Kiss of a Demon King

I just didn't enjoy the dynamic in this one. I had liked the hero as a side character, but here he was kind of a mean, hypocritical, fool. Enemies to lovers isn't my favorite trope anyway, but this couple kept treating each other poorly long after they had started to develop feelings for each other, which made it feel worse. Until the very end of the book it felt more like a battle of wills, possessiveness and revenge than it did love. Even when signs of affection would pop up they were so interspersed with the opposite that it felt like an abusive rollercoaster relationship. And rather than building trust in the usual ways, their solutions were just ways of making it harder to get away with lying... So even any growth they might have show more built otherwise felt undermined.

So when they were strangers and enemies she held him captive and sexually frustrated him repeatedly trying to manipulate him into doing something. That's not my cup of tea, but they largely both enjoyed the power dynamic play and their activities together, so whatever. She'd basically been raised to be a villain, and though he was left frustrated, he wasn't flayed alive or anything. He also discovers she's his one fated mate to love out of all the universe and eternity. So then when he gets the upper hand he follows through with all the nobility and higher ground he's been claiming. ... Just kidding, he's basically willing to sacrifice all hope for a happy future together in order to exact revenge. And he doesn't just frustrate her in captivity, which would be turnabout, (still not wise when you're hoping someone will grow to love you or something, (or at least not flee from you), but... ¯_(ツ)_/¯ ) he also ups the ante! He strikes her, he destroys her property, he exposes her to the elements, he puts her life in danger (that was a byproduct of the captivity, to be fair, but still, she was made helpless at the mercy of *a gang* when she never would have been if she’d not already been bound) and he yells at her to confide personal secrets to him like he's entitled to anything he wants from her. It's so far past the point of reasonable. And even after they've arrived at a truce where they're both mostly liking each other, she does one thing (for very good reasons I might add) that he dislikes and *he barely resists raping her* (twice!). He spins it like it's his love for her that drove him to it, but that's just twisted. He'd even been told by a previous hero not to do anything regarding his mate that could never be repaired, and he thinks about that several times, but then continues to do the damaging shit anyway. And they both kept major secrets until the very last, it was just disappointing to me. If the relationship had been healthier I would have liked it fine I suppose, so two stars rather than a single. show less

Kiss of the Demon King
4.5 Stars

Synopsis
Sabine, the Queen of Illusions, lures Rydstrom Woede, deposed King of the Rage Demons to her lair in order to seduce him and produce an heir. Not only does Rydstrom plan to escape but is also determined to claim Sabine as his own. Can these too unlikely lovers overcome the obstacles in their past and defeat the sinister foe standing in the way of their predestined future?

Review
Rydstrom's scene at the end of Dark Desires After Dusk had me salivating to read this one and I wasn't disappointed.

Rydstrom is seriously smokin' and I wouldn't mind keeping him in my dungeon (if I had one). Nevertheless, he is not only a pretty face but honest and honorable, fierce and lusty.

Sabine grew on me like a fungus. show more Even though she classifies herself as evil, I saw her as a powerful woman willing to do anything to survive. Yes, she is immoral, ruthless, manipulative and untrustworthy but she has her reasons and she is never intentionally cruel or vicious (unless keeping a man sexually frustrated is considered cruel and unusual punishment - he didn't seem to mind too much...).

Sabine and Rydstrom are a perfect, if ironic, match and their clash of wills and battle for dominance is very entertaining (theirs is definitely the most erotic romance so far). Moreover, their journey toward mutual acceptance and a deep emotional connection makes this an excellent addition to the series.

The writing is wonderful as usual and the story within a story prologue establishes the darker tone and atmosphere that characterizes the book as well as providing insight into Sabine's nature. The secondary characters are very compelling, especially Lanthe and Thronos (there's another book in there) and Lothaire - there are no words to describe how much he intrigues me.

Couple of nitpicks - the dungeon scenes are too drawn out and although Omort's demise is satisfying, it is too rushed and a little anti-climactic given all the build up of the war in previous books.

Overall, two thumbs up! show less

Fantastic...
One, The points that had me laughing, had me so shocked that I would bust out laughing sooooo hard.
Two, I loved how wicked Sabine was to him, and how strong his resistance to her was. Rydstrom was just as wicked later too.

Sabine is quite a character. She's funny, she's bitchy, she keeps jars of organs from her enemy on her nightstand... I liked her. I liked how she would seduce Rydstrom. It was very wicked, and very mean. But he got his payback.

I think it's funny, how it was all about the sword that killed Omort, but really I think it was because her sister said that he can't use sorcery, and then his head was cut off. So he can't use sorcery to regenerate. Just saying.

Good read.

Kiss of the Demon King
4.5 Stars

Synopsis
Sabine, the Queen of Illusions, lures Rydstrom Woede, deposed King of the Rage Demons to her lair in order to seduce him and produce an heir. Not only does Rydstrom plan to escape but is also determined to claim Sabine as his own. Can these too unlikely lovers overcome the obstacles in their past and defeat the sinister foe standing in the way of their predestined future?

Review
Rydstrom's scene at the end of Dark Desires After Dusk had me salivating to read this one and I wasn't disappointed.

Rydstrom is seriously smokin' and I wouldn't mind keeping him in my dungeon (if I had one). Nevertheless, he is not only a pretty face but honest and honorable, fierce and lusty.

Sabine grew on me like a fungus. show more Even though she classifies herself as evil, I saw her as a powerful woman willing to do anything to survive. Yes, she is immoral, ruthless, manipulative and untrustworthy but she has her reasons and she is never intentionally cruel or vicious (unless keeping a man sexually frustrated is considered cruel and unusual punishment - he didn't seem to mind too much...).

Sabine and Rydstrom are a perfect, if ironic, match and their clash of wills and battle for dominance is very entertaining (theirs is definitely the most erotic romance so far). Moreover, their journey toward mutual acceptance and a deep emotional connection makes this an excellent addition to the series.

The writing is wonderful as usual and the story within a story prologue establishes the darker tone and atmosphere that characterizes the book as well as providing insight into Sabine's nature. The secondary characters are very compelling, especially Lanthe and Thronos (there's another book in there) and Lothaire - there are no words to describe how much he intrigues me.

Couple of nitpicks - the dungeon scenes are too drawn out and although Omort's demise is satisfying, it is too rushed and a little anti-climactic given all the build up of the war in previous books.

Overall, two thumbs up! show less

Reviewed by: Rabid Reads.

The arch nemesis match-up was a cool idea, and I liked that Kresley Cole jumped straight away into Rydstrom’s story after Cadeon’s because Woede’s about-face towards the end of book 6 left me dying to know the cause. This installment was probably one of the hottest thus far, but that actually worked against KISS OF A DEMON KING; the couple felt as though they were an island unto themselves instead of part of the Lore, and the quest for the crown was downgraded to a minor concern. This novel was second to last for me in the IMMORTALS AFTER DARK series.

I don’t do well with plots that revolve around one setting, and granted this tale had more than that; however the bulk of the events unfolded either in show more Sabine’s dungeon, or Rydstrom’s demon camp, and it grew stale after a while. And, not just because of the limited scope, but also due to the monotony of the action. Sex is inherently redundant as is torture—cut, thrust, repeat—so after a couple of chapters of this, déjà vu set in. It also isolated the characters from the rest of the IAD universe, and as a result this audio felt disconnected from the whole.

Villains can be as captivating as protagonists, so Sabine’s evilness wasn’t the trait that turned me off from her plight. I liked that she stayed true to her course, and that finding love didn’t change her basic nature. Rothkalina never denied that she was a liar, a thief, and a master manipulator, but when the gloves came off there was nothing extra beneath the surface. Her sole redeeming quality was her devotion to her sister, Lanthe, otherwise there was absolutely no depth to her personage. She was just an empty shell of discontent.

I’ve been admiring Rydstrom from afar for several installments now, and was looking forward to seeing the Demon King in all of his raging glory. Imagine my disappointment when he spent the majority of this audiobook chained to a bed! He was all bark, and no bite; the only place that his furor came through was in Robert Petkoff’s narration which hasn’t wavered in its awesomeness since IAD #1. This was the second so-so volume that was much improved by his performance, and I’m grateful for his steadfastness at times like this when Cole’s writing slips.

KISS OF A DEMON KING will please BDSM listeners, but frustrate substance seekers. ~3.5 stars show less

3,75
I loved Sabine and Rydstrom: their characterisation, their relationship and so on.
My only complaint with this book and with the whole is that there is too much sex, especially in the first part of this book. Please, dear Kresley, can't you just give more space to the plot, the setting and the characterisation? You created a very good lore and lovely characters..do you need to put so much erotic scenes in your books? That's bad. I find it annoying when events revolve around sex for 100 pages and it looks like a sort of filler for the lacking of better ideas.
Overall I liked the book. The second part was so better, fortunately!
I hope the series will get better and will focus more on the wide cast of characters than sex.

Kresley Cole is the absolute best at creating two characters who fall in love but are at understandable cross-purposes and therefore keep missing opportunities to be with one another in a fulfilling way. I love this series and the worlds that Cole keeps layering into the overall plot.

This story is about Sabine and Rydstrom, whom were referenced in the previous book in this series, Dark Desires After Dark. So this story runs (mostly) concurrently with that previous book. The only drawback I have is I kept wondering when the things that happened in Dark Desires were going to effect Sabine and Rydstrom. But overall, a fun and enjoyable read. As always, Cole's books have wonderful sarcastic wit and hot sex scenes.