Title: King of Battle and Blood
Author: Scarlett St. Clair
My Rating: 🌟🌟1/2
Type: Series – Book 1
Genre: High Fantasy, Magical World, Vampires
Primary Characters: Adrain, Isolde
Narration: Single POV
I saw several people gushing over this book all over social media. I didn’t realize that all book in this series isn’t released yet, till much later. This book seems to be really polarizing, with people either loving or hating it. It had lot of potential, however it lacked in depth, character building, relationship building, plot, vampire lifestyle and other things. It was more of smut and less of everything else.
Book starts exactly as its featured in the blurb. Vampire king known as “Blood king” invades the mortal realm and invades “House of Lara” province. King of Lara is ready to surrender to stop the bloodshed and to spare his kingdom from the wrath of the Vampire King. During the negotiations Blood King of Revekka—Adrian asks for mortal princess Isolde’s hand in marriage to stop the invasion.
It had a very nice pretense of enemies to lovers –politically arrange marriage fantasy theme. However, it wasn’t executed well. Everything got over shadowed by too much smut. Isolde fighting skills were not at all highlighted well. Adrain is said to be brutal throughout the book, but there was not a single instance which highlighted his brutality.
I hardly felt that sense of connection between Adrian and Isolde. Relationship development was zero as it was insta-love-lust. Premise was good however lagged a lot in execution. Writing style was easy and pacing felt fast as I skimmed several smut scenes. No intriguing secondary characters. All of the characters felt very surface level and I didn’t really connect with any of them. We do have some plot twists with all these mysterious creeps surrounding the book with the crimson mist to the orange-haired woman on the mirror; it sort of felt predictable. No proper explanation for magic or reincarnation.
Overall, it was a disappointment to me. If you are a fan of paranormal fantasy with lot of smut and looking for entertainment with nothing new then go ahead and pick it up.
Buy link – https://www.amazon.in/King-Battle-Blood-Adrian-Isolde-ebook/dp/B09B1NMGLQ
Blurb as per Amazon
Their union is his revenge.
Isolde de Lara considers her wedding day to be 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 to 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 Adrian. Despite their undeniable chemistry, she wonders why the king—fierce, savage, merciless—chose her as consort.
The answer will shatter her world.
Meander - Read & Roam 