The Victor of Day and Night

by Malina Dahl

There are no rules in the Tournament of Day and Night but one; survive.

Princess Asteria of Soria has been training all her life for the Tournament of Day and Night–a brutal and deadly competition started by ancient gods where countless bloodthirsty warriors are fighting to destroy their enemies. Without the king's permission, Asteria makes a bargain with the gods and binds her life to the Tournament. As punishment, The Sun King makes a deal with the enemy kingdom Luna–The Kingdom of the Moon– and Asteria is betrothed to one of the warrior princes.

Asteria vows to continue her participation in secret, willing to do whatever it takes to become the next Victor and prove her eligibility to be crowned Queen of the Sun. There is only one problem–Prince Star, a Victor of multiple games, is back in the Tournament with scheming plans Asteria is dragged into with no way to escape.

The Tournament quickly turns out to be nothing like Asteria expected, and forced to ally with the enemy, she must do whatever it takes to win– even if it means sacrificing her heart and kingdom.

May the best Victor win.

Genres: Romantasy

646 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 22, 2023

About the author

Malina Dahl is the author of The Victor of Day and Night, the first book in the magical fantasy series Day & Night.

Reviews

[Ida Christensen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Noen sa denne var fantasy versjonen av hunger games… de løy.

Var sånn 200 sider for mye og karakterene hadde så mange humørsvingninger at jeg fikk humørsvingninger av å lese de

[Hannah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Execution on this book was soooo lacking. World building was confusing, and 8 trials is way too many for one story in my opinion.

Our fmc has trained for this competition her “whole life” but she’s constantly struggling and needing to be rescued. As such it just came across boring and repetitive.

Honestly, I just felt sad for the poor girl that no one is on her side. I didn’t really feel like there was character development or a reason to root for anyone 🤷🏻‍♀️

I guess my first red flag for this book should’ve been that there are twins named Erina and Arina.

[Ane Ellasdatter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Everything that happens makes for a cool story, but I desperately wished for more explanations and clearer character motivations. We got some answers at the end, but that was too late for me. I hated the FMC. The epilogue was awesome though.

[readsbyandrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't usually write full out reviews on books, I tend to just post a GIF summing up my thoughts and leave it at that lol. Since this is a lesser known book from a debut author, I'm gonna take some time and actually write down my thoughts. Let's go!

NON-SPOILER REVIEW

Silly me, thinking this was just another standard, simple enemies-to-lovers romantasy. It's not lol. Some footage of me reading the last few chapters:


But I'm getting ahead of myself. First of all - I vibed with ALL of this. That's my only criteria for a 5 star rating, so 5 stars it is! I'm genuinely SO impressed that this is written by a first time author. I loved the writing - it's vibrant, dramatic and easy to read. I was bored for exactly zero minutes reading this - fully enganged all the way through.

Tropes and spice-level
Let's just quickly get this out of the way for the people looking in the reviews for this specific info. Enemies-to-lovers, slow burn, fated-mates-ish, deadly competition, shadow daddy, touch-her-and-die.
Mild spice - like hot foreplay, then fade to black.

Let's talk about the characters:
Asteria. Girl... Now, I happen to have a thing for grumpy, stubborn, snarky, unhinged and violent FMCs. This preference is pretty much a requirement to enjoy this main character, I think. Because she is THE MOST grumpy, stubborn, snarky, unhinged and violent FMC I have ever encountered. I mean, half of her dialogue is just death threats, lmao. And I thoroughly enjoyed her antics about 90% of the time. The other 10% of the time is when her stubbornness and need for contrarianism blatantly goes against any sane person's sense of self-preservation. There's a kingdom somewhere called Contraria and it's missing its queen. And sometimes it was a little too much, even for me. But for the most part I genuinely enjoyed this character.

So, she's definitely flawed, and I'm here for it. She also needs a lot of help in this tournament. Like a LOT. I really like that she's not a perfect warrior right out the gate. She has trained a whole lot, but training is one thing - actual fighting is another, and she struggles. It makes me root for her even more, I want to see her accomplish things on her own, and when she finally does, it's so satisfying. The only problem I have with her need for help, is that all her death threats aren't really that convincing lol. It gets better though, she does prove herself, but before that all the threats do fall a little flat.

Cael. (This name doesn't last long and there's a whole plot-thing going on here, name-wise, but I'm gonna use the name he was introduced with.) Cael is... Interesting. Extremely interesting. And this guy is fucking dark. There are a lot of MMC's out there, where the author desperately tries to convince us he's a "burn the world for her"-type of morally grey, dangerous, enemy-turned-lover - only to write him as a cinnamon roll later on (looking at YOU, Casteel). Cael is not a cinnamol roll. He ate the cinnamon rolls and left no crumbs. He would 100% burn the world for what he wants, and he just kills people without a second thought (like, we're talking murdering people he knows while smirking and shrugging, not just random NPCs).

Cael is the perfect counterpart to Asteria - her stubbornness crashing with his relentlessness, her grumpiness meeting his flirtiness, mixed with equal levels of bloodthirstiness. Jesus Christ, what a dramatic, violent and messy tornado these two make. Cael had me guessing up until the very end. He's flirty and banter-y one minute, before suddenly switching to dead serious and cold. I was struggling just as much as Asteria trying to figure him out. Love that!

Some comments on the world building:
So, this world has two known kingdoms, a Sun-kingdom and a Moon-kingdom. It's an interesting set-up, but it feels very binary, very black and white. And there are a lot of people who are presented as just evil. Not a lot of grey going on. I usually do prefer a little bit more grey, it makes the world and people more realistic. Like, we only see the Sun-king as a horrible father to Asteria - thus he is presented as evil only. But what is he like as king? Do the people love him? If so, why? Is he a fair king? Or gready and ruthless? These things are not explored. Also, do the kingdoms depend on each other for resources? It's easy to assume Soria is the breadbasket of the continent, while Luna has metal ores and minerals. Could Soria easily choke Luna out by cutting off food trade? Maybe Soria is completely dependent on the income from said trade? Is Soria also dependent on the trade of minerals in order to have weapons? I would love to know more about the balance between these two countries, their weak points, the general state of the population (living conditions, crime rates, poverty rates, hunger etc.), how self-sufficient they are. What is it like to live close to the border, is it dangerous? These are just some things I would love to see expanded on in future books.

And the story itself:
I really enjoyed the Tournament itself. It's the main backdrop for the whole book. I do wish it was a little clearer how many were actually competing. There are thousands of competitors at the start, and it dwindles down with each contest, but it's never really established how many are left at certain points. The most interesting part is the politics though, I love fantasy politics. There is a rebellion brewing and there's clearly an overarching long-game being played. The Tournament is just a set a step-stones, for both Asteria and Cael. I love the layers here, the slow unraveling of their motives, powers, intentions and stange connection. Their romance is a true, frustratingly slow burn. In a good way.

And THAT ENDING. I couldn't believe what I was reading. The BALLS and the GALL to actually go there. I am gobsmacked. Sobbing. Seething. And I fucking LOVE it.

All in all, a damn good debut novel. Kudos and bravo.


I GOTTA TALK SOME SPOILERS, LOOK AWAY NOW (I can’t hide it behind the spoiler-thing because it’s bugged ugh, hides the whole ass review). Stop reading.

Okay, real talk. I LOVE the Cael plot twist. But I can't help but hope and pray that these two figure their shit out, combine forces and become the most vicious, villainous, delicious power couple of the ages lol. Lets get her out of that dungeon, put her on a throne WITH him, and unleash all their combined ruthlessness, my god. I'm really hoping for a King Elio and Queen Solina vs King Caelus and Queen Asteria situation. I would die. So happy. But no matter what happens, I'm so excited to see where this goes.

[Meghan Ernest · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok I’ll try to make sure this doesn’t contain any spoilers so bare with me

1. The world building could use some work. Here were some questions I found myself asking throughout the series (some of which I eventually figured out)
* is this about humans, fae, etc.? Humans, with a witch here and there
* Who has access to the royal magic? Just the king/queen (not the entire royal family)
* How are the borders guarded?
* Why 4 ‘states’ in each country? Who decided that?
2. The main character is INSUFFERABLE!! And I know the author knows bc her lover/enemy even called her out for it!! Why purposely make the main character hard to be around?! She’s full of herself and refuses to offer help but is also mad when people back out of helping her. Like bruh I wouldn’t help you either if you bit my head off every time I offered you a hand
3. The concept of this book is amazing but it’s executed to poorly. Some things go without little to no explaining when other things take wayyyy too much time to read about. It took like 3 pages of the main character debating the shoot an arrow. But one paragraph (if that) of her finding a crown that has been lost for centuries that is very important to the ending of the story. Ok sis.
4. The names? Please. Girl please. Twins named Erina and Arina. Solina and her maid, Folina. Queen Oria and her lover, Orion. The main character’s love interest goes by “Star” for 95% of the book. Like what?!
5. The back and forth with the love interest is also annoying and confusing. Bc from the sounds of it they have no choice but to be together! So why not? Why are they making it so difficult when they obviously work well together. Why try to kill/take the other one out so many times (I understand they’re in a fight to the death but if you read the book you’ll get what I mean).
6. I will most likely try to read the sequel book but please I hope the writing is better

[NikkiReads365 · Rating 5 out of 5]

🌗 The Victor of Day and Night by Malina Dahl 🌗

Memorable Moments/Ideas
✨ Fantasy World WITH a map
🌗 Revenge
✨ Unfair trials
🌗 Personal growth
✨ Darkness

I’m gonna start this review with saying this book isn’t for everyone. It’s a text with world building, questionably likable characters, and it’s the first in a series, which means we have SO much more to come. If you are not a true fantasy lover, this book is gonna be hard for you to digest and appreciate. If you loved the ACOTAR series, The Victor of Day and Night builds a world slowly and partially, and if you like The Folk of the Air series where the characters are easy to hate and hard to love, you will love this book as much as I did.

The characterization in this book is so on point. Asteria has been through some shit, and isn’t shy to share her opinions, even if it means pain later on. She’s persistent, she’s youthful, and she’s strong — nothing can stop her. Her hunger is admirable, and identifiable. AND DONT GET ME STARTED ON STAR… I can’t say much without legitimately spoiling anything, but he my favorite and least favorite person in this book. Is that contradictory? Yes. Do I care? No. AM I CONFLICTED? YES.

My favorite quote from this book is “not all scars are visible” — and it perfectly encapsulates the tragedy and depth to the storyline and characters. This is both a plot and character heavy story — so it packs a punch. There’s so much with opposition — night and day, life and death, love and hate. The book speaks to the idea of paradox and how life fluctuates in the middle of the two contrasting paradigms, at all times. How does one survive that?

It’s not a spicy book by many means, but OH THE TENSION. There is also some graphic fighting and violence throughout — so be forewarned. Thing the violence of The Hunger Games, but a bit more gruesome… like Guillermo del Toro, there is minimal shying away from the violence. We are meant to embrace and question it.

[Grace Costigan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The only thing that kept me reading this book was the cool idea of the sun/night tournaments and the occasional chemistry between the two main characters. It was poorly written with many of the same phrases and words being used over and over. The characters were not consistent in development and did or said things out of character often. It was a bit like emotional whiplash. There was a lack of description for a lot of situations you find Asteria in, which made things confusing. Side characters show up out of nowhere and have flat personalities and offer conveniences to the main characters that are a bit laughable. There was too much information fit into one book, and almost all of the larger more interesting plot points are glazed over and rushed, giving little satisfaction. The ending was disappointing.

[Kloe · Rating 5 out of 5]

God I loved this !! I would say the first 15% was a little difficult I was a tiny bit lost but once questions started getting answered I loved it also I do not believe for one second star is bad so we will see! Stoked to see progression of characters and my only down side was I wish there was more explicit spice but so good would recommend

[sads · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars • i had high hopes going into this book, the plot and the whole concept is brilliant but the execution was lacking. i did enjoy a good chunk of the book, especially the ending. The cliffhanger has me ready for the next book! Can’t wait to read it 😛

[roneliso · Rating 5 out of 5]

Make this your next read, because reading this book took me on an amazing journey! The world-building, the tournament and the characters were written so beautifully and intricately! Just exquisite!🤌🏼✨
Can’t wait for the sequel! 🤭🥰

[Cassisa & Nikki Slore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing

Wonderful world building and super compelling-- I couldn't put it down!!

**not as smutty as booktok wants you to think**

[Ilke Lelo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely entered my favorites list

[Ann-Kristin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kinda boring. Very Harry Potter vibes, a good foundation for a really good book tho

[Haneen Karakra · Rating 4 out of 5]

THE BETRAYAL I CANNOT

[Erisha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I want to start out by saying I enjoyed this book. I do see a few negative comments on the writing. I do agree, the FMC was difficult to root for at times and wasn’t a stand out heroin.

The story is about Asteria, the cursed princess of the kingdom of sun who enters a deadly game to be the Victor(whatever it takes). The games have no rules but one, survive. Once you bind your self to magic and enter the games, you either die, survive, or become the Victor. There is no leaving the game or forfeit your life to the magic that binds you.

The world she created was unique and interesting. Not a lot of details were given on the other parts of the opposing kingdom, just barley mentioned but perhaps she has it set for the next book.

And do I think she could have shorten the trials to add more details of the world she created and maybe stretched out the trials between a few books? Maybe?

But I did enjoy it! And the names being similar? Didn’t really bother me and I still enjoyed the story! There is some things that could have been better. But I’m giving it ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️! And the twist at the end! 🤯

[Kate - soberbookbabe · Rating 2 out of 5]

All the pieces were here for a really great book. It gave me Throne of Glass and The Serpent & The Wings of Night vibes. I think this story needed a little more cooking time, editing, and polish.

Main issues:
-FMC is unlikeable and a braggart. You think she would have learned to be more cunning and quiet having had to survive in a world that hates her.
-Too many trials.
-Contradictory information and world building.
-Lacks emotional transitions (goes from one extreme to another without taking the reader through the why).
-The bad guys lack dimension. (They are so evil that they are predictable and boring.)
-And finally, I hate when a story has everyone, literally everyone, working against or hating on the MC. Logically, in any given society, there would be some people that don’t gossip and give people a chance to prove themselves by their actions. Maybe it wouldn’t be an overwhelming number of people, but the complete lack other than Star and Elio felt like laziness and was boring.

I really do like the bones of this story though and its potential. Like I said above, I think it just needs a rework and some TLC.

[Rach Light · Rating 4 out of 5]

So. And please bare with me, i have some notes…
Firstly- i liked this book. I did. The enemies to lovers- deadly trials- the world building etc. But i have questions- so. many. questions.

Now Asteria was by far my favourite character- however- wtf
How has she trained her entire life for these trials- just to fumble and have to be helped with pretty much everything?????? You’re expecting me to believe that!?????
Star was a close second for me- i loved him i really did- he was a very intriguing and mysterious character and boy did i love that-

I quite honestly did not see the plot twist at the end coming which lets be real i liked- usually i have the ends nearly figured out so to be thrown like that right at the very end did give me goosebumps- i was listening on audio and the moment it all switched i grabbed my kindle to quick cause i actually felt like i needed to see what i was hearing😂😭

Overall- i really want a second book and i hope we get one🤞🏻

[Elizabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to love this book, but I felt like the main girl lead was too openly whiny for how she was written as calculated. Then the ending with the main male lead switching sides so quickly. It felt rushed and slow at the same time. However, the romantic dynamic of enemies to lovers is exciting! Throw in a large scale competition and a former lover, I enjoyed the twists.