Reviews with content warning for War - King of Battle and Blood

Reviews tagging 'War'

King of Battle and Blood by Scarlett St. Clair

71 reviews

thea_rem's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

What did I expect from this book? I expected a smutty fantasy romance.
This book delivered on the smutty part. On the romance part, not so much. I didn’t really see anything beyond sexual attraction between these characters but then they declare love for each other? Did I miss anything?

I liked the idea of an enemies-to-lovers romance but they were never really enemies. She’s just shipped of to his kingdom and has to adjust.
But I enjoyed her attitude. She knows who she is, a princess who rules not only with words and compliments but with her fists and weapons as well. She’s badass. She takes no shit from anyone. Not even from citizens form a foreign kingdom she’s now supposed to rule. No, she stands her ground like a real queen. For anyone else it would have seems unnatural but she has been a princess for her whole life and was supposed to follow her father on the throne.

The book reminded me of From Blood and Ash from time to time. The vampires, walled of villages, a protagonist who doesn’t know the truth, the absence of any explanation from other characters…
At least Poppy asked question after question. Isolde just accepts that nobody tells her shit.
And than the sexual tension. It was there from the beginning and I get that. They are attracted to each other. What I didn’t appreciate was how Isolde never wanted to act on it but did anyway? Girl, you don’t have to if you don’t want to!

Also, Adrian can read minds, so he knows what she’s thinking and he DOESN‘T stop?! Ever hear about consent? The mind reading really bothered me, because it was never really explained, too. Who can do it? Why does no one try to teach the new QUEEN how she can avoid her mind being read? Isn’t that something her husband would want? Especially now, that there’s a traitor among their most trusted friends?

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maregred's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

2.25

Why so much girl on girl hate? Isolde needs to brush up on the tenants of feminism and stop trying to fight basically every other women she comes across. This book was also very, VERY inspired by FBAA.

Additionally, for enemies-to-lovers this was very insta-lovey (yes there are ~reasons~ But still).

I like the Hades and Persephone series but I do not think I will be continuing this one.

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bedtimesandbooks's review against another edition

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hopeful mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

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golden_like_dior's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional inspiring 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? Yes

4.0

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g_monaghan's review against another edition

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adventurous fast-paced

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

2.75

<violence>
<smut>
I had really high hopes for this and whilst the sex scenes were 🌶🌶🌶 I started to think that was all there was to the book and kept forgetting where the plot was meant to be going.
I found the MC a bit too gatekeep, gaslight, girl boss and whilst she didn't give a fuck and took what she wanted she was always at a 10, making her character seems one dimensional.
Ending felt rushed, as they hadn't fleshed out all the background characters I wasn't invested in the drama with Ravena and the legacy of the Burning, I wouldn't even be able to name the actual villain of the book.
Liked the romantic interest and inner circle.

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