Synopsis:
In the descent to the underworld, a bride of the sun must choose between the light of her redemption… or a dark love that defies the gods themselves
Mische lost everything when she was forcibly Turned into a vampire – her home, her humanity, and most devastating of all, the love of the sun god to whom she had devoted her life. Now, sentenced to death for murdering the vampire prince who Turned her, redemption feels impossible.
But when Mische is saved by Asar, the bastard prince of the House of Shadow with a past as brutal as his scars, she’s forced into a mission worse than execution: a journey to the underworld to resurrect the god of death himself.
Yet, Mische’s punishment may be the key to her salvation. In a secret meeting, her sun god commands her to help Asar in his mission, only to betray him… by killing the very death god she’ll help resurrect.
Mische and Asar must travel the treacherous path to the underworld, facing trials, beasts, and the vengeful ghosts of their pasts. Yet, most dangerous of all is the alluring call of the darkness – and her forbidden attraction to Asar, a burgeoning bond that risks invoking the wrath of gods.
As her betrayal looms, the underworld closes in and angry gods are growing restless. Mische will be forced to choose between the redemption of the sun or the damnation of the darkness.
Review:
I was sent a copy of The Songbird & the Heart of Stone in exchange for an honest review.
This was my first Carissa Broadbent book and I can tell you for a fact it will not be my last. This is technically the third in the Crowns of Nyaxia series but first in its own duology. So no need to have read the first two books to start this one, it follows what I believe is a side character in the first two books, and all of the important history and context is revealed throughout the book. At no point did I feel like I was missing any context by not having read the other books. TLDR; you can start with this book and be fine.
I was pleasantly surprised by how well the fantasy story holds up. You could take out the romance and I still would have read this for the plot alone, which can be a rarity with romantasies. Mische and Asar have to travel into the underworld to collect items to resurrect a god. That is my kind of storyline. Every layer of the underworld is unique and Broadbent does an incredible job of creating vivid images of these layers. I really want to learn more about the world above and I think picking up the first books in the series will sate that for me. The worldbuilding is incredible and the fact that the Gods are real just suits my reading tastes perfectly.
The romance plot is similarly strong. In a world of Fae romances I had the best time reading a Vampire one. The Vampire part isn’t necessarily the main focus but it does have some impact on how/why things happen. I was oh so very invested in Mische and Asar’s romance, it does fit some tropes but I wasn’t thinking about it at the time, instead I enjoyed the relative slow-burn of their time together. When we finally hit the smut it felt like it was worth all the waiting and more like a culmination of everything you’d seen them go through than just smut for the sake of smut.
The ending has me utterly desperate to get my hands on the next in the series. This is a book that I think will stick with me for a long time, and a couple that I’m genuinely rooting for.
This is a romantasy that holds it own both as a fantasy book and as a romance. It might have shot up there as a new favourite next to ACOTAR for mee, I’m honestly obsessed.
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