power and magic derived from different gods, and the houses don’t usually intermingle with each other, although the Kejari is the exception, because vampires from each house are allowed to join the competition. And it isn’t just vampires in this world. Humans live among them, although they are mostly treated as servants or even food. Because Oraya is under the protection of a vampire king, she’s safer than most, but she still has to watch her back at all times.
In addition to the competition plot, which is the main focus of the story, there’s a war brewing in the background that will most likely take on a bigger role in the next book. There’s a lot of Shakespearean drama and tragedy going on too. Vampires will kill their parents to take over as leader, and then they’ll kill their children so they can’t do the same to them. This isn’t a happy world by any means, but luckily there are bright spots in the plot.
Which brings me to the characters. The focus of the story is the slow build relationship between Oraya and Raihn, an enemies-to-lovers romance that I thought was very well done. Oraya, who spends her free time stalking vampires and killing them, is horrified to find she’s starting to like and respect one, especially when she discovers he’s one of the Rishan, her father’s enemy. Oraya has a prickly personality, which I quite loved, although she eventually starts to warm up to Raihn. But their banter was so much fun, charged with all sorts of emotions, and I loved how the author gave them time and space to get to know each other before (yup) hopping in bed together.
There are a lot of great side characters as well. Mische is the sweetest vampire in the story, and her friendship with Raihn was wonderful. I was rooting for the three of them to be OK, but wow, some of the scenes in this book were so stressful! Vincent was an interesting character as well. I didn’t really like him in the beginning, but you can tell Oraya loves him, even if he’s the one who took her away from her home. I liked him less and less as the story went on, and by the end of the book I hated him, lol. Still, it was interesting to see Vincent and Oraya interact, even if I didn’t always understand her complicated feelings for him.
As for the Kejari, it was thrilling and scary, and the trial scenes had me holding my breath, I was so worried about Oraya, Raihn and Mische. I loved that the actual trials felt different from other “fight to the death” stories I’ve read, although don’t worry, there’s plenty of bloodshed!
As the end of the last trial approached, I started to get very nervous. After all, there’s only one winner, right? The author managed to completely surprise me with her ending, making me even more excited to read the second book, The Ashes & the Star Cursed-King. And I can’t say enough about Carissa Broadbent’s writing. Her prose breathes life into her characters, and her storytelling skills make this a must read for fans of vampire/fantasy romance.
Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.
Eeeek! I’m so excited that you loved this book. I’ve been meaning to read it for a while because I know a lot of readers have loved it. I love The Hunger Games and Buffy so sounds perfect to me. 😀
I can’t wait for you to read it, Stephanie!
I enjoyed The Hunger Games and I like vampire stories so this sounds good to me. I love that cover too 😀
You would probably have fun with this:-)
Mishe is the sweetest ever! And I enjoyed the relationship between Vincent and Oraya too. The work as a whole didn’t work so well for me, I mean, I enjoyed it but just so. But I am glad that it worked so well for you!
Thanks Susy, I did love Mishe and I can’t wait to see her again in the next book.
I am getting Cirque Du Freak vibes with the world building and competition between vampires.
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I have read or seen Cirque De Freak, but you could be right:-)
I don’t think this is one I’d be drawn to at all… except your review is so glowing that it’s making me pause and think about it! I haven’t read any vampire stories — except those set up as more comedic — in quite a while. I think this goes on my “maybe” list!
This is the more serious side of vampires for sure! But I could not put it down:-)
As I often said, there is no way I let a vampire story pass me by, and this one sounds so very promising!
I will have to… ahem… sink my teeth in this one ASAP! 😀
Thanks for sharing!
Maddalena@spaceandsorcery recently posted…SWORDHEART, by T. Kingfisher
Ha ha I hope you get the chance to try it! So much emotion and a really interesting world:-)
You’ve convinced me I need this in my life. How did I not know it was vampires. And as a bonus, it’s on KU!
Oh cool. Definitely try it, it’s definitely worth reading.
Hear good things about this author, I want to try this series but it’s not on Libby or Hoopla. 🙁
Oh shoot, I hope you can eventually find it there…
I’ve had this one on my tbr for the longest time and so keen to read it soon!
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Oooh I hope you love it too!
Glad you liked it!! But clearly not as much as if the cover had been pink;)
LOL so true! 😉
Being surprised by the ending and excited to read the next book is great thing.
Yes, it doesn’t always happen that way, lol.
I gave it a similar rating! I am glad you loed it too Tzmmy!
It was hard not to love it:-)
Wow, great review. I hadn’t heard of this but I’m certainly going to rush off now and look it up. Onto the wishlist it goes.
Lynn 😀
I think you’d love it.
I hope the next instalments are just as good! This story does sound like a lot of fun for the rigth audience! 😀
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Yes, definitely for the right audience;-)
This really was a delightful surprise! Excited to where things go next!
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I can’t wait to read the next book!
You know, I bought a copy of this back when I bought Fourth Wing and got so sucked into that world that I forgot about this book until now. It sounds wonderful so I really need to prioritize it this year.
I’ve been seeing the cover of this one and wondering what it was about. Glad to hear it was so good! I don’t always care for vampire books, I know, I know, I love Buffy so how can I say that? lol I’ll have to add this one to my TBR though. Great review!
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