| Series: | BDB #12 |
| Pub. Date: | April 1, 2014 |
| Publisher: | Penguin Audio |
| Narrator: | Jim Frangione |
| Length: | 22 hours 4 min |
| Source: | One Click Digital |
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I love the gorgeous cover of this book. It's so eye-catching and it's a great representation of Wrath and his throne. I was a little worried when I started reading that I wouldn't be able to remember what happened in the earlier books because I read them so long ago... but my memory was jogged fairly easily.
What I could not remember about the earlier books is whether they have all been told from multiple points of view. I thought this book was going to focus on Wrath and Beth, but the story jumped around quite a bit to Assail and Sola, Trez and Selena, iAm, Xcor and Layla, and a time or two to John Matthew. There were also some flashbacks to Wrath's parents, which were interesting.
I will start with Wrath and Beth, who have hit a bump in the road of their mating. Beth wants a young and Wrath is terrified to have one. Not only is he afraid to lose Beth in child birth, but Wrath also doesn't want to burden a child with the responsibility of the throne. There is also the danger to consider as Wrath knows that his enemies will never stop coming after him and, by extension, his young. It becomes a line in the sand for Beth... and the couple has to figure out how to work through this obstacle in their relationship. I absolutely loved Wrath in this installment. He truly became a king to his people and some of my favorite parts were his audiences with the commoners.
The story diverted to Assail and Sola quite a bit. Assail was really the only character that I couldn't remember from previous books. I don't know why he is working with the lessers to sell drugs... seems counterproductive to the vampire's mission. The suspense/action sequences when Sola is kidnapped and subsequently rescued were good and I enjoyed those. But I lost interest in the second half of the book when it switched over to them. I thought Assail was being a bit namby pamby when it came to Sola, and I thought she was being silly... even her grandma told her she was making a mistake!
Trez' drama with the s'Hisbe is ongoing and is about to come to a head. The Queen wants him back to play breeding stud to her daughter and, if he doesn't honor the contract, there are gonna be dire consequences. Unfortunately for Trez, who has been abusing his body with copious human sexual encounters, he is bonding to one of the Chosen, Selena. I liked Selena and I liked Trez... but I was impatient to get back to the Wrath/Beth parts.
In this installment Xcor, leader of the Band of Bastards, is behind another plot to take the throne from Wrath. I don't remember why exactly Xcor wants the throne... or if that has been fully explained. He has had this covert thing going on with the Chosen, Layla, who is pregnant with Quinn's baby. This is an interesting pairing for me. I don't know how I feel about him and Layla. I worry about the baby and the relationship between Layla and the Brotherhood once the relationship comes into the light.
Probably the most interesting cat besides Wrath in this story was, for me, iAm. iAm has been so busy corralling Trez throughout their lives that he has never taken time for himself to build any sort of relationship with friends or females. iAm and Beth get closer in this installment when he has to ferry her around to doctors' appointments, and they have some enlightening conversations. I am looking forward to the next book, The Shadows, to find out more about iAm and hopefully get things resolved with Trez. I like The Shadows characteristics and that they are slightly different than the standard vampire.
Overall, I enjoyed catching up with the King and Queen and this book helped jog my memory about what happened earlier in the series. I look forward to seeing how things move forward with the new political climate and vampire young.
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