Reviews tagging 'Torture'

The Serpent and the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent

179 reviews

natashareadsbooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

Wow. I don't even know what to say about this book! 

Oraya was a human. She was taken in by the vampire king, taught never to trust others because she wouldn't be safe. Never safe. Taught to fight so she could protect herself. She used those skills to hunt down vampires trying to harm the innocent humans in the human district. And was taught to protect her heart at all costs. 

She threw herself into the Kejari- a tournament held every century, the winner granted just one wish from the goddess herself. And Oraya knew exactly what she wanted - she didn't want her human weaknesses anymore. 

But in the tournament she needed to form an alliance. Everything about Raihn was dangerous. He was her greatest competition and rival. But she still found herself drawn to him. But there was no room for compassion. Raihn may have understood her more than anyone ever had before. And their attraction may end up being her downfall in a world where nothing was more deadly than love. 

So, it took me a little longer to get into this book than I would have liked, I have been in a huge book slump for weeks. But it was intriguing and interesting and despite me taking awhile to get into the story, I wanted to know more. 

I was drawn to the characters, and their stories, and wanted to know all I could about them. How strong Oraya was, and brave - not only living in a world that was designed to kill her but to over come that every day, and to fight back against the injustices every chance she could despite her not having vampire strength, or powers. She fought for what she could, and still had compassion despite the world trying to beat it out of her. 

And I wanted to know more of Raihn. He was mysterious, and dangerous. He was ruthless and cunning. But he was also intriguing and curious. 

The world may be on the precipice of war, offering up horrors despite the characters being in the Kejari- the trials spanning weeks. Truths coming to light. 

I loved the dark fantasy world of magic. The depravity of the world but also the small glimpses of hope too. 

If you are looking for a new fantasy world to dive into filled with blood and carnage then I recommend this book! 

4 Asteris ⭐ out of 5⭐. 

2🌶️ out of 5 🌶️. - a couple detailed scenes. 

Tropes: 

→ Enemies/Rivals to lovers 

→ Trials/tournament 

→ slow burn 

→ romantasy 

→ dark fantasy 

→ vampires 

→ dark magic 

→ shadow daddy 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Animal death, Hate crime, Sexual content, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Kidnapping, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Stalking, Genocide, Panic attacks/disorders, War, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Torture, Violence, Blood, Confinement, Death of parent, Classism, and Gaslighting

jnterhune's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Took some getting use to, I was unaware it was a vampire story (my first one also) so that took some adjusting, but overall was hooked and enjoyed the story. Love the characters, loved the trials, found it very original and a fun read! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Torture, Alcohol, Animal death, Confinement, Murder, Rape, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, and Gore

kuro2091's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Violence

Moderate: Sexual violence and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Torture, War, and Confinement

scoto435's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

• 🌶️1 ; there are a lot of tense moments and banter, but the book focuses on content not really spice. 
• I loved the dynamic with the main characters and truly enjoyed the banter/ wit. I saw good character development and found the characters lovable and easy to hate at the same time.
• The story was slow to start but it picked up 1/3 of the way and the last 10% was wild 💯.
• The author had an easy to read writing style that was focused on 1 character.
• The reason I did not give this book above a 4 was the world building was “ok”. The content of the book focused on a multiple part game, so in all fairness world building wasn’t fully necessary. That being said I wanted more backstory about the gods, previous main character battles, humans, other vampires, etc. This may be rectified in book 2. What is currently in book one didn’t provide enough world breadcrumbs for me to care about it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Torture, War, Blood, and Death

skyfluff's review against another edition

adventurous tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Self harm, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Murder, Rape, Blood, Body horror, Sexual violence, War, Torture, Death of parent, Death, and Violence

spatterson7's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Grief, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Gore

Moderate: Death of parent, Genocide, Cursing, Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, War, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Alcohol, Child death, Torture, Slavery, and Self harm

e11e_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Murder, Blood, Torture, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Sexual content

Moderate: Confinement

Minor: Slavery and Rape

ihssu0624's review against another edition

adventurous fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Murder, Blood, Death, Gore, Grief, Torture, Abandonment, Rape, Slavery, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, and Genocide

ginnymiglierina's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad 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

4.25

A slow burn, enemies-to-lovers romance between a human and a vampire could never end well…and it doesn’t. The friendship and romance between Oraya and Raihn, full of banter and rawness and half-truths, develops organically and is so satisfying to read, even with its dark twist at the end. The last 60 or so pages had me in a chokehold - it felt like the end of a SJM book. 

The story is well paced, the action doesn’t drag out too long and the “slower” parts are still animated and interesting. I think the tournaments and trials are becoming a little overdone in fantasy books and it feels like reading different versions of the same book - especially when there is a more or less powerless human who is somehow stronger than anyone with powers or other creatures and manages to defeat the opposition. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the story and world building and I’m interested to see what happens with the rest of the series!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Violence, and Sexual content

Moderate: Rape and Physical abuse

Minor: Torture and Slavery

zoeyfawn's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Violence

Moderate: Torture, Death, Blood, Racism, Sexual content, and Gore