Reviews with content warning for Animal death - The King's Men

There were some things I liked about this book and some things I didn't! I'm going to spoil everything, okay:

Some things I liked:
- THAT LAST EXY GAME!! The Exy scenes are always some of my favorites, but there were so many little things (Neil's past on defense, Kevin changing his hand) that finally paid off and it was so good!!
- I loved the found family really coming out in this story!!
- I think the writing and general pacing were best in this book!
- While I have issues with the relationship between Andrew and Neil in this story, I'm a sucker for any romance ever. Plus, Neil and Andrew's relationship really grew on me, both how we got to see their feelings slowly develop and how their trust in each other developed (I especially loved their conversations about and attention to consent).

Some things I didn't love:
- The two antagonists being a mafia/gang and a sports team felt a little unbalanced. Neil being nearly killed by his father around the 250-260 page mark made the rest of the pacing strange. Also, at some point I feel like the story got too big for its breeches and it was hard to believe that Neil can make it out of all of this alive.
- Andrew and Neil's relationship felt kind of rushed? Like within the confines of this book only, their relationship developed at a reasonable to slow pace over the course of the 400 pages. But in the context of the whole series, it just kind of came out of nowhere.
- Andrew had a lot of... flaws that made him fairly annoying. His violence was concerning and made him not really a character I wanted to follow? It's one thing when he gets into violent arguments with his teammates who know him, put up with him, and can handle him. But when he's threatening, like, Katelyn? Also, his whole agreement that his brother can't date anyone that Andrew breaks when he starts seeing Neil? Wasn't always a fan of Andrew, and I feel like I could have been if his character was developed and explored further and if his flaws were treated as flaws.
- Stuart's whole character kind of came out of nowhere, and felt like he came out of convenience. There were a few other things that felt like they were big plot conveniences, but that was the biggest one that I remember.

There are a lot more things that I thought, but that's just some things. I definitely enjoyed my reading experience overall!

Content Warnings

fanboyriot's review against another edition

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dark medium-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

Read For:
Slow Burn
Found Family
Hurt/Comfort
Angst with a Happy Ending
Mutual Pining (though they don’t know it)

This is obviously my favorite of the series. I love the character development in this last book. The relationships between the foxes getting stronger, Neil finally clueing in on the thing him and Andrew have and being literally the last person to know.

It was an emotional roller coaster for sure, with Neil’s life going bad to worse to okay again to having hope for the first time in his life. Of having a chance of a future. It was absolutely amazing.

I think this book did a good job with taking care of any loose ends. It is the perfect example of angst with a happy ending and I don’t see myself getting over it anytime soon. Here’s to another re-read.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ (5/5)

Release Date: 03, December 2014
POV: Third Person
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️
Rep: Demisexual (MC), Gay (LI), Gay (SCs), BIPOC (SCs), Mental Illness

Content Warnings