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A review by carriaoke
Demon King by Kassandra Lynn
3.0
3.5 Stars
**I received a copy from the author in exchange for an honest review**
So my review for the first book in this trilogy, Demon Princess, was pretty much a rave review. I loved most everything about the story, and only had a couple things on my wishlist for the next book. Unfortunately, I feel like this book took a step back both in terms of writing and character development. Yes, I know it’s a review copy, but I did end up downloading the finished book on Kindle Unlimited to track my progress, and there were still a lot of grammar mistakes. Normally I can look past it, because we’re all human and mistakes happen, but some of these mistakes distracted me from reading. I had to go back and reread the sentence to make sure that I grasped what was happening. In addition to that, some of the writing felt a bit juvenile. There’s one sentence in particular where it said,
I was just kind of like, ‘You don’t say? Thank you for that Captain Obvious.’
In terms of character development, everyone either became spineless or a jerk. In the first book, Adriana was this kick ass demon princess who refused to become someone’s summon beast. In this book, she kind of tries to be a demon king, but ends up spending a majority of the time wallowing in her self-pity over the fact that she and Keldrin are destined to be mortal enemies. It sounds harsh, but trust me, after a while you’d be annoyed too. When she isn’t feeling sorry for herself, she’s standing on the sidelines watching the action. There were a couple times where she tried to be helpful, but for a lot of the book, she was a captive, by one kingdom or another, and relied on others to get her out. As for Keldrin, I think he spends a lot of this time wallowing in self-pity as well. He didn’t feel as powerful or strong as he did in the first book. It could be that he was overshadowed by his older brother Seth, whom by the way, I hated, whereas in the first book, he was the one doing the overshadowing.
Seth is blinded by hatred for the Demon Kingdom that prevents him from seeing things that are right in front of him. Adriana is literally in the middle of helping Keldrin and yet Seth is convinced that she’s trying to trick everyone. He very much shoots first, asks questions later and it got super annoying, not to mention that he was complete dick about everything he did. Which you'll see toward the beginning of the book.
Now, what I liked about the book was that the plot progressed and we had a couple questions from the first book answered. Her brother’s disappearance was finally addressed, and some family history is revealed that I really enjoyed and think will make things interesting (hopefully). I’ll give you one hint, it has to do with Razen’s theory about why she was summoned by a mage. We also find out the reason why Sadi is so protective of Adriana, which I did not see coming. At least not in the way that its presented. Sadi is actually Sebastian Dalman, rightful heir to the throne because Eldren, Adri's father, usurped Sadi's father.
I would recommend this book. Once again, it’s a short read at only 181 pages and took me a couple of hours to finish. I hope things take a step forward in the final book, because I really do like this series and the concept behind it. While this one wasn’t the best thing I’ve ever read, it definitely had its redeeming qualities.
**I received a copy from the author in exchange for an honest review**
So my review for the first book in this trilogy, Demon Princess, was pretty much a rave review. I loved most everything about the story, and only had a couple things on my wishlist for the next book. Unfortunately, I feel like this book took a step back both in terms of writing and character development. Yes, I know it’s a review copy, but I did end up downloading the finished book on Kindle Unlimited to track my progress, and there were still a lot of grammar mistakes. Normally I can look past it, because we’re all human and mistakes happen, but some of these mistakes distracted me from reading. I had to go back and reread the sentence to make sure that I grasped what was happening. In addition to that, some of the writing felt a bit juvenile. There’s one sentence in particular where it said,
Xander has blocked Drake’s attack at the last minute!
I was just kind of like, ‘You don’t say? Thank you for that Captain Obvious.’
In terms of character development, everyone either became spineless or a jerk. In the first book, Adriana was this kick ass demon princess who refused to become someone’s summon beast. In this book, she kind of tries to be a demon king, but ends up spending a majority of the time wallowing in her self-pity over the fact that she and Keldrin are destined to be mortal enemies. It sounds harsh, but trust me, after a while you’d be annoyed too. When she isn’t feeling sorry for herself, she’s standing on the sidelines watching the action. There were a couple times where she tried to be helpful, but for a lot of the book, she was a captive, by one kingdom or another, and relied on others to get her out. As for Keldrin, I think he spends a lot of this time wallowing in self-pity as well. He didn’t feel as powerful or strong as he did in the first book. It could be that he was overshadowed by his older brother Seth, whom by the way, I hated, whereas in the first book, he was the one doing the overshadowing.
Seth is blinded by hatred for the Demon Kingdom that prevents him from seeing things that are right in front of him. Adriana is literally in the middle of helping Keldrin and yet Seth is convinced that she’s trying to trick everyone. He very much shoots first, asks questions later and it got super annoying, not to mention that he was complete dick about everything he did. Which you'll see toward the beginning of the book.
Spoiler
He parades Adriana through the village on their way to the castle like she's some kind of prize while they throw things at her. She's only guilty by association.Now, what I liked about the book was that the plot progressed and we had a couple questions from the first book answered. Her brother’s disappearance was finally addressed, and some family history is revealed that I really enjoyed and think will make things interesting (hopefully). I’ll give you one hint, it has to do with Razen’s theory about why she was summoned by a mage.
Spoiler
Her grandfather is the fairy king and her brother Drake has been in the fairy kingdom this whole time.I would recommend this book. Once again, it’s a short read at only 181 pages and took me a couple of hours to finish. I hope things take a step forward in the final book, because I really do like this series and the concept behind it. While this one wasn’t the best thing I’ve ever read, it definitely had its redeeming qualities.