𝙆𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙛 𝘽𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙚 & 𝘽𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙙 | 𝘽𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙍𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙬

King of Battle and Blood is supposed to be an adult romance fantasy that features a vampire king conquering kingdoms and a warrior human princess. However, if I’m not mistaken—if these eyes didn’t deceive me—this was just pure, okay-ish smut. Now, I don't mind smut! Hell, I read monster romance, so smut doesn't bother me! But smut with main characters who are cringe-worthy and unlikeable does.

Isolde doesn’t like vampires—she hates them. Yet, she marries one.

Okay.

But before you think she’s doing it for her people, she’s not really. Yes, she thinks of them in a few passages here and there, but the reason she agrees to Adrian’s terms is because she wants freedom for herself. Which I get, okay? But it isn’t the innocent lives of her people that convince her. Nope! Instead, it’s based on pure selfish reasons. She doesn’t think she has enough freedom as it is, even though her father has allowed her to train with weapons, and hasn’t forced her to marry yet (she’s 26 btw), she still feels like she doesn’t have freedom. Uh-huh. So, she agrees to be King Adrian’s wife and is married to the vampire king that calls her “sparrow”. Sadly, the name “sparrow” has probably been ruined for me as a cute pet name because of this book. *sigh*

This is my first time reading this author, so I’m not familiar with her writing style. It wasn’t the greatest, and it wasn’t the worst. I think it was fairly good in terms of style. I have no complaints here.

Have you ever disliked a FMC? Well, now I can say that I have.

Isodel was something. Her entire personality is just being aggressive, stabby-stab with knives, and sexual. Which isn’t a bad thing! Not if it is done right. This, however, was terrible. I love strong heroines. Whether they are Arya Stark strong, or Sansa Stark strong, I love them. But Isodel didn’t fit in either category. At the start of this book, I truly loved her. I liked she wasn’t afraid of being sexual and having sexual relationships. But I was waiting for her to grow; change and have some character arc. She didn’t. The only thing that changed was her view of vampires and their lifestyle within a few pages. Seriously. I am not joking. I think what turned me off to Isodel was when she arrived in Revekka. When she and Adrian arrived at his castle, the Red Palace, and there was a welcoming celebration thing for Adrian and her. Instead of dancing with Adrian and staying by his side, she did the exact opposite, which resulted in conflict and an enemy for Adrian. This infuriated me to no end. Why? Why would she do that? Only for the author to make an excuse to show that she’s “badass” and can kill. Another thing that bothered me about Isodel was the girl-on-girl hate between her and Adrian’s feeding tube *ahem* vessel. Throughout the book, Isodel would get mad, jealous, and act out because Adrian was simply feeding. Because Isodel didn’t allow him to feed on her? So she got mad that he fed from someone else??? What?? Okay I get him not fucking her when he’s busy doing you—they have some much sex that wasn’t good (I’ve read better fanfic smut) that I had to skip a lot of it—but the man needs to eat? Also! This woman gets away with so much murder that Adrian should’ve just turned the bitch. At least she can drain their blood so they’ll be useful? Anyway, yeah, she stabs and stabs and stabs that you should just expect it in every chapter. It’s no longer “badass” but boring and dull and you realize that’s her entire personality. Get dicked down by hot Vamp dude and kill pigs—I mean men. I’m all down for killing pig-men, but she has no cunning. No skill. She doesn’t use her woman goods to get what she wants, only complains and complains more.

I wish I was kidding with this review, but I’m not.

Adrian was one-dimensional to tell you the truth. But he wasn’t terribly dull. He had some character here and there, plus the mystery around his background helps add to his character (however, it sinks once we find out blah could’ve been better, but whatever). He’s basically the hot MMC who worships FMC’s body and says cringe shit during the devil's tango. Yeah. I never want to see “sparrow” used as a pet name unless it actually means something. (No, Isodel doesn’t deserve the title, sorry, but she doesn’t.)

The secondary vampire characters kept me reading, to be honest (that and my fury and determination to finish this). They were great and made me laugh, and I wish the focus of this story was Sorin and Daroc. They were awesome, and I wanted more of their story and relationship.

Killian was only created to be the punching bag for both Isodel and Adrian, and I hated every minute of it.

The world-building was interesting. I liked the whole idea of witches, the different monsters, and the existence of the goddesses. It was fun, and I liked the nine houses in this world. But it needed more development. 

I hated this, tbh. I would rather read Twilight, and that shit is bad, but at least it’s bad good. The theme was to be a badass and never accept the consequences of your actions and find yourself a simp with a big dick who is kinda awesome but gets overshadowed with your own bullshit. The overall idea was interesting, and it caught my eye, but the characters were so tiresome. Isodel was annoying, and I really despised her and her choices.

Hopefully, I’ll enjoy the author's other book, A Touch of Darkness more.

⭐/5

🌶🌶/5

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Isolde: “don’t touch me”

Adrian: “okay”

Isolde: “i’m so horny. why did he have to listen to my wish of not touching me!!”

She pisses me off.