A review by downtown_kb
The Serpent and the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent

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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