Oraya is saved by the vampire king Vincent when her family is killed . He brings her up in his castle where she spends her life in hiding as she’s nothing but prey to the kingdom. She enters the Kejari, a fight to the death contest where the winner gets a wish from the goddess in order to win power for herself. Then she meets Raihn, another contestant, who makes her question everything about her life. Can she trust him?
Loved this first installment and looking forward to the next.
Thanks Netgalley for the ARC. My opinions are my own.

I was immediately pulled into this story and I could not put it down!! The background of the fantasy world we've stepped into is very complex, and yet it pulls you in. It was a perfect balance of fantasy and romance, enough to make you root for the couple but also remain ensnared by the complexity of the worldbuilding. Oraya is our human FMC in a world where humans are no more than livestock. She refuses to be preyed upon or allow her human vulnerabilities to hinder her. Enter in vampires, and how can you really go wrong from there? I am eagerly looking forward to any sequels that follow.

The Serpent and the Wings of Night
Carissa Broadbent

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫- 4.5 stars
🌶️🌶️

I should preface this my saying I don’t love tournament/ hunger gamesey books. This was that, but I still loved it!

What I Loved:
🍄I really enjoyed the human living in the vampire world. Oraya is turning her weaknesses into strengths to survive. She’s compassionate and strong and I really enjoyed her character.
🍄Raihn 😭. A bad ass vampire but also a Jellyroll. I adore him!
🍄I enjoyed the slow burn relationship between MCs. They are a nice balance for each other and worked well together to survive the tournament.
🍄Loved the world building and learning about the three different vampire houses and wars between them.
🍄The ending was awesome and NOT what I was expecting.

There was nothing I didn’t like, I just wanted more spice and again the tournament setting is not my favorite. However, the ending and the set up for the next book… it’ll be a five star!

Ugh so fun. I ended up reading this so quick because I got invested in the plot, the characters, and the world. Such good troupes that I LOVE seeing in romance fantasy. Going to read book 2 now…

'Do you miss it? Humanity?
It was only after the question left my lips that I realized how oddly intimate it was. I thought he wouldn't answer. He was silent, watching the patrons laugh and drink.
'I miss the sun,' he said at last.


💭𝑴𝒀 𝑻𝑯𝑶𝑼𝑮𝑯𝑻𝑺💭
I think I found a new favorite fantasy author & apparently I'm into vampires now. This book was just so beautifully written. I instantly fell in love with Oraya a completely badass FMC despite the fact she's a human living among vampires who literally want to suck her dry. I am a STAN for fierce FMCs and holy sh** was she one,. And then bring in Raihn, oh Raihn, This charming vampire who never gave up. I love a vampire who is patient and understanding and never tries to change the FMC. GIMME MORE RAIHN IN BOOK 2 LET'S GO. Also, I ABSOLUTELY ADORED MICSCHE. Sweet, sweet Mische. The side characters in this book really were terrific. And lastly, THAT PLOT TWIST. DID NOT SEE THAT COMING. I can't wait for book two.

𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭
•Enemies to lovers
•Reverse/ grumpy sunshine
•Vampires
•Fierce and Bad Ass FMC
•Reverse/ grumpy sunshine
•ACOTAR meets Hunger Games

I loved that we explored such a complicated father / daughter dynamic. I loved watching Oraya work through her trauma to be vulnerable with Raihn. I think the world and magic system is interesting and I’ll always love vampires.

I found that many specifics of the trials weren’t compelling and didn’t make sense. Why are they allowed to leave the palace at all? They could have stockpiled so efficiently because of it and they just didn’t. If the goal is to be the last one standing why didn’t we get a whole lot more hunting and sabotage outside of the trials? If Raihn is so powerful why didn’t he asteris blast everyone on day one?

I felt like the politics of the world weren’t as well developed as they needed to be for how relevant it was to the conclusion of the book. Things opened up in the last 80 pages in a way that felt unsupported by the plot. I’m all for twists and shifts but this was overexposed.

Undecided on if I will read the next books in the series, but glad to have read this one. Definitely worth a read regardless of my critiques.

Worth noting that the Kindle version I received here was missing chapters 45 - 50, which made for a confusing conclusion. I later found the missing chapters on KU to fill in.

I DEVOURED this book! It was such a quick read for me because I just couldn't put it down.

The characters were fantastic. I loved Oraya. She is not the typical "wilting violet" chosen one that we see so often. She is fierce and unapologetically strong. I loved that. Mische is another great character. I love how she holds on so fiercely to her humanity and doesn't lose herself in her vampiric nature. Raihn is another great one. He, too, works his ass off to hold on to his humanity. Aside from the three main characters, who are all so amazing, there are some great side characters too. Angelika is a real badass, and while she is set up as an antagonist, I did like her in spite of myself.

One thing that I really love about this book is that it does WAY more than just being a vampire love story. The story explores so many types of love, which made it an interesting read. There's the obvious romantic love, but there's also the love between friends and the flawed and hurtful love of a toxic relationship. We also get a really interesting examination of power dynamics and the flaws in a system in which some citizens are considered lesser than others. There's a really deep and rich world that she has built here complete with political intrigue, genocide, and power struggles. This is not just a vampire romance book, but don't worry. She delivers on the romance too.

If you love vampires and The Hunger Games, then you'll enjoy this book. There's constant challenges and battles and I can see why so many people enjoyed it so far and will enjoy it with the rerelease.

Politics, romantasy, and what's to come in book 2, it's definitely a book that I'm curious to see how it plays out to see if some of the things in book 1 just didn't make sense because I didn't know where the story was going, or if some of the things mentioned just felt unnecessary. I'm not hooked enough to run off and read book 2 just yet, but it's nice to know that it's a confirmed duology and will not extend beyond there.

I wasn't thrilled how the final "challenge" ended either, but again - part of the story until I read book two. I'm disappointed mostly because I know how much people LOVE this book and I wanted to share in the excitement with everyone!

For a first book I’d say five ⭐️s but at the end of the day this book for me is a 3.5 ⭐️s.
The main character is naive more than she should be for living in a world full of vampires. It was to the point of unbelievable.
I do see why the ladies love this enemies to lovers story though it is truly what keeps you wanting more to read. The trials are quick, predictable with little detail and similar to each other which made the story almost laggy.
I will be reading the next ones as I am curios to see where the story goes and how the writing develops over time.

I really enjoyed this book. It was refreshing to read a well done vampire book. Broadbent did a great job in combining fantasy and dystopian that felt new and reminiscent at the same time. It has been awhile since I read a book that brought me back to when I read The Hunger Games and Twilight for the first time, but that didn't feel like just a remake.

Oraya, a human raised by the king of the vampires, has one chance to become strong enough to exist fully in their world-the Kejari, a brutal competition given every 200 years by the vampires' goddess. Oraya has trained for years with her adopted father to be strong enough to survive and win this competition, but it is no easy feat. Forced into an alliance with one of her father's enemies, she learns that sometimes it is important to be able to trust those around you, even when you'll have to kill them later to win. Can she do this without losing her heart? The world building in this novel is great and the characters are very compelling. The romance is a slow burn that'll have you wishing for more. This is a perfect romantasy read!

An amazing story for the fantasy obsessed reader such as myself. As soon as I began reading this book I knew I needed to order the second. Fantasy romance is a tough genre and Carissa Broadbent has done it!

I really enjoyed the writing and the storyline in this novel! At first I was not sure if I would like this book, but towards the middle I really started to enjoy it! All of the twists at the end blew me away and I was honestly so hurt for Oraya! I felt pain for each character actually…. The romance in this really made me enjoy the storyline more though. It was beautiful. I am excited to dive into the next book in this series because I need more of Raihn and Oraya!

THIS BOOK WAS SO GOOD! I understand why Forth Wing is getting so much attention, but this book is SO MUCH BETTER! I love the houses, the vampires, the storytelling is so good! I read this and then listened to it on Audible. I cannot get enough of this series or this author!

Absolutely loved this one. The Hunger Games but make it vampires. I was hooked from the beginning. The action was exciting, I was constantly looking forward to the next competition, and the competitions themselves actually were interesting and easy for me to visualize. I feel like that’s something that can either be difficult or repetitive with books like this. I loved the romance elements, it was forbidden and believable and just swoon worthy. Our leading lady was badass and fun to watch, she actually was trained and worked for everything she had. She wasn’t just a useless helpless human who happened to be amazing at everything she did. This girl was REAL. I get so annoyed with so many fantasy leads but did not find that here. The end GOT ME. So many little twists here and there that absolutely shocked me. I loved it. Such a fun read, and cannot wait to read the sequel!

If you are looking for something to read after Fourth Wing, this is it. I quite literally could not put this book down. The world building gave me everything I needed to match with this telling of a human girl battling everything against her. Not only did I root for Oraya, but the development in the relationships she has with everyone she interacts with reflects her personality and is developed as much as needed to advance the story. Also, it is rare to find such an active parental influence on a character in any sort of romance/fantasy that accurately reflects the characters actions/inaction. And to top it all off, you get a small dose of spice to satisfy your romance heart. The chemistry between Oraya and Raihn literally crushed my soul and pieced it all back together. Sorry Fourth Wing fans, I like Raihn more than Xaden.

"I give you my body. I give you my blood. I give you my soul. I give you my heart. From this night until the end of nights. From daybreak until our days are broken. Your soul is my soul. Your heart is my heart. Your pain is my pain. I bind myself to you."

I can’t even begin to describe how much FUN I had with this book! I am newer to the fantasy/romantasy genre but this one felt so fresh and had me on the edge of my seat the entire time. The romance is central and incredibly addictive, but there is SO MUCH story to fill up every page. From a huge life-or-death competition, incredibly complicated family dynamics and action from start to end — The Serpent and the Wings of Night was a brilliant escape and I can’t wait to get my hands on the sequel.

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley for this copy!

What else can I say but that The Serpent & The Wings of Night is addictive, bloody, violent, sexy and so, so satisfying. I haven't enjoyed a vampire book since they sparkly ones circa 2005. The vampires of Nyaxia are winged, use magic and are 100x more deadly. In The Serpent & The Wings of Night we meet Oraya, the human daughter of the Nightborn vampire king. After growing up and surviving the brutalities of court, her only option for continued survival is to enter the Kejari. The champion of this tournament will be granted one wish by the goddess of death. Many predictable things happen: alliances form; friendship, romance and betrayals occur; Oraya must fight tooth and nail to come out on top; the leading male MC is irresistible. Yet, this story felt fresh and fun and I devoured the book over one weekend. This is the start of a great series and would be highly enjoyed by fans of Sarah J Maas and Fourth Wing.

Really lacked the world building necessary to have the plot make any sense. I left the book with too many basic questions like where even are we?, how exactly do the vampires turn?, and how often do they need to eat? Vampire stories have to have some pretty strict rules to make it work and to also make it interesting so our characters aren't overpowered. This book just doesn't have any clear definition on what the rules were so it was hard to know what the stakes were at any given time.

The romance part is okay. I didn't really like the characters too much but appreciated the attempt to have them experience some sort of emotional intimacy before flying between the sheets.

The dad character was by far the most interesting character in the book, but unfortunately he wasn't in it a whole lot.

I'm pretty sure that this book fundamentally changed my life forever.

Starting this book I had no idea what to expect, how to feel, or if I'd even like it at all. The beginning was skeptical for me, and it wasn't until I got to the end of the prologue that I was almost immediately hooked on the idea of the plot in its entirety. I realize that the prologue only gives the reader a small glimpse of the story, but truthfully that's all I needed to know that I would love Vincent and Oraya.

And I absolutely adored them.

While Vincent may not have been the best father at times, the fact that he was trying so hard really struck me as a reader and I couldn't help but love his character the more into the book I got. Oraya was a little trickier for me to like right off the bat, but when I read about her interactions with Ilana, I started to feel for her and like her as a character. Her character growth through book one was quite literally one of the best things I've ever read and something I'll be thinking about for a long time after reading this book.

As the story progressed, even Raihn started to grow on me. Carissa does a fantastic job at making him seem sketchy and untrustworthy but as a reader you can't help but sort of like him because of his charm and humour. All of the character's in book one were so well written and so complex, half the time I didn't know who to trust next but I knew that I wanted to find out as quickly as possible.

Respectfully the ending tore me to shreds, without spoiling to much, Nyaxia hit it on the nose and simply watched the chaos unfold. Perhaps it was a predictable way to end book one, but I was like Feyre in ACOTAR trying to solve the riddle, absolutely DID NOT see that ending coming after everything our characters had been through. Sometimes it's better to be ignorant and just revel in the bliss that was the ending of The Serpent and the Wings of Night.

I will be running to start book two, because I so desperately need to know what'll happen next. This book series has completely rocked me, in the best way possible.

Thank you NetGalley for an eARC of this book.