I enjoyed reading this novel and look forward to the sequel. The romance between the two characters was a slow burn, but satisfying. The action was jampacked and high stakes. I am eager to see where the story ends for the protagonist.

Serpent & the Wings of Night is the first in Carissa Broadbent's Crowns of Nyaxia series about a world of vampire ruling houses, where humans struggle to survive. Oraya was adopted as an infant by Nightborn vampire king Vincent, who slaughtered her family.

Now, Vincent has convinced Oraya to enter the once-in-a-century Kejari tournament, overseen by the goddess Nyaxia. Most who enter die, but the winner is granted a wish from the goddess.

After a great deal of blood and gore, Oraya does come out on top, but not without twists of plot and betrayals along the way, setting the scene for what comes next.

Wow! This. Book. Is. AMAZING SOOOO GOOD! And that's high praise coming from me. I read a decent amount of fantasy, but most of the time, I'm unimpressed either by the story, the characters, or the writing. But this captivated me from the first page and kept me enthralled till the end. Carissa Broadbent is a talented writer and I will be reading her entire backlog. I cannot wait to get my hands on book two sign me up Off to Barnes and Noble I go.

Action packed fantasy novel, with amazing tropes! This was phenomenal and so much fun!! I loved the characters so much I felt like they were my new friends. I denied called from my real friends to finish this book.

DNF @ 60%

I’ve reached the point where I no longer care about how this book ends, and it’s feeling like a chore to pick it up. We're immediately thrown in to the story expected to know a lot of things we're not told. I enjoy the info dumping in the beginning of a fantasy. I like learning about the world and its history, the characters and who they are and their motivations for why they're doing things, and why it all matters. Bottom line, I need a solid foundation that allows me to connect with the characters and become invested in their stories. This book has almost no world building. I kept waiting to learn why this place is like it is, and I got pretty much nothing before Oraya was thrown into battle. There’s no character development. Who even is Raihn? Why am I meant to fall for him? There’s also a lot of repetition and odd sentence structure. The narrative style doesn’t match Oraya’s speaking voice, even though the book is written in first person from her point of view. I could look past some of these things, but so much of this story didn't even make sense.

There's plot holes everywhere, and the more I thought about these missing pieces, the more questions I had and the more everything fell apart for me. First, WHY did Vincent save Oraya as a child and take her in as his adoptive daughter? Why did her family die? Vincent, doesn’t want to outlive Oraya. He wants her to become a vampire so that both of them will no longer have to live in fear that she will be killed. But he won’t turn her himself because she could die, so he sends her to fight to the death in a very Hunger Games-like tournament against 50+ vampires so that Nyaxia will grant her that wish. These vampires are centuries old, extremely powerful, and violent. And she has to try to not be killed by one of them while also fighting monsters and demons at the same time. That doesn’t even make sense. Why would he send her into a situation so much more dangerous than if he just turned her himself? At least he would have more control over her fate, especially since the book introduces us to multiple vampires who survived being turned. At least she wouldn't be brutally killed by someone while he helplessly watches from the audience. Two of the contestants, who are best friends, voluntarily sign up to go compete together knowing that they will either both die or one will have to kill the other to win. And… for what? I have no idea what their wishes even are. Two brothers volunteer to participate. WHY!? Again, they either both die or one has to kill the other. How is Oraya, a human with a flicker of an unexplained magical power that she can’t control at all, so hard to kill when she has very little difficulty killing them? There are two factions of vampires, and they are always at war with one another. WHY? What happened back in history that made them hate each other so much? Humans and vampires live among each other, not always peacefully since vampires do have human snacks from time to time but... How are humans not outright extinct? They're easy food and they say human blood is the best. What is protecting them from not being imprisoned and used as a living blood bank? There are just no answers! There's no information on any of this, and that brings me back to the complete lack of solid world building.

A new guy, who I’m assuming is going to be a second love interest, has entered the book now and I’m seeing a Tamlin versus Rhys kind of story about to unfold that I'm not in the mood for. Oh, and Vincent calling Oraya “little serpent” all the time was kinda weird.

First, the chapters in this ARC are out of order at the end. Thankfully I was just confused and didn't have anything spoiled. Chapter 45 was chapter 50 and then chapter 50 was 45.

Is this book good? Probably not. Does it feel like an adult version of all the popular YA series of the early oughts? Kind of. Did I have a blast reading it? Yes. Do I need book two ASAP? Absolutely.

This is just fun turn your brain off and have a good time read. It's quick and engaging. There's a few fun twists at the end and it definitely set me up to be excited for book two.

Did you read Fourth Wing and love it? This is your next read!!

Full of heartbreaking romance, action packed thrills, and a whole lotta vampires. This very much game me Hunger Games vibes and I couldn't put it down.

<i>ARC Provided by NetGalley<i>

I am back in my vampire era it seems. I cannot get enough of high stakes fantasies with romance plot!
The enemies to lovers was executed perfectly, addictive from the start!

I enjoyed the world and the setting, the pacing was great too. However, I would have felt more in love with the whole story if the scenes would have not been predictable. Which is fine, because sometimes a predictable, angsty, character driven story is all we need. But regarding its hype on Booktok and Bookstagram I wanted it to be a bit more. :)

Thank you so much for the publisher,NEtgalley for the free e-ARC!

It was quite well done however the file was in the wrong order and skipped several chapters. A very well done dark romance!

“There she is."

this was incredible. such an exciting, thrilling, and fast paced fantasy read that had me in a chokehold. it took me about halfway to really get into, but once I did, I was hooked. Oraya was a badass, she was strong and fought twice as hard as everyone else because she's human in a world of vampires.

This has everything I love in a fantasy book:
Vampires with wings and powers
Slow burn romance
hate to love/enemies to lovers
witty banter (the sarcasm is my fav)
incredible world building

“I would beg,” he murmured. “For you, I would. You have fucking destroyed me, Oraya. Do you know that?”

I don't care what they say, Daddy Vincent stole the show, okay? He had me in a puddle. this stone cold vampire king was absolutely weak for his little serpent. I just-- *screams*

“I can’t take credit for everything that you’ve become, Oraya. Even if sometimes I wish I could. But if I’m responsible for just one small piece of that, it will have been the greatest accomplishment of my life.”

I can see why this book is popular but overall I found it predictable in the least interesting ways. I don’t know if I will continue the series but the book was an easy fast paced read. I just don’t think it was for me.

The Serpent and the Wings of Night is the perfect suggestion for someone looking for the next great Romantasy read. I liked that the setting was a departure from some of the go-tos in Romantasy and I will definitely be recommending to our customers. Many are already very excited to see this title back on the shelves.

Not my usual genre at all but I DEVOURED this. The story follows Oraya, the adopted human daughter of the nightborn king, Vincent, as she enters the Kejari, a hunger games-esque fight to the death amongst vampires. In it, she meets and allies with Raihn, a ruthless vampire from a rival race of vampires.

Likes: the world building, twists and turns, spice, chemistry, and characters.
Dislikes: Did not love Vincent calling his daughter his little serpent. I also felt like some of the magical/paranormal details were thrown in without adequate background explanation, but maybe I'm just not used to the genre.

Definite recommendation to anyone wanting to dip their toe into romantasy.

Thanks to Tor Publishing Group, Bramble and NetGalley for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Carissa Broadbent starts a tale set in a world ruled by flying vampires created by the goddess Nyaxia. Oraya doesn’t know why she was adopted by the Nightborn vampire king, but she grew up in his court preparing for a one a century contest, the Kejari, in which the winner gets a wish granted by the goddess. Rather than risk being turned, she plans the ultimate risk of this deadly contest to become vampire. Raihn , who had survived being turned, is the potential love interest if he doesn’t kill her first. The Serpent & the Wings of Night (hard from‎ Bramble) is difficult to put down with numerous twists and turns. It is very bloody and I can’t wait for part two.

Whoever said this book was Underworld meets The Hunger Games wasn't lying! What an engrossing fantasy world, anchored by a heroine who has been hardened by her upbringing as the adopted human daughter of a vampire king, now tasked to fight in a competition where the stakes are life or death and her only ally is a vampire of a rival family that she'll need to get close to in order to get an advantage over in the weeks to come. The tension between Oraya and Raihn is delicious and reaches a breaking point in the best possible way, and that ending! I know there's even more to come, and I'm going to need it after everything I just read within the last few chapters.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this edition from the publisher via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thank you NetGalley and Ms. Broadbent for giving me the opportunity to review "The Serpent & the Wings of Night." A mix of "Twilight" and "Hunger Games" this book is action packed. A well written story line and interesting characters keeps the reader engaged. I thoroughly enjoyed it and was so surprised at the ending. A definite read for fantasy lovers and fans of Sarah Maas.

I was sucked into a world run by vampires, traditional and new with compelling, dark characters and an engaging plot. A romantic fantasy, enemies to lovers and unexpected twists.

Thank you NetGalley and TOR Publishing Group for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

4-4.5

"Don't f#$*ing touch her," he growled as black light cracked through the air.

I don't know what I was expecting but it WASN'T THIS. Difference species of vampires? An adopted human daughter (Oraya) of the most legal King? A massive kill everyone competition (Kejari) where a Goddess bestows a gift if you win? A vampire questioning his abilities and his place in the world?

I was hooked from the first 10 pages and it never stopped. I will immediately be picking up the next book in the series that's out as well - The Ashes and the Star Crossed King.

For fans of Fourth Wing, ACOTAR, TOG ...

The Serpent & the Wings of Night is everything fans of vampires and Hunger Games never knew they needed in a book together. Have a Fourth Wing hangover? This is absolutely the book to cure it.

Seeing this book on social media, I'm so thankful to Tor for publishing and giving Carissa Broadbent the wider audience this book truly deserves.

I'm at the beginning of my fantasy journey, but for me this is a must read, and I can't wait to purchase a physical copy and read it again.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Tor for the digital arc in exchange for review. My opinions are my own.

All of these indie titles are being published traditional and man are they opening up the world to more books that we wouldn't have even known about!! This one was one that I probably never would have looked at and that would have been sad. Because this was incredible.