CW: Violence, Torture, Flashbacks to SA, Emotional Abuse. (I will not go into detail about any of this in my review.

It took me two and a half months, but I finally finished reading The Serpent & The Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent. I purchased this book at Tropes & Trifles after seeing the book described as “Hunger Games with Vampires.” I couldn’t agree more. I’d also add that anyone who enjoys Sarah J. Maas would probably enjoy this series. The Serpent & The Wings of Night has me hooked and I’m curious to see how the rest of the series will play out.

Oraya is a human woman rescued by Vincent, the King of The House Of Night. Vincent has been training Oraya to be more than her human self, so she can defend herself when necessary. Part of that training was to aid Oraya as she entered the Kejari, a bloodthirsty competition where the winner would receive a gift from Nyaxia, the goddess of vampires. Oraya is introduced to Raihn, a Rishan vampire and Vincent’s sworn enemy. Oraya and Raihn team up as they need to survive all the trials, each having their own agenda for winning. As they train together, their bond strengthens and Oraya is tested between her allegiance to her father and the love she’s developing for Raihn.

I am obsessed with all the lore in this book. I loved Obitraes, the three vampire houses, how they came to be, and how Nyaxia fits into this. As a Dungeons & Dragons player, Nyaxia was giving Raven Queen vibes. The similarities between the two are uncanny. The book has this darker tone and shows the horror the vampires inflict on humans and each other. I’m glad there was a map to reference with a glossary list of terms, so I could quickly page back and forth if I was ever confused about any of the terminology. If Carissa Broadbent were to write more books within Obitraes, I would buy them all.

As far as the characters, I loved Oraya. She was angry, scorned, and strong. She can hold her own against the vampires she seeks to destroy. The only thing I would have wished for is for Oraya to have something else about her besides only wanting to kill vampires. Her personality was a little lackluster because she only has room for vengeance and I’d like to see more from her as a character. Raihn is the stereotypical Romantasy male character and I’m here for it. I liked the banter Oraya and Raihn had. Also, I liked how much consent was present throughout this book. With vampires, there’s always a blurry line with vampires feeding from humans and I felt this book was respectful in developing Oraya and Raihn’s relationship.

I’m highlighting everything I loved about this book, so this should easily be a five-star book, right? I mentioned this already, but this book took me two and a half months to finish which is way too long. Every time I read this book, I’d read fifty pages and then not read for several weeks. It’s funny because every time I read a chapter, I enjoy it. This book has so much lore dump which slowed down the book for me. While the Kejari was interesting, seven trials were a lot. This book could have benefitted from cutting some things and the story would have been the same.

I’m hooked. There are so many cliffhangers and I’m curious how much will be revealed in the next books in the series. I rated The Serpent & The Wings of Night four stars on Goodreads.