The Warlord Wants Forever (Immortals After Dark, #0.5)

by Kresley Cole

Robert Petkoff (Narrator)

Discover a dark and wicked new world in Kresley Cole’s remastered tale “The Warlord Wants Forever,” the first scorching installment in her #1 New York Times bestselling Immortals After Dark series...

The Warlord

Nikolai Wroth, a ruthless Vampire general, will stop at nothing to find his Bride, the one woman who can “blood” him, making his heart beat and filling him with strength. Coldly interested only in the power his Bride will bring, he can hardly believe when Myst the Coveted awakens him body—and soul.

The Seductress

Famed throughout the world as the most beautiful Valkyrie, Myst has devoted her life to protecting a magical jewel and to fighting the vampires. Wroth provides her with the perfect opportunity to torment her sworn enemy—for with his new heartbeat comes a consuming sexual desire that can only be slaked by her. Denying him, she flees, struggling to forget his searing, possessive kiss.

The Hunt is on…

She eludes him for five years, but he has finally chased her to ground and stolen her enchanted jewel, giving him absolute power over her. Now that she’s his for the taking, he intends to make her experience first-hand the agonizing, unending lust she subjected him to for half a decade. Yet when Nikolai realizes he wants far more than vengeance from Myst and frees her, will she come back to him?

• ISBN10: 1508229147
• ISBN13: 9781508229148
• Publish Date: 20 September 2016 (first published 2 August 2011)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Imprint: Simon & Schuster Audio
• Edition: Unabridged
• Format: Audiobook
• Duration: 4 hours and 28 minutes
• Language: English

Reviews

[Nadz@Totally Addicted to Reading]

I heard great things about the Immortals After Dark series but read none of the books. The opportunity arose for me to read Munro, book 19, in the series. Big risk, but I was assured it could stand on its own. However, to get a feel of the world before jumping into Munro, I decided to read the first two books in the series, starting with 🎧︎The Warlord Wants Forever.

 

The Warlord Wants Forever was an interesting, unique and bizarre tale. The story hidden in the pages of this book was dark and steeped in heat. Myst and Nickolai burned up the pages with their sexy times.

 

Mysts actions at the outset revealed her cruel and vindictive side. Not that Nikolai was any better, as he planned to torture for information. The only difference, he didn’t follow through on his plans. During this time, he made a stunning discovery: Myst was his mate. A fact he discovered through a process known as blooding. Myst abandoned him, which she believed was the merciful option, as her sisters wanted to kill him. Her decision left him in mental, physical, and sexual torment. Five years later, after searching high and low, he found her and proceeded to take his revenge.

 

Few readers like myself would be on board with how this aspect of the story played out. The hero forcing the heroine to do his will, simply because she was his mate, and no other woman would suffice. I understand the need for revenge but taking away someone’s free will is a bit extreme.

 

Myst is quite the heroine. Sassy, strong, determined, funny, and a fighter. One would be hard-pressed to believe she had a crush on the hero based on her attitude towards him, but she did. Nikolai was possessive, obsessive, and dark.

 

The story may not have wowed me, but it piqued my curiosity as it relates to the world and the variety of supernatural species.

[FranJessca @ A Book Lovin' Mama's Blog]

I’ve read or listened to The Warlord Wants Forever three times. I read it in 2010, listened to the audiobook in 2019, and now in 2021, I decided to reread it. I have the prequel in the Anthology Playing Easy to Get, which includes short stories from Jaid Black and Sherrilyn Kenyon, but in this case, I only read Kresley Cole’s The Warlord Wants Forever. This story is a prequel to Kresley Cole’s Immortal After Dark series. 

Storyline/My Thoughts: This novella may not have been one of my favorite in the series, but it’s still dear to my heart since it’s the first novella that had some world-building that introduced some other characters that would get their books in the series. I also realized that Nikolai and Myst didn’t like each other at first; well, Myst didn’t like Nikolai. She wasn’t very fond of vampires because this was when Valkyries were still killing them. When Nikolai first meets Myst in the book, he finds her locked up, and he’s actually trying to figure out what kind of creature she is because he’s never come across someone like her before. Myst knows who he is because she remembers his battles.

Here is one thing that bothered me in the book, and that’s how Nikolai keeps Myst locked up when he realizes who she is to him and tries to keep her away from her family. (This happens after what Myst does to him initially, but that still doesn’t justify his behavior.) No lover boy, you cannot do that to a Valkyrie. She loves her family too much, and let’s not forget her family loves her. They are dangerous creatures, and since you have no clue what they are capable of, you will definitely find out. I will say this Nikolai’s brother even tells him he needs to rethink what he has done in the book.

There is some steam in the book, but there is a part where Nikolai basically can’t take it anymore with Myst running away from him. I won’t go into much detail with it. I did enjoy the book, but Nikolai’s and Myst’s connection wasn’t what enthralled me. It was the other items in the book that did. Overall, I give this book four stars and steaminess rating of three stars.

There is a drama that both vampires and valkyries have to deal with, and in this book, they realize they can help each other. At least, giving each other some details on what is going on with each other’s drama. This novella aligns well with what is to come in Kresley Cole’s next book, a full-length novel. It involves a werewolf taking someone from the Valkyries, and this werewolf has no idea what is coming to him.

Standalone or Part of Series: If you have not read the Immortal After Dark series, this is where you should start reading. I’ve read this novella out of order before and read it in order. I prefer reading in order because of what details come to light at the end of this book.

Tropes/Elements: Enemies-to-Lovers; Fated Mates

Would I recommend this novella? Yes. She’s one of my auto-buy favorite authors, and I always recommend her books. If you are a fan of Paranormal Romance, then this series is for you.

[mitabird]

2.5 stars

[Melanie]

My review and an extended sample of the audiobook are posted at Hotlistens.com.

Immortals After Dark is a series that I’ve loved for a long time. I started out reading the books back in 2010. I don’t think I was even listening to audiobooks at that time (or wasn’t listening a lot, anyway). I quickly fell in love with this series. Once I picked up the audiobooks for IAD, I fell even further. Robert Petkoff is amazing at narrating this series. He does a great job with the accents, women, snark, sex scenes, everything. For some reason, he was not the narrator of this book. It was done by two people (can’t remember who). I never tried them. I have no idea how good of a job they did or didn’t do. However, when I saw that Robert Petkoff was narrating this updated copy of The Warlord Wants Forever, I squeed with joy.

As I said, I read this book back in 2010. As I understand it, Kresley Cole has gone back through this story and cleaned it up and included it in the Blood Red Kiss Anthology with Gena Showalter and Larissa Ione. I have no idea of what changes were made. It has been too long since I read the original. I know I liked it in the original and I like it now. I will say that the ability to listen to it now with the narrator for the rest of the series, not to mention a favorite of mine, has made it a much better story for me. Yes, I think Robert Petkoff really adds that much to the story.

Now, onto the actual story. LOL. If you not familiar with this series, it features many different types of immortals; witches, Valkyrie, vampires (two groups, one who drinks blood from people and others who do not take directly from the vein, so don’t get the excessive bloodlust of the first group), werewolves and more. This story is about the non-bloodlust (or good) vamps and a Valkyrie. Cole’s Valkyrie might be one of my favorite supernatural creatures in literature. They are so much fun and very original. They each have three parents, Woden and Freya, and the woman who gives birth to her. They will take some traits from their birth mother along with their god and goddess parents. The feed off lightning and live in a sorority type house. They love gaming and shiny things. Oh, and they LOVE to kill vampires. Can you see where this is going?

Myst the Coveted has been captured by the Hoard (bad vampires). She was being used as bait so that her and her sisters could kill Hoard Vampires. When Nikolai Wroth, a Forbearer (good vampires) finds her, he is immediately intrigued. She does not immediately kill him, because she knew of him when he was still human and had some respect from him from that time. That doesn’t mean it was love at first sight (it never is in a Kresley Cole book). Myst is embarrassed that she is attracted to a vampire. He doesn’t really want a woman who is so independent. But things between to eventually work out.

While this isn’t even near the top of my favorite books in this series. I really enjoyed going back and revisiting time with Myst and Nikolai. It makes me want to start the series over and relisten to all of them.

Before he’d come, she’s been powerless here. She could handle weapons as well as most of her kind, but a sword and bow were not her strengths.
Her preferred weapon was men.
She manipulated them, played with them, made them believe she lived for them alone—in order to have them do her bidding. That was her m.o.
She scooped up her clothes, marched to his door, and yanked it open, then snapped her fingers for a guard. Nikolai merely watched like a bystander.
“Pss, minion. I need these laundered. Very little starch. Don’t just stand there gawking, or you’ll anger my good frenemy General Wroth. We’re like this.” She twined two fingers together.
Once she’d foisted her laundry on the guard, she closed the door and dramatically leaned back against it—as if to say, You can’t get away from me now. Then she glided over to him.

“Not that I believe actual vampires are here,” Regin said, “but if they were, they should know that New Orleans is our turf.” She tossed her blade up, caught the point in her claw then flicked it up once more.
“Show we ask them to rumble? Or most mash?” Nïx asked as she braided her waist-length black hair. Even sporting the old-fashioned hairstyle and an often confused glance—she saw the future more clearly than the present—Nïx still looked like a supermodel.
“We can always send Mysty the Vampire Layer to battle them,” Nïx said thoughtfully. “Oh, wait—she’d run off with them.”
Regin added, “Or used her famed tongue assault to flay their skin—as they line up to sacrifice themselves.:
“Har-de-har-har,” Myst mumbled. She’d been razzed about this nonstop since the episode at Oblack. And she deserved it. She might as well have been caught freebasing with the ghost of Bundy.

Narration
Robert Petkoff did an amazing job with the narration of this book. Nikolai Wroth has an amazing Elbonian accent (I thought it was Russian, but there is a comment in this story that it is Elbonian, not that I would know the difference.). Petkoff did a great job with that accent (he does wonderful Scottish too, which appears in the book following this one. *swoon* ). I also love his voice for ‘ol Nucking Futs Nïx (the name for her because all of her visions have made her crazy).. She is my favorite character, so it is very important that she have a good voice (not to mention that she is in every book in this series). If you haven’t tried Robert Petkoff yet, I highly recommend him. I’ve listened to some of his suspense/thriller books.

**I like to thank the publisher for providing me with a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

[littleread1]

Eh, it's fine. Nothing spectacular but not terrible. I have the rest on audio and plan to start soon.

[Angie]

The Warlord Wants Forever is bizarre, but I liked it! Myst is locked in a dungeon when Nikolai Wroth, the warlord, finds her. He wants information from her, she wants to kill him. Fun times. Well, turns out she's his intended bride, and he can be with no woman but her. However, being a Valkyrie, Myst is the sworn enemy of the vampires, so she decides to play with him a bit. She gets him aroused, and then with the help of her sisters, escapes him. Poor Nikolai is now stuck with an erection that cannot be released, except within Myst, but she's nowhere to be found.

Jump ahead five years, and Nikolai should have gone to the emergency room a long time ago. Thankfully he drank Myst's blood, so he can see her memories, and finally puts together where she is, tracks her down, and has his way with her. From there The Warlord Wants Forever gets less strange, but still pretty weird, since Nikolai steals the chain around her waist, which allows him to control her. Of course, being a man who just had a constant boner for five years, I bet you can guess what he makes her do to herself. So yeah, pretty strange stuff. In the end they fall in love in true Paranormal Romance fashion. I do love a happy ending, but I hope the rest of the series isn't this over-the-top.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.

[Linda]

This has A LOT of fluff! I almost blushed :O