Reviews - Broken by the Horde King

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417 reviews for:

Broken by the Horde King

Zoey Draven

3.98 AVERAGE

noellelovesbooks's review against another edition

4.25

Content Warnings: Sexual scenes, bullying, blood/gore, violence, death of a parent, and pregnancy [as well as a difficult birth].

Found abandoned in the forest as a child Maeva, a human, was taken in and raised in a Dakkari family. Though her adopted family surrounded her with love she was bullied by Dakkari children and made to feel other, and less than, for being human. Aside from her family the relationship that always brought her love and joy was her friendship with Kiran the Rukkar of her clan.

When Maeva, at the age of 20, finally worked up the nerve to confess her feelings to Kiran his rejection left her heartbroken. Even more devastating was realizing he’d left the next day without saying a word, after all their years of friendship…he left without saying goodbye.

After nine years, without seeing or hearing from Kiran, Maeva is shocked to see Kiran not only come home but ask her to join his Horde, during the frost, to help train their next healer. What do you do when the man that broke your heart needs your help? Can you tolerate being in his presence for a few months? You no longer love him so you should be safe…right?

This book was so good! We get to see all the stages Maeve went through in her affection for Kiran, from 8 years old to adulthood. Seeing her blossom into a beautiful woman who’s independent and focused on becoming a healer had me cheering her on. I’m proud of her for being firm and not easily letting Kiran wiggle back into her life as if he never left.

We get to see Kiran realize just how royally he messed up, 9 years ago, when he rejected Maeva and do whatever he can to try to re-earn her trust and love. It’s one of those cases of they both have cared about each other forever but it took him longer to realize just what he had until he no longer had it. As a young man, when he realized he did care for Maeva as more than just a friend he didn’t feel worthy of her love and, stupidly, rejected her to try to protect her. Now that he finally realizes he wants her forever he has to work hard to prove to her that he is worth taking a second chance on.

It’s been a bit since I read the first three books in this series but this book has me desperate to dive back in, and lucky for me books 5 and 6 are already out. 😏

Content Warnings

baileyc's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous medium-paced

I was a little hesitant about this one from some of the reviews - it seemed like the ml was an asshole, and he was a little bit - but I was wrong. She did it again. She got me. It was so good I cried so much?? Just from the emotions that were represented. This one had a little less relation to the overarching plot that connects all the books and more focus on the characters, but there was so much between them that it worked.

elisha_reads's review against another edition

2.0

It was a solid grovel romance until the h was revealed to be TSTL.

ladylore's review against another edition

5.0

My favorite of all the stories thus far.

First read: 2021
Second read: 2022

nisha_nee's review against another edition

4.0

Loved the groveling

freya_fron's review against another edition

5.0

I would say that "Broken by the Horde King" is my least favourite in the series. But because I have already fallen in love with all previous characters and the world-building (eg. mystery, customs, Dakkar language etc.), Broken by the Horde King is therefore very enjoyable. And Zoey Draven is very good at writing and telling story. So I will definitely recommend this to the Horde Kings' readers. The other reason that I feel slightly disappointed after finishing BbHK is because "Madness of the Horde King" finishes in high note.

BbHK's trope is second chance romance. There is not much progress of the bigger story arc in BbHK. The story is slow burn with steamy chemistry and sex scenes, true to Zoey Draven's writing style.

....The following may contain spoilers.....

What I enjoy

-- The latter half of the story when Kiran and Maeva start to reconcile. Zoey Draven writes the story focusing on them solely, convincing me that their love has indeed flourish. Their time together in the horde is sweet.

-- Maeva's family. They love her very much despite her being a human. Her parents and Laru, even her brother-in-law treat Maeva like their own from the beginning to the end.

-- Maeva's inner strength. Being someone who was bullied and broken (Yes. She was weak, so what? It is human nature.), she keeps going and finally finds something meaningful in her life by becoming a medic. She still has her melancholy side, but she has tried as best as she can.

-- The gathering of the Vorakkars and Vienne. I love Vienne and Davik. They are my favourite.

What I don't like

-- I don't feel that Kiran had a love-interest kinda feeling towards Maeva that strongly during their childhood. It feels like it is one-sided from Maeva only. So when Kiran comes back to her and kinda grovels, it is difficult to believe. When more things reveal towards the end, there is bits and pieces of the story about what Kiran felt towards Maeva. Still, I don't think it gives enough support to the backbone of the story.

-- Kakkari dream makes Kiran think of Maeva again. Though everyone believes in Kakkari, Kiran is probably the weakest when choosing his fate. If Kakkari had not guided him, he would not have seen Maeva ever again.

Others
- I don't feel bothered by the fact that Kiran has other females in the beginning or during that nine years while they are apart. I don't feel that Kiran is not being honest. I just think that he has not yet realized his relationship with Maeva. That's why he feels no need to be celibate.

- I hope that Maeva tells other Hordes about her discovery of the plant she used to stop post partum bleeding. I hate to see human Morakkari suffer after birth from using the plant the healers usually use for Dakkari females.

Overall, I give this 4 to 4.5 stars. Because I love the series very much and want Zoey Draven to keep going with many more Horde Kings and their Morakkaris, I am going to round it up to 5 :))