The King: A Novel of the Black Dagger Brotherhood (Black Dagger Brotherhood, #12)

by J. R. Ward

"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 sits 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 thought she knew what she was getting into when she mated with 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 will tortured legacy take over?"--

• ISBN10: 0451417054
• ISBN13: 9780451417053
• Publish Date: 1 April 2014
• Publish Status: Remaindered
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Penguin Putnam Inc
• Imprint: New American Library
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 592
• Language: English

Reviews

[Caitiebelle]

This is by far one of my favourite books in the series so far!

Wrath and Beth's story has always been my very favourite. There's just something something something about Wrath that just... le dream sigh...

His attitude is also very fun to read! hehe He doesn't take any bullshit, he knows his strengths, but he's also vulnerable - and he loves his Shellan very very very much.

It's such a wonderful read. His absolute fear about her getting pregnant, their problems regarding this, the problems with the Council - I mean the poor dude is gonna blow!! And he does...oh how he does....

Our dear [a:J.R. Ward|20248|J.R. Ward|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1437768069p2/20248.jpg] does not disappoint! The writing is very good, I could not put this book down. Not that I can ever put down any of them really - but this one I have read twice now, very close together hehe.

It's an absolute MUST read.

[Inkslinger]

As a loyal reader of the Black Dagger Brotherhood series, I couldn't wait to read the new books. I'd fallen behind, largely due to lack of time, but this was so worth the wait.

Now, that isn't to say this book doesn't have a few small issues. It does. But they're minor, often barely noticeable, and let's face it. I adore the family contained within. I'm willing to forgive just about anything as long as Ward remembers who she's dealing with. There have been times in the past, where I felt she lost touch with her characters. Or perhaps, just never understood them on the really visceral level.

This isn't one of those times--

(Rest of the review available on http://www.betwixtthesheets.com)

[Angie]

In The King, we are revisiting Wrath and Beth as they bring in the next generation. At least, that's what Beth would like to do. Wrath is too stressed out over his job of ruling his people, and doesn't want that for his child. Plus he's even more terrified that the pregnancy or birth will kill Beth. Meanwhile, Xcor is still looking to dethrone him and take his place as king, and a whole bunch of other unrelated stuff is also happening. I'm pretty much in the middle in regards to my feelings about this installment, since some interesting stuff does happen, but it's buried underneath a whole bunch of other stuff that I simply don't care about.

I'll start with what was suppose to be the focus of The King: Wrath and Beth. As the first couple of the series, they'll always hold a special place in my heart. But I don't think they got nearly enough page time, and most of what they do have is them arguing about babies. I wasn't as annoyed as I thought I was going to be, which was good, but I still wanted to see them doing something else. My favorite scene from the book, luckily, was of them, but not because of them. Lassiter continues to steal the show every time he appears! I like Wrath and Beth, but I don't think this re-visitation did them justice. They have some serious fears to work through, but it was all sped through, and wrapped up neatly in the last couple of chapters.

The King also parallels the current royal couple with the previous couple. I actually really liked the chapters about Wrath's father and his mother. It goes from the moment they met, through their marriage, and to their deaths. While I don't think these parts added anything other than even more pages, they did make me want a spin off series that focuses on the Old Country. I just really love how the historical bits are written and the way they talk and found myself more invested in the past than in the present.

Of course, as with the previous several books, The King has a million other sideplots going on. Some of which only get maybe two or three short chapters, never to be seen again. One of those being John Matthew. I adore him, and I want to know what's wrong with him! However, nothing is revealed on that front. Then there's a couple of chapters from Saxton and newcomer, Abalone. Again, only a couple of pages, but at least their stories were directly related to the overarching war and dethroning plot.

There's also three more romances going on in The King! Three! Xcor and Layla continue to be the odd pair, that I just cannot see together, but am also intrigued by. Unfortunately, Xcor's plan to become king was resolved way too easily and felt forced in order to give Wrath a happy ending. Assail and Sola are back, and I still don't care. At all. What is their purpose?! Assail snorts a ton of cocaine and pines after her, and that's it. Boring. Finally, there's Trez and Selena. I enjoyed learning more about the shadows, especially since their book is next, but couldn't it have waited?

I liked The King, as I've liked all of the books in the series, but it was unnecessarily bloated. Some of the plots are dragged out, only to have super simple solutions at the end. While others aren't resolved, and aren't developed enough for me to get interested in. It would have been much more enjoyable with Wrath and Beth's troubles were given the attention that they deserved, especially since it was clear crap was about to hit the fan when it came to vampire politics. It also seems to me like some things are winding down, like the series is coming to a close, and yet the author keeps introducing new characters who will need their stories played out also. Hopefully it doesn't go on too much longer and can go out on a good note.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.

[RoXXie]

The King! The King! Long live the King!
Wow, wow, wow! And once again J.R. Ward is dragging us right in to the lives of the Brotherhood of the Black Dagger. And damn, how she does it!!! Breathtaking.

The corruption which is going around the aristocrats to get rid of there king, all fueled by the hat of the Band of Bastards. It is surprising to see, that Xhor is going a path without blood shedding. But is he willing to give up the throne? For a female? Is he willing to risk all what he came for, for a Chosen? Can Layla, the Chosen, follow her heart without betraying her loved King?
The answers are in this book, that's for sure. And it feels that never before, we learned so much about the Brothers and the Bastards.

And then there is Beth, the Queen, who is in need of a young. She wants it so bad, that it seems she would risk everything for it, even her mate. But can she do it? Will she have a young? Will Wrath, her King, her mate, her love of life, give her what she so desperately desires? It's a desire Wrath can't understand, it's a female desire, no man will ever understand.

I've been captured by the book, I could hardly take it away to do my daily errands. It's been a torture to not keep reading. The Warden, how J.R. Ward get lovely called by her fans, made it again. She took us deep in to a story, which we cannot escape.

Not only the fight for the throne of the vampire nation, but also the little side stories about Trez and Selena, Assail and Sola, make this book a wonderful installment to the Black Dagger series. And already, we wonder how will she drag us even further in to the dark mysteries.

[littleread1]

If it were not for all the side stories left hanging, that would actually have been a great ending to the series.

[Melanie]

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

I was really excited to get The King, as with Lover At Last, the build up and hype was huge. Most of the time, when a book is hyped as much as this one is, I'm usually disappointed. It is just too difficult to live up to what I'm expecting. This was a problem that I had with The King. It is not the first time I've had this issue with one of Ward's books.

With this story, we don't have a new couple. The book blurb talks all about Wrath, Beth and her desire to have a child and the weight of being the king has on Wrath. Well, that is only a part of the story. As with most of the BDB books, there is more than one storyline. This one, however, starts off really chaotic. There are so many different storylines I was starting to wonder if Ward somehow got ADD. There is a story for Xcor/Layla, Assail/Sola, Trez/Selena, S'Ex/Trez/iAm/world of the Shadows (I have no idea how to spell the actual name). We have tons of flashbacks to Wrath's parents, which I loved, but it always took me a second to figure out which "Wrath" we were talking about. I would give this part of the story 2.5 hearts. It was just too chaotic and a lot of it just seemed like filler, which this book didn't need.

Then there was also the story of Beth and Wrath. This includes Wrath's fight to keep the throne and Beth's battle with Wrath to have a child. This part of the story, is what I was expecting from Ward. It showed Wrath's passion to be king, as much as he hates it. It shows the struggle between the vampire males and females and the trouble with reproducing and the danger that goes along with it. It was great to see how passionate both partners were on their side of the argument. I love how Wrath goes and talks to Zsadist and Thor about becoming a father. We see Beth's strength and tenacity as she works with Wrath on not only the young, but to keep his throne. This part of the story deserves 4 stars, it was everything I would expect from a BDB book.

One thing I've always noticed with this series, but seemed to bother me more with this book than others in the past, is the product placement. Ward drops name brands like it is going out of style. With Lover At Last, someone did a blog post with a list of brand names (80 in total, I think). Does the woman get paid for every brand name she uses the way they do with product placement in the movies. I think I noticed it more, mostly because I was bored with crazy first part of the story. Once we got to the parts focusing on Beth and Wrath and less on all the other stuff, I didn't notice as much. It was the same with the ghetto speak, it drove me crazy in the first part, but later in the story, I was able to ignore it.

This isn't my least favorite book in the series, Lover Enshrined still owns that title, but it is in the bottom half. Will I continue this series? Yes. I have so much invested in all these characters that I've loved for years. I don't know that the series is as high on my list as it used to be. I'm curious if Ward sees the end game for this series. I'm not sure how many more books this series can handle. From the signing in Cincy, which I've only read the transcript that you can find on her Facebook page, it sounds like there are quite a few more to go. I think I just need to quit expecting books to "wow" me the way the first few books did and I'll be okay.

The narration is perfect for this series. Jim Frangione does a great job with all the ghetto speak. He is great with his continuity throughout the entire series. I can't remember a single time he has changed the pronunciation of any of the strange language or names throughout the entire series. I don't think anybody could do a better job with this series.

[Linda]

Great installment in the BDB series, but there I wish the focus had been more firmly on Wrath and his friends / loved ones. I was curious about the other storylines, too, but having so much of that included in the King's book took away from the main point and made the book feel a little more like filler for me.

Full review to come soon.

This and all my other reviews are originally posted on my blog (un)Conventional Bookviews

[Cocktails and Books]

This installment in the Black Dagger Brotherhood started out slowly for me. Too many other characters and their storylines took away from Wrath and Beth. But from the midpoint on, I was enraptured with the story and didn't want to put it down.

I thought JR Ward did a fantastic job of putting together a story for a couple that already had their HEA. The stress of Wrath's position was wrecking havoc on their relationship, before Beth's biological clock ticking, but what they struggled, fought and talked with one another until they realized what was important...their love for each other.

My favorite part of the story: Lassiter, Google and an Elvis costume. Vegas couldn't have done it better.

Lots of secondary storylines involving Assail and Sol (loved them), Trez and Selena (WTF IS going on there?), iAm, Trez, and Shadow executioner, s'Ex (his story is going to be interesting). These storylines weave through Wrath and Beth's although none of them are connected to what was happening, with the exception of Layla and Xcor.

Kayla and Xcor frustrate me. I don't think she could be that naive about Xcor and his intentions. the fact that she's basically led the Band of Bastards leader to the brotherhood backdoor (and got away with it) left me scratching my head. I know she thinks she's helping the brotherhood, but I think she's going to incite something very bad, very soon.

Despite the slow start, I loved the book. I'm sad that I finished and must wait a year for more. LONG LIVE THE KING!!!