🩸 Vampire Politics 
🖤 Yearning 
🩸 Top-Notch Sequel 
🖤 Rage & Redemption 
🩸 Strong Female Characters 

~ spoiler-free ~

I think I'm in the minority here, but I actually enjoyed this sequel more than I enjoyed Serpent. Although everything that happened in Serpent sets up this sequel, SO well.

Carissa Broadbent really expands on worldbuilding, politics, and the tension between the rival vampire clans in this sequel. I found that for me personally, everything starts coming together in the world that she has created. I understood more about the influence of the gods, the motivations of the characters, and the political climate throughout this book. I also love how Oraya gets to explore this new side of herself, where she finally starts to admit that her world may not have been what it seemed. 

The tension between our MCs - and the world as a whole - was more palpable. There are some great subtle horror nods in this installment. The atmosphere is drearier. It just felt to me like there was so much more at stake and harder decisions for our characters to face while trying to remain whole in that process. 

This duet has some great closure as well, while tensions still remain high for the progression of the series. I read Six Scorched Roses (which is amaaaazing) in between the two books, and I would *highly recommend* doing it this way, as it gave me more appreciation for the characters and the sacrficies they have had to make in this high-stakes society.

I'm so looking forward to continuing with Mische's story because I love her, but I plan to read "Slaying the Vampire Conqueror" first. 

~ quotes I loved below **these contain spoilers** ~ 

"𝓗𝓮'𝓭 𝓻𝓪𝓲𝓼𝓮𝓭 𝓶𝓮 𝓽𝓸 𝓵𝓸𝓸𝓴 𝓪𝓽 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓫𝓪𝓻𝓼 𝓸𝓯 𝓶𝔂 𝓬𝓪𝓰𝓮 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓬𝓪𝓵𝓵 𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓶 𝓽𝓻𝓮𝓮𝓼."

"𝓛𝓸𝓿𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓞𝓻𝓪𝔂𝓪 𝔀𝓪𝓼 𝓽𝓮𝓻𝓻𝓲𝓯𝔂𝓲𝓷𝓰. 𝓘𝓽 𝓻𝓮𝓺𝓾𝓲𝓻𝓮𝓭 𝓶𝓮 𝓽𝓸 𝓼𝓮𝓮 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓼 𝓘 𝓭𝓲𝓭𝓷’𝓽 𝔀𝓪𝓷𝓽 𝓽𝓸 𝓼𝓮𝓮. 𝓕𝓪𝓬𝓮 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓼 𝓘 𝓭𝓲𝓭𝓷’𝓽 𝔀𝓪𝓷𝓽 𝓽𝓸 𝓯𝓪𝓬𝓮. 𝓐𝓵𝓵𝓸𝔀 𝓪𝓷𝓸𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻 𝓼𝓸𝓾𝓵 𝓽𝓸 𝔀𝓲𝓽𝓷𝓮𝓼𝓼 𝓹𝓪𝓻𝓽𝓼 𝓸𝓯 𝓶𝔂𝓼𝓮𝓵𝓯 𝓘 𝓭𝓲𝓭𝓷’𝓽 𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓷 𝔀𝓪𝓷𝓽 𝓽𝓸 𝓪𝓬𝓴𝓷𝓸𝔀𝓵𝓮𝓭𝓰𝓮."

"𝓡𝓲𝓰𝓱𝓽 𝓷𝓸𝔀, 𝓽𝓱𝓸𝓾𝓰𝓱, 𝓘 𝓭𝓲𝓭𝓷'𝓽 𝓷𝓮𝓮𝓭 𝓪𝓷𝔂 𝓴𝓲𝓷𝓭 𝓸𝓯 𝓶𝓪𝓰𝓲𝓬𝓪𝓵 𝓰𝓸𝓭𝓭𝓮𝓼𝓼-𝓰𝓲𝓯𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓱𝓮𝓪𝓻𝓽 𝓫𝓸𝓷𝓭 𝓽𝓸 𝓴𝓷𝓸𝔀 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓞𝓻𝓪𝔂𝓪 𝔀𝓪𝓼 𝓹𝓲𝓼𝓼𝓮𝓭. 𝓢𝓱𝓮 𝔀𝓪𝓼 𝔀𝓮𝓪𝓻𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓪-𝓬𝓪𝓽-𝓲𝓼-𝓹𝓲𝓼𝓼𝓲𝓷𝓰-𝓸𝓷-𝓶𝔂-𝓵𝓮𝓰-𝓪𝓷𝓭-𝔂𝓸𝓾'𝓻𝓮-𝓽𝓱𝓮-𝓬𝓪𝓽 𝓯𝓪𝓬𝓮. 
𝓜𝔂 𝓯𝓪𝓿𝓸𝓻𝓲𝓽𝓮 𝓸𝓯 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓭𝓲𝓿𝓮𝓻𝓼𝓮 𝓵𝓲𝓫𝓻𝓪𝓻𝔂 𝓸𝓯 𝓞𝓻𝓪𝔂𝓪 𝓯𝓪𝓬𝓮𝓼."