tuvasunnelid 's review for:

Kiss of a Demon King by Kresley Cole

3.0

fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

---

I am a little bit sad right now because I have enjoyed every book in the series until now. I am a bit disappointed because I was very excited for Rydstrom’s book. He was quite a prominent character in earlier books so his character was already known and I felt like I had a good grasp of him. I did not know anything of Sabine. 

One of the reasons I did not really appreciate Rydstrom in this book is because of his attitude towards cade. I really liked Cade’s book and liked his character.  In that book, we got to see how much he struggled with his self-esteem and with how he thought he betrayed his brother. And I felt so bad for him. So now when I get the brothers perspective, I’m thinking he’s actually not gonna be feeling that towards cade and that cade has actually misunderstood him. That was not the case. Rydstrom very clearly blames him. Unjustifiably, in my opinion. There’s even has a moment where Rydstrom tells his brother that he loves him, and Cade is surprised. When cade did the impossible and got him the sword, Rydstrom didn’t even react. Everything that was fucked for in the earlier book felt cheapened. I think it’s safe to say that Rydstrom failed as a brother…

But, moving on to what really made this book a disappointment - Sabine. There are morally grey characters and then there’s just characters that are plain bad and annoying to read about. I get that she was hurt and I know that she had some kindness in her, especially regarding her sister, but that did not make up for what she did. She knew how she acted was bad but she did not care. Instead, Rydstrom is the one that changes to fit her. I know she gets a little bit better, but not enough for me to forget about it. I also don’t like the idea of “I’m evil and that’s just who I am”. 

For example, when that dragon attacked all those innocent people and she was freed, she thought it was ridiculous to suggest that she was actually going to save them as she said she would. It was also really annoying that when she came to the camp and no one liked her because she’s been oppressing them for centuries, she was mad that they didn’t like her.  Because no one could understand her and she is the victim. 😤 please, I couldn’t. If you’re going to be sad that no one likes sorcerers, then maybe try to not be a jackass to everyone. 

 I wanted to have sympathy for her, but I didn’t. Another thing, she was mad that Rydstrom didn’t treat her right when he escaped, claiming that she didn’t do anything that bad to him. Meanwhile, she literally planned to murder him and their child. I mean, come on. 

I really tried to like this book more because I do really love the series, but it was kind of a struggle to get through. I really do like the world and I like the side characters, and I think that’s the reason I give it three stars.