Reviews with content warning for Blood - A Duel with the Vampire Lord

Reviews tagging 'Blood'

A Duel with the Vampire Lord by Elise Kova

23 reviews

katyakat's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

I give A Duel with the Vampire Lord by Elise Kova 3 stars. The overall story isn't bad, but the pacing is off. It's a fast-paced book, which makes many details feel rushed and the timeline seem strange. This is a shame because the core story is enjoyable and has a lot of potential.

One major issue is the repetition. The book falls into repetitive cycles with the same arguments between the main characters. This made parts of the story feel stagnant and frustrating. Despite this, there are moments that genuinely engage and invest the reader, making the experience a mix of boredom and interest.

The relationship dynamics between Floriane and Ruvan are intriguing but could have been developed more deeply. Their interactions often felt rushed, missing the slow-burn tension that can make an enemies-to-lovers romance truly compelling.

Additionally, the world-building, while fascinating, sometimes felt underexplored due to the book's brisk pace.

The narrative would have benefited from either a longer format to flesh out details and smooth the pacing or a more streamlined storyline to maintain coherence.

In conclusion, A Duel with the Vampire Lord is an interesting read with a lot of potential, but it falls short in execution. It's a decent choice for fans of romantic fantasy looking for a quick read.

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siglerbooknook's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Despite its ups and downs I enjoyed this novel. Floriane is a great example of a strong capable woman who has believable skills and isn't a mean person. Ruvan was also well written with flaws, fears, and wants all fleshed out.

As always, Kova's side characters are my favorite. While some mannerisms became rather redundant, for the most part this group made me laugh, feel the second hand embarassment, and wish for a happy ending.

The plot itself dragged a little. The push me, pull me tension in the romance definitely could have been shorter and I skimmed some areas. I did figure out who the villain was well before the book told me, but the solution was delightfully unexpected.

The magic system introduced for the Vampir is excitingly unique and imaginative, and the underlying principals of the story were heartwarming. As always, I can't wait to dive into the next Kova novel.

🌶️🌶️

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beckyyreadss's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

I wanted to carry on with this series because I enjoyed the second book in this series. This book was a lot bigger than the rest, but I loved the tension between Floriane and Ruvan.

This book is based on Floraine and her position as the forge maiden of Hunter’s Hamlet is one of reverence, for it is her skill that arms and protects the vampire hunters. She knows her place and is a faithful servant to the Master Hunter and her community until the night of the blood moon. Until her brother is dying at the hands of the Vampire Lord Ruvan. She is wanting to defend her home at all costs, Floriane fights the vampire lord, ready to give her life if it means taking his. But Ruvan doesn’t want to take her life, he wants her. She is kidnapped and brought to the vampire castle, Floriane is now blood sworn to the vampire lord. She is bound in mind and body to her worst enemy. But Ruvan isn’t the fiend she thought he was. She learns the truth of the vampires: They are not mindless monsters, but a proud people, twisted and tortured by an ancient curse. Ruvan believes that Floriane might be the key to ending his people’s suffering. All Floriane wants is to defend her home. Loyalties are to be tested and lines between truth and lie, hate and passion, are blurred. When her dagger is at his chest, will she be able to take the heart of the man who has claimed her?

I was a little nervous going into this book considering that the book was quite big compared the other two. However, this book was beautiful written. I love both of the main characters and the love story between them. The chemistry. I was all for it. I love the side characters and it didn’t feel like they were there just for the story to be moved along, they were all actually built and had their own weaknesses and strengths. I loved the cursed storyline and how it was the hunter that figured out the curse, not the vampires that have been trying to centuries.

I liked that this book was longer, however, I would have liked it to be longer after Floraine became a vampire queen and the tension between Lavenzia and Drew. Did Floraine reunite with her mother? I still have questions, that I would like to be answered. There were some chapters that I thought were a bit slow-paced and a bit of repeated information at times.

I am thoroughly enjoying this series and I cannot wait to see what the next retelling will be.

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shadereads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful tense slow-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

4.0

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nat20charisma's review against another edition

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dark

4.0

Enemies to lovers to enemies to lovers to enemies and finally lovers in the span of a month. I got whip lash.

I will say, it started off a little rough, but the ending was worth it. The unraveling of the curse was a pleasant surprise that was interesting and not predictable.

Much better than the second Married to Magic novel.

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selestre's review against another edition

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adventurous 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? No

3.75

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wormonastring's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

I wasn't sure I was going to finish this book. The first initial chapters were so cringe with bad dialogue I almost stopped reading. It gets better over time, though, and I wound up enjoying the character conflict. The ending of this book

gives you a happily ever after,

which is what I think most readers of this genre enjoy. It's an easy read and enjoyable for most.

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mypatronusisajedi's review against another edition

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adventurous tense slow-paced

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

4.25

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jadejade's review

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adventurous mysterious medium-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

5.0

This is the longest instalment of this series yet, and I went in thinking I would not care for this enemies-to-lovers novel, as vampires aren't really my thing. I realised I was in for a good time when the protagonist's violent persistence after meeting the love interest made me laugh aloud. Ultimately I enjoyed this sympathetic take on vampires and unravelling the story's mystery--although once we understood what happened, I thought to myself

of course a man made a giant mess and of course a woman has to sacrifice everything to fix it</spoiler> lol.

It goes without saying that if blood makes you squeamish, you should give this one a skip.

Content Warnings

prettynerdy3's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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? No

4.0

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