Hello everyone!
Back yet again with another book review, and what do you know (or, let's phrase it in the way it should be for this review, whaddyaknow) I'm back on a vampire binge. Only, really, I've never honestly gotten off it, especially not since reading the latest in Ward's series of books.
Mostly, it has to do with the fact that while I was reading the fourteenth one, I was struggling on occasion to figure out just what it was she was talking about.
It had been a while, after all, since the last time I've read these, even though I never, ever delete them from my e-reader.
Nope.
Best to have them on hand in case I ever feel like nibbling one of them open again. I'm honestly thinking of just buying the whole thing in a physical shape as well, because ... well, why not?
So lt's get with the program, as the vampires say, and sink our teeth into book number twelve: The King.
As I'm totally and completely out of whack with the schedule in which I post these (which, let's be honest, is this: if I finish one of the Black Dagger Brotherhood books by the time Thursday rolls around, I'll do a review about it, but it does not in any way reflect the publication order), let's assume that you all know what I'm talking about, but I'll recap briefly anyway, and at the bottom you'll be able to find liks to my previously-typed reviews of this same series.
By this point in the books, most of our main actors are already mated, and the war with the Lessening Society (this being the undead personas who get their hearts removed and are filled with black oil, stinking like baby powder + roadkill) is heating up, but this book doesn't really focus on that.
Oh no, it's politics time.
In this one, we revert to the very first couple who launched us all into this world, Wrath, son of Wrath, aka King of the vampires, and his shellan Beth - and where they're at right now.
Which is not a happy place.
As is the case with these latter books for Ward, a number of plotlines run throughout, so I'm going to outline them by plotline, not chronologically, or else I'm going to be jumping all over the place.
The main plot, as said, is about Wrath and Beth - and in this one, Beth wants a baby. Which, for Wrath, is a no-go because he's terrified of losing her during childbirth, and cue arguments of epic proportions, although granted, it gets resolved when her needing comes, he services her, and they realize she's already pregnant and carrying a baby boy. Who, by the end of the book, makes his appearance as Little Wrath (the downside of it being Beth loses her uterus in the process, but who's thinking about that, right?).
That's their little slice of personal, however, but to the side, there are other things going on: like, John Matthew (the reincarnation of Darius, Beth's father) keeps having seizures as his two halves try to reconcile and get their grove on, Wrath going nuts in the billiards room and demolishing it ... ya know.
Not to mention, Xcor and his Band of Bastards are after the throne, only this time not physically, but they're basing their attack on the legal side, saying that the King can only be a purebred vampire - which any child of Beth's can't be, as she's a half-breed. The solution? The lovers marry (human way), divorce, and then Wrath dissolves the monarchy while he's at it. About time, too.
In the process, he is also brought in contact with a noble, Abalone, whose father served Wrath's back in the day, and who helps the King get in touch with commoners, setting up audiences and hearings (some of my favourite and most powerful scenes were from those), which results in the people Wrath listened to electing him King for life.
Boo-yah, aristocracy.
Xcor probably would have kept going though, but the Chosen Layla distracts him by offering herself up as pretty much bait so he'll quit it.
And what do you know, he accepts. Throe isn't happy, though. Tough luck for him.
To the side, there are two other subplots running: one with a drug dealer, Assail, whom we meet in previous books, and who is after a human woman his business associate had abducted ... with bad consequences for said associate, natch. Sola is rescued, Assail has bonded .... but she flees to Miami either way, leaving him heartbroken.
Whoops.
And the other one? We get introduced a bit more to the two Shadows whom we've met before, but this time their situation is explained: Trez is betrothed to the princess back home, and he wants out, but neither he nor his brother iAm really know how to do this. There's a delay as the queen is pregnant again, but in the meantime, Trez bonds with the Chosen Selena, who has her own set of problems. Obviously.
Underlining it all are flashbacks from the Old Country and the time of Wrath's parents, how the two met, what happened that turned the former King into a warrior, how he nearly lost his wife to poison, and how the aristocrats were a scheming lot even back then. The circle just keeps grinding itself all over again, only luckily by our timeline, Wrath has put a stop on it. So far.
An emotionally packed ride, it felt a bit rushed by the end but I figured I was wrung out enough by that point that I didn't really need anything more. Besides, it was enough to see Wrath happy with his little boy and with the nation kneeling to him.
Long live the King, indeed.
xx
*image not mine
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