Reviews

King and Queen by Maz Maddox

serenity81's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

gmv's review against another edition

3.0

Smash & Grab was great. Humorous and light-hearted. Simon and Dalton's dialogues played off each other very well, making me so happy and giddy.

Sink or Swim, so far, is my favorite book out of the Relic series. It was concentrated on one specific area, and reading about the relationship between Baha and Jackson, which developed from hostility to wanting to be together emotionally, was chef's kiss.

So when I began reading King and Queen, the expectations were so high.

Then it fell.

And continued to fall.

And didn't stop falling.

I am going to try not to rant too much. It is definitely a personal hang-up.

Spoilers ahead.

King and Queen focus on Royal and Blaise. The story's pacing was too fast, jumping from one scene to another. There wasn't a lot of breathing room for the relationship to be organically developed compared to Jackson and Baha. The story beats were too close to Smash & Grab. I wouldn't continue the story if I had read King and Queen first. It felt like all of the ideas scrapped from Smash & Grab were placed in here instead. The book came across as a need to an end; the book is basically a setup for Henry and Montana.

My personal gripes stem from Blaise. In Sink or Swim, we get insight into what Baha felt and how he operated. The same goes with Jackson. They are their own persons with different ways of approaching their end goals. Because of how strong these two personalities presented themselves in the previous book, Royal suffered from it.

Royal didn't have a personality. Sure, he was the group's hacker and was thrown out of his element to retrieve Henry. He complained, but there wasn't much showing why it was terrible. We didn't get to delve much into his hobbies, what makes him tick, or express genuine excitement with his hobbies. It was instead played off as a joke. It could have been a great bonding moment of similar interests. We didn't get that.

Now for Blaise. He took over. Every time Blaise and Royal are in the same room, Royal becomes a stepping ladder for Blaise to climb. Blaise gets what he wanted at the end of the story, sure. Great. But it wasn't earned (They never discuss the equity of their relationship. An apartment? I am assuming Royal is paying it all like he did with everything else on this trip.) The chemistry between them felt off. I continued reading, seeing if any redeeming qualities would help improve each other. But there wasn't. Blaise was leeching off of Royal, and Royal gladly let him be walked all over like a glorified overpacked mule. He agrees with everything Blaise says. He is so chill that his personality becomes the back burner whenever they're together.

The repercussions for all of Blaise's mistakes were fixed by everyone else. The found family felt unearned. I wanted a little bit of conflict between Montana and Blaise. Heck. Even Baha was accepting far too quickly.

I prefer reading in the third person because I don't like being forced to feel what the character is feeling in the first-person view. I like reading as if I am the fly on the wall. I enjoy seeing how characters interact with each other and seeing how well they click. I am the reader. I am not here to be convinced why they would be a great partner for me. I want to see how these two romance interests fall for each other and their chemistry.

I didn't get it from Blaise and Royal.

TLDR: The book is about the narcissist Blaise and his no personality simp Royal.

venusofthesnakes's review against another edition

3.5

I'm sad, I really wanted to like this, and I do in a way, because I really like this series. And I really love the way the author writes. And I really like the unique characters and dialogue. The plot was also great.
But.

I had issues with the characters.

• Royal lost his personality as the book progressed. We had an ugly hoodie, an anime wallpaper, and a kpop reference in the first 10% of the book, and then literally nothing else. Just "millions of years of patience" and "I'm a hacker, I'm gonna go hack this hack." A 50yo, pansexual, black, dinosaur shifter vegetarian miraculously had no personality. Not even any stories, or anecdotes. Just patience. Even his reasons for doing what he does comes out half-hearted. And through the story he slowly get colored with Blaise's crayons.
• Blaise was fun at times, but often just very annoying. All signs lead to that he's broke, and so he just waltzes around using Royal as a wallet and a pack mule. He also goes on and on about his dream job all the time, and then, just gives it up, no biggie. I mean, he literally had nothing, and it was all prospects, but, wtf? And he only cares about two things: himself, and himself involving dinosaurs/fossils. 
• There is no chemistry between them. There are no cute love squeezes, no doki doki, nothing to make me believe that if they stopped having sex anything would change except the levels of insufferableness. They had lust at first sight, and apparently that supposed to be enough. Not for me.
• I'm used to the fast romance pace these book go at, but that paired with the no chemistry is just very sad.

Another thing. I really do like that these books are usually just idiot shifters running around and being swept by the chaos they cause, but the road trip was a little dull AND unsolved. The very specific fossil thieving? What was that about? Dunno~ but if the plot continues in the next book, that's cool. If not, I'm coming back here to lower the rating, bc that's annoying.

avis03's review

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

MM, PNR, RomCom, 1st Dual POV 

Status: KU, Series of Interconnected Standalones, Third Act Conflict -

External

Blaise: 29 Yrs Old, Genderqueer (He/Him, Femme Male), Drag Queen, Dino Nerd, Attempting to be an Influencer (Science Communication, Paleontology), Wears Makeup and Skirts, Danger Twink, Living Out of a Van, Faded Green Tips, Bottom

Royal: Dinosaur Shifter (Regaliceratops), Pan, POC (Black), Tech Guy, Vegetarian, Anime Nerd, Enjoys Karaoke, Top,

Scarred

Notes:  Mostly Set in Canada, One Night Stand, Forced Proximity, Road Trip, Mutual Pining, Found Family,

Dino Nerd Gets to See Dino Shifters and Ride a Dino, Trip to a Drag Club (Disguise Edition)

Sex Notes:

Sex in a Semi-private Place (Club), Blowjob, Swallowing, Handjob, Edging, Lube Use, Condom Use, Penetrative Sex, Ejaculating on Partner, No Penetration During 1st Sexual Encounter

CWs:

Queerphobia and Bigotry, Car Wreck, Guns, Violence

mcdermotte1639's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

olly_exists's review

adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

khalleur's review

adventurous funny hopeful informative mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

dazzlingplaces's review against another edition

5.0

Royal and blaze. Absolutely hilarious. Dino drag queens! Need I say more?
3❤️‍🔥
🎧5

morganthorn's review against another edition

adventurous funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

love_bookswillbetheendofme's review

5.0

I'm loving this series so much! The hilarity and adventure are well written, and I love getting the lore behind the members of RELIC! Blaise is my favorite of the non-shifters so far!