Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

The Serpent and the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent

22 reviews

ramakn22's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

1.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Sexual content, Violence, and Confinement

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Torture, and Murder

melere's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

2.0

I liked it at first despite the gratuitous violence but it slowly became more cringe as time went on. Hated the romance, it was like a p*rno in some parts. I assumed because I liked Daughter of No Worlds it would be similar, it wasn't. I hated the relationship between Vincent and Oraya as well, it screamed abuse and brainwashing to me. This book made me realize that I don't think I like Romance. Like I love romances in fiction, but not Romance as a genre if that makes sense. 

I could go on but many aspects of this book were just so bad from a technical perspective that I found it difficult to overlook. The characters had no depth so it was hard to get into. I actually liked Fourth Wing MORE and I thought it was pretty dreadful!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Death, War, Grief, Toxic relationship, Rape, Murder, Gaslighting, Cursing, Blood, Violence, Gore, and Sexual violence

abookwormspov's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Medical trauma, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, War, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Grief, Gore, Trafficking, Violence, Vomit, Sexual content, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Torture, and Rape

headinthepages's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.5

I loved this fantasy with romance. The pace was brilliant, the scene setting was great, and I loved the plot & characters.

The only reason it’s not a 5 star is that I would have loved a bit more background on the different houses & magic systems but it is in no way lacking and doesn’t confuse the story!

I love Oraya and her story, I love the enemies to lovers trope and chosen one trope too! The challenges faced by her were cruel and relentless and I loved reading about a feisty human woman fighting against the odds!

The ending was brilliant and I can’t wait to start book 2!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, Body horror, Cannibalism, Cursing, Abandonment, Death, Grief, Vomit, War, Medical content, Animal cruelty, Gore, Slavery, Torture, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, and Rape

rais's review against another edition

medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Violence, Sexual content, Animal cruelty, Cursing, Murder, Animal death, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Self harm and Toxic relationship

lovelymisanthrope'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

I picked this up because it was someone's Patreon book club pick for the month of June.
"The Serpent and the Wings of Night" follows Oraya, a young human woman who was rescued as a child by the vampire man she thinks of as a father. Her father is the Nightborn vampire king, and the most powerful person in their world, and he goes to great lengths to shelter, protect, and train Oraya how to survive in with vampires. She decides, with his encouragement, to enter the Kejari, a competition to the death. One vampire (or human) will survive, and they will win one wish of their choosing. During the competition, Oraya meets a beautiful vampire named Raihn. Raihn is a threat to her father's crown, but Oraya is drawn to him like no one else she has ever met.
I am notoriously not a fantasy girlie, but I keep trying to be more of a fantasy girlie, and this book really did it for me! Although this book is what I would consider higher fantasy, and there are a lot of unique to the story terminology, I still felt like the story was very approachable. The writing is not dense, and there is a lot of dialogue to move the story along.
I really loved and believed Oraya and Raihn together. They have quite the slow burn, but Raihn is such a great guy and he becomes Oraya's biggest cheerleader. I loved how much she resisted him at first, because that makes this "love" story far more believable and satisfying when they finally have sweet moments together.
Carissa Broadbent is great at writing morally gray, complex characters that I both hate and love. There were so many characters that were flawed, and I wanted to hate them, but they would get a redemption arc in some way. People are typically not so black and white, and I love to see that translate into stories. I want to see multifaceted characters that I have complex feelings about.
This book did take me about 200 pages to really get into. The beginning of the story had a lot of development, that it needed, but I was not invested in the story. However, once I was into the story, I could not put it down and I flew through it in a few days.
I am so thoroughly impressed with this book, and I cannot wait to pick up the sequel! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Blood, Toxic friendship, War, Toxic relationship, Child death, Gore, Violence, Torture, and Stalking

Moderate: Slavery, Sexual content, and Rape

rachiem's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Violence, Gore, Classism, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape, Torture, and War

Minor: Toxic relationship, Grief, Physical abuse, and Genocide

marinou00's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Torture, Murder, Blood, Cursing, Death, Violence, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Rape

booshort's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

What the actual fuck.
Where was this book when I was in all of my previous fantasy book slumps?

The first ~7 chapters were fine enough, it felt like any other fantasy read, really. Jumping in to a new world, learning terms, and just sort of accepting things as they come up. Oh there’s vampires with different types of wings? Ya sure. This big mega vamp wants this rando human child as a pseudo child of his own? Go wild. But once you’re securely in the trials that take place in this book, *you get hooked*. The world is simple but still feels so real with the way Broadbent describes it. It was almost a theme while I was reading; expecting something shallow due to how little this book/author has been talked about in the mainstream until now (thank you booktok), but then being utterly surprised when proven wrong. Each chapter just revealed more and more strings and important details and connections and and and. I am thoroughly amazed.
I know many people are comparing Broadbent’s series and their respective tones to Sarah J Maas’ books, but there really is no better parallel. I’ve yet to read any other books by Broadbent, but there is no doubt I will collect as many as I can get my hands on. 

Seriously though, if you are a fan of SJ Maas, give this author a go.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Grief, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Rape, Death, Blood, Sexual content, Gaslighting, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Cursing

Moderate: Torture, Child abuse, Murder, Sexual violence, Classism, Genocide, Confinement, Death of parent, and Vomit

Minor: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Alcohol, Vomit, and War

amanda_reads13's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Oraya lives in a world designed to kill her. Rescued and adopted by Vincent, the Nightborn King, she is a human living amongst vampires. In hopes of becoming more than prey, she enters the Kenjari, a tournament held by the goddess of death. During the tournament she meets Raihn, a ruthless and dangerous vampire. 

The vampires in this book are savage, bloodthirsty, and brutal. Humans are merely livestock providing a constant flow of blood. 

I found Vincent to be a very interesting character. On one hand he was a ruthless killer responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths. Yet on the other hand, he was a protective and caring father. He taught Oraya how to survive in a world that wants her dead. 

Oraya wasn't a super original character, but she was very interesting. I enjoyed her arc through the book as she struggled with her feelings about Vincent and Raihn. She loves her father but knows he is a terrible man. She was a strong, clever badass. She was underestimated every step of the way, but showed everything just how brave she was. 

Raihn was a confusing character. He came across kind of bland at some points in comparison to the other characters in the book. He was a vampire, yet very unlike any of the other vampires.  He was very human like in his behaviour. This is why he and Oraya worked so well together. They balanced each other. She gave him space to embrace his humanity where he spured her to fight harder. 

I am interested to see how their relationship progresses into the next book. 

I was not a huge fan of the ending. Starting with Oraya winning and onwards. She just betrayed her father like it was nothing. Yes, she had been wrestling with the knowledge of what he had done, but she made a huge decision based on her limited knowledge and feelings for Raihn. Seemed slightly out of character. 

Also I would have liked more backstory as to why the two Nighborne Clans were always at war. We got a bit of the history near the end of the book, but I think having that knowledge near the beginning would have been beneficial. 

Tropes: vampires, slow burn, badass FMC, forced marriage, enemies to allies to lovers, forced proximity 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Blood, Death, Gaslighting, Grief, and Sexual content