The Serpent and the Wolf by. Rebecca Robinson | Book Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Title: The Serpent and the Wolf (Dark Inheritance Trilogy, #1)

Author: Rebecca Robinson

Format: eBook (borrowed)

Pages: 352

Publication Date: 11/19/24

Categories: Romance, Fantasy, Romantasy, Slow-Burn, Witches, Magic

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 Kozár 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?

Content Warning: violence, death, torture

+ I was excited to borrow this one because I heard good things about it and I can see why! It’s got a strong female main character, witches, magic, political intrigue and a simmering slow burn. But before the slow burn, I’d say this book starts off with a bang!

+ My favorite thing about this besides the romance between Vaasa and Reid is the witches! I love how Vaasa is hating everything about herself, hating her magic and power until she meets a coven of witches in Incuria (her new husband’s homeland) and she is accepted into it with open arms. I LOVE how the women were gentle with her but also pushed her to become better at controlling her power and become better at loving herself. I loved the sisterhood and it carried throughout the story.

+ The romance is a slow burner, and I think I would have loved the two of them to have more scenes. I liked how how Reid is the most powerful foreman, who is trying to become a headman, and has a ruthless reputation is anything but with her and he gives Vaasa a lot of distance. Vaasa needs a lot of space to grow and he gives her that which I think is the biggest green flag about him. There are spicy scenes but because these two have taken the time to really get to know one another, I felt like by then we know they are falling in love, even if it doesn’t seem like it because of the space they give one another.

+ Vaasa has experienced a lot of trauma and she grows a lot in this first book, and that was really nice to see.

~ An issue I had with the story was the pacing. It felt choppy. It started off strong, then it got slow then picked up in the end.

Final Thoughts:

I thought this was a pretty good debut and I really enjoyed the witches and sisterhood in the story. The pacing was an issue for me but I did still find most of the story entertaining.

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