Review by szga - The Serpent and the Wings of Night

szga 's review for:

The Serpent and the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent

4.25

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

First things first, I read the German translation and usually, I don't do that. I prefer reading books in English, when it's the language it was originally published in. However, I couldn't withstand the tempation that was the German Hardcover Edition.
I think that the translators (Heike Holtsch and Kristina Flemm) did a very good job, so WELL DONE.

I don't know how much I'm criticising the translation rather than the original writing (as I haven't read the original), so... Just go with it, ok?

Some phrases did sound rather silly in serious circumstances. There was one sentence during an intimate scene, which was something along the lines of 'Was eine Frechheit!' (Something like 'What cheeky behaviour!' (take this one with a grain of salt, I do not know how to properly translate it and I don't know what it said in the original). Anyways, that sentence made me giggle out loud, despite the setting because it sounded SO ridiculous in that moment. I imagined Oraya standing there with a raised finger, telling Raihn that like a caretaker would reprimand a kid. It was so silly in my head but that might just be a ME problem.

Now, that we're already on the topic of Raihn. I love him. Like, you cannot make me hate him, I'd like to see you TRY (don't take this as a personal challenge, Carissa. please). You have no idea how happy I was upon finding out that I'm not getting another grumpy, tall (though Raihn IS tall but you know what I mean, right), reserved Idiot that doesn't know what feelings are or doesn't acknowledge them until the bitter end. All hail Raihn, even if he can be a lovestruck idiot sometimes.

On another note, I did like the worldbuilding too, even when I was confused by the difference of Hiaj and Rishan and how the Houses worked. (First, I thought that the Rishan and Hiaj were from two different houses. However, that is NOT the case how I learned later).
There are some parts within the worldbuilding (especially when it comes to the other Houses, specifically The House of Shadow) that I hope will be more explored throughout the second book (or the other sequels)

Additionally, the cast of characters was rather narrow for most of the book. At first I would have said that it might be a criticism but I realised that this narrow set of characters really underlines just how isolated and lonely the life of Oraya is. She can't trust a lot of people and there just aren't many people in her life because of that. Then in the end, when, well, THINGS happened, the cast started broadening, simply because her life became so much more on a larger scale. Yeah, stupid way to phrase it but I have no idea how to say it without giving too much away.

So, let's get to the criticisms I have (most of this might just be personal preference buuuut anyways).
Firstly, the competition itself fell flat for me personally. I think the trials itself were nice to read about but I felt like there just wasn't enough of it. Maybe it's just me but I would have liked for the trials to be more elaborate. Longer lasting and not that 'simple'. I did like that they were gruesome at parts but I still felt like we didn't get quite the detail like I wished for.
Then again, I might have just went into the book with the wrong expectations and that's totally on me and not the books fault.

I don't want to cut on this for too long, so I will try to keep it short. Repetitions. Lots of them. Oftentimes with the exact same wording. I'm not innocent of that either (as you undoubtedly read from the review) but then again, I'm not a writer on the same scale that Carissa Broadbent is. I am NOT saying that this is Carissa's fault. A lot of us do it, and some do it more than others. Trust me, I do it A LOT.

Another thing I realised is that Oraya oftentimes just told the reader things about characters, without the reader seeing them, specifically when it came to Ilana and Vincent. With Raihn, I could really believe his character traits though. Maybe that was yet another strategic writing technique used by Carissa Broadbent to underline how distant Vincent is and how 'active' Raihn is in Oraya's life and if that is the case, well done.

Now we get to a very specific and SPOILERY criticism.
SPOILER
SPOILER
ONCE AGAIN THERE WILL BE A SPOILER

All my friends that want to read the spoiler properly seated? Just asking because I care about your comfort, not because it's going to be a horrible spoiler that will shred you apart. My critisicm is actually that it didn't. I'm talking about Ilana's and later on Vincent's death. Maybe it's just me but I already hinted at it earlier, when I said that these two, the reader was just kinda TOLD about (Ilana more so than Vincent). Ladies first. Ilana, Oraya's human friend and blood seller, was, in my opinion, only created to be killed off. She was killed off not too far into the book. She was supposed to be the only friend Oraya ever had (before the Kejari happened and she met Raihn and Mische).

Ilana barely gets any time to develop a character, outside of an outline, utilised sometimes to strengthen Oraya after her death. Ilana only ever gets mentioned again when the author needs it, to give Oraya a certain determination in the form of sadness or anger. It made me a little angry at times but then, to be honest, I forgot that Ilana even existed at times. Turned out that even in death, Ilana was nothing more than a tool.

I have less to say about Vincent, simply because I have much less hatred with what happened to him. I didn't care about his death and if his death is used in the following books to make Oraya stronger, good for her. In my opinion, all he ever saw in Oraya was power and a tool to use and I never once bought it that he cared about her as a person but rather the thing she represented. This man didn't die loving his daughter but he died loving the power he used to have. I can't fault Oraya for not seeing it. I feel like sometimes readers forget that hoping for love isn't something stupid. It's the type of hope that we should always have because that means that there's always something to fight for (even when Vincent didn't deserve an ounce of her love)

And honestly, what the hell is up with that twist that Oraya is a half-vampire? Or is she? Because I'm a little confused and in my opinion, it kinda sucks. I just wanted a badass human fighting, not the 'well, she's actually not human!' plottwist. And the thing with Raihn, I saw coming from a mile away.

If you've read this far, I think you might be insane.

Content Warnings