This book had a slow start, then it gradually started to get interesting, but the ending was not one that I enjoyed.

I try not to mention other books in my reviews, but as I was reading this, I couldn't help but to think this was similar to The Hunger Games except... lower stakes? I think the world needs to be developed more because there were some confusing aspects about it. The Kejari seems like a strict competition where ultimately only one comes out alive but I personally felt it was quite lenient. I'm interested to see which direction book 2 will go because I couldn't really tell what this book was intending to do. Parts of the book felt like they dragged because there was so much of nothing. I would have loved more details about the tournament itself and just more information about how vampires worked in this world. The characters all lacked depth. Even Raihn, who I initially liked because of his dry humor, started to slip into some typical flat character at the end.

I'm also not the biggest fan of how the ending turned out and I'm worried it will slip into some clichés in the sequel. This book was good, but I was waiting for it to be great. There's a lot of potential in the ideas but they definitely need to be fleshed out more. We don't really get much information about how this world works, especially the tournament, and there were many seemingly contradicting factors that just made the book a little boring. However, there's a lot left to be explored and I'm hoping that book 2 will answer some of these questions.


--SPOILERS--
With Vincent helping Oraya by directly providing items, Raihn and Oraya being able to leave the Moon Palace freely, participants being about to withdraw from the competition, and just the overall lack of brutality from other participants (aside from the trials themselves), the stakes didn't seem as high as they should have been. I couldn't picture the tournament because the rules were so blurred. Also, Oraya's stance on vampires was confusing because she seems to have some hateful feelings for them but she wants to turn into one. Even if the author decides to stay in Oraya's perspective, I think her intentions need to be explained more. I was also waiting for more explanation on characters like Mische and Angelika. There's a moment where Mische seems to empathize for Angelika and unless I missed something, I was disappointed there was no further explanation. Regarding Mische, I didn't understand why Raihn followed her in entering the Kejari if there can only be one winner. I wasn't expecting her character to completely disappear halfway through and it made me question why she was introduced in the first place.Considering what the ending was, I don't get how Oraya was allowed to live but also, it was frustrated me that that was how she phrased her wish when it could have been something a lot smarter.

--DISCLAIMER--
This doesn't affect my review but the ebook that I received through Netgalley had some issues with the formatting. It went from chapter 44 --> chapter 50-56 --> chapter 45-49. It went from their spicy scene to Oraya being declared victor so I was definitely caught off guard with how jarring it was.

Thank you to Bramble/Tor and Netgalley for the free e-copy of this manuscript. All opinions are my own.
This book was just as excellent as I heard it would be! Picture this as a more adult version of the Hunger Games, but with vampires. The world itself seems physically smaller than a lot of fantasy kingdoms, which makes it easier to keep up with. The main character is strong and likeable and the tension with the love interest is well-written. You can really feel the emotions the characters are feeling with the way the author describes their facial expressions. Not to mention, the plot twists at the end were extraordinary and I definitely did not see them coming. Maybe it's the vampires, but it reminded me of JLA.
I can't wait to read the second book!

Ummmm…wow was that addictive! What a read!! This was a little bit longer than most of the other books I read, but I enjoyed every second. It is like a mixture of all my favorite 2010 series!

This book was so fun to read! I loved the aspect of a trial of games and the scenes of each challenge had me locked into the story. The found family plot is something I know readers will enjoy. Plus the banter between Oraya and Raihn was just so perfect!

Thanks to Tor Publishing and Netgalley for access to an eARC of The Serpent & the Wings of Night. This was such a good book!

Okay, controversial opinion, but this is a fantastic romantasy novel. Personally, I liked it better than FBAA. Better than Hurricane Wars, even better than Fourth Wing! Great plotting, complex characterization, intricate world building, tense action, spicy romance, and also vampires! What more could a reader want? I feel as if to share too much would spoil a lot, but there are some significant twists that work really well. This is the first in a duet and I am very happy to know the second book is already written. I immediately went to read it to find out what happened next.

I don't think I can clearly state how much I LOVED this book. It was the vampire romance I was needing. It started off a little slow and the FMC was a little annoying in the beginning but by the end I was really enjoying myself and found that I wanted more and more and you will too if your a sucker for angsty brooding bad boys. I devoured this book.
I really enjoyed the plot of the book and the twists at the end. I liked the magic systems and the different types of vampires in the world. It added another depth to the world. The action and plot was consistant throughout and the ending was dramatic and tense and made me want to scream into the void.

Check it out!

This book is a thrilling combination of Twilight and The Hunger Games, with a dash of Damon Salvatore from The Vampire Diaries.

The main character, Oraya, is a badass and her personality is amazing. Raihn and Oraya’s enemies-to-lovers/slow burn relationship is exquisite.

Mische, another character in the book, totally reminds me of Alice from Twilight.

The world building was easy to follow, but it was lacking in some areas. I was often confused due to how minimally it was brought up.

The book took me on an emotional rollercoaster, especially towards the end. I’m excited to get more immersed in this world by reading the novella Six Scorched Roses, which I was told is better to read between book 1 and 2.

Follow a weak human woman who is trying to live in a vampire’s world alongside her father in the first book in the Crowns of Nyaxia series.

Oraya was adopted by the Nightborn vampire king Vincent as a child. Since then she learned that she could trust no one except him. He has always been there for her, teaching her to fight and survive, but she still longs to see her human family again. This wish can be granted by Nyaxia, the goddess of death and vampires, herself. To get this wish, she enters the legendary tournament, the Kejari. Only one can survive, and she is the only human in the lot. With high stakes and tough competition, she thinks the tournament cannot get any worse, but then she starts falling for Raihn, one of her competitors. He may be sexy, but he is from a rival clan within the House of Night. Though not the most creative use of the enemies-to-lovers plot, it is a fun read with unexpected twists and turns and an exciting execution of a death tournament. Oraya is a heroine for those who want an independent female lead who keeps her own identity throughout the story.

The Serpent and the Wings of Night encapsulates everything a romantasy reader loves about this blended genre with magic, intrigue, and a mounting tension that scorches every page.

I loved this book. I couldn't put it down. Every time I picked it up, meaning to read a couple chapters, I'd end up reading over 100 pages.
There are great plot twists and wonderful characters (okay, "wonderful" may not be the best word for all of them, but how about wonderfully written?), I'm so excited to get into Ashes and the Star-Cursed King soon too!
I'm obsessed. Excuse me while I go read Carissa Broadbent's entire back catalog now.

Thank you to Bramble Romance for my review copy of this one!

If you are unfamiliar with The Serpent and the Wings of Night, it’s basically vampire Hunger Games. Except all the contestants are volunteers and they can leave the arena (castle) at certain times of the day.

I don’t know how to rate this one. The first half was boring to me, because it was all action and didn’t have a lot of focus on the relationships, and I’m very much a relationship reader. That being said, the relationships were all super interesting when they were focused on! Oraya and her adopted father, Oraya and her relationship with her birth territory, and of course the enemies (ish) to lovers arc! Once I hit the 50% mark, everything got SO good that I finished it in one night and immediately downloaded the next one. So five stars I guess?

🎧 I’m familiar with Amanda Leigh Cobb from her narration of A Court of Wings and Ruin and A Court of Frost and Starlight, and she was a fantastic choice for this book! I have a little harder time understanding action scenes when I listen via audio, so I liked that I had the ebook to follow along with as well!

The Serpent and the Wings of Night is a high-quality fantasy that had me immediately hooked. I was totally and utterly engrossed by everything: the writing, the characters, the world building. This book is well over 500 pages and yet I absolutely flew through it, sitting on the edge of my seat the entire time. Too many times, books try the Hunger Games-esque competition plot, and more often than not it fails. This is how you write it-with all the same high-stakes, savage, unrelenting elements. Throw in some political intrigue, vampires that actually act vampiric, and a little slow-burn, angst-filled romance and we've got ourselves one amazing hit of a novel.

What a fun fantasy read!! I wasn't quite sure what to expect with the author but I am happy to say I was very pleasantly surprised.

I devoured this one! It’s giving Hunger Games and From Blood and Ash meets ACOTAR but vampires! The last 30% of this book had me reeling, and I can’t wait to jump into the next one!

Pals, I get it! The love for this series is immense, and now I understand why.

If you are a fan of books like Fourth Wing and ACOTAR, Carissa Broadbent's The Serpent & The Wings of Night is for you! Jump on the wagon with this new release-- it won't disappoint.

I wanted to like this book as much as the Daughter of No Worlds trilogy but unfortunately it just didn’t have that interesting and intense political aspect. It leaned heavily Romantasy though, so fans of the genre will EAT THIS UP. The tournament and the enemies/rivals to lovers was delectable. I also loved the father daughter abuse cycle that really explored what emotional abuse can be like. God I love Carissa Broadbent

This fast-paced, addictive romantasy title will be an easy sell for fans of Fourth Wing, ACOTAR, etc. The vampire resurgence is here and it's wonderful! While this particular title could perhaps have used another round of editing on the prose for my own tastes, it was a fun read that I'm sure will appeal to a huge audience.

An adopted human daughter of a vampire king enters the most dangerous completion known to vampires in order to hopefully become as powerful as them. But once she is in the middle of the competition, she learns that maybe she has not been always told the truth. And maybe she can start trusting others. I can't wait for the next book!

The Serpent and the Wings of Night had me hooked from beginning. Oraya, the Nightborn King's adopted daughter, enters the Kejari - a deadly tournament, in hopes of gaining a favor from the goddess Nyaxia. In a realm where vampires ruthlessly rule and humans are treated as mere livestock, Oraya's resilience and determination stood out to me. Despite her vulnerability and perceived human weaknesses, she remains strong.

The witty banter between Oraya and Raihn, another participant in the tournament, added an extra layer of enjoyment to the story. Their relationship born out of necessity lifts the story above the fight or die narrative of the Kejari. This book is full of unexpected twists and turns, and the ending left me with a mix of emotions.

This is a completed duology, so you don’t have to wait for the conclusion. If you like adventure, mystery with a touch of steamy romance pick this book up now. Very grateful to Bramble for the advanced reader copy. All comments are my honest opinion.

I enjoyed this way more than I thought I would! I’m skeptical of all the popular TikTok books, but this did not disappoint.

While the death games idea is not new by any standard, Broadbent certainly makes it her own with the Kejari. I could clearly picture each round, named after each of the moon phases, and understand how it all worked.

Oraya is such an interesting character, and I’m so glad that she’s so strong and independent. Her traumatic history with vampires, revealed later in the book, is essential to the story. However I was surprised it wasn’t more of a challenge or internal struggle for her.

I did find this book hard to get into at first, but by the time she teamed up with Raihn and Mische I was hooked. I hope Mische has a bigger role in the next book and is more than just an added background character. Raihn and Oraya have great chemistry, even at the end of the book,


—————SPOILER AHEAD—————

What didn’t make sense to me in the end was why didn’t Oraya die? If her wish was “I wish Raihn had won” then Oraya should have died. Did Nyaxia let her live on purpose? She does seem like she enjoys toying with her “children” and she probably knew who Oraya really was and wants to see how it all plays out.

This definitely filled my niche for a strong female-lead fantasy book. Oraya was great, her backstory and personality were strong. It was a bit predictable with the “twist” that Oraya seemed to be the only one unaware of. The author definitely hinted at it heavily throughout and I found myself dragging to get through it at the end, but I will definitely be grabbing the second in the series to pick up where this left off.