I really love this series. Even though I have my issues with the writing and some of the stories, J.R. Ward always has me coming back for more. You're always guaranteed a 500+ page book so you definitely get your money's worth when it comes to the Black Dagger Brotherhood. I admit, some of it can be simple filler and there's a good amount of gangster talk, but I've simply learnt to overlook these things and simply enjoy the ride. Although, we didn't need that many Miley Cyrus references in this book. I'm not a fan of Miley Cyrus but I still don't understand J.R. Ward's problem with the twerking celebrity.
My only major dislike with this book is the amount of point of views. I didn't officially count them all but in my opinion, when you have more than ten point of views, it feels a little bit overwhelming. Mind you, many POVs revolved around the same story lines, but all the same, when there's a switch in POVs every chapter, it's really difficult to get into the book. It made the book feel like a bunch of short stories or novellas all mixed up and crammed together. With that many story lines, it also reduced the amount of fighting and Black Dagger Brotherhood action. Brotherhood interactions were also missing in this book since a lot of the story lines were centered around couples or characters that are not part of the Brotherhood.
For a book that I really enjoyed, this review has been pretty negative so far! On to the good stuff. One of the greatest things about this book is revisiting Beth and Wrath. The couple that started the whole series are ever present in all the BDB books but it was still nice to read more about them. It goes to show that stories don't always end up with a happily ever after and that book couples do fight after their "ending". I liked how Beth and Wrath fought about realistic problems that readers could possibly associate with. Although their circumstances may be a little different, since Wrath is the blind king of vampires, but all the same, I thought it was a great idea to bring them back. However, we still don't know why Wrath is blind, and as an Optometrist, I'm ever curious about his condition. (Unless it was mentioned and I totally missed something?) I just wished the book was centered more around them, since the book is title The King. On another note, I loved reading about Wrath's parents because not only do we get some historical background, we also see how the glymera, the vampire aristocracy, was never fond of Wrath or his father. Tension between the royal family and the glymera is ever present and for the past few books, we've been expecting something big to happen.
For some reason, I really enjoyed Assail and Sola's story line. Although I didn't care much for Assail in the previous books and I really thought he was a bad guy, he did do some pretty heroic stuff in this book (if you ignore the death that followed his wake). His old fashion attitude combined with his drug dealing business makes for a pretty interesting and original character. But what sealed it for me was his interactions with Sola's grandmother. One way to a girl's heart is to woo her only living relative whom she adores. Assail and Sola's relationship is pretty strange, but like all J.R. Ward couples, it's heavy and intense.
I won't discuss any other point of views except mention Trez and iAm. These Shadows, a different "tribe" of vampires, if you will, are well set up for their own book, which releases at the end of March 2015. I'm not overly excited about their book because I still don't understand where they're coming from. When Territory and the s’Hsibe are mentioned, there's still a lot of mystery and I don't know what to make of it. Hopefully their story will grow on me and we'll finally get to learn more about their origins.
Most fans of the series will enjoy The King if they can overlook the ridiculous amount of point of views. The book did have some flaws that I was able to overlook so some fans may not be crazy about The King, but then, if you've gotten this far in the series, you can turn around now. I loved revisiting old characters and the story development of newer ones. For future books, I say bring back more Brotherhood butt-kicking action. I need more!
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