Red-Haired Ash Reads

Ever since their affair ended twenty years ago, Julian, the Nightkind King, and Melisande, daughter of the Light Fae Queen, have tried to keep their distance and put the past behind them. But when a war breaks out and Julian finds himself hunting a powerful vampire of the Nightkind Council, he finds he has to risk everything to protect Melisande. These two end up having to work together to escape Justine and stop her before she causes more harm. 

I will admit, I was apprehensive about starting this book because I didn’t really like Julian in any of the previous stories. He is an arrogant and demanding vampire who doesn’t really know how to let things go or apologize. But things change for him after Xavier is almost assassinated and Melsande is kidnapped. Julian has quite a lot of growth in this book. He is still arrogant and demanding, but we see him learn to let go of the past and actually trust Melisande. Also, we see him start to think about what he actually wants in his life and not just what he has been commanded to do by his sire.  While I still don’t like Julian a lot, I do think he is a better character now and that Melly is good for him. 

Melisande is a sweet woman and a talented actor. She truly loved Julian years ago and was devastated when he broke things off. Like any woman, she got angry that he wouldn’t believe her and any time they saw each other they fought. While Melisande is sweet, we also see she is extremely smart and capable. She doesn’t really wait to be rescued and can’t kick some ass when necessary. Melly was just a surprise with how much inner strength she has and that she wasn’t afraid to fight for what she wanted. 

The fight against the traitorous vampires was very interesting and I enjoyed the whole journey. Julian has been a pretty level headed king at this point but we see him hit his breaking point and set things straight with the council finally. I will be interested in seeing what will happen with the Nightkind leadership in future books now that he has set boundaries. 

Overall, this was a surprisingly enjoyable story considering I didn’t really like the MMC to begin with. Julian grew on me though and I did appreciate that he apologized for his behavior. I look forward to seeing what will happen next for the Nightkind and if anything will be done about the pariah djinn who keeps causing problems. 

TW: kidnapping; torture; mass death; violence

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Previous books and reviews for the series:

#1. Dragon Bound
#2. Storm’s Heart
#3. Serpent’s Kiss
#3.5 True Colors
#4. Oracle’s Moon
#4.5 Natural Evil
#4.6 Devil’s Gate
#4.7 Hunter’s Season
#5. Lord’s Fall
#5.5 The Wicked
#6. Kinked
#6.5 Dragos Takes a Holiday
#6.6 Pia Saves the Day
#6.7 Peanut Goes to School
#7. Night’s Honor