The Adopted Daughter Enters the Arena

Oraya has spent her entire life being told she's prey. As the adopted human daughter of the Nightborn vampire king, she lives in a world where everything is designed to kill her. She trained in secret. She armored herself in discipline. And when the Kejari (a legendary tournament held by the goddess of death) opens its doors, she enters. Not to survive. To win.

Carissa Broadbent self-published The Serpent & the Wings of Night in 2022. It became an instant New York Times and USA Today bestseller, driven by BookTok's fervent word of mouth. It has since been acquired by a major publisher and spawned the Crowns of Nyaxia series.

What It's About

The Kejari is a blood-soaked competition where the most vicious warriors from all three vampire houses fight to the death for a single divine prize. Oraya (human, untransformed, and armed with nothing but her training and her stubbornness) is the only mortal in the arena.

To survive, she's forced into an alliance with Raihn, a vampire competitor who is everything she was raised to hate: charming, dangerous, and an enemy to her father's throne. Their partnership is built on mutual distrust, and an attraction neither can afford. In the Kejari, compassion is a death sentence, and love is worse.

What Works

The tournament structure gives the book relentless momentum. Every chapter raises the stakes. Broadbent excels at action sequences: the fight choreography is vivid and brutal, and Oraya earns every victory through skill and desperation, not magic or luck.

The Oraya-Raihn dynamic is the book's heart. Broadbent writes enemies-to-lovers with real tension. Their banter is sharp, their trust is hard-won, and when the walls finally come down, it hits like a blade. The slow burn pays off because both characters are fully realized: Oraya's vulnerability beneath her armor, Raihn's secrets beneath his charm.

The vampire worldbuilding (three houses, each with distinct magic and politics) is rich without being overwhelming. Broadbent built a world that feels vast while keeping the focus intimate.

What Doesn't

The first act requires patience while Broadbent establishes the world and the tournament rules. Some readers find the setup formulaic: the Hunger Games comparison is unavoidable and not entirely unfair. And the twist at the end, while effective, is foreshadowed enough that attentive readers may see it coming.

The Velvet Coven Verdict

The Serpent & the Wings of Night is the vampire epic that BookTok built. It's fierce, romantic, and relentlessly paced. If you want a heroine who fights for every breath and a love interest worth fighting for, Oraya and Raihn will wreck you, in the best possible way.

Content note: Graphic violence, character death, explicit sexual content, themes of oppression and survival.

Quick Reference

  • Author: Carissa Broadbent
  • Published: 2022 (self-published, now Bramble/Macmillan)
  • Series: Crowns of Nyaxia, Book 1 (Nightborn Duet)
  • Pages: ~480
  • Setting: Obitraes, a vampire-ruled fantasy world
  • Tropes: Enemies to lovers, tournament/competition, human among vampires, forbidden romance, warrior heroine
  • Spice level: 4/5, explicit, well-integrated
  • Status: Instant NYT & USA Today bestseller