Let me just say that King of Battle and Blood is not bad, but it is not what I was expecting to read when I started reading it. I was expecting a heavy action book with some romance throughout it, it was the opposite and that’s fine just not what I was expecting to read at the time. The positives of this book were that the spice was good for me and that the background story for Adrian was pretty intriguing. In all honesty, I would be more interested in hearing Adrian and Yesnia’s story than Adrian and Isolde’s story. I won’t go too into that because I don’t want to spoil anything, but I think a prequel would be more interesting than a sequel, to be honest.
I was initially intrigued by the female main character, Princess Isolde. She was a strong warrior princess who knew how to take care of herself and defend her people. She also didn’t stand for anyone’s crap which I appreciate, and throughout the book, that was consistent. Then she got married and she constantly seemed to be in trouble after that and was only able to be helped by her new husband Adrian. I don’t mean to be a hater but a vampire named Adrian especially when the rest of his name is Aleksandr Vasiliev, just seems to fall short for me but that is just me nitpicking. My main point is that Isolde is the strong, badass, independent woman who is supposed to be this warrior and it seems like in the latter half of the book she is constantly hurt by either magic or poison. Which I would say is understandable, but she has supposedly been training the majority of her life to defend herself against vampires and she can’t seem to fight them.
I love a good enemies-to-lovers romance when it is done right to my standards. Personally, when I think of enemies-to-lovers I think of a lot of fighting and then eventual understanding happening. This book was a lot of fighting and jumping to conclusions and then a lot of sex. I have no problem with the spice of this book, but it does not feel like enemies-to-lovers to me. It feels like enemies with benefits who eventually fall in love. Also, I know Adrian has been around for a long time, but are you seriously telling me that he is right about everything because let me just say this man seems to have no faults. He is literal perfection though he does have a bit of a temper, though I feel it is sometimes justified in his court and dealing with Killian. He also admits getting turned on by arguing specifically with Isolde which is just a weird/icky turn on in my opinion.
Overall, I rate this book 3/5 stars because it is not a book I would reread, nor is it a book I would openly recommend to people. That being said there were good aspects of this book as I mentioned before I liked Adrian’s backstory and I liked the spice of this book. I felt like Isolde’s character flatlined after getting married she read more as a petulant child at times rather than a warrior queen.