The Serpent and the Wings of Night
Crowns of Nyaxia — Book 1
What Is It About?
The Serpent and the Wings of Night follows Oraya — the only human in a world built to kill her kind. Adopted as a child by Vincent, the Nightborn vampire king, she has clawed out a place in his court through sheer survival instinct. Her chance to become something more than prey comes through the Kejari: a legendary, deadly tournament held by Nyaxia, goddess of death herself. The winner receives one wish granted by the goddess. The price is surviving five brutal trials against the most vicious vampire warriors from all three houses.
To survive, Oraya must ally with Raihn — a Turned vampire who is dangerous, enigmatic, her enemy’s rival, and, inconveniently, the most compelling person she has ever met. Broadbent takes the death-tournament structure that readers know from The Hunger Games, wraps it in gothic vampire mythology, and uses it as a container for a slow-burn romance so carefully constructed that by the time it breaks open, you will feel it in your chest. This is the ACOTAR for vampire lovers — and the ending will genuinely blindside you.
What I Loved
My Honest Thoughts
The spice level is lower than BookTok implies. If you come to this expecting the heat of From Blood and Ash or ACOMAF, you will be surprised. The romance is intensely felt but relatively restrained in its physical expression — at least in book one. The slow burn is the point. This is not a mistake; it is a choice that pays off beautifully. Just calibrate your expectations.
Oraya’s trust issues can be frustrating. Her inability to believe in Raihn even as the evidence mounts is occasionally exasperating from a reader’s perspective. It is psychologically consistent with her background — but if you are the type who shouts at characters through the pages, prepare yourself.
Read both books back to back if you can. The duology functions as a single, complete story. Ending with book one and waiting any length of time before reading The Ashes and the Star-Cursed King will be a particular form of suffering. You have been warned.
“I would beg. For you, I would. You have destroyed me, Oraya. Do you know that?”
— The Serpent and the Wings of Night, Carissa Broadbent
Who Should Read It?
- Vampire fantasy with original world-building
- Slow-burn enemies-to-allies romance
- Death tournaments and brutal trial sequences
- Morally grey heroes who are genuinely dangerous
- Endings that completely rewrite the story
- Are sensitive to graphic violence and gore
- Need high spice content from the start
- Dislike unreliable or trust-averse heroines
- Are not ready to read the sequel immediately
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Final Ratings
“The Serpent and the Wings of Night is the best vampire romantasy written in years. Carissa Broadbent has built a world as rich as anything Maas or Armentrout have produced — and Raihn is the love interest that will live in your head rent-free for months. Read both books. Read them now.”
— Bookish Duke
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