The Serpent and the Wings of Night

Another I picked up as a couple of close friends loved it, and I’ve got to say that their taste has been impeccable so far, but don’t tell them that!

Sometimes you think the vampire thing has been done to death and then someone comes along with a great play on all the tropes and refreshes the genre for you, this is what The Serpent and the Wings of Night has done here.

Set in a world where competing vampire clans rule a portion of it under the protection of their Goddess Nyaxia who was ejected from the main Pantheon. A group of petty and cruel gods who are definitely along the Greek style where they are as nasty as their worshipers.

The Kejari trial is a cruel and bloody contest where the winner is granted a wish from Nyaxia.

The character and world building in this book is magnificent, getting to the depths of most of the main characters (knowing some of them are being filed away for bigger parts in the future), exploring the different societies, hinting at human held lands outside of the vampire territories, and really describing the powers of each clan and their interactions so thoroughly.

You would have thought that this would have distracted from the story telling but the pace and tension was perfect for practically the whole book and was on it’s way to being a solid five star read for me, but then…

Got to admit I found the chapter with the sex scene in it so cheesy that it feels added on rather than natural, for me it cheapened all the build up throughout the book of their mutual bond. The love, trust, sacrifice, and mutual respect turned into a block of M&S Chilli Cheddar (other brands are available) and really didn’t add anything to the story.

Looking forward to book 2 to see where the sroty unfolds and hopefully for the return of Mische, and I had my suspicions about what Raihn was.

Even with my reservations I’m looking forward to hand selling this one as it’s such a ‘can’t put down’ read.