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Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'
The Serpent and the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent
228 reviews
corina10755's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
A series of deadly trials, sort of similar to Powerless and The Hunger Games but add more death and more vampires.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Torture, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
merries's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
“Do you want to change this world, little serpent? Then climb your cage until you are so high no one can catch you.”
I was never one to dabble in the Romantasy genre until this year, when I decided that for the sake of my mental health, I needed a break from the Literary Fiction cave I’d found myself dwelling in. I had, of course, picked up a few Romantasy books on a whim whenever I’d been book shopping, this book being one of them, and out of all of the plots this one seemed the most engaging to someone not entirely used to the genre.
Now, coming from a background of Literary Fiction and existential dread, I like my books to have substance, a hint of morally dubious behaviour, and sometimes eye candy. I will say this book met, in my opinion, two of those criteria. Controversially, I found this book to have a degree of substance in the sprinkling of political world-building, morally dubious behaviour in terms of immense daddy issues, but the eye candy was... lacking for me. Perhaps that’s because ripped to fuck redheads aren’t my type (no offence).
Delving into the serious part of this review, I’ll cover four topics: world-building; characters; pace; writing.
World-building: 3 stars.
I get confused easily. And, when listening to the audiobook while reading the actual, physical book, I found myself having to pause and just sit, wondering “Has this bit been explained to me yet?”. I know this is technically a series, while simultaneously a duology (can we class it as that?), and that I can’t expect everything to be explained to me instantly, but I feel this book should have had a glossary of some kind like others I’ve picked up pre and post this series.
Characters: 4 stars.
Overall, I found the characters pretty interesting. I will say that Mische is not interesting enough to me for me to pick up the third book in the series straight away, but Raihn and Oraya were intriguing. Plus, daddy issues. What can go wrong?
I will say that I found the daddy issues more interesting of a dynamic than Raihn and Oraya wanting to slurp each other’s blood every fifty pages, but hey. I do also feel that, for an enemies to lovers romance, the enemies section didn’t ‘enemy’ enough for me to root for them as lovers, but the plot twist at the end of this book built up that intrigue again heading into The Ashes and the Star-Cursed King.
Pace: 3 stars.
The pace was pretty consistent, however I feel like this book both suffers from being 100 pages too long and 100 pages too short. There were a few moments that I didn’t feel were important enough to be included, but there were characters like Ibrahim who I just genuinely did not care for, so when a certain scene towards the end of the book happens, I was too indifferent to react.
Furthermore, I remember at one point there being a two week time skip which ended up with “Oh by the way, Raihn and I are a bit more chill with each other now” and I felt that was a massive injustice to their dynamic.
Writing: 2 stars.
This is not me saying the writing is bad, by any means. There were some moments I found interesting and the action scenes on the whole were done well. My main critiques are towards some rather peculiar moments, and the fact that some of the dialogue made me want to curl up into a ball and roll down a hill.
Examples include:
“I’d wondered about it at first, especially since vampires fucked like rabbits...and Raihn looked like he was probably very good at sex.” (How does someone just give off 10/10 bedroom energy? Enlighten me.)
“’I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t here to win,’” he said, somewhat apologetically, before he hurled a fucking star at me.” (Oraya’s inner monologue does sometimes read like a child who has learned the word ‘fuck’ for the first time.)
“’I know some vampires have a taste for human sex, but-’ ’Vincent is my father,’ I cut in, disgusted. ‘Right. At least if he was fucking you, I could make sense of it.’” (I know I said daddy issues was the more interesting dynamic, but... not like this.)
“We stayed off to the side-far away from the borderline-orgy that was happening in the centre of the room, which would have been a very awkward place to be with my father.” (I feel like I can’t explain this. It just gave me the ick.)
Overall rating: 3.5 stars.
I did enjoy this book; it was a nice 500-something page palette cleanser, and I did start the second book immediately after reading the first, but the writing and just my brain being confused does bring the rating down overall to a 3.5. If you want to read this book, just don’t take it too seriously! The real fun comes from when you realise that this book is a tad goofy – intentional or not.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault
adri11's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Blood, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault
valuna05's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Genocide and Torture
Minor: Rape
coveredinivy's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, and Violence
Moderate: Rape, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
iskebfiskxndi's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Cursing
smartcookiesca's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Rape, Slavery, and Torture
tguccione's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Child death, Domestic abuse, Rape, Self harm, and Kidnapping
brooke_pearson's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
The writing was really well done, and I don't regret reading it, but the ending was a bit confusing. Spoilers: When it started talking about heir marks, I feel like there were either plot holes or parts that were just confusing. How come none of the Rishan people had an heir mark, even if there were so few of them (from my understanding, there should always be two people with an heir mark, a Rishan and a Hiaj. Or do they not get the heir mark until the leader dies? If so, why are there two heir marked people, Oraya and Raihn? If not, why didn't Oraya already have an heir mark). The ending was also just confusing with the motivations of people. How the hell can Oraya even tolerate Raihn, let alone still love him after he killed her father, who he knew she loved? Lastly, why didn't Oraya Turn at the end of the book when they both consumed each other's blood (during the wedding)? Is it because he's Turned, does a vampire need to be Born to turn others? There were other confusing parts (like when Jesmine was talking about being bonded? What does that mean??) but those were the biggest ones I could think of . Overall, it was a good book, but I'm not sure if I'll be getting the sequel unless there's a good sale. There's also a huge age gap, but I guess she's technically an adult
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Grief
Minor: Self harm and Alcohol
liaantje's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
I read this together with my sister in law, we had so much fun, the writing is awesome, and we've already ordered the second book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, and Murder
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Cannibalism, and Alcohol