Betwixt the Sheets
  • Home/Index
    • Index by Author: A - L
    • Index by Author: M - Z
    • Index by Title: A - L
    • Index by Title: M - Z
  • Interviews
  • About Me
  • Review Policy
  • Contact
    • Author Request Form
    • Publisher Request Form
    • Business Inquiries
  • Bookish Creators
    • Sirehn.Ink
Picture

'King of the Castle' by Carmen Hunter

2/28/2020

1 Comment

 
King of the Castle by Carmen Hunter
"In the frozen tundra of Khovir, a queen must put herself between the man she loves and the twin brother who covets all he has. When Amaroq steals her husband's crown, Kana sacrifices herself to the new king's rage to protect all that she cares for."

'King of the Castle' by Carmen Hunter is touted as a dark historical romance novel, described to have traumatic scenes between captor and captive that are described in full detail. Only.. it isn't. Not really.

The descriptions of the power exchange scenarios are actually really brief and lackluster. The author seems to lack the range of language or creativity to make any of the scenes colorful, from the physical exchanges between Kana and her new King.. which are very basic, to the condition of the old king in his cell, and even scenes where the loyal are extinguished.

She genuinely didn't manage to make me care about a single character. There's zero growth within them. They're not complex, though it's clear the author either believes they are or wants the reader to believe so. Everyone is wishy-washy.

Kana spends the entire story swinging between acting contrite and saying she's sorry, then raging out on the King in some ridiculous over the top way and inspiring his violence again, which of course he's 'manipulating her into,' just so she can be 'terrified' a moment later. The cycle continues over and over, but not even in a believable way.

This isn't a story with a series of violent scenes. It's a number of individual, uninteresting violent scenes with the barest minimum of occurrences between them to seem like a story, to create more chances for violent scenes. There's no craft here. No substance.

I still don't understand the purpose of the first chapter. It seems wholly out of sync with the rest of the novel. You'll see what I mean if you read this.. but something referenced there actually never occurs throughout the entire book. There's no flashback or flashforward. It simply never is. Like the author originally thought to go one direction, then went another, and completely forgot what chapter one said.

Characters seldom even behave in ways that make any sense. We're not given reasons to believe many of their actions. We're just to take it on word.. that they feel one way or the other. And what an absolutely worthless ending.

Honestly, don't waste your time on this book. Even the alleged 'steamy' scenes aren't worthwhile and I love a good dark exchange.

1 Comment
Ari
3/15/2020 05:33:39 pm

Often I feel that authors are almost afraid to show how truly dark and traumatizing a scene--like it seems was attempted here more than once--can be. Like "I'm gonna toe the line, but I can't really handle going in deep." It's a shame, because that type of scenario explodes a story in all types of ways.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

      Subscribe for updates!

    Subscribe to Newsletter
    Reviews Published Professional Reader 50 Book Reviews Featured Book Reviewer

    Inkslinger’s quotes


    Goodreads Quotes

    Inkslinger's ReaderRank
    Inkslinger has reviewed 387 books with an average rating of 3.548 out of 5.
    898 people have found Inkslinger's written reviews to be helpful on Goodreads.
    See more...
    Top 5% in readers helpedTop 5% in readers helped
    Top 10% based on reading volumeTop 10% based on reading volume
    Top 20% in DarkTop 20% in Dark
    Top 20% in HorrorTop 20% in Horror
    Top 20% in UrbanTop 20% in Urban
    BookSirens Logo

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    October 2015
    September 2015

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home/Index
    • Index by Author: A - L
    • Index by Author: M - Z
    • Index by Title: A - L
    • Index by Title: M - Z
  • Interviews
  • About Me
  • Review Policy
  • Contact
    • Author Request Form
    • Publisher Request Form
    • Business Inquiries
  • Bookish Creators
    • Sirehn.Ink