Name: Slaying the Vampire Conqueror
Series: Crowns of Nyaxia #2.5
Author: Carissa Broadbent
Publisher: Tor Bramble
Format: Hardback & Kindle (through Kindle Unlimited)
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Paranormal, Romance
Noted Tropes: Enemies to Lovers, Forbidden Romance, Slow Burn
Spice Rating: Open Door 🌶️🌶️🌶️
Rating:
Synopsis: Goodreads
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 orphaned street-rat to disciplined killer, determined to overthrow Glaea’s tyrannical king. But 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.
Review:
“You’re lucky,” he said, “that I have a soft spot for caged birds.”
Slaying the Vampire Conqueror is a stand alone novel set in the Crowns of Nyaxia world. It was originaly published as part of a wider collection of ‘Monster Romances’. For the two authors I know of in this collection, Carissa Broadbent and Helen Scheuerer, they each chose to write in a world they were already exploring. Fast forward to now, and Slaying the Vampire Conqueror has been picked up and published traditionally! With that, we got a new (gorgeous) cover as well as a bonus chapter… We’ll get onto that in a moment. There will likely be spoilers below for the books that come before this in the Crowns of Nyaxia series, but anything for this or the books after it will be hidden as normal.
Our FMC, Sylina, is sent on a mission to kill the Vampire Conqueror – a mission she is all too happy to accept after witnissing one of his ‘conquors’. Sylina is blind – her eyesight is one of the things she gave up when she joined the Sisterhood / Cult Arachessen to the Goddess of Fate, Acaeja – and so the way she sees the world is so different! I did struggle with the explanation of how she sees just because I can’t imagine in pictures so it’s more like guess work for me to figure out how it works. But I think I got the gist of it, and at some point I stopped concerning myself with whether I was wrong or right and just enjoyed the book. Once that happened, I was able to stop constantly beating myself up over figuring it out and instead focussed on the building relationship between Sylina and her target.
Enter our tall, handsome, horned member of the House of Blood, Atrius. The House of Blood is currently the least explored of the Houses in the Crowns of Nyaxia world! So, I was looking forward to finding out a bit more about the cursed House especially ahead of Book 5 (which we know will feature the House of Blood). And I think one of my main questions for the House of Blood after having read this is WHY the House of Blood still love their Goddess and try to please her when she’s cursed them so!! I’m angry FOR them! So, I know we’re waiting for the release of Book 4 (The Fallen & the Kiss of Dusk) but I’m already itching to get my hands on Book 5!!
I have lately said that Carissa Broadbent is my new Romantasy Queen. And she absolutely is, anything she writes is auto-buy, and everything has been a hit so far. Minor spoilers in the below for a side character (no names mentioned).
I will admit, that I was also crying while reading a certain section of this book… Something that Carissa does really well – is create characters that we’re going to love. Whether they’re a main character or a secondary / side character, I still end up falling in love them just as much. It happened constantly in The War of Lost Hearts Trilogy and it happened with the Crowns of Nyaxia series too.
I mentioned that when Slaying was picked up and published traditionally, that a new bonus chapter was added to the ending… And in it, it is made pretty clear that some of these characters are going to show up again in the main story. So, I personally wouldn’t recommend skipping the stand alones that have come out alongside Crowns of Nyaxia.
Slaying is book 2.5 in the Crowns of Nyaxia series, however I didn’t pick it up till after I read The Songbird & the Heart of Stone – I think this is fine! There wasn’t anything in either books that meant reading it out of order was an issue. However, Carissa Broadbent has recommended reading it before you read The Fallen & the Kiss of Dusk! So, I am glad to have done that, because if any of the characters are going to show up again I wanted to be ready for that and know who they were!
Much like with Six Scorched Roses, I don’t think it is necessary to read either of the stand alones. But I absolutely recommend doing so! Six Scorched Roses was a novella (though we were robbed, I would have loved a full length novel!), Slaying the Vampire Conqueror was a full length novel and it pulled off the slow-burn romance beautifully! Excellent addition to the Crowns of Nyaxia world!!
“Death is what happens when you stand still,” I said. “Don’t stand still. Not for anything.”
Reading With Tyler 
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