Thursday, January 27, 2022

Review: King of Battle and Blood by Scarlett St. Clair

*Warning: This review may contain spoilers. Read at your own risk.

PublisherBloom Books
Release Date: November 30, 2021 
Pages: 416
Source: Paperback 

THE STORY:

Isolde de Lara considers her wedding day her death day. To end a years-long war, she is to marry vampire king, Adrian Aleksandr Vasiliev, and kill him. 

But her assassination attempt is thwarted and Adrian threatens that if Isolde tries kill him again, he will raise her as the undead. Faced with the possibility of becoming the thing she hates most, Isolde seeks other ways to defy him and survive the brutal vampire court. 

Except it isn’t the court she fears most—it’s Adrain. Despite their undeniable chemistry, she wonders why the king——fierce, savage, merciless—chose her as consort. 

The answer will shatter her world. 
BUY LINKS: Goodreads


RATING

ONE-WORD REVIEWPASSIONATE

TAG LINE: 

Their Union Is His Revenge.

OPENING LINE:


There was an army of vampires encamped on the outskirts of my father's kingdom. 



REVIEW:

KING OF BATTLE AND BLOOD is if FROM BLOOD AND ASH & Dracula had a baby.

“𝒜𝓁𝓁 𝑜𝒻 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓈𝓉𝒶𝓇𝓈 𝒾𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓈𝓀𝓎 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓃𝑜𝓉 𝒶𝓈 𝒷𝓇𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉 𝒶𝓈 𝓂𝓎 𝓁𝑜𝓋𝑒 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓎𝑜𝓊.”

Y'all, I read A TOUCH OF DARKNESS and I hated it. I couldn't fantom why people hyped it up so much. Anywho, I'm not here to bash ATOD, I mention it because I was apprehension about giving KING OF BATTLE AND BLOOD a try. But I'm so happy I still did!

“𝒴𝑜𝓊 𝒶𝓈𝓈𝓊𝓂𝑒 𝐼 𝓌𝒶𝓃𝓉 𝒶 𝓌𝒾𝒻𝑒,” 𝒽𝑒 𝓈𝒶𝒾𝒹. “𝐵𝓊𝓉 𝐼 𝒸𝒶𝓂𝑒 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝒶 𝓆𝓊𝑒𝑒𝓃.” 𝐼𝓉 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝓂𝓎 𝓉𝓊𝓇𝓃 𝓉𝑜 𝓈𝓉𝒶𝓇𝑒. “𝒮𝑜 𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓂𝒶𝓇𝓇𝒾𝒶𝑔𝑒 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝒷𝑒 𝑜𝓃𝑒 𝑜𝒻 𝓅𝒶𝑔𝑒𝒶𝓃𝓉𝓇𝓎?” “𝒪𝒽, 𝐼 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝓀 𝓌𝑒 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝒷𝑜𝓉𝒽 𝓉𝑜𝑜 𝓅𝒶𝓈𝓈𝒾𝑜𝓃𝒶𝓉𝑒 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉.”

The premise of KING OF BATTLE AND BLOOD completely drew me in. It has so many of my favorite tropes: Enemies-to-lovers, forced proximity, save-the-kingdom, and marriage-by-ultimatum. It has been a really long time since consecutively interesting vampire romances have been released--before JLA's FBAA series, I hadn't read a vampire romance in several years. 

𝐼𝓉 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓌𝒶𝓎 𝒽𝑒 𝓉𝓇𝓊𝓈𝓉𝑒𝒹 𝓂𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝓉𝒶𝓀𝑒 𝑜𝓃 𝓂 𝓇𝑜𝓁𝑒 𝒶𝓈 𝓆𝓊𝑒𝑒𝓃 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽𝑜𝓊𝓉 𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓁𝓁𝓎 𝓀𝓃𝑜𝓌𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓌𝒽𝑜 𝐼 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝒶𝓈 𝒶 𝓅𝓇𝒾𝓃𝒸𝑒𝓈𝓈 𝑜𝓇 𝓅𝑒𝓇𝓈𝑜𝓃. 𝐼𝓉 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝒽𝑜𝓌 𝒽𝑒 𝓀𝒾𝓈𝓈𝑒𝒹 𝓂𝑒. 𝐿𝒾𝓀𝑒 𝒽𝑒 𝓅𝑜𝓈𝓈𝑒𝓈𝓈𝑒𝒹 𝒶 𝓉𝓇𝓊𝑒, 𝓊𝓃𝓃𝒶𝓉𝓊𝓇𝒶𝓁 𝓅𝒶𝓈𝓈𝒾𝑜𝓃 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓂𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝐼 𝒸𝑜𝓊𝓁𝒹 𝓈𝑜𝓂𝑒𝒽𝑜𝓌 𝓂𝒶𝓉𝒸𝒽, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝐼 𝒹𝒾𝒹 𝓃𝑜𝓉 𝓀𝓃𝑜𝓌 𝓌𝒽𝓎.

Forced into a marriage with Adrian to save her kingdom of Lara, Isolde swore she would learn his weakness and get her revenge against him somehow. Although, Adrian never outright hurt her. Still, as a centuries-old vampire king who threatened to destroyed Isolde's kingdom so . . . can't really blame her for plotting to murder him between spicy bouts of marathon sex. Ya girl was dickmatized for sure. And I absolutely do not blame her. I would've been too.

𝒪𝓊𝓇 𝑒𝓎𝑒𝓈 𝓂𝑒𝓉, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝐼 𝓁𝑒𝓉 𝑜𝓊𝓉 𝒶 𝓈𝓁𝑜𝓌, 𝓆𝓊𝒾𝓋𝑒𝓇𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒷𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓉𝒽 𝒶𝓈 𝒽𝑒 𝒶𝓈𝓈𝑒𝓈𝓈𝑒𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓁𝑒𝓃𝑔𝓉𝒽 𝑜𝒻 𝓂𝓎 𝒷𝑜𝒹𝓎. 𝒮𝑜𝓂𝑒𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒶𝒷𝑜𝓊𝓉 𝒽𝒾𝓂 𝑜𝓅𝑒𝓃𝑒𝒹 𝒶 𝒸𝒽𝒶𝓈𝓂 𝒾𝓃 𝓂𝓎 𝓈𝓉𝑜𝓂𝒶𝒸𝒽, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝐼 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝒶𝑔𝒶𝒾𝓃 𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓇𝓌𝒽𝑒𝓁𝓂𝑒𝒹 𝒷𝓎 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓈𝒶𝓂𝑒 𝓀𝑒𝑒𝓃 𝒽𝓊𝓃𝑔𝑒𝓇 𝒶𝓈 𝒷𝑒𝒻𝑜𝓇𝑒. 𝐼 𝓌𝒶𝓃𝓉𝑒𝒹 𝓉𝑜 𝒷𝑒 𝒹𝑒𝓋𝑜𝓊𝓇𝑒𝒹 𝒷𝓎 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝒸𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓉𝓊𝓇𝑒.

Okay, okay, that is all I'll say about Adrian and Isolde's relationship and the plot. You have plenty of spoilery quotes and such. Read the book! Trust me.

With the good also comes the not so likeable. Mother dying when Isolde was just a child, she was raised by a maid--Nadia, who loved her very much. And who Isolde supposedly loved equally as much. Interesting how Isolde proclaimed to love Nadia like a mother but after she left Lara she didn’t think or mention her once. When I got to page 288 and Nadia was mentioned because she sent a letter to Isolde I was confused because I had completely forgotten who she was! Also, if Isolde loved her father and Nadia so much why hadn’t she written either of them to inform them of her well-being and that she missed them dreadfully? NOT TO MENTION THERE WAS A COUP AT HER FAMILY'S CASTLE—and Isolde didn’t even bother asking them “directly” how they were doing?

So much for love and homesickness. 

Nevertheless, KING OF BATTLE AND BLOOD was an absolute delight. It was such a delicious morsel of a book and I wish there was going to be a sequel. I highly recommend KING OF BATTLE AND BLOOD to anyone who loves vampires, fated love, revenge plots, ANGST, and badass heroines.


CHARACTERS:

ISOLDE DE LARA: I loved that Isolde is a POC plus-sized, sex-positive badass. She is a stabby princess who gave as good as she got. She was also super loyal to those she cared for--especially her kingdom.

"𝐿𝑜𝑜𝓀, 𝒾𝓉'𝓈 𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓆𝓊𝑒𝑒𝓃--𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝑜𝓃𝑒 𝓌𝒽𝑜 𝓈𝓉𝒶𝒷𝒷𝑒𝒹 𝓎𝑜𝓊!" 
𝑀𝒾𝒽𝒶 𝑔𝓇𝒾𝓃𝓃𝑒𝒹 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝐼𝓈𝒶𝒸 𝑔𝓁𝒶𝓇𝑒𝒹. "𝒴𝑜𝓊 𝓈𝒶𝓎 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝒶𝓈 𝒾𝒻 𝐼'𝓋𝑒 𝒻𝑜𝓇𝑔𝑜𝓉𝓉𝑒𝓃." 
"𝐼 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝓀 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒹𝑜 𝓃𝑜𝓉 𝒶𝓅𝓅𝓇𝑒𝒸𝒾𝒶𝓉𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝑔𝑒𝓈𝓉𝓊𝓇𝑒. 𝒲𝒽𝑜 𝑒𝓁𝓈𝑒 𝒸𝒶𝓃 𝓈𝒶𝓎 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓎 𝓌𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝓈𝓉𝒶𝒷𝒷𝑒𝒹 𝒷𝓎 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝒾𝓇 𝓆𝓊𝑒𝑒𝓃?" 
"𝒴𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓀𝒾𝓃𝑔," 𝐼 𝓈𝒶𝒾𝒹, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓉𝓇𝒾𝑜 𝑒𝓍𝒸𝒽𝒶𝓃𝑔𝑒𝒹 𝒷𝑜𝓉𝒽 𝓈𝓊𝓇𝓅𝓇𝒾𝓈𝑒𝒹 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒶𝓂𝓊𝓈𝑒𝒹 𝓁𝑜𝑜𝓀𝓈. 
𝐵𝑒𝓈𝒾𝒹𝑒 𝓂𝑒, 𝐼 𝒻𝑒𝓁𝓉 𝒜𝒹𝓇𝒾𝒶𝓃'𝓈 𝑒𝓎𝑒𝓈 𝑜𝓃 𝓂𝑒. "𝐼 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓂𝑒𝓉 𝓂𝓎 𝓂𝒶𝓉𝒸𝒽," 𝒽𝑒 𝓈𝒶𝒾𝒹.

ADRIAN ALEKSANDR VASILIEV: The epitome of a hot, misunderstood anti-hero with a vendetta. And incredibly patient with Isolde. Even when she kept insulting and straight-up hurt him left and right. He is the ultimate touch-her-and-die love interest and that is my weakness. Adrian is fierce, able, and devoted--to Isolde, to his cause.

“𝒴𝑜𝓊 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝒶 𝓅𝓁𝒶𝒸𝑒 𝒷𝑒𝓈𝒾𝒹𝑒 𝓂𝑒 𝒷𝑒𝒸𝒶𝓊𝓈𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒻𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝓂𝓎 𝒽𝑒𝒶𝓇𝓉. 𝐼 𝓁𝑜𝓋𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊. 𝐼 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓁𝑜𝓋𝑒𝒹 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓈𝒾𝓃𝒸𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒷𝑒𝑔𝒾𝓃𝓃𝒾𝓃𝑔,” 𝒽𝑒 𝓈𝒶𝒾𝒹, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝓋𝑜𝒾𝒸𝑒 𝒶𝓁𝓂𝑜𝓈𝓉 𝒷𝓇𝑜𝓀𝑒. “𝐼 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓁𝑜𝓋𝑒𝒹 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒻𝑜𝓇𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

International and USA Today Best Selling author Scarlett St. Clair is a citizen of the Muscogee Nation and the author of the HADES X PERSEPHONE SAGA, the HADES SAGA, KING OF BATTLE & BLOOD, and WHEN STARS COME OUT.

She has a Master's degree in Library Science and Information Studies and a Bachelors in English Writing. She is obsessed with Greek Mythology, murder mysteries, and the afterlife.

If you are obsessed with these things, then you'll like her books. You can find pictures of her adorable dog Adelaide on her Instagram at @authorscarlettstclair.


Happy Reading!

 

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