Title: The Ashes & the Star-Cursed King
Author: Carissa Broadbent
Series: Crowns of Nyaxia - The Nightborn Duet (#2)
Genre: Romance | Fantasy | Paranormal
Narration: First-person | Dual POVs
Keywords: vampires | magic | slow burn | enemies to lovers | political intrigue | marriage of convenience
TWs (per author): graphic violence | violence against children | discussion of sexual assault and rape | slavery | explicit sexual content

It’s difficult to write a spoiler-free review for this book. It picks up right where the first one left off and there were many big and interesting things happening at the time. I’ll just say that Oraya is dealing with the fallout of the Kejari and the revelations that she has been kept in the dark about Raihn’s, her father’s, and her own pasts. She needs to learn more about herself and her past, as well as to try to save her kingdom.

While slower-paced than the first book, this is a great romance with plenty of action, mystery, and political intrigue that kept me engaged with the story. The author delves deeper into the characters' pasts and motivations. There is a good balance of plot and spice. The author also offers rich world-building that is easy to follow.

Combined with the first book, I loved this and would definitely recommend it to other readers, especially those looking for romantasy with rich plots, good character development, and/or some spice.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for access to this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I will die on the hill that this is one of my favourite Carissa series and book two was no exception to that statement. I loved getting back into the world and enjoying the characters in this duology. While I loved book one so much, I found that I enjoyed book two but was looking for more that just wasn't all there for me while reading this.

I still loved this book and the series so very much and I'll be sad to see this duet end, but I definitely found I loved book one much more than book two. It's hard letting go of these characters but Carissa truly did them such beautiful justice in this book.

Thank you NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

“There she is.”

An uneasy alliance is formed between Oraya and Raihn after the trials. The Turned slave and the human are not accepted as rulers of the Nightborn bringing the scent of war to The House of Night.
Intense.
There are so many layers to this story and the author handles them with skill and heart.
I love the relationship between Raihn and Oraya is swoon-worthy. He is sooo sweet, the romantic in their messed up relationship while Oraya is the cynic. It makes for interesting dynamics, lol
This is a must-read series!

i truly do not have the vocabulary to tell you how much i loved this book and this duology. i don't know where to begin. this is a semi joint review of the first one as well since i read them back to back and can't remember where one ended and the other started. (actually, the first one ended with so much PAIN.) the second book rebuilds the damage caused from the first book. the end of kejari, and raihn's unforgivable act. we watch oraya and raihn repair the world they destroyed, the order they disrupted, along with repairing their relationship and their marriage, all with the promise of war in their immediate future. i thought it was so, SO good to have the villain also be her love interest. it had me on the edge of my seat, body twisting in anticipation the entire journey. because we understood why he did what he did, while mourning for the pain that oraya felt, being on the receiving end of his betrayal. the angst between them was so fucking palpable that i wanted to scream at the top of my lungs. the slow burn was so perfect and well done. i thought the same in the first book as well. the romance, between these two enemies, was executed phenomenally.

"𝙎𝙤 𝙄 𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙠𝙚𝙙 𝙤𝙪𝙩, "𝙍𝙖𝙞𝙝𝙣," 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙩 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙥𝙨, 𝙖 𝙦𝙪𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣, 𝙖𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙨𝙬𝙚𝙧, 𝙖 𝙥𝙡𝙚𝙖. 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙣𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨, 𝙬𝙖𝙨𝙣'𝙩 𝙞𝙩? 𝙍𝙖𝙞𝙝𝙣. 𝙈𝙮 𝙙𝙤𝙬𝙣𝙛𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙢𝙮 𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙫𝙖𝙡𝙪𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙨𝙪𝙥𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙚𝙧. 𝙈𝙮 𝙬𝙚𝙖𝙠𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙢𝙮 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙩𝙝. 𝙈𝙮 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙨𝙩 𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙢𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙄 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬𝙣. 𝘼𝙡𝙡 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙣 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙣𝙖𝙢𝙚. 𝙊𝙣𝙚 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙤𝙣. 𝙊𝙣𝙚 𝙨𝙤𝙪𝙡 𝙄 𝙠𝙣𝙚𝙬 𝙖𝙨 𝙬𝙚𝙡𝙡 𝙖𝙨 𝙢𝙮 𝙤𝙬𝙣, 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙖𝙨 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙛𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙖𝙨 𝙛𝙡𝙖𝙬𝙚𝙙."

raihn. he is, without a doubt, one of my top book boyfriends. he is the definition of a morally grey character, tortured though beautiful and worthy. i would bow to him any day of the week! he deserved the world and more. he just... IT JUST HURTS SO BAD SOMETIMES and i just want to squeeze him and hug him. he lost so much in his life and i just wanted to see him happy. my heart hurts reflecting back on it. while i really hate to compare books since i believe authors should flourish on their own without being compared to other influential works, but raihn is SO rhysand coded. "there you are" and constantly showing up in the times of need.

oraya. she was such a riveting character. she dealt with so many different emotions and circumstances in both books that all you could do was admire her strength and resiliency. i truly loved the duality of her emotions towards vincent and their complicated father-daughter relationship as i could sadly relate all too well. hating him but loving him still after all the hurt he caused because well, he was still her father. the complexity of her emotions towards him was explored perfectly, all throughout until the end. it never faltered. it contributed heavily to her character growth. his voice was a constant reminder of a person she trusted, who ended up betraying her, too. yet she couldn't hate him even if she tried. and that voice followed her until the end-until she created her own voice as queen. she was strong, and like rain, she constantly showed up for the people she loved and cared about. both books were absolutely perfect. they hurt so bad, but so fucking good. since i've finished both of them, i literally cannot stop thinking about them. these books are etched into my soul.

I loved The Serpent and the wings of night, and I don't know what took me so long to finish the ashes, and the star cursed King because this book was even better!

The plot, the characters, and the romance it all came together so beautifully in this book. Also, I'm a sucker for a good vampire story!

I highly recommend this!

Overall ☆☆☆☆☆/5
Spice ☆☆☆/5
Audio ☆☆☆☆☆/5 narrators are Amanda Leigh Cobb & Aiden Snow

”There she is.”

ugh. this was beautiful. i loved Raihn and Oraya in this one because she kinda hated him but still loved him so we had to watch them battle with that.

i did enjoy the first book a lot more though, maybe it’s the way things played out, it felt slow at times and didn’t have as much excitement as the first. i was expecting a lot more action and stakes.

“I like a little fight. Besides, she’s ruined me for all others. My own fucking fault, though. I knew it from the beginning.”

“I’d spend a lifetime at the tip of your blade, and it would have been worth it."
•

such a stellar sequel! pacing was great, angst was everything, mission was top-notch. I also love the multiple interconnected duets format Broadbent is going with. I can’t wait for the next one. highly recommend!
•

this and that:
♡ battles
♡ blood magic
♡ coups
♡ dual pov
♡ gods and goddesses
♡ heart bonds
♡ he can cook
♡ he falls first
♡ hurt / comfort
♡ magical maps
♡ magical quests
♡ marriage of necessity
♡ “One honest thing.”
♡ open door romance
♡ secret identities
♡ vampires
•

triggers:
☞ blood
☞ gore
☞ grief
☞ parental death
☞ rape (mentioned)
☞ slavery
•

notable quotes:
• She would destroy him. And it would be worth it.

• Maybe the king always knew that his greatest love would be his ruination. Maybe he knew it the moment he met her.

• I’d learned a long, long time ago the danger of someone offering you everything you’ve ever wanted.

• power was the currency of revenge.

• “You’re made for the sky, Oraya. Never let anyone take that away from you.

• “Even I had to draw a line somewhere. And you’re the line, Oraya.”

• Pain was simple. Pleasure was complicated.

• “you aren’t going to be able to do anything with all of this power until you stop resenting it.”

• Humans mourn time, because it’s the only currency that really matters in a life so short.

• A life in which nothing means anything is not a life at all

• “I’d spend a lifetime at the tip of your blade, and it would have been worth it.”

• The cruel truth is that it is harder to survive when you have something to care about.

• it was far harder to care about something than it was to care about nothing.

• “You are everything,” he choked out, voice ragged.

• “I have nothing but you,” he murmured. “So I am letting you go.”

• “Let me make you the queen that you are. Let me guard your body, your soul, your heart. Let me spend the rest of my fucking pathetic life at your mercy. If I need to die, then let me do it by your hand. Please.”

• “Let me worship you.”

• “You have destroyed me”

• People don’t really talk about how the days that make history, the days that change the course of entire civilizations, start in such mundane ways.

• grief never really left us. Not even for the gods.

I don't know what to say about this one.
I loved it more then the first one.

Broadbent tackles grief in this book better then I've seen it in a lot of stories. We have different types of grief that our protagonist goes through. And we watch her really struggle with it and eventually overcome it.

I also really just love how romance is tackled in this series. Everything felt very real to me. Instead of fast paced and random. I think character motives are always making sense.

As well I just enjoy the world. I'm so curious to have it expanded in the next duet.

Thank you to NetGalley and TOR publishing for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I love this series so much and felt this was a wonderful conclusion to this part of the Crowns of Nyaxia series. I miss Raihn and Oraya already, they are one of my favorite fantasy series couples! If you haven't read this duology yet and you are a Romantasy lover- pick these up immediately!!
Carissa's writing style is so captivating and immersive, I love the way she world builds and am looking forward to more books from her in the future.

АНННН SAD CRYING FACE BECAUSE I ALREADY MISS OARAYA AND RAIHN!!!!
what a great story. I loved, loved loved this book and I think the conclusion and everything coming together in the end the way it did made me happy. I was satisfied.

Carissa does world building and character building and even the side characters so so well. You love them all so hard. and I am so so excited for mische's book 3, but I don't think I can wait a whole last year

This series has me in a chokehold. I loved seeing how the story laid out after the cliffhanger from book 1. This book is a continuation directly after book 1 and you should read in order. This focuses on life after the Kejari. This book was raw & emotional and so much happened. The book is long but so so much plot is packed into this. Carissa is one of my favorite authors now and I can’t wait for more books in this universe.

Thank you Tor for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

I love these two so much and can’t wait for the next in this series! Both of these hook you in and have you glued to your seat!

Carissa Broadbent is officially a favorite author of mine and I will be reading everything she writes, thank you.

THIS SERIES. It has such a chokehold on me. I absolutely love it. I love how intense the first book was and I love how emotional the sequel was. I think it’s easy for a story to feel repetitive when an MC is going through something insanely emotional but Broadbent handled it so well and it didn’t feel repetitive at all. The journey these two characters go on both in terms of physically and emotional was complex and at times so stressful. The choice to make this a dual POV was perfect and made the story hit that much harder, im so thankful for Raihn’s pov. Wow wow wow. I loved it so much and already cannot wait for more in this world!

Also would like to mention that Riahn is one of the best male mc’s that I have read 👏🏼

After having read all 3 books in the Nyaxia world, I recommend reading the novella Six Scorched Roses in between books 1&2!

This is the second installment of the Crowns of Nyaxia series and picks up immediately where the first one ends. Oraya is now a prisoner in her own kingdom and grieving the only family she ever had. Raihn’s own nobles are none too eager to accept a Turned king, especially one who was once a slave. As she unravels her past and faces her future, Oraya finds herself forced to choose between the bloody reality of seizing power—and the devastating love that could be her downfall.
This story had me completely hooked right from the start. There's angst, loss, a slow-burn romance, and self-discovery all weaved into an intricate and fast-paced plot. Fans of the first book will not want to miss this conclusion to Oraya and Raihn's story!

After reading the first book in the series The Serpent and the Wings of Night, I immediately moved on to The Ashes and the Star-Cursed King. Both of these books are *chefs kiss* perfect!

Expect to find:
-angst (so much angst)
-themes of grief
-enemies to lovers/second chance
-political intrigue

**spoilers**
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One of the main themes in the second book in the Crowns of Nyaxia duet is grief. Grief for humanity, grief of a loved one, grief for not knowing things about yourself until it was too late.

Oraya is grieving the death of her father, while being kept prisoner in her own home. Raihn is now the king after Oraya asked Nyaxia to make it so he won the Kejari. He doesn't want anything to do with the kingdom, but his people are relying on him. Oraya and Raihn are often left at a crossroads. They are both the heir to the crown; and their armies are fighting on opposite sides of one another. How could they ever move past this?

The angst, the longing, the grief...I seriously had tears in my eyes sooo many times while reading The Ashes and the Star-Cursed King. Carissa Broadbent has such a beautiful way with prose and I was always left feeling too much on behalf of these characters. I felt what Oraya was going through, but also Raihn's anguish at having to hurt Oraya. These two are not perfect and I love that they never pretend to be.

Once again The Ashes and the Star-Cursed King was a very slow burn and I loved ever moment of it. Oraya and Raihn never stopped caring for one another, no matter what obstacles were thrown their way. And Raihn - gah! he's definitely my newest favorite book boyfriend.

This series is up there as one of my favorite books for sure! I highly highly recommend you pick up this series! I can't wait to read more from Carissa Broadbent.

In this captivating read, the author masterfully weaves a narrative that is both engaging and thought-provoking. Through a blend of richly developed characters and a meticulously crafted plot, the book offers a unique exploration of its central themes, inviting readers to immerse themselves in the story's depth and complexity. The narrative is paced perfectly, balancing moments of intense action with thoughtful reflection, ensuring that readers are hooked from the first page to the last. The author's ability to evoke emotion and create a vivid, immersive world is truly remarkable, making this book a must-read for anyone looking for an exceptional literary experience.

Beyond its compelling storyline, the book stands out for its insightful commentary on the human condition, weaving philosophical questions into the fabric of its narrative. The author's skillful use of language not only enriches the text but also elevates the reader's experience, offering new perspectives on familiar themes. Whether it's the intricate dynamics of relationships, the exploration of identity, or the confrontation with ethical dilemmas, this book tackles complex issues with sensitivity and intelligence. It's a testament to the power of storytelling to illuminate the nuances of life, making it a valuable addition to any book lover's collection. Regardless of genre, this is a work that resonates on multiple levels, affirming the enduring impact of well-crafted literature.