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Carissa Broadbent ushers readers into the second duology of her Crowns of Nyaxia series, trading the halls of the House of Night for the fiery depths of the underworld. Picking up months after the Nightborn Duet, this installment thrusts former acolyte Mische into an adventure that will test her faith, her humanity, and her heart. Once a devotee of the sun god, Mische now finds herself adrift, grappling with the loss of her connection to the divine after being Turned into a vampire.
Her journey takes an unexpected turn when she is captured by the House of Shadow, one of the three vampire courts, where her life is spared by the enigmatic Asar, bastard prince of the House and brother to the vampire who Turned her. But Asar’s motives are far from selfless. He needs Mische’s help to fulfill a divine task from the goddess Nyaxia: to descend into the underworld and resurrect her long-dead husband, the god of death. For Mische, the stakes are even higher when her own god finally speaks, commanding her not only to aid Asar but also to betray him by destroying the god of death after his resurrection.
Broadbent skillfully balances epic adventure with deeply personal stakes, blending romance, mythology, and a searing exploration of trauma. Mische, once a lighthearted sidekick in The Serpent & the Wings of the Night, is now a fully realized protagonist wrestling with the weight of her new existence as a vampire. Her struggle to reconcile the fragments of her faith with the desires of her heart adds complexity to her journey, as she fears losing the last vestiges of her humanity—and the sun god who once guided her.
Asar, the brooding necromancer with a past drenched in blood and sorrow, proves to be more than a mere antihero. His actions often veer well beyond the morally ambiguous, bordering on outright villainy, yet his devotion to Mische and his yearning for a love free from pain make him an irresistibly layered romantic lead. The chemistry between Mische and Asar is electric, and while their story is far from complete, this first chapter of their relationship sets the stage for an adventure that promises to upend the very fabric of their world and its divine hierarchy.
With The Songbird & the Heart of Stone, Broadbent ventures deep into the realms of gods and monsters, crafting a tale that is as thrilling as it is emotionally resonant. Fans of fantasy romance will find themselves spellbound by this gripping narrative, eager to see where Mische and Asar’s journey will take them next.
