Kings Rising

This is definitely the strongest book of the series. Packed with action, romance, and intrigue that felt like a roller coaster. Pacat really came into her own with the writing of this one, with the struggles I mentioned in my review of the first book. It's almost a shame you have to read the first two books for this book to have that impact because I'd definitely recommend this one on it's own.

These books are really satisfying. Definitely recommend if you enjoy both m/m and historical fantasy.

This trilogy deserves a million stars! I am in awe that a new author wrote a story of this caliber. So many twists and turns...you never know what's coming and it keeps you on the edge of your seat right up until the very end. Well done, C.S. Pacat. Well done.

Well done also for making me love this story when I normally loathe trilogies. I don't read them. Ever. I hate cliffhangers. But when my hold became available at the library, I downloaded purely out of curiosity and found I couldn't stop reading. I'm sure it helped that my library had all 3 parts of the story, but even if they hadn't, I would have wanted to know what happened next, would have needed the conclusion to Damen and Laurent's story. It's the kind of epic romance that consumes you, that you just want to keep reading without stop.

It had all the odds stacked against it...a trilogy, and one that takes place mostly on the battlefield, something I thought would bore me to tears. It didn't. Not even a little bit.

It also takes a very long time to get to the sex, which normally for me would be a big strike against it. In this case, however, it felt right. Considering the dynamic between these two men, one held against his will as slave to the other, I was actually glad that it took as long as it did for them to be intimate, because when it finally happened it was consensual. It wasn't rape. It is also quickly apparent that something happened to Laurent in his past that put him off of sex, so the way it unfolds between them slowly, gently, makes total sense.

That being said, the dynamic between Damen and Laurent as slave and master is still so hot. Damen is the bigger man, physically, of the two...heavily muscled. A fighting machine. It goes against everything in him to act as a slave when he should be a king. Gradually he comes to accept it, in part because he's slowly seeing Laurent for who he really is and falling for the flesh and blood man beneath the facade, and in part out of guilt for having inadvertently hurt Laurent in the past before he ever knew him, something that remains an obstacle between them and any real relationship.

I highly recommend the epilogue The Summer Palace, book 3.5, as an accompaniment. It's beautiful and romantic, and I loved reading more of their happily ever after.