Spoilers for both The Serpent & The Wings of Night and The Ashes & The Star-Cursed King

While in Italy, I finished a few books that I had been reading before the trip. With the two 9 1/2 hour flights and multiple trains that we took, I had plenty of time to read. One of the books I read was The Ashes & The Star-Cursed King by Carissa Broadbent. This is the second book in the Crown of Nyaxia series starring Oraya and Raihn. I loved the first book when I read it last year and received the sequel as a gift, so I knew I wanted to continue the series. I loved The Ashes & The Star-Cursed King and can’t wait to read more books in Obitraes.

After the violent end to the Kejari, Oraya is a prisoner, and Raihn becomes the King of the House of Night. Raihn faces challenges as his background as a former slave doesn’t bode well with those who feel he doesn’t deserve nobility. Raihn offers Oraya a deal: help him deal with his betrayers, and he will let her walk, even if Oraya chooses to kill Raihn to avenge her father. Oraya is confronted with her past and faces her destiny as the chosen heir to the House of Night.

I don’t want to sound like a broken record, but I love Obitraes and the world these books take place in. I like reading about the vampire houses and their history. In this book, we learn more about the House of Shadow, and this impacts Mische and her story. I like how the gods shape the world. In my first review of the book, I said it reminds me of the gods from Dungeons & Dragons, and how Nyaxia reminds me of The Raven Queen. I still find that to be the case in this book. Writing this review is going to be heavily biased. The story could have sucked and I’d still rate this book highly because I love this world so much.

This book truly feels like Oraya’s story. Raihn has a point of view in some of the chapters, but this story centers on Oraya. I liked reading about Oraya’s past (how she’s half-vampire, her abilities, and who her mother is!) Oraya’s mother has a strong bond to one of the other gods, and I thought that was interesting. I read other reviews for this book, and some readers were unhappy with the story and how Oraya united with Raihn, even though he killed her father. I can see why readers would feel that way, but I disagree. Oraya’s father, Vincent, is not a good person. It’s strongly emphasized that he sexually assaulted the previous queen of the House of Night and killed the king. He lied to Oraya about her past and about killing her mom. I don’t want this book to be a revenge story because Vincent’s past caught up to him. Instead, I liked how this book portrays Oraya’s relationship to power and what kind of queen she wants to be. Sure, Raihn is still in the picture, but I fully believe Oraya has the power to kill Raihn if he steps out of line.

The one grievance I have with this book is that the story felt rushed. Oraya learning about her past was told in 100 pages, and I think this could have been elongated into multiple books. I understand that this is a duology for Oraya and Raihn specifically, but I would have loved another book to dive into this more.

I was contemplating what to rate The Ashes & The Star-Cursed King. I ended up rating this four stars, but leaning towards 4.5 or five stars depending on the day. The next book in this series will focus on Mische, and I’m excited to read more about her! She was a standout character in this series, so the fact that she’s getting her own books, I couldn’t be more thrilled about it.