Reviews with content warning for Sexual violence - The Serpent and the Wings of Night

I think I'm torn on this one. I'd like to give it a 3.5, I think. I enjoyed reading it, and the tournament system was fun to read. I also don't know if I ever really came to love the characters? Except maybe poor Ibrahim. I'd like to learn more about the gods and how all that works. I'm going to read the second one. But I think I'm a little surprised after how much I've read people gush about this series.

((Also - and this is petty because I have read way too many vampire books and also all of Maas' work - I'm not a huge fan of winged vampires. Shapeshifting to have wings? Sure. Turning into animals a 'la the old myths? Of course. But... feather wings and bat wings? I dunno.))

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alexijai98's review against another edition

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dark tense 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? It's complicated

2.0

Didn’t hate it, didn’t love it. Protagonist could be pretty insufferable. Apparently there are 5 more books in this world that will eventually be published but I have such low interest in these characters I simply do not care about reading them.

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soliveri718's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-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

5.0

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empireofstroms's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional 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

I enjoyed both main characters. The ending was unexpected for me, but I did like the plottwist

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princessofpages's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix

5.0

Screaming, shaking, gnawing at the bars of my iron enclosure. WHY DID I WAIT SO LONG TO READ THIS DAMN BOOK????

Please hear me when I say I have had this book SITTING ON MY SHELF for over a year. A year of me resisting the many TikToks and rave reviews about how this is one of the best romantasy reads out there. If this sounds like you, PLEASE stop this madness and just pick this book up.

This book has tension, it has drama, it has wonderfully tortured main characters, it has swoon-worthy romance and it has a little bit of spice that, when it happens, is to DIE for. It is fast-paced and actually fairly well-written and had me on the edge of my seat for like... the entire read. And the ENDING???? I can't even speak at this point about the delightful anguish of that ending. But it was brilliant. And I literally started the second book the MOMENT I picked my jaw up off the floor.

The book isn't perfect (obviously). The world-building is a bit weak, and there are some inconsistencies that will probably have to be addressed in the sequel. I don't actually like the comparison that I've heard many make to The Hunger Games- this book is at its core a romance even though there's a lot of action, and there isn't much to be found here in terms of social commentary. But this book absolutely accomplishes what I believe it set out to do: it's a hell of a romantasy.

Something I haven't seen people talk about is how this book is different from the hundreds of other romantasy books I'm constantly getting recommended on Booktok. I've read a LOT of this genre over the past year and a half, and the one thing that has made many of these books miss the mark for me is the weak character development. So many of these books feel like a Frankenstein-esque amalgamation of all the tropes it knows fantasy readers love. Unfortunately, these often read (to me) as inauthentic and stiff, and the characters these books birth tend to feel like two-dimensional cardboard cutouts of the characters I WANT to read. This book did such a good job of hitting some of those tried-and-true tropes WHILE STILL keeping the characters real and compelling and absolutely worthy of hyperfixation. Currently, I can't stop thinking about Vincent and Oraya's relationship because complicated fathers will probably always be my Achilles hell. Chef's kiss to the author for writing that absolute mess of a relationship.

In summary: if you've enjoyed SJM, The Folk of the Air Series, or any of the other commonly recommended romantasy books out there, I can almost guarantee you a really, really good time with this book.

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