Carissa Broadbent

Mother of Death and Dawn

A tear rolled down her cheek. "Do not fear death, my daughter. We all walk with one foot in each world. There is beauty in impermanence. And what sad lives we would live, if we never loved anything we would lose.”

And it was only with our combined powers, the passage between us opened, that it was distilled into balanced, raw force. Time and place and space disappeared. We were a river stretching out in all directions. We were the bodies and breaths of the soldiers above. We were the sky and the ruins and the city of Niraja in the past and the present. We were ourselves as we were ten years ago, lost, alone, and as we were now-found, together. We Wielded the core of power like snatching a burning star from the sky.

"You fucked me!" he snarled. And Brayan -Brayan, the elegant golden child of the Ryvenai upper class - slowly flicked his eyes over his assailant and said, calmly,"You aren't my type."

Laura Scanlan

"His heart is what truly lit the fires of war, and the fire burns because of you. The decision was for all of us, yes. But the vengeance? The vengeance is for you."

Death was like a lost lover. We circled each other. I craved more with every brush of its touch. All I wanted was for it to take me to its bed and never let me leave. 

Pia 

I think this was a good wrap-up to the series, but not my favorite book. It's pretty long and kind of loses its urgency as it goes on despite the building plot. 

I still really enjoyed it and loved it for the characters, there was a lot of good full-circle character moments in this book.

This is a good fantasy series for anyone who really enjoys world-building and magic, with obvious undercurrents of romance, as well. 

Paige Leitner

I think this was a good wrap-up to the series, but not my favorite book. It's pretty long and kind of loses its urgency as it goes on despite the building plot. 

I still really enjoyed it and loved it for the characters, there was a lot of good full-circle character moments in this book.

This is a good fantasy series for anyone who really enjoys world-building and magic, with obvious undercurrents of romance, as well. 

This whole series is 5 stars for me, I love the characters so much. This had the perfect ending to everyone's story line, and still managed to throw in some twists and turns. I'm sad it's over!

Caroline Piephoff

Much better than book 2. However I do think a map and better story-building would have helped make the series feel more cohesive. The concepts in this are interesting, but the way a lot of it played out was confusing and pulled my attention away from the heart of the plot.

Syrina Akbari

I love the characters and overarching story in this trilogy, but this final book was mainly a war book and I don’t love those in these types of fantasies. That being said I enjoyed the villain arc in this and really felt for the characters during parts of this. Overall, it just felt too long with big stretches of not much happening and then quick sequences of action. 

Lyndsy Argento

this series had no misses. i really did think it was going to rip me to pieces there for a minute but i wouldn’t have it any other way. i don’t have a single clue what im supposed to read after all of that now though. 

samantha lias

Lele

So, so very good. I got into a slump in the beginning just because I really did not care for Aefe’s new story. However it does get much, much better. Although Caduan and Aefe were not nearly as dear to me in this book, as they were in the last.

Cheyenne Willis

laeticia

I loved this series so much, such a beautiful ending! These books really wore me out though, wish there were more happy times, other than that i loved it

ariah west

I think this series is very misrepresented, namely on TikTok. People say that this book gave them the same feeling as the SJM universe. I would have to disagree. Having just read Mistborn by Brian Sanderson, I would say it closer resembles that with significantly more romance and a little bit of spice. This isn't a series you can coast through, nor is it one that keeps you on the edge of your seat, though it does make a lasting impact. I am sure I will think about this book plenty over the next few months. 

What I think is one of the most distinctively attractive aspects of this book is the moral greyness of all of the characters in the book. There is no clear "bad guy" from a reader's perspective, though each narrator clearly has an enemy they deem to be the bad guy. It was so bizarre and refreshing to me was that, through the three main narrators, you were able to see altruistic and loving intentions from all three warring parties. So, while their actions are deplorable, they sit in a grey region as opposed to a traditional black and white, good versus evil.

One thing I did not like was the amnesia troupe for the love interests. Sometimes it feels a little overdone, as if it is just put into a book to create more conflict once the will they/won't they question for a couple has been answered.

As far as closing out the series, I feel like this book did a great job. It was a little long winded at the end, but I think it was good that while there was a happy ending there was also an acknowledgement of the suffering and trauma they experienced. 

Katie Buchanan

I think this series is very misrepresented, namely on TikTok. People say that this book gave them the same feeling as the SJM universe. I would have to disagree. Having just read Mistborn by Brian Sanderson, I would say it closer resembles that with significantly more romance and a little bit of spice. This isn't a series you can coast through, nor is it one that keeps you on the edge of your seat, though it does make a lasting impact. I am sure I will think about this book plenty over the next few months. 

What I think is one of the most distinctively attractive aspects of this book is the moral greyness of all of the characters in the book. There is no clear "bad guy" from a reader's perspective, though each narrator clearly has an enemy they deem to be the bad guy. It was so bizarre and refreshing to me was that, through the three main narrators, you were able to see altruistic and loving intentions from all three warring parties. So, while their actions are deplorable, they sit in a grey region as opposed to a traditional black and white, good versus evil.

One thing I did not like was the amnesia troupe for the love interests. Sometimes it feels a little overdone, as if it is just put into a book to create more conflict once the will they/won't they question for a couple has been answered.

As far as closing out the series, I feel like this book did a great job. It was a little long winded at the end, but I think it was good that while there was a happy ending there was also an acknowledgement of the suffering and trauma they experienced. 

I’ve struggled with where I wanted to rate this book and I think I’ve finally ended at a 3.75 ⭐️. I understand how people get SJM vibes from this book in particular and agree to a certain extent. But the execution was definitely lacking. I will say what Broadbent really gets right are the villains. They are complex and nuanced and she really makes you hate them and understand them in the same go. The end also felt powerful and Max and Tisaanah will be some of my favorite characters forever. But the pacing was so rough here. It was 700 pages at basically breakneck speed from the first page and honestly should have been trimmed down as well. There are also some serious questions she left just completely unaddressed. Why is Tisaanah half Valtain? What are the parameters of magic in the world? What exactly are the Orders? The Fey/human existence? And many more. Aefe’s storyline also continued to irk me, especially when for 70 of her POV, the plot didn’t advance at all, and actually almost copied another character’s arc at the exact same time. The story as a whole has merit and I can understand why people fell in love with it, but the execution really left me wanting at times. 

Katie Allard

The perfect ending to an enchanting trilogy. I laughed, I cried, I feared & I loved. Such well written & multi-dimensional characters. A top 5 fantasy series❤️

Kennedy Eitmann

WHAT A FUCKING SERIES !!!! When i tell you this series was literally life changing for me, I'm not even joking. I think this is my new favourite series, as in on par / better than the folk of air and ACOTAR. The world building, magic system, romance, plot, writing style, dialogue, characters, everything was phenomenal ! 

“The first time as a refugee, a half-dead slave searching for someone to save her. The second time as a weapon, a slave to a new master ready to go fight someone else’s war. And now, at last, as a liberator.”📜

Yet again Tisaanah Vytezic was a brilliant character, she’s bad-ass, compassionate, caring and she never loses sight of her beliefs. She’s would do anything for her family and the people she cares about and i respect her sm. My heart really goes out to her at the beginning of this book, i really felt like i could understand her emotions during those hard times. She’s such a goddess <3 

 📜“A realization came to me, one that I had been grappling with for the last ten years. There was no single moment when everything changed. No single before and after. There was just… life. A million decisions and a million consequences.” 📜

Maxantarius Farlione is one of my favourite character ever, not just because he’s swoon worthy but he has soooo much more going for him than that. Even after everything he goes through and even with his faults he’s such a good man ( plus he’s fucking hilarious ). When he had amnesia i was so upset for him because he forgot what happened to his family and my heart was breaking that he couldn’t remember the last 10 years but he preserved and went with his instincts and saved himself ans helped tisaanah. I could truly talk about him forever.

“Together we turn to the door. Together we will cross it. Together we will conquer the next unknown. His hand reaches out for me. His lips curl into a sad smile. “Come home, Aefe,” he murmurs. I love how he says my name. I take his hand.” 📜

 Aefe / Reshaye or however you want to say their name, i honestly felt so conflicted when it came to her. Part of me would love her and love following along her journey but then sometimes the things she did / thought i didn’t agree with at all. I did feel bad for her though because she really didn’t know who she was or how to act or how to feel properly because of what the did to her, even in her past life she struggled but her journey was heartbreaking </3 Im not sure i fully wanted her to have a happy ending just because some of the things she did were really out of order (primarily what she did to max) but i am glad her ending ended with her being content and resolved. 

“We Wielded the core of power like snatching a burning star from the sky.”

 📜 in this book was literally so fucking extraordinary. It was easy to understand but also enchanting and mind bowing at the same time. The layers of magic are so beautiful to me and i think it’s a gorgeous way to imagine magic being. I truly was entranced by the magic but also so impressesed and sometimes disturbed by it (in the best way)

“This is either how the world ends, or how it begins”

, was it soul crushing for the first like 400 pages, yes, yes it was but it was worth it for the happiness i felt after it for better. Ngl the beginning of this book did take me a while to read because it was just SO depressing, like everything just 

 and because i loved the characters so much it really did put me into a bit of a depression. But boy was it worth it !!! It was intense, fascinating and felt so 

 like their reactions were so believable. 📜

“We all feel the same things, and we will still die trying to kill each other for it.” 📜

✅World building - I was obsessed with the world building in this book and how the different countries and characters were described. The way Ara, the shades and other disturbing images were described in this book truly shook me to my core and made my skin crawl (in the best way). But also it was so breathtaking to 

 be able to imagine the different aspects of this book. 

✅ Side characters - I think the characters in this series were so well written and so well chosen

-Sammerin - love him sm, tbh the fact he was so stressed during this book is what scared me the most (iykyk). He’s such a refreshing character and really balances out the others 

- Moth - my baby <3 i love / hate how much he’s grown over the series because ik he only developed that fast because he was forced into it 

 💫 now, Tisaanah and Max’s relationship really went THROUGH it in this book but the downs were so worth the ups and they just kept finding each other and loved each other and their relationship was just so unparalleled and deep and unique.           📜

“I have made bad decisions before. But you are not, never have been, and never will be one of them. It is always you.”📜

Caduan and Aefe however … Idk. They’re both broken people beyond compare and they’re just trying to hold on to something the felt long ago (Caduan) or for Aefe, he literally created her from dark magic and then he was the only person she really got to interact with and he just kept telling her how much he lived her other self. Idk i feel like their love wasn’t really genuine or heartfelt but Clarissa did this on purpose i think because it was mentioned in the book a lot. 📜

“This, I realized, was love. Love was worth destroying for.” 

“It ends with two souls who create a future together.” 📜

 omfg the the ending was so fucking perfect. I genuinely could not have thought up a better ending, Aefe ending was perfect for her and so was Max and Tisaanah’s. It was just so flawlessly written and so creative and gorgeous and amazing and it was just everything tbh. Made me sob happy tears 😭. Such a magnificent, incomparable ending to a magnificent and incomparable book series <333 

❤️ The war of lost hearts i think will forever hold such a special place in my heart. My life feels changed after i’ve read it and i feel empty now it’s finished. Will 10000% be checking out more of this authors book because the way this was written was ✨

Mae Morton

WHAT A FUCKING SERIES !!!! When i tell you this series was literally life changing for me, I'm not even joking. I think this is my new favourite series, as in on par / better than the folk of air and ACOTAR. The world building, magic system, romance, plot, writing style, dialogue, characters, everything was phenomenal ! 

✅ 📜“The first time as a refugee, a half-dead slave searching for someone to save her. The second time as a weapon, a slave to a new master ready to go fight someone else’s war. And now, at last, as a liberator.”📜

Yet again Tisaanah Vytezic was a brilliant character, she’s bad-ass, compassionate, caring and she never loses sight of her beliefs. She’s would do anything for her family and the people she cares about and i respect her sm. My heart really goes out to her at the beginning of this book, i really felt like i could understand her emotions during those hard times. She’s such a goddess <3 

✅  📜“A realization came to me, one that I had been grappling with for the last ten years. There was no single moment when everything changed. No single before and after. There was just… life. A million decisions and a million consequences.” 📜

Maxantarius Farlione is one of my favourite character ever, not just because he’s swoon worthy but he has soooo much more going for him than that. Even after everything he goes through and even with his faults he’s such a good man ( plus he’s fucking hilarious ). When he had amnesia i was so upset for him because he forgot what happened to his family and my heart was breaking that he couldn’t remember the last 10 years but he preserved and went with his instincts and saved himself ans helped tisaanah. I could truly talk about him forever.

✅ 📜“Together we turn to the door. Together we will cross it. Together we will conquer the next unknown. His hand reaches out for me. His lips curl into a sad smile. “Come home, Aefe,” he murmurs. I love how he says my name. I take his hand.” 📜

 Aefe / Reshaye or however you want to say their name, i honestly felt so conflicted when it came to her. Part of me would love her and love following along her journey but then sometimes the things she did / thought i didn’t agree with at all. I did feel bad for her though because she really didn’t know who she was or how to act or how to feel properly because of what the did to her, even in her past life she struggled but her journey was heartbreaking </3 Im not sure i fully wanted her to have a happy ending just because some of the things she did were really out of order (primarily what she did to max) but i am glad her ending ended with her being content and resolved. 

✅ THE MAGIC 📜“We Wielded the core of power like snatching a burning star from the sky.” 📜 in this book was literally so fucking extraordinary. It was easy to understand but also enchanting and mind bowing at the same time. The layers of magic are so beautiful to me and i think it’s a gorgeous way to imagine magic being. I truly was entranced by the magic but also so impressesed and sometimes disturbed by it (in the best way)

✅ THE PLOT 📜“This is either how the world ends, or how it begins”📜 omfg the plot, was it soul crushing for the first like 400 pages, yes, yes it was but it was worth it for the happiness i felt after it for better. Ngl the beginning of this book did take me a while to read because it was just SO depressing, like everything just kept going wrong and because i loved the characters so much it really did put me into a bit of a depression. But boy was it worth it !!! It was intense, fascinating and felt so real like their reactions were so believable. 📜“We all feel the same things, and we will still die trying to kill each other for it.” 📜

✅World building - I was obsessed with the world building in this book and how the different countries and characters were described. The way Ara, the shades and other disturbing images were described in this book truly shook me to my core and made my skin crawl (in the best way). But also it was so breathtaking to really be able to imagine the different aspects of this book. 

✅ Side characters - I think the characters in this series were so well written and so well chosen

-Sammerin - love him sm, tbh the fact he was so stressed during this book is what scared me the most (iykyk). He’s such a refreshing character and really balances out the others 

- Moth - my baby <3 i love / hate how much he’s grown over the series because ik he only developed that fast because he was forced into it 

-Brayan - tbh i felt really bad for him. You can tell he doesn’t know how to deal with his emotions and he struggles with his family’s deaths. I loved the fact he was in this because he helped us give Max a bit i’d closure that he needed

-Meajqa - He was defo my favourite faye character, despite the fact he went through sm because of Nura he was able to trust humans and i respect that. He was also really helpful with Aefes recovery as well 

-Caduan - well,well,well in the 2nd book i wasn’t fully sure if i liked him but after this book i definitely don’t. He was just such a hypocrite the whole book 💀 Like idk he didn’t really have enough of a personality for me to forgive him for what he was did to my babies max and Tisaanah. He was also such a snake to Aefe as well and did really questionable things when it came to her. 

✅ The 💫 romance 💫 now, Tisaanah and Max’s relationship really went THROUGH it in this book but the downs were so worth the ups and they just kept finding each other and loved each other and their relationship was just so unparalleled and deep and unique.           📜“I have made bad decisions before. But you are not, never have been, and never will be one of them. It is always you.”📜

Caduan and Aefe however … Idk. They’re both broken people beyond compare and they’re just trying to hold on to something the felt long ago (Caduan) or for Aefe, he literally created her from dark magic and then he was the only person she really got to interact with and he just kept telling her how much he lived her other self. Idk i feel like their love wasn’t really genuine or heartfelt but Clarissa did this on purpose i think because it was mentioned in the book a lot. 📜“This, I realized, was love. Love was worth destroying for.” 📜

✅ THE ENDING. 📜“It ends with two souls who create a future together.” 📜 omfg the the ending was so fucking perfect. I genuinely could not have thought up a better ending, Aefe ending was perfect for her and so was Max and Tisaanah’s. It was just so flawlessly written and so creative and gorgeous and amazing and it was just everything tbh. Made me sob happy tears 😭. Such a magnificent, incomparable ending to a magnificent and incomparable book series <333 

❤️ The war of lost hearts i think will forever hold such a special place in my heart. My life feels changed after i’ve read it and i feel empty now it’s finished. Will 10000% be checking out more of this authors book because the way this was written was ✨immaculate✨ 

"That’s what we are fighting for, today. For a better, imperfect dawn after a long, imperfect night. I want to see that sunrise with you. Meet me there.”

This is it, this is my new favourite fantasy romance! All around 5 stars, each book was 5 stars and the series as whole is 5 stars - I am in love.

I find it hard to write reviews about these books because they are just so huge and so much happens in them, each one is just jam packed with the most vivid action scenes, the most horrifying violence, the most heart-wrenching and heartbreaking confessions, truths and stories and also some of the creepiest, chilling things you can think of.

"Tell me, little butterfly, what would you do for love?"

The love story in Mother of Death and Dawn is so beautiful, it's beautiful in all of the books, but in this one particularly because of the absolute highs and lows Max and Tisaanah go through. For the first half of the book I was sure that my heart was irreparably breaking along with them and then in true Carissa Broadbent style, I have learned, there is a massive life-changing event and absolutely stunningly written prose about the power of love and just what these characters will go through in the name of it.

“One hundred and eighty thousand days, and I thought of you in every one.”

What I love about these books as well as that there is no clear "bad guy", every single side of this war is waged by people simply trying to do better for their people, each bad decision a character makes is fueled by trauma that is understandable and relatable - the moral grayness on all sides of the story is what truly makes this a 10/10 read. Caduan and Aefe's story is probably the single most heart-breaking, agonizing tale of loss and love that I have ever read. So much wrong was done to both of them, especially Aefe, that you can't help but root for them even when they're saying and doing the most horrific things. SPOILER I am so glad they got some semblance of a happy ending, it may not have been the life together that they deserved after all that heart ache and damage - but I truly believe that death really is a door and they're on the other side together. END SPOILER

"It was the beginning of an end, brought upon by mortal hubris. Hands reaching into forces that should not be wielded, and thinning boundaries that should not be torn.

Tisaanah and Max continue to blow me away with their perfectness - if there is one thing I could criticize in this series it is that Tisaanah is almost too perfect. She's the character that can seemingly do no wrong, she's always so wise and so smart and so heroic that none of the other characters can seem to live up to her, it almost feels like she has no flaws. Regardless, I absolutely love her and think she is the most badass FMC that I have ever read and I cried, sobbed, happy tears for her in this book. The ending just absolutely devastated me, in a good way. I am ruined.

"Tell me, my ashen son, do you know how much a million memories weigh? How about one? It weighs enough to break a spine. It weighs enough to break a soul."

I have to say this book was pretty spooky as well, so this was a perfect October read for me - got to love that touch of horror. The absolutely terrifying creatures that were described in this book and the creepiness of the magic that they were trying to overcome really shook me. Nura is probably the scariest witch you could ever imagine, she was giving me proper Scarlet Witch vibes, and excuse me, but SPOILER an army of the living dead, are you kidding me? I truly pity the person who can be made to stoop so low in the name of love for her country to create literal zombies, oh my word. END SPOILER

Now excuse me while I go and shout from the rooftops, to everyone who will listen, that they have to, they MUST, it is 

 every fantasy romance lover goes and reads this series. I am in awe and I am not sure if I will ever recover.

Genevieve 

"That’s what we are fighting for, today. For a better, imperfect dawn after a long, imperfect night. I want to see that sunrise with you. Meet me there.”

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

This is it, this is my new favourite fantasy romance! All around 5 stars, each book was 5 stars and the series as whole is 5 stars - I am in love.

I find it hard to write reviews about these books because they are just so huge and so much happens in them, each one is just jam packed with the most vivid action scenes, the most horrifying violence, the most heart-wrenching and heartbreaking confessions, truths and stories and also some of the creepiest, chilling things you can think of.

"Tell me, little butterfly, what would you do for love?"

The love story in Mother of Death and Dawn is so beautiful, it's beautiful in all of the books, but in this one particularly because of the absolute highs and lows Max and Tisaanah go through. For the first half of the book I was sure that my heart was irreparably breaking along with them and then in true Carissa Broadbent style, I have learned, there is a massive life-changing event and absolutely stunningly written prose about the power of love and just what these characters will go through in the name of it.

“One hundred and eighty thousand days, and I thought of you in every one.”

What I love about these books as well as that there is no clear "bad guy", every single side of this war is waged by people simply trying to do better for their people, each bad decision a character makes is fueled by trauma that is understandable and relatable - the moral grayness on all sides of the story is what truly makes this a 10/10 read. Caduan and Aefe's story is probably the single most heart-breaking, agonizing tale of loss and love that I have ever read. So much wrong was done to both of them, especially Aefe, that you can't help but root for them even when they're saying and doing the most horrific things. SPOILER I am so glad they got some semblance of a happy ending, it may not have been the life together that they deserved after all that heart ache and damage - but I truly believe that death really is a door and they're on the other side together. END SPOILER

"It was the beginning of an end, brought upon by mortal hubris. Hands reaching into forces that should not be wielded, and thinning boundaries that should not be torn.

Tisaanah and Max continue to blow me away with their perfectness - if there is one thing I could criticize in this series it is that Tisaanah is almost too perfect. She's the character that can seemingly do no wrong, she's always so wise and so smart and so heroic that none of the other characters can seem to live up to her, it almost feels like she has no flaws. Regardless, I absolutely love her and think she is the most badass FMC that I have ever read and I cried, sobbed, happy tears for her in this book. The ending just absolutely devastated me, in a good way. I am ruined.

"Tell me, my ashen son, do you know how much a million memories weigh? How about one? It weighs enough to break a spine. It weighs enough to break a soul."

I have to say this book was pretty spooky as well, so this was a perfect October read for me - got to love that touch of horror. The absolutely terrifying creatures that were described in this book and the creepiness of the magic that they were trying to overcome really shook me. Nura is probably the scariest witch you could ever imagine, she was giving me proper Scarlet Witch vibes, and excuse me, but SPOILER an army of the living dead, are you kidding me? I truly pity the person who can be made to stoop so low in the name of love for her country to create literal zombies, oh my word. END SPOILER

Now excuse me while I go and shout from the rooftops, to everyone who will listen, that they have to, they MUST, it is IMPERATIVE every fantasy romance lover goes and reads this series. I am in awe and I am not sure if I will ever recover.

Marisa Petri

"how much does a memory weigh" well way too much because I can't read this anymore. The writing style isn't beautiful, it's mainly just raw information, no depth or specific beauty... and a LOT of repetitive key sentences like "if you do it I do it too", "I can if you can 🤪🤪🤪"how much does a memory weigh" "are you ready? No." like I can't count how many times these are written, they become an annoying gimmick that made me cringe so hard everytime. 
The character arcs are so dissapointing, I wanted to slap the characters for making such stupid decisions... Not that I mind foolishness but this was just too much, no way they're choosing their paths like this, changing their minds like this. 
Characters get somehow brought back with either very little explanation or non at all????? 3 characters come back from the dead like this? This is just not possible for a good story. 
I don't know, this was just a mess and the more I read the more this story lost purpose, an endless series of battles and wars with events that just don't make any sense bcs they remain unexplained, this book seemed truly unnecessary and left a very sour taste in my mouth because after this great start w/ book one I ended up disliking the main characters, the way I view them is tainted by this chaotic story.

Mother of Death and Dawn

Reviews

Highlights