Review: The Serpent and the Wolf by Rebecca Robinson

The Serpent and the Wolf by Rebecca Robinson

Series: Dark Inheritance Trilogy #1

Publication date:

Pages: 352

DNF Percentage: 80%

Spice: 🌶️

Synopsis:

Perfect for fans of Raven Kennedy and Thea Guanzon, Rebecca Robinson's thrilling romantasy debut combines high-stakes political intrigue and a steamy, slow-burn, enemies-to-lovers romance.

All her life, Vaasa Kozar has been sharpened into a blade.

After losing her mother--her only remaining parent--to a mysterious dark magic that has since awakened within her, Vaasa is certain death looms. So is her merciless brother, who aims to eliminate Vaasa as a threat to his crown. In one last political scheme, he marries her off to Reid of Mireh, a ruthless foreign ruler, in hopes that he can use her death as a rallying cry to finally invade Reid's nation. All Vaasa has to do is die.

But she is desperate to live. Vaasa enters her new marriage with every intent to escape it, wielding the hard-won political prowess and combat abilities her late father instilled in her. But to her surprise, Reid offers her a deal: help him win the votes to rise in power, and she can walk free. In exchange, he will share his knowledge about the dark magic running through her veins--and help keep it at bay.

This proposal may be too good to refuse, yet Vaasa and Reid's undeniable attraction threatens to break the rules of their arrangement. As her brother's lethal machinations take form, everything is at stake: Vaasa must learn to trust her new husband, but how can she, especially when their perfect political marriage begins to feel like the real thing?

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Story:

Let's face facts, most people who choose to read romantasy want to see at least some heat between the main characters sprinkled in with the overall storyline. However, with this book there seemed to be an overall focus on worldbuilding over any other aspect of the story. The characters all felt like they were ticks on a checklist meant to appeal to as wide an audience as possible. We have a middle eastern vibe, check. We have a lesbian couple of warriors, check. We have gay fathers, check. That was not a strike against the book for me but it felt like it was not an organic inclusion in the story but the author trying to cater to different groups of individuals while not caring much about how well it fit within the world she was creating. The romance, that was basically non-existent, felt so incredibly forced. The attempt was an enemies-to-lovers dynamic but the most action that was really experienced was some forehead kisses and sleeping in the same bed. Scandalous. Where's the fire? It was all just a hodge-podge of wrong for me.

Characters:

• Vaasa - Where was the fire that she showed in the beginning of the book? She was willing to cut the throat of the man she married in order to escape a marriage she didn't want and then she was crying in the corner because her mom may have loved her more than she realized. Who is Vaasa? Because I was never able to bond with her. The attempt to show that she had a heart and wasn't just a stone-cold killer didn't work. She went to far to the other side of things to recover. I started to find her more annoying than appealing. I like strong female leads, not little girls with mommy, daddy, brother, second-cousin-twice-removed issues.

• Reid - He was called the Wolf in the book but there was never any real reason behind it. I guess he was meant to be this cold killer who had no feelings for anyone other than disdain. Instead we got a golden retriever who treated everyone like they walked on water. How could he have such a harsh reputation with so many people in the know of him being completely different? It didn't make sense. I did like Reid more than Vaasa. He may have been a good boy deserving of pets and treats but at least he was pretty consistent about it unlike Vaasa.

Writing:

The author really enjoys worldbuilding. I mean really enjoys worldbuilding. To the point where there is more worldbuilding then there is actual world in the story. She would wax on for page after page after page of describing the beauty of the world, the structures, the towns, the people, the color of the sky, the texture of the grass, the smell of the sea, and so on. It went on for ages to the point where I would read the book just to get to sleep at night. I started skimming the book whenever they were traveling to a new area, which they were doing a lot, because I was so tired of all the description. I wanted more character development in the writing and was sadly disappointed.

Overall:

I thought about finishing the story. I got to 80% and only had less than 100 pages left to read before I was finished. But after skimming forward in the book to see if there was any developments between Vaasa and Reid and being let down, I couldn't bring myself to finish the story. I didn't care enough to find out what happened with Vaasa's brother, her magic, her marriage, the political climate, etc. The desire to see what happened next left me and I had to let it go. It would have been better to potentially lean further in the story and less into the romance because I could feel that author was a little uncomfortable writing it.