Review: The Ashes & The Star Cursed King (Crowns of Nyaxia #2) by Carissa Broadbent (2024)

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.

The House of Night, too, is surrounded by enemies. 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.

Did you read the first book? No? Then don't read this review. And go read the first book and the novella right now!

Oh how I love this world. Broadbent does such a fabulous job building the world out to the reader. I feel immersed in everything that happens. Part of the action. Part of the romance. She draws out emotion so easily. And with the slight cliffhanger that was book #1, I was chomping at the bit to get to this one. PLUS I wanted to see how the characters from the novella were woven in. I was not disappointed in the least. I may even say I liked this one more than the first! Though that's a hard line to cross.

Oraya is left floundering at the end of book one, not knowing her background or where she belongs, not knowing who she can trust, and certainly not knowing what her future holds. And she certainly does not want to form an alliance with the man she thought she knew but has found she cannot trust: Rhain. But he is her only hope of reclaiming the kingdom.

I absolutely adore Oraya. She continues to be a strong character, and strong willed. She's feisty but you can see through to her vulnerability. And it's this vulnerability that keeps her heart open just that bit to maybe allow for some healing in her relationship with Raihn. She has a lot of emotion to process in this book: betrayal, death, grief, And Raihn will do anything he must to win back her trust and have her at his side once more. He continues to be my all time favorite male vampire character, and that's saying something because I had Lestat on a pedestal for a LONG time! He is so conflicted over his role and how he must balance it with his humanity. He is extremely self aware and this is a nice change to some of the self-absorbed characters he is surrounded with.

And enter Vale and Lilith, and of course all the other side characters but I was most interested in how they fit in this story. I love how Vale returns. I love how timid Lilith seems but she's a bad ass. And we see more of Mische, of course. These characters really are kind of in the background and I'm hoping to see more of them come out with the next two dualogies. Give me all of Mische's story because she really deserves her own spotlight!

I enjoyed the pacing of this book. It was a bit slower than the first, a little less action, but the story still moved and the plot was great.

And DUAL POV! I needed this in the first book so I'm glad we got it in the second book. It's hard for me to read a fantasy in only one point of view. I find it so much harder to understand the world if you do not have multiple perspectives.

As far as romance, well you know it's there. And it's a bit spicy, which I love. But there's also a lot of working up to it, with a bit of a slow burn as Oraya finds her way back to forgiving Raihn and seeing he never meant to hurt her, believed all he did was to protect her.

Once again, Broadbent has exceeding my expectations. Rating is 4.5, purely based on the fact that, while the writing is good, it wasn't what I saw in Six Scorched Roses, which surprised me. I know things can only get better, though, and I'm truly looking forward to the next installation in this series/world!

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