In the second ‘Crowns of Nyaxia’ instalment, Carissa Broadbent writes an all-out vampire war novel.
Oraya of the House of the Night has been forcibly married to Raihn, her worst enemy and the vampire who killed her father. Oraya is determined to weasel her way out of marriage and destroy the rival House of Shadow from the inside out. She begins to search for unimaginably powerful relics left by their dead gods. Her travels take her all over the Kingdom of Obitraes and through many shifting alliances, and she soon learns that Riahn is a much better ally and lover than her enemy.
Star-Cursed King carries over the same dark, gritty tone as the first book, as a war story with lots of politics, gruesome scenes and gory battles. Like Jay Kristoff’s ‘Nevernight’ series, it toes the line of being overly edgy (as there are a lot of challenging themes and concepts in this story), but the great ending tied it all together.
This is technically an enemies-to- lovers book, but Broadbent already explored that trope extensively in Book One. It’s very funny how Oraya and Raihn are all too eager to fall back into each other’s arms despite being on opposite sides, and their romance is capital-S Spicy. All the supporting cast return, and we are introduced to some great new characters, notably the vampiress Evelaea who was a standout villain. My favourite element of this series is always the mythology, and Broadbent absolutely nails the landing with her fascinating world-building of vampires, gods, humans and blood magic co-existing.
An engaging romantasy and a great sequel.
Reviewed by Rachel Denham-White
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
I’ve been freaking out teachers and parents with mercilessly grim tales since I was roughly nine years old. Since then, my stories have gotten (slightly) less depressing and (hopefully a lot?) more readable. Today, I write fantasy novels with a heaping dose of badass ladies and a big pinch of romance. My books include the Crowns of Nyaxia series, the War of Lost Hearts series, and hopefully many more to come!
I live with my husband, one very well behaved rabbit, one very poorly behaved rabbit, and one perpetually skeptical cat in the extremely underrated state of Rhode Island.
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