Laura’s Review of The King (Black Dagger Brotherhood, #12) by J.R. Ward

Basic Summary

            Long live the King…

            After turning his back on the throne for centuries, Wrath, son of Wrath, finally assumed his father’s mantle-with the help of his beloved mate.  But the crown sets heavily on his head.  As the war with the Lessening Society rages on, and the threat from the Band of Bastards truly hits home, he is forced to make choices that put everything—and everyone—at risk.

            Beth Randall through she knew what she was getting into when she mated the last pure blooded vampire on the planet: An easy ride was not it.  But when she decides she wants a child, she’s unprepared for Wrath’s response—or the distance it creates between them.

            The question is, will true love win out… or tortured legacy take over?

First Impressions

             

             The prologue starts out in the Old Country in the 17^th century and we get to not only meet Wrath’s parents we get to experience the first time they met and how they both instantly fell in love with one another.  Wrath tends to hold his parent’s relationship and the rule he had over the vampires as kind of a golden age where everyone listened to him and loved him and never questioned him.  It’s nice to see that in some aspects this might be true but in other’s Wrath is very much like his father with making decisions that break apart from tradition and started to bring their society into a more modern way of thinking.  Before Wrath’s father Wrath the Queen never slept in the same bed as the king and he many women he could choose from, but the King did away with this because he was so in love with his mate Anha, as Wrath is in love with Beth. 

            We very quickly get down to the nitty gritty in the beginning meeting up again with the Band of Bastards and the glymera trying to usurp the King and following through with their plans. We also get right back into bed with Assail and Marisol and my heart is pounding in my chest praying that Assail finds her in time because I just totally love them together.  I wasn’t sure how I felt about Assail at first because he is a cunning business with no loyalty to any but himself but I really like him in this book and I just love him and Marisol together!  I’m about 36% of the way through and I will probably be up all night reading this book it’s so freaking good!

What I Loved

        

         

            I love that we get to meet Wrath’s parents and the book goes back to their story throughout this book.  I think we all tend to see the past as the “good old days” when everything was so much better, and as Wrath thinks about how loved his father was and how peaceful things were back then it’s kind of nice to see that, that wasn’t true at all.  I don’t want to give too much away but reading what Wrath and Anha were up against before Wrath was born, makes me feel that Wrath can overcome all the things are going up against him every day.  I don’t know if that was J.R. Ward’s purpose but to me in a way it was almost comforting to see Wrath’s father and mother struggle in some way with their followers because it made me realize that this Wrath wasn’t the first to have problems.  Many things aspect of Wrath and Beth’s relationship kind of mirrored Wrath and Anha’s and in many ways the present Wrath brought things around full circle, when I realized that I totally had tears in my eyes.

      I also kind of loved how this book brought you back to the beginning of it all, revisiting some old hang outs and remembering why I fell in love with this series in the first place, and at the same time seeing how many things have changed since Dark Lover (Black Dagger Brotherhood, #1).  There is a really endearing part of the book that deals with Zsadist and his daughter Nalla that almost had me crying just remembering where he used to be versus where he is now just made the scene very touching. 

      Some very hot sex scenes in this book which thank you for much for J.R. Ward, to not only include them sprinkled throughout but to throw them in there, in the very beginning as well!  That was a nice treat for me to read!  Can’t go wrong with a good sex scene or two (or five) and there definitely a lot of very hot ones in this book.   It’s so great to remember why Beth fell in love with Wrath, and to remember what she was like before he came into her life when she still thought she was a human and a journalist. 

      When I first introduced to Sola I wasn’t really sure if I liked her or how I felt about this whole side story with her and Assail but as the books have gone on and you learn more about her I really started to like her.  She definitely shined through in this book and I absolutely love her and Assail together, and Assail himself has quickly become one of my favorite characters in this series. 

       

Not So Much

               

                A lot of drama that has been occurring in the past couple of books finally came to their climax and were resolved in this book, but not for everything.  I’m kind of over this whole John Matthew being Darius reincarnated thing and no one knowing it.  We met John Matthew in book 2, Lover Eternal, and since then he’s been having these seizures and visions of the past and we learned more about Darius and that’s wonderful  and all, but let’s wrap this up shall we?  This is book twelve and there is no end in sight.  I’m ready for somebody to figure all this out and move on!  It’s a storyline that has dragged on for far too long and I’m ready for it to end. 

            Also as much I loved learning more about iAm and Trez and their culture but I for some reason cannot become emotionally invested in their stories.  For some reason when the book would go to either one of their point of views I got kind of bored and wanted to skip over it.  I’m glad some of their crap was resolved but there are still a lot of questions and issues up in the air and I fear that this storyline will go on forever as well.  I don’t want to become uninterested in this series but if there is a book that deals with mostly them I don’t know if I’m going to be excited to read it.

            I wish I would’ve seen more of the supporting characters that have been left out so long in this story.  This is a constant con for me in the series because so many of the past characters kind of all by the wayside while others are prevalent in other stories.  Mary for example is barely mentioned since Lover Eternal and I would really enjoy reading a storyline that involved her and Rhage.  The same can be said for Qhuinn and Blaylock because for so many of the past books Qhuinn at least been such a central character and it was weird for him to not even have a line in this one.  I get you can’t include everyone in every single book but I don’t want to forget about people completely, I feel like there is no real balance when it comes to which characters are in which 

stories. 

This Book Was…

                Truly amazing! This book truly had a lot of touching moments in and at times my heart just absolutely broke, while at other times I couldn’t stop smiling wanted to celebrate all the wonderful things that were happening.  There are a lot of love stories in this book that have yet to be resolved and I cannot freaking wait to see how some of them are going to play out.

            I have absolutely fallen in love Marisol and Assail’s story and I swear at times they two of them had me smiling and blushing and other times I was just heartbroken from them.  At the end of the book there is a scene with Marisol that had my heart pounding one second and breaking the very next.  I cannot wait to see if things stay the same for them or will it all change for them eventually. 

            It was great to be reminded of the past, while at the same time realizing how far a lot of these characters have come and how many things have changed in their lives.  Especially when it comes to the Brotherhood, and to see and experience how their family has expanded and grown so much to now include so many different kinds of people.  I have totally fallen in love with Wrath and Beth all over again by the time I was done with this book and by the end I seriously had chills to see just how amazing the two of them are together.  Also to see Wrath become his own type of King rather than trying to emulate his father, he finally realizes what it means for him personally to be King and not struggle to recreate the past.   Obviously like every other time I finish reading these books I cannot wait to see what will happen next with these people; bring me book 13 right now!