Reviews with content warning for Medical content - The King's Men

idk what to say i didnt wanna finish this book bc of how good it was
the whole team slowly getting close to each other, andrew slowly starting to trust neil and not holding back and them starting a (complicated) relationship 3
this is the best enemies to lovers slowburn hard pining i hate everyone but u extreme version book ive read
its also the best book out of the whole trilogy !! there wasnt rly much happening in the previous ones but this one covered the story really well
i INHALED this book in a night and i couldnt stop reading shaking crying screaming i need more andreil i need a movie or series adaption @netflix
i also found most of the characters likable ! they all had a depth in their pain and together they managed to start healing and became a family

i just feel like the author couldve squished in like 20-30 more pages just so we could see where andreil's relationship was going and what happened after the game and maybe like a few pages of just happiness bc the characters deserve nothing less
and also there were quite a few times when the description took too long and i wasnt rly invested in most of the exy games BUT IT WAS ALL WORTH IT
happy pride to andrew and neil

Content Warnings

winglesswarrior's review against another edition

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challenging dark hopeful 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

5.0

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ojpodge's review against another edition

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dark tense fast-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

every time i read this book i understand andrew more.
also his and neil’s conversations,,,, superior.
- “you are a pipe dream”
- “i’m self destructive not stupid”
- “you’re not actually a sociopath are you?”
- “now are you having fun?” *referring to someone getting injured/fighting* “that part was vaguely interesting”
- “you’re crazy” “this is news to no one”
- and so much more !!!!

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jenny_librarian's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I don't understand why this series has such a cult following. Yes, it's a compelling read, but the writing isn't that great and it could have used a couple more rounds of copy edits. And don't even start me on the "main" couple.

Everything I ever heard about this before picking up the books for myself was how much people love Neil and Andrew together. Well, I can tell you: I don't see it. You could say it's my aroace-ness that makes me blind to those things, but I have plenty of ships I love to prove you wrong. I just find that Neil and Andrew have absolutely no chemistry, and I think part of the reason is that we never get any real insight into Andrew's thoughts because the books are written from Neil's perspective.
Now, I'm not sure I should wish we'd gotten Andrew's perspective because I think the author made it pretty clear she's not exactly an expert on mental illness. It's never named what Andrew has (as far as I'm aware), but the whole medication thing was a huge red flag on the amount of research she probably put into that storyline.

But enough about that supposed OTP. You know who had real chemistry with Neil? Kevin. I kid you not, for the whole first book I tried to make sense of why everyone shipped Neil with Andrew while Kevin was right there. And I forgot he had a girlfriend until the 2.5 seconds she appeared around the 75% mark. I swear, the author made her up just to prove Andrew was the only choice.
I would have LOVED to see Kevin and Neil as a couple. Of course, it would have made everything around them go down in flames, but at least it would have been entertaining and I would've enjoyed it. As it stands, I was more interested in seeing what would happen with the mafia storyline (fiddled out too easily) and the championship (suspension of disbelief required, big time!) than any interaction between Neil and Andrew.

And while I'm ranting, let's talk about the whole school and Exy thing.
1) no way would Neil had been allowed to continue playing with the way he disregarded his studies. That might work in a school where the athletes are champions and revered by all, but it's made clear from the get-go that the Foxes aren't that respected. I wouldn't have minded as much if we hadn't seen classes at all or if Neil had actually studied, but the author makes it seem like he NEVER works at all for class, barely even listens when he attends. Making that little effort in college will get you failing grades for sure.
2) the championship rules (like the whole sport, to be fair) made absolutely no sense. To have a round of 2-out-of-3, then most points, then a death match in a tournament is too many rules. Can you imagine that in real life? Only people into fantasy sports and analysts would understand it. It would never work!
3) the way the Ravens can basically do anything they want. If they're the best team in the nation and their stadium is home to the national team, they'd be under constant scrutiny. Yet, they get away with pretty much everything until Neil and Kevin (and eventually Jean) make their big reveals. Seriously, you're telling me absolutely no one would have ever suspected the cult-like team to use psychological torture on their players? Come on.

I almost forgot an important point: consent. It's supposed to be super important to Andrew once his relationship with Neil develops. Which is hilarious because he completely disregarded Neil's consent when they drugged him in the first book. And even in this book, when Andrew basically forces Neil to drink after he said multiple times that he doesn't. So what if he's not on the run anymore? He said no, you respect it. The whole idea of consent seems to be important to the author only when it comes to sex, and it's a big problem.

So yeah, I don't get the hype. A compelling read, but nothing as amazing as the superfans would make you believe.

Content Warnings

evicteline's review against another edition

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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? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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cozybookseller's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad 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

5.0

Content Warnings

rayne_1906's review against another edition

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dark emotional 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? Yes

4.0

4 hours 30 minutes - I liked the way this book progressed for the most part, and I really liked the development of the relationship between Andrew and Neil. A lot of the plot points were still quite confusing - I never quite understood the conflict between Andrew and Aaron, but as a whole I have really enjoyed reading this series.

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