Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

The Serpent and the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent

8 reviews

tiiiger35's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

3.75

It took me a few chapters to become fully immersed in this novel. Once I connected with Oraya & Raihn, I was fully invested in following their ‘Kejari’ adventures & battles. Oraya is a bad ass! Born human, but raised by the ‘night born vampire king’ who loved her as a daughter but, trained her like a warrior, to survive in a world where she was constant prey. 
Raihn, although a Pandora’s box, appears to be a tortured soul who longs for his humanity back and to make a change in the world he rightfully so despises.

The slow burn relationship between Oraya & Raihn is complex, challenging, chaotic and unpredictable. Enemies, to friends, to lovers, to enemies..? It has all the makings of an epic journey. 
I’m excited to read the next instalment, the ending of this had me completely confused whether I was still rooting for them to be together or not. I’m an eternal romantic though & id like to believe the good guy really can be a hero….perhaps though, the girl will have to be her own saviour, just like the real world. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Rape, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, War, and Injury/Injury detail

kat_hart08's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Oh to be loved in such a way. I read most of this book in the middle of the night, telling myself I’d put it down at the “end of this chapter” and never did. The writing is absolutely gorgeous, it’s like interpreting cave paintings found underneath intricate oil murals. I’ve never read a book that so perfectly captures the poetry of love and hate and the line between them. The only reason that I’m not giving it 5 stars is because of literally one line in the book which I will not include but you’ll know it when you get to it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Deportation

aliceloyallaleon's review against another edition

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

theresamothinmyroom's review against another edition

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

ladydeathnesta's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

I absolutely love this book! It’s near perfection and it’s beautifully devastating 🖤

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Infidelity, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

lizziethebookdragon's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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: Bullying, Death, Genocide, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment

brownsugarnutmeg's review

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

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

Moderate: Rape, Sexual content, and Slavery