The Serpent & the Wings of Night

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book really is a slow burn, so if you’re not up for the intricate world building and blood fest through some vampire trials, then this book ain’t for you!

I’ll just saw wow! That ending OMG. Luckily there’s another book to read as it’s basically a shit show from this point. And I mean that in a nice way!

When Oraya was taken/picked/captured as a child by vampire king Vincent, you immediately ask why. What is so special about this human? Throughout the book, you’re really wondering what Vincent’s motives are. Does he really have a soft spot for her? Why would he train a human to enter a vampire trial? At one point, I actually thought he was waiting for her to come of age so he could make her his wife and they rule the kingdom together. How wrong I was on that!

So a good 75% of this book is Oraya entering the Kejari which is a tournament where the vampire goddess Nyaxia grants you a wish. It's gory, ruthless and relentless. Having a human enter is unheard of but Vincent has trained Oraya her whole life for this moment. He's very secretive of why exactly. Cue in hot vampire Raihn who we find out was once human and he is fully intrigued by Oraya. With his best friend Mische, they form an alliance with Oraya to get through to various stages of the trial.

There's a few twists at the end. I knew what Oraya's actions would be, but I wasn't expecting the actions from Raihn after that. Throughout the whole book Oraya and Raihn have a love hate relationship, and I actually enjoy the interactions they have with one another. It's going to be interesting with how the kingdom's are going to be ruled. I want to dig into the next book as I am now captivated by this story.