Reviews with content warning for Body horror - The Serpent and the Wings of Night

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The Serpent and the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent

51 reviews

alite428's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense slow-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? Yes

4.25

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downtown_kb's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.0

A human girl, orphaned and raised by the vampire king, Oraya enters a trial held by the goddess to prove herself and bind her life to her father’s so she can benefit from his powers and long life.

I liked a lot about this. In general this book took on a whole lot of world building and plot, maybe too much. The trails were fast paced and interesting. I loved the idea of it all. The setting and magic was interesting, and while it was really beautiful writing, it wasn’t quite wowing me. It took me a while to figure out why I wasn’t freaking out about it like so many people were and why it took me so long to get through it. Instead of not being able to put it down, I just kept putting it down. I figured it out and I’m gonna try and explain why. Mostly to vent for myself.

This was so plot driven that it really suffered in the character development. It was pretty heavy on the telling and not showing when it came to the character's back stories and motivations. I found I was waiting most of the book for Oraya’s motivations to become clear to me but it just never got there, and she was inconsistent too.

We are told she was raised to be heartless/cold/untrusting. We are shown that actually she is very invested in protecting humans and is shattered by what happens to Ilana. Further in the book we are shown how much she latches on to Mische and even more Raihn because she’s definitely lonely/isolated. And we are told she loves her father but only shown all the ways he is betraying her trust. It’s never felt fully flushed out why she was in the trials beyond gaining power. Late in the book suddenly it becomes power so she can protect her people? Surely I missed something. Ok but then after Salinae is leveled by her father, she never questions a single thing and never stops for one second to think, “wait, maybe this changes everything!?” In the trials she was impressively logical/tactical and saw how it all worked instantly but again never paused to rethink her decisions after her reality was basically flipped on its axis? Also, she still sets out, until the very last minute, to kill Raihn even though she herself says it’s not impossible for 2 competitors to win. I do not buy it. Underneath it all she was too kind for that. Do not tell me she wouldn’t have tried to martyr herself. Then she was surprised by her devastation once Raihn was dead?! WELL YEAH

It was all very Scarlett O’Hara from Gone With The Wind “tomorrow is another day” levels of denial and by the end it was clear that was all just to drive the plot.

Ultimately, I really, really like where it all ended up and the set up for book two. I understand why the author wanted to get to that point but I mean, was there no other way?

I'm tempted to keep going to book 2

because give me forced marriage any day!

But Oraya carries the story and I don’t know if she can do it for me for another 600 pages. This all made me feel very frustrated. I DNF Children of Fallen Gods too so maybe she’s just not for me.

I am sad because there was just so much I did really like but yeah, the plot wasn't quite enough to distract me.

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emwith's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional medium-paced

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

5.0

Absolutetly amazing! Perfect for Sarah J. Maas fans

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xapoptosisx's review against another edition

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dark 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? Yes

4.75

This is so close to 5 stars but there was a twist that hurt me sm and scared me that it knocked it down. But this book is amazing the world is amazing the characters are so interesting and I just fell in love with everything about it. Plus it has a map and a glossary I love that. I'm very excited for the next book and all the other books that are to be set in the world because turns out there's going to be alot.

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emmacartlidge's review

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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l1brarygirl's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? N/A

4.5

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yourbookishbff's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

The Serpent and the Wings of Night, by Carissa Broadbent, was really my first true foray into romantasy published by someone other than Sarah J. Maas. I read a lot of fantasy, and a lot of romance, but I've actually not ventured into the crossover realms of Jennifer Armentrout, Scarlett St. Clair, Kerri Maniscalco, Danielle L. Jensen, etc.

I thoroughly enjoyed this - well-paced, interesting world-building and vampire lore, a kick-ass FMC, A+ consent between the MCs, well-executed plot twists and a cliffhanger ending that I'm still thinking about. Romantasy readers, and SJM fans in particular, it checked all the boxes for me.

I've pre-ordered the sequel and look forward to seeing how the duology concludes!

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