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g_monaghan's review against another edition
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.
<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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Violence and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Death of parent and War
jessbramleyyyy's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Blood, and War
Moderate: Cursing, Death, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Emotional abuse
potalian's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
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? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Violence, Sexual harassment, and War
Minor: Death of parent
vicktorea's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
not bad!
as a smutty romantasy, i liked this! it was super sexy and steamy and i liked the chemistry between the FMC & MMC.
what i didn't really enjoy was the writing. it wasn't horrible and i didn't absolutely hate it, but it felt pretentious. I also found the characters a little too tryhard. The FMC was a badass but that came across too hard in the writing - it didn't feel natural, but like the author was trying to overly convince me by having her do things that just felt so unnecessary. I felt this was about the villain too - they came across as almost juvenile in the way that the author tried to portray them as evil. It just wasn't believable to me.
I really liked the MMC, Adrian; he was so kind and gentle but strong and commanding 🥵 and i loved that!
I guessed the twist, but I thought it was a decent and I'm interested to know more about how it came to be. Hopefully the questions surrounding it are answered in the next book and I'd like to see more character development, more in-depth and fleshed out magic system & more Adrian (& more steam bc it was 🔥)!
as a smutty romantasy, i liked this! it was super sexy and steamy and i liked the chemistry between the FMC & MMC.
what i didn't really enjoy was the writing. it wasn't horrible and i didn't absolutely hate it, but it felt pretentious. I also found the characters a little too tryhard. The FMC was a badass but that came across too hard in the writing - it didn't feel natural, but like the author was trying to overly convince me by having her do things that just felt so unnecessary. I felt this was about the villain too - they came across as almost juvenile in the way that the author tried to portray them as evil. It just wasn't believable to me.
I really liked the MMC, Adrian; he was so kind and gentle but strong and commanding 🥵 and i loved that!
I guessed the twist, but I thought it was a decent and I'm interested to know more about how it came to be. Hopefully the questions surrounding it are answered in the next book and I'd like to see more character development, more in-depth and fleshed out magic system & more Adrian (& more steam bc it was 🔥)!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Blood
Moderate: Death, Violence, and Death of parent
bookish1315's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, and War
Moderate: Toxic relationship
beersbooksandbooos's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
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
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and War
dropshift5568's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
Does bang
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Blood, Death of parent, and Colonisation
Minor: Body shaming
deesquared's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: War
Minor: Bullying and Slavery
psydneigh's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
The things Isolde says and does are the epitome of cringe imo. This girl was raised as a princess. She might not like being prim, but damn you couldn’t fake it til you make it? I also think the dialogue got a bit repetitive at times. I feel like Isolde was prejudiced to the point of being annoying. I get that she’s supposed to have had these grudges since she was born, but her inner dialogue shows her questioning what’s true and she waits how fucking long to check out the library?
Also all the killing and punishment at court by Isolde and Adrian? Wtf?! I get it, but it also seemed like Adrian wasn’t all psycho before bringing her to the castle so it all just seemed like a little much.
All in all, I enjoyed but to me, this wasn’t anything special.
Also all the killing and punishment at court by Isolde and Adrian? Wtf?! I get it, but it also seemed like Adrian wasn’t all psycho before bringing her to the castle so it all just seemed like a little much.
All in all, I enjoyed but to me, this wasn’t anything special.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Blood, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
allisonwonderlandreads's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
A King of Battle & Blood tells the story of a tumultuous affair with a cacophony of emotions. And also vampires. It features high smut content from the start, throwing human Isolde into a diplomatic marriage with vampire overlord Adrian come to conquer her father's kingdom. It relies on common vampire paranormal tropes (violence, possessiveness, jealousy & angst), so if you like that feel or if you enjoy fantasy romance that keeps things approachable with only light world-building, you'll get what you're after here.
For me, this one was a miss. In terms of romance, I thrive on stories with a growing emotional connection and a slow build of tension. Without that, the (to me, not as a generalizable fact) abrupt and early arrival of smut on the scene left me sort of disconnected and uninterested in the proceedings. The generic plot elements also kept me at a distance. We have a woman who's been so sheltered that she hates all vampires and doesn't understand their history or humanity. She's forced to marry a vampiric hottie who she's attracted to on a nearly alarming level but who she also views as the root of all evil and would like to murder. The reader knows through it all that Isolde's weak understanding of the world will be overturned, and the entire story is building up to an obvious revelation that took too long to arrive given its predictability.
Meanwhile, the author works very hard to convince us that vampire god-among-men Adrian is the epitome of respect and attentiveness. He's certainly the king of instalove, which is explained away through a fantasy plot device. There's also a lot of energy put into convincing us that this is a balanced, consenting relationship. Adrian listens to being told no, Isolde is enthusiastic, and her past lover provides the foil as the needy, controlling human man on offer. However, Adrian's ability to read minds made me a bit uncomfortable. While he assures us it's outside his control, I wasn't happy with the choice to include it. Also, the jealous, obsessed, antagonistic way the two leaned into each other stressed me out.
On either the romance or fantasy front, I was not overly involved in this story. However, I can see why it would be engaging to readers with different interests and priorities, so I've tried to be specific here to help others decide for themselves. I need to stop trying vampire series, basically (but we all know I can't stay away).
For me, this one was a miss. In terms of romance, I thrive on stories with a growing emotional connection and a slow build of tension. Without that, the (to me, not as a generalizable fact) abrupt and early arrival of smut on the scene left me sort of disconnected and uninterested in the proceedings. The generic plot elements also kept me at a distance. We have a woman who's been so sheltered that she hates all vampires and doesn't understand their history or humanity. She's forced to marry a vampiric hottie who she's attracted to on a nearly alarming level but who she also views as the root of all evil and would like to murder. The reader knows through it all that Isolde's weak understanding of the world will be overturned, and the entire story is building up to an obvious revelation that took too long to arrive given its predictability.
Meanwhile, the author works very hard to convince us that vampire god-among-men Adrian is the epitome of respect and attentiveness. He's certainly the king of instalove, which is explained away through a fantasy plot device. There's also a lot of energy put into convincing us that this is a balanced, consenting relationship. Adrian listens to being told no, Isolde is enthusiastic, and her past lover provides the foil as the needy, controlling human man on offer. However, Adrian's ability to read minds made me a bit uncomfortable. While he assures us it's outside his control, I wasn't happy with the choice to include it. Also, the jealous, obsessed, antagonistic way the two leaned into each other stressed me out.
On either the romance or fantasy front, I was not overly involved in this story. However, I can see why it would be engaging to readers with different interests and priorities, so I've tried to be specific here to help others decide for themselves. I need to stop trying vampire series, basically (but we all know I can't stay away).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Slavery, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and War