My sister texted me and told me if I didn’t read The Serpent and the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent, she would never forgive me.  So immediately, I downloaded it onto my kindle and started reading it.

I finished this book exactly fifteen minutes ago, and I truly don’t know what to say.  the two main characters in this book, Raihn and Oraya, and so incredible.  There are times that authors are not good at creating two distinct characters that are somehow still so similar, and yet, in this book, Carissa did amazingly.

I fell in love with Raihn when Oraya stabbing him in the leg and took off running.  We don’t get to see his POV in this book at all, and I think that in itself is a crime, because there are moments that I was dying to know how he felt, what he was thinking, and how his thoughts were working.  But Raihn was such a great and likeable character, with so many interesting flaws, and the way Oraya fell in love with him was so beautiful.   

The real star of this book however, surprisingly I know, is Oraya herself.  She is a human that was found and then raised by the Nightborn Vampire King Vincent.  He raises her like a daughter in some ways, but I adore that the author did not shave off his hard edges to make him more appealing to us as the reader, and to Oraya as his daughter.  She had to love those hard edges and accept them.

If I had to describe this book, it feels like a more adult version of the Hunger Games, as well as a much better and more interestingly written version of A Court of Thorns and Roses (honestly if anything is going to get a TV show adaptation, it should be this book).  I did not expect to love this book like I did.  And honestly, because I read this at the request of family, I know the second book has come out, and it says that this is a duet, but now I am truly terrified that there might be a third book I cannot binge on.

The one thing I cannot get over, is how masterful the ending of this book was.  I do want to give you a heads up as you read this, there are spoilers in this paragraph. The fact that Vincent died such a brutal death, at the hands of Oraya’s lover, Raihn was fantastic.  When Raihn was about to slaughter Vincent, Oraya’s father, the one that raised, and the one that destroyed all of Raihn’s people, Raihn still looked for her to try and protect her.  Then, once Vincent was grievously wounded, he finally told his daughter he loved her, and implied that there was something that he had meant to tell her but just didn’t. When he dies, she is so wounded, and Raihn once again protects her with everything he has.  The he was willing to sacrifice himself at the end of the Kejari, just so she would live.  Spoilers are over.

I think the one thing about this book that I did not like, was that we did not get to see anything from Raihn’s POV.  Normally that doesn’t bother me when the author writes from only one characters POV, and Oraya is an amazing character to see the story from, but there were just some moments that I wished desperately that I could see it through Raihn’s eyes.  I know I mentioned it above, but this is truly the only thing about this book I did not like.

Overall – I loved this book.  I kind of predicted the ending, and yet was still so astounded I couldn’t put the book down.  The minute I finished this book, I texted my sister and told her how much I hated her, because this book was incredible and I need to know what happens next.

The Serpent and the Wings of Night (Crowns of Nyaxia Book 1) – Carissa Broadbent

Cost* – eBook is $4.99, Paperback is 14.33, Hardcover is $24.99.  This book is included with Kindle Unlimited.

*Cost is based upon what the book cost when book review is published