Antonia Bernardin

I recently listened to The Ashes and the Star Cursed King by Carissa Broadbent, the second in the Crowns of Nyaxia series.

I reviewed the first book ‘The Serpent and the Wings of Night’ here

And the novella ‘Six Scorched Roses’ here

There will potentially be spoilers for the first book so head to that review and don’t read the below if that’s not for you.

A brief plot summary

This book follows immediately after the big ending of book 1. With her father gone and Raihn as the new heir to the throne, Oraya is faced with the only option that would allow her to survive: she must marry him. Now she finds herself once again held captive in her old bedroom, brought low by grief and a betrayal from one of the few people she could trust. Raihn’s position as ruler is fragile, most of his own people will not follow a former slave, or oppose his alliance with the House of Blood, an alliance which is also on shaky ground. Oraya slowly finds some of her old courage and begins to work on her revenge on Raihn from within the confines of the House of Night. Eventually, it appears the forces working against them both are bigger than they could have foreseen and they are faced with the choice: work together or die.

My thoughts

I enjoyed this book just as much as the first, the spicy tension was just *chefs kiss*, the big battle was heart pounding and it even brought me to tears a couple times. I listened to this as an audio and I would really recommend it, it switches POV’s between the two MC’s and uses a male and female narrator for the each character. This probably one of the more enjoyable new fantasy series still coming out at the moment, it’s right up there with Fourth Wing.