Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

The Serpent and the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent

52 reviews

emberllie's review

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Death, Violence, Blood, and War

Minor: Toxic relationship

barbarianmissy's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

4.5 ⭐️s

Side note: so the more books I read, the more I look back and realize I rated a lot of previous books WAY too high. (Most of my 5 star reads were more so 4 stars, but crazy lil Miss ME got really excited about the endings and bumped that shit up to a 5 star cause I rate them immediately after I finish them……..which I probably will not stop doing 💁‍♀️) 

BUT I feel confident in rating this one a 4.5! 

This was like a spicy grown up Twilight Hunger Games, where Bella could kick ASS and Charlie sucked ASS. Edward was still only ~kind of~ a ginger. 

I had a lot of fun! 

I really liked the banter between Oraya and Raihn but I swear to Nyaxia, if he told her “there she is” one more time I was gonna throw the book across the room. It was cute the first 20 times, but not so cute after you brutally murdered her beloved papa in front of her. Anywho, I liked their dynamic. I like that it’s not all sunshine and rainbows with them. There’s a love/hate element that is really push and pull and keeps me on my toes. I LIKE EM! 

Mische (aka Alice Cullen) was a really neat character! I hope they explore her more in this series! I also hope her god stops being a nasty and gives her her cool flames back! 

I’m curious how the rest of the story will play out. Seems like we are moving from Hunger Games territory into a political wartime strategy plotline and I think I will kind of LIVE for it????? Idk though. 

I wanna read the next one but the paperback doesn’t come out till December and I think I may wait, but I suck at waiting so I may choose otherwise and load up the kindle! We shall SEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

anonymous_user's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

4.5

This book wasn’t the best writing (though not the worst either), but it had an interesting and exciting plot that kept me going, and the romance really made you feel it and feel invested & butterflies. It’s the first book in a while that really succeeded in doing that for me (similar to acotar though not quite at that level). I really liked how consent and safety were so emphasized in the romance, and in a way that felt like it fit the story. I was going to give it 4.75 stars for the romance, but knocked it down to 4.5 because

Raihn’s comments, actions and character shift/reveal at the end really made me hate him even if I understand some of the motives. There could have been a better way. The things he said about rape, there’s no coming back from fully in my mind. In addition to killing her father in front of her! I want to go back to before he said them, and I think that Oraya accepted him too quickly even if she was still skeptical

. The tension between love/hate of Vincent and Oraya was more well done in my opinion, and I appreciated that Oraya lived in the shades of gray instead of all hating or all loving/forgiving him.

I will read the next book but not sure how the relationship can be redeemed…

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Death of parent

aliceloyallaleon's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, War, and Injury/Injury detail

elledanie's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and War

Moderate: Gore, Torture, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Medical content, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism

kbowles24's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Sexual content, Torture, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

Minor: Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Medical content, Alcohol, and War

mlottermoser's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Spicy - two scenes not the entire book. 
Twisted, dark, cruel relationships. Lots of blood and violence. Vampire society with dueling groups. 
Enemies to lovers. Self acceptance. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Genocide, Rape, Torture, Toxic relationship, Fire/Fire injury, and War

Minor: Animal cruelty and Death of parent

Not so much rape as revoked consent.

gabr7ellereads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Dark, twisty, stabby, rage-filled, and thrilling.  This vampire novel satisfyingly delivers on pretty much everything you could ask for out of the romantasy genre.  There's a rare and coveted blend of balanced fantasy and romance here.  While the world-building was intriguing enough to stand on its own, it left plenty to be desired in the upcoming books and never once overwhelmed the slow-burn moments of romance.  Entertainment value was through the roof, considering this book managed to carry me through a sizable reading slump without losing my attention.  Prepare for plot-twists galore in that last bit of it!  FMC had tons of aura and is a badass all around.  Lots of F-yous to the power structure and y'all know I'm here for that.  Plus, the way Broadbent handled Oraya's trauma was sensitive and respectful.  It impacted who the character became, and she made decisions in a consistent and believable way.  Although there is much in the story to provide shock-factor, Oraya's trauma was never one of them, and that was refreshing.  Can't wait for the next one.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of the eARC.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

spatterson7's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and War

Minor: Child death, Self harm, Slavery, Torture, and Alcohol

theresamothinmyroom's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gore, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual content, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Child death, Hate crime, Misogyny, Slavery, and Torture

Minor: Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship