Last year, I finally jumped on the hype train for The Serpent and the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent. In January of this year, I have also read the sequel, The Ashes and the Star-Cursed King. However, my eyes already fell on the standalone novel in the same world, Slaying The Vampire Conqueror. With the publication of the new book The Songbird & The Heart of Stone just around the corner, I thought it was time to pick this up. Did I enjoy it as much as my introduction to this author’s work?

About the book

Slaying the Vampire Conqueror by Carissa Broadbent
Published by Independently published on April 27, 2023
Pages: 452
Genres: Fantasy, New adult, Romantasy

She was commanded to kill him with a single strike to the heart. She didn’t expect her own to betray her.

Sylina has sacrificed everything for her goddess—her soul, her freedom, her eyes. Life in service to the Arachessen, a cult of the Goddess of Fate, has turned Sylina from an orphaned street rat to a disciplined killer determined to overthrow Glaea’s tyrannical king.

When a brutal vampire conqueror arrives on their shores, Sylina faces an even deadlier adversary. She’s tasked with a crucial mission: infiltrate his army, earn his trust… and kill him.

Atrius is a terrifying warrior carving an unstoppable path through Glaea. Yet when Sylina becomes his seer, she glimpses a dark and shocking past—and a side of him that reminds her far too much of parts of herself she’d rather forget.

Sylina’s orders are clear. The conqueror cannot live. But as the blood spilled by Glaea’s tyrant king runs thicker, her connection with Atrius only grows stronger. A connection forbidden by her vows. A connection that could cost her everything.

Slaying the Vampire Conqueror is a standalone fantasy romance set in the Crowns of Nyaxia world, full of heart-wrenching forbidden romance, dark curses, and epic battles—perfect for fans of The Bridge Kingdom and the From Blood and Ash series. If you like forbidden romance, dark curses, bad*ss heroines, and morally gray heroes, you’ll devour this sexy, addictive series.

My review

Before reading

I was in desperate need of a book I would enjoy. I had such bad luck with my last few reads, and I felt a slump coming. I expected this book to turn the tide and made me A) finally finish a book again and B) actually enjoy a book again. I’m not the biggest fan of standalones within the fantasy genre, because there’s not enough space to get into depth regarding characters and plot. My expectations have been met.

Characters

As I already predicted, the characters didn’t have enough time and space to grow. Main character Sylina has an interesting back story, but this was not uncovered in depth. We follow her on her mission to kill the vampire conqueror. She uses the Sight magic, which I was more curious about. We get to know her on a basic level, which is enough for the story. However, not for my personal preference. She undergoes some growth, because her beliefs are put to the test during her mission. Instead of taking over blindly what her training had taught her, she grows into a young woman who is able to decide things on her own. On the other hand, there is Atrius, the actual conqueror. In my opinion, he has been written poorly. We barely get to know the character behind the conqueror and therefore it was hard to feel the chemistry between these two main characters. They both deserve more time and space to develop and grow than the 452 pages they got now.

Writing

The writing is again pretty indulging. The chapters are quite short, which means I was able to finish the book easily. However, I wish the author used POV switching here, this would have given the characters more depth. Now we only follow Sylina, but I understand there’s just a certain amount of space. Despite this, I was still enjoying my reading experience. The narration is good either, which made the reading experience even more pleasant.

Plot

However, the plot was not as intriguing as I’d initially thought it would be. There was happening a lot and not much at the same time. As this is a stand alone, there was not much space to dwell on events. The battles were fought pretty quick and easy, which didn’t add up to the tension and intrigue of this novel. For me, it fell quite flat actually. These hours of reading were still well-spent, but I found the plot itself quite lacking. I even zoned out on numerous occasions, which is unfortunate.

Final thoughts

Slaying the Vampire Conqueror by Carissa Broadbent is a worthy standalone in the “Crowns of Nyaxia” world. I’m not a fan of standalones within fantasy, because of the lack of depth in both characters and plot. This was the case here as well as I wanted to know more about Sylina’s and Atrius’ back stories. The battles were fought too easy and quick, which really put a downer on the intrigue for me. The writing was good though, the chapters were quite short and therefore I was able to finish this book pretty fast. At the end of the story, Broadbent hints on a reappearance of these characters in the rest of the series, I’m really curious for this!