Lucie V.'s Reviews > The Serpent and the Wings of Night

I was provided an e-copy of the book by the author in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Wow. It was my second time reading this book, and it was as good as the first time! 🖤

✅ Plot twists
✅ Sexual tension and some smut
✅ Doomed romance / Kind of hate-to-love
✅ Pace
✅ Plot and action
✅ Politics
✅ Vampires and magic
✅ Tournament to the death
✅ Characters
✅ Writing
✅ Dark atmosphere
❗️❗️Trigger warnings: blood, torture, death, and mentions of sexual abuse and self-harm

The king did not know then that his greatest love would also be his ruination— nor that either would come in the form of a tiny, helpless human child.

Oraya is a human who was saved and raised by Vincent, the Hiaj vampire king, after her family was killed and her house destroyed in a rebel attack when she was a little girl. Vincent raised her as if she was his own daughter, teaching her how to fight, survive, and kill, and getting her ready to enter the Kejari. Once in a century, the Kejari is held as a tribute to Nyaxia, the Goddess of the night. Many dozens of vampires enter the tournament, but only one will survive and be crowned victor, gaining one favor from the goddess herself. Oraya is counting on that favor to become strong enough to finally avenge her human family and help protect the humans living among vampires, but surviving in a tournament designed to kill vampires is no easy task when you are a human, and Oraya will find herself forced to find an ally, even though she was taught to never ever trust a vampire.

But maybe this place made all of us that way. Taught us to hide love in sharp edges.


Vincent had carved these lessons into me. Never trust. Never yield. Always guard your heart.

Obitraes is a ruthless realm, full of vampires fighting each other and destroying each other in order to gain more power. To them, humans are no more than cattle, blood bags that they can use as they see fit and discard with no real consequence. Humans are supposed to be protected in their district, but Oraya knows that this “protection” they are under isn’t worth anything. The world-building is complex enough to be very interesting and complete, but the information is not dumped on the readers.

Still, here is a little summary of the political situation in Obitraes:
- There are three vampire Houses: the House of Night, the House of Shadow, and the House of Blood (nobody really likes the House of Blood though).
- Vincent is the king of the House of Night, but in that house, two factions have been at war for centuries: the Hiaj and the Rishan (Vincent is Hiaj).

The descriptions were great and created a dark atmosphere. We could see how poorly humans are treated, how little they’re worth, and how hopeless some of them were. It’s not as bloody or gory as Empire of the Vampire, but there is a similarly dark and gloomy vibe to the book that I really enjoyed. The author has a gorgeous way to write her characters and the story, making it a dark and immersive journey.

He was not the physically strongest vampire. He was not the fiercest warrior nor the wisest sage. But they said he was blessed by the goddess Nyaxia herself, and anyone who had ever met him would swear it to be true. Power seeped from his every pore, and death stained his every breath.


“You cannot accomplish anything in this world without power,” he said. “And power requires sacrifice, focus, and ruthlessness.”

Vincent is the Hiaj king of the House of Night. He is cold and ruthless, but he has a soft spot for his adoptive daughter, Oraya. He made it his mission to teach her everything he knows about combat, but even though we can clearly see that he cares for her in his way, their relationship is very complicated. There is no such thing as saying to someone that you care for them in the world they live in, and no such thing as physical affection or real trust. Oraya knows that Vincent loves her, but she also knows that he’s the only one she is safe with and that she must always remain vigilant, even in the castle. She also comes to realize that Vincent might be more vicious than she thought, but she also knows that being King of the vampires is no easy task, and it comes with tough choices. As the book progresses, there are a lot of mixed feelings between the two of them, but I really liked their complex dynamic. I also love that Vincent was more than just a brutal vampire looking to use anyone and everyone, he does truly care about Oraya, and shows it in his way, although that does not excuse some of the decisions he made.

This struck me, strange and confusing. My humanness had been the reason why I’d spent a lifetime dimming myself. For these people, it was the reason they burned brighter

Oraya was raised in this dark and vicious world, surrounded by predators, and because of her unusual upbringing, she does not consider herself fully human, but she also knows that she is not a vampire. She falls somewhere in-between the two groups. I said that she is ruthless and good at killing but we can also see a softer side of her that emerges as she spends more time with vampires that are not evil and trying to kill her, and as she spends time just mingling with humans instead of trying to protect them from afar. She comes to realize that she is human just as they are, despite what she or Vincent might think, and that all the training and brutality in the world will not change that fact.

Death isn’t frightening when weighed against an insignificant existence.”
An insignificant existence. Those words hit me unexpectedly hard. Because what existence was more insignificant than this? Living in constant fear, hobbled by my own blood and my own human weakness? I could never be anything this way, fighting so hard to survive that I could never do anything.

I like the complexity and grayness of Broadbent’s characters. The “good” characters often have to do questionable things for the greater good, or simply to survive, and the “evil” ones are often much more complex than just being evil and power-hungry. They have depth and layers, and I love how she finds a way to “humanize” them, even if it’s only a little bit. The characters are flawed and make mistakes or bad choices, but it makes them so much more relatable. I fell in love with her cast in the War of Lost Heart series, and I fell in love with the characters in The Serpent and the Wings of Night too. I need more of them.

You ready? I asked him.
He was already lifting his sword. Always.


“Give me one honest thing, Raihn Ashraj.”
After a long moment of silence, he finally spoke. “I’ve lived through some injustices in the last couple of centuries. Seen some fucking travesties. But one of the biggest, Oraya, is that anyone taught you that you should become anything other than exactly what you are.”

Raihn is another contestant in the Kejari. He appears to be a strong and powerful brute at first, but it’s clear that there is much more to him than meets the eye. He’s witty, and seems to be more human than the rest of the vampires. He doesn’t see humans as walking blood-bags, and he even seems to have feelings besides hunger for blood, sex, and violence. He’s trying to show Oraya that although most of the vampires are vicious predators, not all of them are, and he’s trying to prove to her that she can trust him not to hurt her.

His personality paired with Oraya’s stern and rude behavior was so funny at first, but the real magic happened when they were forced to work together and spend more time together… The banter and the fragile trust between them were everything. Their relationship is a very slow burn, built on shaky foundations, and they are both competing in a tournament where there can only be one winner, hence the “doomed romance” checkmark at the beginning of the review, but there is hope for a happy ending for them later in the series. There is sexual tension between them and even some smut near the end, but while there is hope for a happy ending, they are not close to being there yet!

And then I realized. I realized that fear, when embraced, hardens and sharpens.
That it becomes rage.
That it becomes power.
I would not die here.
I let my fury explode.
I let it spill out through my mouth and my eyes and my fingers and the tips of my hair. I let it erupt all the way to the sky— past the stars, the moon, reaching for Nyaxia herself.

The ending. OMG.
The last 20% of the book was just this crazy roller coaster of emotions, betrayal, plot twists, and shocking revelations. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE where the relationship between Raihn and Oraya is heading, and the angst-lover in me is hysterically clapping her hands because there is so much potential for an epic sequel!

I highly recommend this book if you are looking for a darker fantasy adventure, full of deadly trials, murders, and vicious vampires, with a dash of dry banter, a great slow-burn between kinda-enemies-now-forced-to-be-allies, and very well-developed and layered characters. Once again, Ms. Broadbent delivered an amazing book!

After all, vampires know better than anyone how important it is to protect their hearts.
And love, understand, is sharper than any stake.

Fanart by Deanna (deesreads)

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