"The King," by J.R. Ward

The King by J.R. Ward

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Normally, I don't hide my reviews because of spoilers, but this time I will. Although I don't tell you the outcome, I still feel it might give some away.

Oh what a beautiful story! As always, the Warden comes through! She caught every emotion. In this book, the primary story is about Wrath & Beth... his kingship, their marriage, their family. But intertwined are at least four other stories weaved throughout the book. We get some back story on Wrath’s parents and the struggles they went through as the monarchy of that time. Wrath went down memory lane quite a bit whilst he wrestled with his concerns of being king. Wrath has his demons he must deal with as he realizes his shellan is not complete without a young. He struggles with the idea of having an heir to the throne... what would he do if his young were like him, blind! The glymera have other concerns and cause their own set of problems!

As I said, there are several intertwined sub plots.

Though Xcor and his Band of Bastards endeavor to dethrone Wrath, Xcor has his own story building up. His feelings toward the Chosen Layla continue to grow and although, it would seem Layla also seems to be falling for Xcor, she’s more concerned with what Xcor and his men are doing to her king. She’ll do anything to stop Xcor from dethroning or even killing her king and queen.

Assail pursues Sola and kills a couple of her assailants who were also his business partners. Sola, realizing she’s all alone and being carted away by hired kidnappers, ends up doing the unthinkable to free herself. Assail knows this human is his and Sola, though seemingly in love with Assail, can’t stay with him if he intends on staying with his career. The nightmare of freeing herself from her kidnappers has emblazoned itself on the forefront of her mind, and to keep a promise to herself and her god, she chooses to take her grandmother south to get away from it all.

The shadow, Trez has his story continuing here too. Though he’s promised to marry his s’Hibe queen’s daughter, he does everything he can to make himself unworthy or unwanted so he can escape this match. Meanwhile, he seems to have his eye on a Chosen of his own and wants very much to be worthy for her.

John Matthew has something going on with him. As with all the other books, I’m lead to believe that his father may be in his head with him. Of course, don’t get that story here, but I can’t help but wonder if that’s what is going on. In this book, we hear more about John Matthew being the brother of the queen. We see more of their relationship there. He has a couple more of his seizures that cause Doc Jane, Xhex, & Beth to get him over to the hospital for a MRI. I’m not sure if we’re going to see more of this, but it really makes you wonder what’s going on inside John Matthew’s head.

There was so much in this book to follow it sometimes got confusing. But I love how J.R. Ward writes her books as if it is real life. She keeps these brothers as family and allows you to see snippets of their lives as they develop.

I must admit I cried through parts of this story. As with all J.R. Ward’s books, I do recommend you read this 12th installation of her Black Dagger Brotherhood series, but definitely be ready to have your emotions sprung!


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