The Ashes & The Star Cursed King

A Crowns of Nyaxia Novel, Book 2 of the Nightborn Duet By Carissa Broadbent

Summary Provided by Author

From the New York Times bestselling author Carissa Broadbent, comes The Ashes & the Star-Cursed King, the gutting second installment of the Crowns of Nyaxia series, full of heartbreak, redemption, blood intrigue and heart-pounding action.

Love is a sacrifice at the altar of power.

In the wake of the Kejari, everything Oraya once thought to be true has been destroyed. A prisoner in her own kingdom, grieving the only family she ever had, and reeling from a gutting betrayal, she no longer even knows the truth of her own blood. She’s left only with one certainty: she cannot trust anyone, least of all Raihn.

Raihn’s own nobles are none too eager to accept a Turned king, especially one who was once a slave. And the House of Blood digs their claws into the kingdom, threatening to tear it apart from the inside.

When Raihn offers Oraya a secret alliance, taking the deal is her only chance at reclaiming her kingdom–and gaining her vengeance against the lover who betrayed her. But to do so, she’ll need to harness a devastating ancient power, intertwined with her father’s greatest secrets.

But with enemies closing in on all sides, nothing is as it seems. As she unravels her past and faces her future, Oraya finds herself forced to choose between the bloody reality of seizing power—and the devastating love that could be her downfall.

Review & Thoughts

Trigger warnings: genocide, child murder, sex slaves, rape, revoted consent rape, drugging, etc…

Aaaaaand I’m sold- I love this book just as much as I love ACOMAF, which is essentially the highest of compliments I can give. Book 1 of the Nightborn Duet was phenomenal, and I truly didn’t think anything could top it. I was sooooo wrong. The complexity of relationships is masterfully done by the author, Carissa Broadbent in so. many. facets. This novel was backed with nonstop action and suspense, but kept an impressive pace to not burn the reader out with everything going on. There was the smallest element of predictability, that made me feel like I knew what was going on but Carissa kept pulling the rug out and throwing me a different direction.

spoilers ahead….

The book starts off exactly where Raihn & Oraya’s story left off in The Serpent & The Wings of Night- trying to navigate an entirely new world now that Raihn is king of the Nightborn. Through my perspect, “The Ashes” does refer quite a bit to the life Oraya had- and what’s left of her. Everything she has ever loved has been ripped away from her, including Raihn through his betrayal in her eyes. The “female sorrow” trope in this story comes through absolutely soul crushing, and I still feel what’s left of Carissa’s dagger in my own chest and I imagine Oraya weeping every single night, and Raihn on the other side of the wall, knowing that his actions caused her destruction.

Despite the hollowness of my own soul while starting this read, the element of the Bloodborn essentially wheasling their way into the Nightborn kingdom, and the hunt for God bloodwas such a needed twist to protect the storyline’s integrity and keep it unique. I absolutely despised Septimus from the beginning, and hope to eventually see him lose his mind from overusing his stupid powers.

For all ya girls with daddy issues: Vincent is back in such a powerful way. While he was in her head and guiding her through the trials in a “small voice in the back of my head” type of way, Oraya essentially dives into this re-occurrence throughout this book, and deepens the bond we feel (or at least I do) for Vincent the father, who did truly love his daughter. I’m so happy to see Oraya was able to get some closure on her family history, and what truly happened the night she was ‘found’ by him, even if the truth is that he went there to kill her.

Quotes

“The king knew, in this moment, that his greatest love would also be his ruination, and that both would come in the unlikely form of a young human woman.”

“You have fucking destroyed me, he had told the young woman the night before. She would destroy him. And it would be worth it.”

“Despite the Mark, the crown, the wings, they still saw a Turned slave. Fuck them.”

“We’ll rip apart the worlds that subjugated both of us, and from the ashes we’ll build something new.”

“Remember who wins.”

“As always, you have such a strange way of saying ‘Thank you.’”

“A snake, after all, does not mourn its skin. What they will never understand is how much that skin takes with it.”

It would be so easy for this world to take you away forever. Don’t give it reason to.”

“Love is fucking terrifying,” he murmured. “I think that’s true no matter who you are.”

“A life in which nothing means anything is not a life at all.”

“The Nightfire was so bright now, I couldn’t see anything but her face. It was all her. Deadly and stunning. Even her hatred was fucking beautiful.”

“Maybe the others don’t let you see the shards. Maybe they don’t show you the things they mourn. Doesn’t mean it’s not there. Doesn’t mean they don’t feel it.”

“You sound so disappointed, my murderous queen.”

“I like a little fight,” he murmured. “Besides, she’s ruined me for all others. My own fucking fault, though. I knew it from the beginning.”

“The cruel truth is that it is harder to survive when you have something to care about.”

“Considering stabbing a door before I even looked for the keys. Goddess fucking help me.”

“She looked at him like he was the sun. And he looked at her like she was the moon.”

“Ix’s tits, princess. What a charmer you are.”

“As a young man, I used to think that bravery was the absence of fear. No. I’d learned since then that the absence of fear was only stupidity.”