Tag: wings

Review: The Serpent and the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent

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The paperback book stands on a gold book cart next to a White Pumpkin scented candle

Alexis:

I kept hearing about The Serpent and the Wings of Night, and then one of my best friends gifted it to me for my birthday a few months ago. 

It’s been pitched by other reviewers as the next A Court of Thorns and Roses, and I can definitely see why! This book was like ACOTAR, Throne of Glass, From Blood and Ash, and The Hunger Games all mixed together.

Synopsis (adapted from Goodreads):

This fantasy romance follows Oraya, the adopted human daughter of the Nightborn vampire king. Oraya carved her place in a world designed to kill her, but her only chance to become something more than prey is entering the Kejari: a legendary tournament held by the goddess of death herself. But winning won’t be easy amongst the most vicious warriors from all three vampire houses. To survive, Oraya is forced to make an alliance with a mysterious rival—a vampire named Raihn. 

But war for the House of Night brews, shattering everything that Oraya thought she knew about her home. And Raihn may understand her more than anyone—but their blossoming attraction could be her downfall, in a kingdom where nothing is more deadly than love.

Review:

What I really appreciate about this book is how well Broadbent balances action with character. The plot of this book is very Throne of Glass and The Hunger Games: beat these trials and become the only winner, except this winner gets a gift granted by the goddess of death herself. The trials themselves are bloody and deadly, and I was impressed by how Broadbent didn’t shy away from showing the brutality of the trials.

The romance itself is a slow burn one, and Oraya and Raihn actually get to spend a lot of time getting to know each other before they become friends and allies, yet alone lovers. While Oraya was slow to open up, her position in society is a unique one, and I enjoyed getting to know her. Raihn is very much a Sarah Maas-like love interest. He’s sassy yet serious, powerful yet emotionally vulnerable. And, of course, he has wings.

Overall, I sped through this book! While it has character-driven scenes, it never slows down or drags, despite the fact that it’s over 500 pages long. As some other reviews pointed out, it’s certainly not an original story, but Broadbent does a fantastic job of putting her own spin on it. It’s one of those books that gives you a book hangover, and with the twist at the end, I’m thankful that the second in the series comes out soon. 

VERDICT: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Review: We Never Asked for Wings by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

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Alexis:

Anna and I both read The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh years ago and we loved it. We Never Asked for Wings has some similar themes: pregnancy, motherhood, family, and honesty.

The book opens when Letty, a young and troubled mother of two, leaves her children alone to go to Mexico to find her parents. Her parents were living with her and taking care of her children, and she doesn’t know how to be a mother.

The story mostly alternates between Letty and her young teenage son, Alex. While Letty navigates motherhood, Alex navigates school and a budding relationship with a girl named Yesenia, all while caring for his six-year-old sister Luna and searching for the father he’s never known.

I mostly connected with Alex as a character, as his dreams and motivations felt real and true to character. He was a good and innocent character who happened to be in a bad situation. However, because the story did focus on him so much, the book tended to lean towards a more YA vibe.

I think Diffenbaugh did a good job with certain struggles of the Espinosa family, such as poverty and citizenship.

However, I struggled to connect with Letty. She was almost overly flawed, so much so that I disliked reading about her character. I was annoyed with all of her actions. She neglected her family and continued to make a string of bad decisions, including getting her son drunk. She had some almost-redeemable moments towards the end, but it wasn’t enough of a character arc for me.

My biggest problem with the book is that you can tell Diffenbaugh struggled to write the story. In the acknowledgments, Diffenbaugh says, “They say book two is hard. Whether or not this is true I don’t know, but I believed it to be true, and so this book was hard for me. Really hard.”

While I enjoyed the overall core of the story, as well as the motif of bird and feathers, parts of this book felt off. When Wes, Alex’s father, is finally introduced, he never feels like a round character. He, and his personality and motivations, just sort of hover in the story.

The events in the latter part of the book feel too melodramatic. While somewhat believable, Alex’s actions are a little too out of character. And after all the dramatic events at the end, it wraps up just a little too nicely.

VERDICT: 3 stars

 

Review: A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas

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Alexis:

Spoilers Below!

Overall, A Court of Wings and Ruin, the third book in the A Court of Thorns and Roses trilogy, was a 4 star read. It was more along the lines of the first book than it was the second book. However, I did have a list of issues with it that I will explain below!

I’ll start with what I liked. Maas’ writing shines when she writes action scenes. I loved reading the war scenes. I thought she did a great job with their pacing and descriptions.

I also loved that Rhysand fully transformed in the final battle. I was like, “Heck, yes!”

I also enjoyed having all the High Fae in the same scenes. Their histories and abilities were very interesting all pooled together.

As for what I didn’t like as much, for some reason, Maas’ writing is just a little bit worse in this book. She has a tendency to lean towards the occasional cheesy line, but this book seemed to bring her cheesiness out just a little more.

This book felt like Maas had been rushed, that she had a deadline that her publisher wanted her to keep, so she wrote this book quickly. And then it wasn’t edited enough. The pacing felt slow. This book is about war, and war does drag on, but the plot doesn’t flow as nicely as it did in A Court of Mist and Fury. Everything just felt slowed down.

And…the sex scenes did not fit as well in this book as they did in A Court of Mist and Fury. They felt cringey and all of them were basically a carbon copy of each other. There’s also a scene where Rhys tells Feyre, “You smell like blood,” after they fought in a battle. And then they have sex. Hmm. I don’t know about that.

And, my biggest issue. I am all for diversity, but not just for the sake of diversity. Mor’s reveal as bisexual was a complete cop-out from Maas. Mor’s been hiding that she’s bi…for 500 years?? Just so she won’t hurt Azriel’s feelings?? Her hiding this from her family for that long did not feel true to character.

As for the plot, I had issues with the fact that Feyre is insanely powerful and yet she HARDLY FOUGHT. Obviously, Rhysand has significantly more war experience, but Feyre is his equal, so they should’ve fought together. Her mention of, “You know, I don’t really like war,” was not a good enough reason for her not to fight.

As for the whole new cast of characters at the end, this also felt like a cop-out from Maas. When Rhysand asked why they couldn’t find them, their answer was, “Oh, I guess we hid too well, so even our friends couldn’t find us.”

If they had been such good friends/allies during the last war, they definitely would’ve found a way to keep in contact with Rhysand and his crew.

As for my last complaint, Armen should’ve died. Rhysand coming back from the dead made sense, but there’s no way Armen could’ve come back after all that.

Despite my issues, I enjoyed the book overall! I definitely think the trilogy is worth a read, just be aware that it isn’t perfect.

VERDICT: 4 stars