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adventurous
emotional
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Blood, War
Moderate: Death, Sexual content
Minor: Child death
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Colonisation
Moderate: Death, Injury/Injury detail
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Man, I have some issues with the books in this series, but that doesn’t stop me from devouring each one. :)
The world is so interesting, and is quite intricately built in the Nightborn Duet (Books 1 and 2). Like the other standalone novella in this series, this book is purely supplemental, but does add more to the understanding of the greater world than Six Scorched Roses. The author does a really great job fleshing out the lore and all the moving parts. The plot thread regarding the world is interesting, and was clearly thought through. It's not the driving force here, but it does exist and kept me interested.
The stronger plot is the romance. The relationship between the Sylina and Atrius is full and developed. I wouldn’t personally call this enemies to lovers (which this seems to be marketed as). The "enemies" portion is really weak and abandoned early on. In the set up, the reason he is an enemy is because our main character's friend was killed in his invading army. This thread really only lasted maybe less than a quarter of the book, and the friend wasn’t brought up again. The author excelled in creating a good slow burn, though, and writes amazing romance overall. I loved their individual histories, the exploration of Sylina's time with the Arachessen. It was really intriguing to follow her unpack her past.
At its core, there really are no characters of substance other than Sylina and Atrius. Although we are in an army of thousands, we only have Erekkus described in physical detail at all. He ultimately serves as someone who reflects Atrius at a superficial level for the sake of Sylina understanding him more, without directly interacting with him. We truly know nothing about him. Other than he had a child on Veratas, who supposedly died mid book, he has no history or personality traits. We really don’t know how he feels about his child's death. He doesn’t even get a line of reaction when discovering the bodies, but later on we get about a page of interaction where he doesn't say anything about it. It was a missed opportunity. The Sightmother was interesting, though!
The concept of Sylina being blind could have been pretty unique, but it ultimately fell a little flat and vague to me. She can't see, with an emphasis that she "senses," instead, but can see colors, shapes, expressions (described in physicality) as well as the "sightless" auras, presences, threads of life. It can be confusing. For example:
So, can Sylina see what's in front of her or not? Because she describes everything in clear detail all the time with "sight words," in these moments it becomes unclear what she doesn’t see. Her lack of sight is a half-baked idea that it felt like the author really wanted to play with but didn’t know how to execute. I wish she had really gone for it!
Sylina's ability to sense and interact with the "threads" in the world was really compelling, and I loved the concept of Threadwalking and the risks that seem to come with that. I would have liked it to play an even greater role, because it was really interesting as a darker/bloodier path to seeing the future.
Ultimately this book is worth a read and was really quite enjoyable, and I'm continuing with the series as a whole, of course.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Violence, Blood, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Cursing, Death, Drug use
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I liked this book but not as much as the other Nyaxia books. I enjoyed seeing more of the characters and gods from the same universe, especially because supposedly these characters will be revisited in the main series. I also liked the main characters and found their back stories interesting, but they were probably the lowest on my range of favorite main characters in Nyaxia. That being said, they are not bad main characters by any means -- it is just that the main characters from the other books are so insanely good that it is hard to compete. I found the backstory behind Sylina to be unique and I hope we will see more of that as well as diving deeper into the details and rituals of the other gods of this world.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, War
Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting
dark
emotional
mysterious
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⭐️/ 2🌶️
*Check trigger warnings before reading
*Check trigger warnings before reading
Been a while since I’ve read a story set within the world that Carissa Broadbent has created that had vampires, magic, magical creatures, and more. This book introduced not only new characters, but also a unique magic system, abilities, and a groups of individuals who served one of the Gods. Sylina, was one of the Arachessen, she served her goddess, and her life up until this point had been about completing her missions, but with the introduction of a ruthless vampire determined to conquer, Sylina was ready for her newest mission, unaliving him.
The thing that I loved most about this book was the way it was fast paced. Most fantasy books are lengthy and take a while to understand the world behind the story, but since this was set within the world of Nyaxia, it was fairly straightforward. Like most of the books in this series, they’re all interconnected and connected in specific ways. Sylina and Atrius’s story isn’t over by any means, and I have a feeling their roles will play a bigger presence in future books. Anyways, this book was easy to jump into, be immersed, and understand even the new magic system.
Sylina was obviously a new character, but her backstory was one that played a role into how she found herself in becoming one of the Arachessen. Sylina had always been a faithful servant to her goddess and believed in what she was taught even enduring the most painful and challenging torture as a sacrifice to her goddess. All I gotta say is, whoa, Sylina wasn’t a weak flower, she was deadly, capable, fierce, and cunning in her own ways. Add into the fact that Sylina needed to infiltrate Atrius’s group and learn everything about him before taking him down, she managed to do whatever she needed to do. That being said, Sylina didn’t expect to find herself feeling such deep, intense feelings for Atrius, and caring for the vampires in his group. At the beginning of this book, Sylina thought she knew the world around her, but by working with Atrius, her world view changed, and she was quite literally exposed to the truth that was hidden from her the whole time.
This whole book was great in how it got me back into the world of Nyaxia, but also loving the slow burn, tension filled romance of Sylina and Atrius. At first, I wasn’t sure how the romance would play out, but Carissa wrote Sylina and Atrius’s connection so smoothly that it just seemed natural especially under the circumstances that they were in. There was action, danger, plot twist, slow burn romance, and a dash of mystery. Overall, this was a good book, even it being a standalone, I think it’s better to read this in conjunction with the rest of the series as Sylina and Atrius’s story will most likely continue in future books especially since it’s mentioned at the end with Carissa’s author note. Nonetheless, would recommend reading this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
I was at a solid 4 stars for the first 3/4 of the book and then struggled with the last fourth!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Violence, Grief, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail
adventurous
dark
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Yes
Returned to the Nyaxia Universe and out of slump. Broadbents story telling continues to keep me enthralled in this world and happy to see another badass FMC. I'm excited to read the next duet.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Death, Violence, War
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Sexual content
Moderate: Addiction, War
Minor: Death of parent
adventurous
dark
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:
Yes
Once again the author did not disappoint with this novella. The complexity of the characters reflecting quite accurately the complexity of being is to be appreciated as well as they way they struggle to cope with their past and demons. Some things aren't as clear as they could be, especially things related to the extent and consequences of Atrius's curse , but overall it was a very nice read. One might have expected it to be difficult to read a story in which the narrator's blind and unable to see, but of course, Broadbent made it work brilliantly. The ending is also to be appreciated, showing the extent of Atrius's goodness of character, or perhaps it was just a bit precipitate, but overall, this trope being a bit different than what is often seen and expected was a pleasant though quick surprise.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Self harm, Sexual content, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Death of parent, War, Injury/Injury detail
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Death, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Grief
Minor: Child death, Torture, Death of parent