The Serpent and the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent – Review

Published: August 30, 2022

Publisher: Self Published

Series: Crowns of Nyaxia #1

Genre: Fantasy, Romance

Pages: 532 (Kindle)

My Rating: 4.5 Stars

Synopsis:
Human or vampire, the rules of survival are the same: never trust, never yield, and always – always – guard your heart.

The adopted human daughter of the Nightborn vampire king, Oraya carved her place in a world designed to kill her. Her only chance to become something more than prey is entering the Kejari: a legendary tournament held by the goddess of death herself.

But winning won’t be easy amongst the most vicious warriors from all three vampire houses. To survive, Oraya is forced to make an alliance with a mysterious rival.

Everything about Raihn is dangerous. He is a ruthless vampire, an efficient killer, an enemy to her father’s crown… and her greatest competition. Yet, what terrifies Oraya most of all is that she finds herself oddly drawn to him.

But there’s no room for compassion in the Kejari. War for the House of Night brews, shattering everything that Oraya thought she knew about her home. And Raihn may understand her more than anyone – but their blossoming attraction could be her downfall, in a kingdom where nothing is more deadly than love.

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After seeing so much hype for this book in the fantasy romance sphere I decided that yes, I needed a vampire romance too. Plus, it had been loosely compared to ACOTAR and I have been searching high and low for a book that leaves me with the same feeling. On that front it is, in some ways, similar and I ended up loving the story.

Oraya was adopted by the Hiaj vampire king Vincent after her family was slaughtered. While humans are seen as prey, Oraya has been raised as Vincent’s daughter and trained rigorously in combat so that she might enter the Kejari, a trial that happens once every 100 years where the winner is granted a boon by the goddess Nyaxia. The Kejari, like so many good trials in fantasy novels, is actually several individual trials that test combat, intelligence, and the ability to form alliances. Upon entering there are few ways to exit the Kejari – you either die or appeal to the priesthood and hope they will allow you to exit if you’ve become too injured to continue. Oraya, being human, is much more vulnerable because she cannot heal quickly, she’s not as strong, and she’s a tasty food source. Should she defy the odds and win, she plans to become magically bound to Vincent so they can share power and she can support his rule without being a liability.

Oraya is no slouch when it comes to combat and thus when she’s offered an alliance by Raihn, a powerful Rishan vampire, she initially refuses because Rishan vampires are the natural enemy of Hiaj vampires. She can’t hold out forever though because she needs allies for an upcoming trial so she does eventually join him and a fire-wielding vampire named Mische. Raihn and Mische have been friends for many years and were both Turned, rather than born as vampires. So much tension occurs between Oraya and Raihn and they slowly soften from enemies to reluctant allies and eventually to lovers. Mische gives manic-pixie vibes, but she’s a darling and you’ll quickly be rooting for the trio to kick some ass and become unstoppable besties.

Aside from the delicious character development, the actual story is pretty damn good and the trials are creatively brutal. If you want your fantasy romance on the slightly darker side with a dash of politics thrown in for added fun, you’ll go crazy for this book. The ending was quite the jaw-dropper, which made me extra glad the sequel is already out. If life hadn’t been quite so busy this month I would have already read it, but I am planning to pick it up very soon!