Reviews tagging 'Death'

Slaying the Vampire Conqueror by Carissa Broadbent

47 reviews

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I enjoyed the unique perspectives of the main character, especially weaving in her past experiences as a drive for her present choices. Unfortunately the love interest fell a little flat for me, as he had very little character development and very little personality. Serpent and the Wings of Night had a much more favorable romance dynamic with a much more dynamic love interest.

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adventurous dark sad tense fast-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: Yes

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adventurous dark fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No

Sylina and Atrius were a good team. She is sent to infiltrate his war camp and kill him, but as they learn to trust and get to know each other, their hate turns to affection. I did wish there had been a little bit more romance. 

I liked how they had a different strategy to take each City, it made the fighting more interesting and not so repetitive. Sylina and Atrius were both great warriors. Atrius learned to take advantage of her strengths/abilities instead of expecting her to sit around the camp doing nothing. 

The plot twist at the end was a little unexpected. I’d figured there was something weird going on with the Arachessen, but the full extent I hadn’t guessed. Their group was an interesting aspect of the story. Their abilities were cool. Wanted to see more of them working together. 

Wanted to see the vampires doing more vampire things. At one point I forgot that Atrius was a vampire. Sylina was the human, but she had/used more powers than Atrius. 

Overall this was fast paced and enjoyable. It was a good standalone. Heavy on the fantasy/war and light/medium on the romance. It was slow burn with a couple spicy scenes. 

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adventurous dark tense slow-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: No

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adventurous medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Stars ⭐️=3.5
Spice🌶=1.5
Plot/Tropes📚= Romantic Fantasy, Sent to Kill You, Take over a Kingdom
Pov🧍‍♀️🧍‍♂️=Single first person
Recommend👍👎=Yes
KU or Bought🆓💰=KU
TW⚠️💥= Violence, Death, Drug Addiction, War, Violence against children (not graphically depicted), Sexual Content 

I enjoyed this book for what it was, it took us on a journey but I feel like it could have gone abit deeper. I got why both the main characters were doing what they were doing I just didn’t feel it as deeply I have in this authors other work. 

I felt like some things were just repetitive and I never felt like there was much conflict anywhere even though we were trying to overthrow a whole kingdom. Don’t get me wrong I enjoyed the story and I wanted to see where it went but I don’t think I was fully invested. Maybe it’s because we didn’t get the MMCs perspective so I didn’t really understand his thoughts and feelings throughout, it was just a given and there was no conflict within him (because we didn’t get his POV) so I didn’t understand his feelings towards the FMC that much.

3.5 stars because I had a good time reading, the writing is good and the story is easy to follow, will be helpful if you’ve read the Crowns of Nyaxia series before this though because if not I imagine it would be confusing. Highly recommend those books though, they were my top reads of 2023. 

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious medium-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: Yes

Lord this was good

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dark emotional medium-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: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous 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

Now I understand why people love Carissa Broadbent's books. She has a beautiful writing style that is also easy to understand. The recent books I read lacked excitement or were even cringe-worthy, but this one was beautifully written. I would have given it a 5-star rating, but I have to admit that I wasn't initially invested in the story. It took me almost a month to finish because I only became interested when I reached about 40% of the book. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

"Slaying the Vampire Conqueror" is a standalone and an installment of the Mortal Enemies to Monster Lovers series. I won't read the other books in the series, but this one caught my interest.

Sylina is part of the (cultish) Arachessen, who devote themselves to the Goddess of Fate, Acaeja, and 'sacrifice' their eyesight in order to see "the entire world". Despite not seeing, Sylina experiences the world through threads, which allows her to see more than the naked eye can. When a vampire conqueror, Atrius, arrives on Glaea's shores, Sylina is tasked with earning his trust, becoming his seer by infiltrating his army, and killing him. 

All of us at the mercy of fate - the mercy of the unknown.

Right away, I was delighted to meet Sylina. She's a little lost and unsure about her place in the world, struggles internally, but is also absolutely badass - a trained assassin. Talk about duality! It was a complex journey for her: the past, her struggles and beliefs, the sisterhood and Sightmother, the war and her mission, and of course Atrius and her growing feelings.
A complicated mess that would cost everybody involved a lot, regardless of what Sylina decides to do.
Atrius was actually surprisingly refreshing; he wasn't your typical "villain", he had his reasons, and he was more... soft? Perhaps not the right word, but he was more human than some others. 

You see too much, seer.
I see just enough, conqueror.

There was a lot of action, a few funny bits, a whole lot of tension, and too much heartbreak. Atrius and Sylina had a good connection; something was lacking, but I can't put my finger on it. I liked their "too many?" and "not for us" moments; they were such an entertaining and slaying fighter duo. Who needs an army when you've got these two?
I would've wanted to know more about their future: what happens to Nero, the Arachessen, how is everyone doing, and what about their work ahead? The ending could've been a little more, but it wasn't terrible. 

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medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes

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