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A review by cavityfila
The King by J.R. Ward
3.0
I was disappointed with this book. Not because it was bad, but because all of her other BDB books were so great, that she is held to her own high standard. And this one just didn't meet it. In the last several books, she has been adopting a soap opera style of telling her story, jumping from one character to the next in each consecutive chapter. I am not a fan of this style because I like to be focused on the main characters but in this book she took it so far, I felt it was hard to tell who the main story line was even about. Yes, it was Beth and Wrath, but their story got so diluted with the constant intrusion of so many chapters on Wrath the father/Anha, Trez/Selena, Assail/Sola, Xcor/Layla and even a POV from John Matthew, that it was all over the place and hard to concentrate on the main theme of the book. And as far as Beth and Wrath go, I like them and am happy they got their HEA, but that seems played out to me already. They had their chance in book one, and with plenty of updates in later books. I wasn't as excited about them being the mc's because we already know them and there just isn't that much drama there, no angst, no "will he/ wont he", just a "will he stay king and get over his personal demons" etc. It didn't do it for me.
I liked some of the side plots better than the main plot but there were so many that they didn't have enough meat in them. For instance, I definitely want to see more of the shadows and look forward to seeing Trez and Selena play out, along with whatever happens with iAm. I also liked Assail and Sola this time, even though I found them annoying previously. I am completely uninterested in Xcor and Layla, as I have been from day one of their storyline. But the worst was about Wrath and Anha, Wrath's parents. These segments were downright boring and required significant skimming to get through, which I have never done before in this series. Finally, what I would like to see more of is John Matthew, and him finally figuring out that he has Darius's soul inside him. Ward hints at it here as she has before but I think that will make for an interesting future revelation. And then hopefully we will get Darius's story.
So overall, this book was a letdown for me. Especially after the high of Lover at Last, which I absolutely loved. It was a "meh" way to catch up on your favorite characters, like a "where are they now?" segment that just showed not much has changed.
I liked some of the side plots better than the main plot but there were so many that they didn't have enough meat in them. For instance, I definitely want to see more of the shadows and look forward to seeing Trez and Selena play out, along with whatever happens with iAm. I also liked Assail and Sola this time, even though I found them annoying previously. I am completely uninterested in Xcor and Layla, as I have been from day one of their storyline. But the worst was about Wrath and Anha, Wrath's parents. These segments were downright boring and required significant skimming to get through, which I have never done before in this series. Finally, what I would like to see more of is John Matthew, and him finally figuring out that he has Darius's soul inside him. Ward hints at it here as she has before but I think that will make for an interesting future revelation. And then hopefully we will get Darius's story.
So overall, this book was a letdown for me. Especially after the high of Lover at Last, which I absolutely loved. It was a "meh" way to catch up on your favorite characters, like a "where are they now?" segment that just showed not much has changed.