Slaying the Vampire Conqueror A Crowns of Nyaxia Novel

Slaying The Vampire Conqueror by Carissa Broadbent is a stand-alone vampire romantasy set in the world of Nyaxia and the story of Sylina and Atrius.   Sylina had a difficult childhood until she entered the service for the Goddess of Fate and was formed into the perfect weapon. Sylina is such a fierce, strong, and inspiring heroine and I absolutely loved her and she’s the perfect heroine. I also liked the representation because she’s blind and nothing is stopping her.   Atrius is a vampire warrior and leader of the army. He’s a brute and a bit terrifying at first. But the more I saw of him, the more I liked him. He’s seen and experienced this world in a way that is remarkable.   Sylina is tasked to kill Atrius and she infiltrates the army and becomes the seer. And that alone was so thrilling and I’m amazed what Sylina can do. The more time they spend together, the more they feel drawn to each other and the longing in this story was unreal. And the forbidden aspect added a whole lot of angst, and I was completely enraptured by this story. They must risk everything for their world and more importantly their love and I just loved it so much. Also, it’s so difficult to come across a stand-alone romantasy and this book is just perfection.   Slaying The Vampire Conqueror captivated me from the first to the last page and I’m just obsessed with Sylina and Atrius. 5 stars.   (Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an arc.)

Sylina was once an orphan surviving on the streets of Glaea. Desperate for a purpose, she joins the Arachessen - a cult devoted to the Goddess of Fate, led by the enigmatic and mysterious Sightmother. In exchange for her life and her eyesight, Sylina is trained to become one of the deadliest assassins on the continent. Her mission: overthrow Glaea’s tyrannical king. But when a brutal Bloodborn vampire warrior named Atrius arrives, conquering the kingdom with terrifying ease, Sylina’s purpose shifts. Tasked with infiltrating his army and earning his trust, she takes the place of his seer, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Yet as she journeys beside him, Sylina begins to see the cracks beneath Atrius’s monstrous façade. Failing the Sightmother isn’t an option—but neither is ignoring what’s growing between them and her hatred towards the gruesome king. Soooo, apparently Carissa Broadbent is brilliant at writing novels! I loved The Crowns of Nyaxia series, especially books one and two (with the first still being my favorite). But the two novellas? They’re something else entirely. While both can technically be read on their own, I highly recommend reading them in the suggested order for the worldbuilding and full emotional experience. Vale and Lilith’s story was incredible, and Sylina and Atrius’s is not far behind! If you enjoy the world Carissa has created, these standalones are absolute must-reads. They add so much depth and texture to the main story and are completely addictive. I couldn’t put this one down. The main characters are more restrained emotionally than her other couples, and I found that very refreshing. Actions speak louder than words, and Carissa captures that dynamic beautifully. Sylina and Atrius complement each other perfectly; their connection felt raw, intense, and deeply earned. There’s even a touch of Beauty and the Beast energy that made their relationship all the more captivating. I especially loved the unique touch of Sylina’s blindness—how she perceives the world through colorful threads was stunning and so well-written. It added an extra layer of beauty and magic to the story. This is a delicious slow burn with the perfect balance between plot and romance. The tension? Absolutely palpable. And I’d like to end my review with my favorite lines: “You shouldn’t be here.” “Why?” “Because you make me ravenous.” What a confession. Story: 4.25 ⭐️ Spice: 2.5 ️

Thanks NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for sending me this arc! I love Carissa Broadbents writing and if you are considering reading this one, you probably do, too. This novel is set in the familiar world of the crowns of Nyaxia series - reading this series, however, is not necessary to enjoy the book, it just gives you a bit more context. Sylina is a devoted follower of Acaeja, goddess of fate. After a traumatizing childhood she has dedicated her life to the goddess and joined the Arachessen, a cult-like following of Aceaja which follows the goal of making sure fate turns into reality. Joining this sisterhood demands sacrifices to prove loyalty to the goddess, which is the reason Sylina had to give up her eyesight as well as her past identity. Now, Sylina navigates the world by sensing threads and using these connections of fate and information to be able to "see" things her past self would have never been able to. This makes her a perfect assassin, now tasked with one big goal: to kill the Vampire conqueror who strives to take over her Sylinas native country of Galea. Her task seems simple: infiltrate the army as a seer, earn the conquerors trust and get close enough to kill him when the time arises. However, as she joins Atrius' forces, she cannot help but notice that this brutal solider may not be the villain she expected. The once clear cut mission of killing Atrius is threatened not only by Sylinas connection to him, but more so by the unexpected moral questions that arise with their progress through the country. But the Arachessen are not tasked with moral judgement but with following the instructions of their goddess without questioning her motives. This forces Sylina to make a difficult decision: trust the goddess of fate she dedicated her whole life to or make a moral judgment of her own based on the facts presented to her. Either way, the decision may cost her dearly - maybe even her life. I love Carissa Broadbents writing, so absolutely no notes on that. Sylina is a complex and interesting character with a lot of backstory. We may not immediately understand every decision of hers, but her cult-like upbringing is a fascinating aspect of her character. Sylina is skilled, deeply flawed and has immense personal growth in this novel. Atrius is pretty similar to the other love interests we met in Broadbents books. He is tall, handsome and has a disturbing past which leads him to the decisions he makes now. Whilst I do get his reasoning and am impressed with his moral code, his openness to critique and his reluctance to certain things, he still is a conqueror of another country. Again, I get his reasons and I kinda am a sucker for the "it pains me deeply but I have to do this" character but the conqueror-citizen of conquered state-dynamic is one I just don't feel comfortable with. Relationship whise, I enjoyed following Sylina and Atrius whilst wishing we could have spent more time with them, seeing as there were lots of time skips. The overall plot was good. I did not expect this outcome and was pleasantly shocked by it. The resolution to it made sense. I liked the structure of a moving army and the tactics behind it. I was especially pleased with the fact that vampirism was not really a plot point - it made sense for the overarching plot but the discussion of vampires-humans in the setting and relationship would have felt forced and is something we've read countless times before. The world building was absolutely stunning. I really don't know how she does it every time. The magic system of the Arachessen, as was with every fellowship of the gods we saw in this series, was innovative, fun to read, unique to the goddess of fate and a great way to experience the story - not through Sylinas eyes, but through her magical senses. The world of Galea may be a bit overdone, which goes hand in hand with the "the conqueror is actually maybe not the bad guy" thing I already criticized, but I adored the dystopian settings of the different cities, the detailed descriptions of the buildings and the relationship between the citizens and its rulers. There is a lot of world building in this book and still I wished it to be more, it was, as always, breathtaking. I cannot wait for the release to go looking for fan art for it. So why did I not give 5 stars? Well, the conqueror thing made me uncomfortable, but that is personal preference I guess. Additionally, I found some of the dynamics between Sylina and Atrius repetitive of those of other couples in the series. I know there are only so many ways one can write a vampire-human dynamic in a war-like setting and don't get me wrong, I still really enjoyed it, but it just felt pretty reminiscent at this point. Overall thoughts: Stunning world building, unique magic system, solid relationship and a great writing style. You can enjoy this book with the added context of the crowns of Nyaxia series, which will probably reference the characters of this one in the third duet concerning the house of blood, or read it as a standalone. I definitely recommend picking this one up if you love romantasy, intricate world building and a great time!

I liked a lot of Broadbent's book, but starting with this one, her characters and stories are getting extremely repetitive. Evil dark guy (who never actually does ANYTHING evil or even morally grey, really, but is just constantly described as such) and a woman set against him, who falls in love with him so quickly her initial job is easily forgotten (cue title of the book.) A vampire conqueror that treats people much better than the human warlords (who are so comically evil and lacking substance they may as well be carton cutouts of Lord Voldemort). So there's no conflict - evil vampire guy is actually basically Daenerys Targaryen (before season 8) freeing people and our wannabe assassin quickly jumps from a prologue of "I will kill him" to "oh wait never mind he's not actually doing anything bad". Well, and our wannabe assassin sacrificed her eyesight "piece by piece" in the physical sense to appease her goddess - but the author does nothing with that. Sylina sees "threads", which equals to facial expressions, magic thoughts, emotions, of people hundreds of meters away from her. What I thought could be an interesting subject to tackle - how does a character who is blind perceive the world? - the author instead used as a Mary Sue power, really. She sees everything and a thousand things more. And the sacrificing of her eyes in the physical sense? Apparently there was still enough left to see the frame of her beloved later. How that works biologically? Please do ask Carissa... If you like the descriptions and the actions of your books to add up, this one is not for you. The ending was one bad plot twist and one bad warping of a character to suddenly turn them from omniscient to stupid so we could have our happy ending. I honestly could barely get through it. 2 stars for... effort?