What This Series Actually Is
The Serpent and the Wings of Night is a dark fantasy romance by Carissa Broadbent. It follows Ossiane, a human vampire who wakes up in a world between life and death called The Hollow, after being betrayed by the humans she served. She's sold to a demon lord named Strahik, and their arrangement slowly turns into something more complicated. The second book, Gates of Ash and Fire, picks up from there. There's a third book planned but it hasn't come out yet as far as I know. It's not great literary fiction. The prose is functional, sometimes clumsy, and the plot has familiar beats. What makes it work is the atmosphere and the slow burn of a enemies-to-lovers arc that actually earns its turns. If you're looking for deep political maneuvering like Joe Abercrombie or lyrical worldbuilding like Ursula K. Le Guin, this isn't it. It's pulpy fantasy romance with real charm once you're into it.
The Serpent And The Wings Of Night Ebook Hunter
Finding the ebook legally can be annoying if you don't know where to look. The book is widely available on Amazon Kindle, but if you're price shopping or want to compare formats, here's what I've learned from hunting through dozens of sources over the years. Kobo usually has it for around eleven dollars, sometimes less on sale. Apple Books matches that price point and syncs cleanly across devices. Google Play Books tends to go on sale for five or six dollars every few months, which is probably the best deal you'll find without digging into subscription services. BookTopia and BookShoptalk sometimes list it for free if your local library participates in their lending programs, but availability changes weekly and it's frustrating to check repeatedly. I ended up just setting a DealMapper alert for the Kindle version and buying it when it dropped below eight dollars. Saved about four dollars compared to the regular price.
Here's something most people don't consider: the Kindle version and the Kobo version sometimes have different release dates for special chapters or bonus content. I noticed this with a different author last year and checked again with this series. The Kindle edition got the extended epilogue first. If you're reading on multiple platforms, stick to one and don't switch mid-read. One specific problem I ran into: I bought the Kindle version on sale, then a week later found a cheaper deal on Kobo. I tried using Kindle's lend feature to give the Kindle copy to someone else so I could read the Kobo one instead, but the book turned out not to be eligible for lending in my region. Amazon's lending terms vary by title and country, and this one falls into the not-eligible bucket. I just kept both copies and finished reading on Kobo anyway. Not a huge loss, but it cost me extra for no reason.
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What to Expect When You Read It
The worldbuilding is built around vampire politics, a necromancer protagonist, and a demon lord who pretends to be cruel and isn't. The Hollow is a liminal space between the human world and the Underworld, and it's treated as a kind of purgatory that vampires call home. The magic system is loose enough that it doesn't get in the way of the romance but detailed enough to feel consistent. The main tension comes from Ossiane's distrust of everyone, especially Strahik, and Strahik's own hidden agenda. The romance develops over roughly sixty percent of the book. The first third is setup and betrayal, the middle is reluctant partnership, and the last third is where the emotional payoff lands. If you skip ahead because the beginning feels slow, you'll miss the motivations that make the ending work. There are some pacing issues. The middle sags a bit with repeated scenes of Ossiane learning about her new powers and Strahik brooding. These could have been trimmed by a few thousand words. Also, the secondary characters are underdeveloped — I found myself caring more about two background characters than some of the named ones. That's a genre tradeoff. The focus stays tight on the central relationship, which is the point.
The Sequel and Where It All Goes
Gates of Ash and Fire expands the scope significantly. It introduces new locations, raises the stakes from personal survival to something closer to war, and deepens the political layers. The romance continues but it's less central than in the first book. Some readers prefer the first one for this reason, and I understand that. The second book is more plot-driven and less intimate. As for the third book, the author has confirmed it exists but there's no publication date. Fantasy publishing moves slowly right now, and with the industry delays affecting a lot of authors, don't expect it next year. If you want to follow the story properly, finish the two books and then wait. Don't start fanfiction threads about the unresolved plot points — they won't help you. One thing worth noting: the audiobook versions are well narrated. The narrator for the first book does solid work with the voice distinctions, and the second book's narrator carries the tone well even though it's a different performer. Audio is a decent alternative if you're reading on the go, but the Kindle version gives you the standard text experience without the performance variation between books.
Should You Read It
If you like dark fantasy romance with a gothic atmosphere and slow-burn romance, yes. If you want tight plotting and complex character ensembles, look elsewhere. The book succeeds at what it's trying to do — it just isn't trying to do very much beyond entertainment and emotional payoff. The series is short enough that the time investment is reasonable. Book one is around three hundred pages. Book two is longer but not unwieldy. You could read both in a weekend and still have time to think about what happened. Prices fluctuate. Check a price tracker before buying if you're on a budget. The Kindle version on sale is the cheapest reliable option, and waiting two or three months for a sale typically saves you three to five dollars. Not worth jumping through illegal download hoops for, honestly. The legal copies are cheap enough and the quality is consistent across retailers.
I read the series a couple years ago and still remember specific scenes clearly, which is the real test for genre fiction. The Hollow feels vivid. Ossiane's choices matter. Strahik isn't just a edgy love interest. That's more than most books in this space manage.
