The Serpent & the Wings of Night
Carrissa Broadbent
Crowns of Nyaxia #1
The Nightborn Duet
Cover and Synopsis
The Serpent & the Wings of Night Cover & Blurb
For humans and vampires, 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.
Book Information
The Serpent & the Wings of Night
Published December 2023 by Bramble.
The Serpent & the Wings of Night was originally independently published by Carissa Broadbent.
Pages : 502 pages, Paperback
The Serpent & the Wings of Night Trigger Warnings
This book contains subject matter that might be difficult for some readers, including violence, torture (off page), flashback of rape (consent withdrawn), self-harm, emotional abuse, slavery, and references to sexual abuse.
The Serpent & the Wings of Night Tropes
Enemies to Lovers
Deadly Trials
Hidden Identities
Slow Burn
Review
The Serpent & the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent
Because the king of the Hiaj vampires—conqueror of the House of Night, blessed of the Goddess Nyaxia, and one of the most powerful men to have walked this realm or the next—saw a fragment of himself in this child.
The Serpent & the Wings of Night has been sitting on my tbr for a bit, which means I have zero recollection of what its about. This should come as absolutely no surprise if you’ve been to my blog before. I do know it’s about Vampires and there appears to be quite a bit of hype surrounding the series.
As always friends, out of context spoilers below. Jump down to my final thoughts if you want to avoid them.
- What do you mean the vampires have wings?
- But their hearts were just as soft. Damn girl.
- Why Ibrihim’s canines missing tho?
- Did the mother pluck them from his gums?
- Fun stuff immortality.
- Wait, O has magic?
- Well these demons sound fantastic.
- Raihn is growing on me.
- I love Mische already and I just met her.
- What do these two want if they win?
- Stop shaking the past away. I’m getting antsy.
- I feel like Vincent knows something. Or has done something.
- Damn girl. That’s some powerful magic.
- Like Vincent would tell you.
- He’s in love.
- If something happens to Mische I’ll riot.
- Girl, I don’t think you know Vincent at all.
- Not with you.
- The stew is not that good.
- Fucking Vincent.
- Girl you know it’s true.
- I don’t think it was chance that brought Vincent to O.
The Serpent & the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent Review
Minor Spoilers
The Serpent & the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent is the first book in The Nightborn Duet and start of the Crowns of Nyaxia series. When completed the series will contain three duets, one for each of the vampire houses of Obitraes. The Nightborn Duet is about the House of Night, a magic wielding, winged vampire species made up of two warring clans; Hiaj and Rishan. Currently the House of Night is ruled by Vincent of the Hiaj clan. The Serpent & the Wings of Night is about his adopted human daughter, Oraya, and her participation in the Kejari, a tournament consisting of five deadly trials.
I liked Oraya, she’s a badass. Out prowling the streets for naughty vampires feasting on humans to murder but I didn’t find her overly interesting. The most interesting part about Oraya for me was Vincent. I was obsessed with discovering what his deal was- he was suspish af. I am happy to report Vincent is nefarious af and I loved it. He gaslit the fuck out of that poor girl. Manipulating her entire life and turning his Little Serpent into a vampire killing weapon to be feared.
Hundreds of years later, historians and scholars would look back upon this moment. This decision that, one day, would topple an empire.
The Serpent & the Wings of Night is told entirely from Oraya’s limited perspective. During the Kejari she ends up teaming up with Raihn & Mische, two vampires from the Rishan clan. I loved Mische the second I met her but it took me a bit to warm up to Raihn. I did eventually but he’s just not going to rank in the top three for me. I’m curious to know more about him and Mische. Really just the Rishan and other Houses in general. Being only from Oraya’s perspective we don’t get much sense of the real world. With her fighting for her life to stay alive, it would have been nice to hear things someone that wasn’t wearing Vincent tinted glasses.
Never trust. Never yield. Always guard your heart.
I did love the world Broadbent created. It’s dark and merciless-the vampires are violent, unhinged predators. I loved the political landscape of the Obitraes, it was tense and cut throat but I wish there was more of it. I wanted to know more about their Gods and history of the vampires. While the Kejari shows off just how brutal the world is, the plot is contained within the walls of the tournament. Personally, I think I’m over the deadly trials trope. It’s predictable-you know the main character is going to win. And yes, I realize trials or not a book is predictable- the hero always wins in the end but in my opinion, the journey to that moment in The Serpent & the Wings of Night was tedious. The Kejari started off with a bang but quickly fizzled out after the second and third trial. I think five was two too many. The Kejari left little room for sub-plots, which I was more interested in than the trials themselves.
I would have liked The Serpent and the Wings of Night more if it had been dual pov and/or the Kejari only involved three trials. Raihn’s perspective would have broken up Oraya’s constant reminders that she is human. If I hadn’t already suspected this to be false, the incessant reminder would have solidified it. I would have been more surprised had Oraya been wholly human. I’m hoping with the trials out of the way there will be more room for the overarching plot and world building to breathe and grow.
Overall I didn’t find The Serpent & the Wings of Night that great. It was okay and I liked it enough to continue reading, at the very least, this duet. Raihn and Oraya’s love story wasn’t overly interesting to me. I found it mediocre, typical and predictable. I just wasn’t feeling their chemistry enough to buy into Oraya’s sacrifice. I did like the ending and ultimately the sacrifice had to happen for the rest of the pieces to fall into place.
“I was ready to let it all go for you,” he murmured. “Do you know that, Oraya? I was ready to let my kingdom fall for you. You should have let me stay dead.”
The Serpent & the Wings of Night ends on cliffhanger.
There is an optional novella to be read between books one & two in The Nightborn Duet– Six Scorched Roses. I will be reading it before I move on to The Ashes & the Star-Cursed King.
Quotes
The Serpent & the Wings of Night Quotes
You’ll be easier to kill later, he had told me. Like hell I would.
“Maybe our skin doesn’t scar the same as yours, but our hearts do. Sometimes they never heal.”
No, this was the beginning of something horrible. A bloody birth of a bloodier monster. One that could devour us all.
I may be the serpent, but even snakes run for cover when hawks soared overhead.
“There’s no bonding like bonding over murder.”
Because he looked at me in sheer awe-like I was the most incredible thing he had ever seen. Like I was a fucking goddess.
“You might destroy me anyway.”
Spice
The Serpent & the Wings of Night Spicy Chapters
44
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