King of Hell

by Morgan Dante

Still need to scratch that Good Omens or Supernatural itch?

Laurențiu , a vampire staked by his ex-lover's husband, only craves one revenge. In Hell, as a courtier for one of the kings of Hell, he's consumed by it and willing to make a deal to kill the man, Anthony, who turned him into a vampire and abandoned him.

Paimon , the titular King of Hell, really doesn't take much seriously and tries to have some fun, often content with opulence and debauchery. However, growing bored with his repetitive life, he agrees to help his vampire find and kill Anthony. Trouble is, the Earth itself is a zombie-ridden hellscape, and they undergo a road trip where they're confronted by "reanimated persons" and hostile mortals alike.

King of Hell is a standalone M/M paranormal romance with a road trip, found family, villain/villain, and an HEA.

Genres: Vampires, Romance, Paranormal, Fantasy, LGBT, M M Romance, Queer

182 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 17, 2023

About the author

Horror, fantasy, and romance writer. Vampire and angel enjoyer. They/Them. Read more on morgandante.com.

Reviews

[jay · Rating 4 out of 5]

daddy Paimon :)


read as part of 202-Queer 🌈✨

[Morgan Dante · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lol funny men commit crimes

[Poppy || Monster Lover · Rating 4 out of 5]

Laurențiu and Paimon were a match made in hell and fed off one another’s chaotic trauma responses. They made their love story work for them, although they both thought they were unworthy of love for different reasons. Laurențiu had abandonment issues and existed for his revenge. Caring for Adrian, in his own emotionally constipated way, gave him peace.

Spice: 2/5

Triggers: violence, gore, cannibalism, murder, discussion of traumatic imprisonment in a hospital, brief accidental misgendering, mention of death of parents, discussion of murder of life partner, tense horror moments

[Smutty Sully · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Well, that was fun. Oh, darling, you’re covered in blood again.”

That quote could apply to all of Dante's books 😂

It was fun and gory. More funny pajama pants. A short glimpse of Lucifer, because that's the obvious person to go to for love advice.

Longer RTC.

[Rowlet · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an ARC from Morgan Dante, and here’s my review!

This book was a fun, spooky read that had me swooning and turning the page! The writing style was a great mix of snarky and sophisticated, and I found myself getting lost in the characters and story. The relationship was sweet, which is difficult to do when you’re writing a vampire and fallen angel!

Who knew a book with this much blood could have this much heart?

This was a fun page-turner for the spooky season

[Vanessa (bookfairy95) · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF at 48%

I guess this one just wasn't for me...

I found out about this book when FaeCrate announced they'd feature it in one of their boxes with a beautiful redesigned cover. So I found it on KU, read the synopsis and was like "this sounds like fun".

Unfortunately... it wasn't. At least not for me. ☹️
I didn't really click with either of the characters. Even though I usually love stories with demons and the like, these characteres seemed way too flippant for me. The writing style was confusing, jumping from one topic to the next and I was searching for a silver lining in vain. And the storyline as a whole... well somehow it seemed like I was waiting for things to pick up pace and get interesting, but at 48% into the book I was still waiting.
And so, since I decided one of my new year resolutions would be to DNF books I was clearly not enjoying, I decided to put this one down. Very ad, because I was really hoping I'd enjoy this.☹️

[Shelba · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF @ 20%.

This was hard to get into. Everything jumped around so much. Can’t we get through one though before thinking back on something else, and the jumping back and finishing that original train of thought? It as though the author was over tired or over caffeinated while writing this… maybe both? Or maybe I’m the one over tired?

I guess it’s true what they say about revenge being a dish best served cold, because it took 20% to even get the ball rolling on that front. Keeping it glacial with the pace.

But the main reason why I am DNFing this one is the constant descriptions of clothing. Some people love that, I’m sure. I’m not one of them. I don’t care about your black bes and matching slacks with a blood-red shirt. (I get that it’s Hell, but can’t you guys wear something other than red?!)

[H. P. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel like the premise of this story had promise but the writing style left much to be desired. I was so confused but I pushed through the end anyway and when I reached the last page I felt like the story was lacking. It just had this empty feeling at the end like loose ends that were not tied and characters that didn’t quite develop. This book will be coming to me in my FaeCrate box when they get over their shipping delays and I’m disappointed that I don’t like it :(

[Lilouae · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good representation, but the story was boring to me!

[alex ✨ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alex bait!!!! literalllllly written for ME

Disclaimer: I received an eArc from the author.

Morgan Dante delivers yet another cleverly crafted romance that, despite its dark journey, encourages an earnest hope and desire to survive. King of Hell follows the vampire—Laurențiu—and King of Hell—Paimon—in a dystopian future on a mission of revenge against Laurențiu’s ex-lover. Sure, it’s a road trip, but it's also an expert physical manifestation of a quickly-paced romance, and it works so well.

Dante’s character work was such a delight. The softer moments contrasted with the absurdity of the violence, the delightful amount of tension that tied the characters together, and just every small detail to build them out all cumulated in a story worth devouring. Despite the potential of clutter, with so many things happening, the novel feels grounded, balanced out by the character moments that allow the plot to breathe and continue forward.

As a Romanian-American myself, it was truly a delight to follow along a sarcastic and hopeless vampire that moved beyond the cliche and leaned into the cultural background. Although it would be a little insincere to act like I’m shocked, since I personally helped Dante craft the character, it still meant a lot to me to have such a complex queer Romanian-American character.

And, my beloved Paimon. A capricious, sensitive, violent creature who says the most absurd things. I was utterly delighted by him. I never laughed out loud as much as I did reading his POV and off-hand comments. He worked to balance out Laurențiu’s more somber energy, bringing out the humor underneath the depressing silence. The two worked so well and had some fantastic banter.

A perfect spooky read for all your Halloween needs, I implore every reader with a taste of vampires, and even those without, to pick up this delicious bite of a read.

[Luna Fiore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I received an ARC from the author

Morgan is exceptionally good at crafting characters that I would do anything for by the end of the story. Laurențiu, a pissed of vampire who wants to kill the person who wronged him, and Paimon, a King of Hell who doesn't think he deserves love, their not-child, Adrian, and the family Hellhound, Daisy. I am sucker for found family and road trips and I got all of that plus zombies, revenge, and greasy diner food. Most of all I love watching people untangle their past and entwine their futures because yes, they do deserve to love and be loved.

[Martina Weiß · Rating 5 out of 5]

Huge thanks to Morgan Dante, for giving me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

5 / 5 Stars !!

CW: Hell imagery, Supernatural violence, Neck snapping, Blood-drinking, Heart-eating, Mentions of cannibalism, Tense horror moments, Brief accidental misgendering, Mentions Of Past Animal Murder


I loved every second of this. I think I practically inhaled the book, because I couldn't, for the life of me, put it down. Because honestly? It was even better than I hoped it would be.

I don't think you understand how tempted I am to include millions upon millions of keyboard smashing ancient tongue, paired with unreadable smiles in this review, because those might be the only thing coming close to telling you, how much I enjoyed reading this one.

I've had a craving for a certain type of book and character dynamic that nothing but fanfiction was able to mildy satiate for a long while now. And when I found this book, it was like heaven and hell had answered my prayers. What cravings, you might ask? Well, easy my friend: Villain x Villain.

But not just any evil couple, no, no. This is a healthy Evil Power Couple. Full on respect. Full on consent. Full on chemistry. Communication. Equality. And full on owning my heart. It's perfection. *insert heart eyes here*

For a story about murder, death, revenge and pain, this was kind of surprisingly wholesome and sweet. <3 Especially since we build a found family on the way.

I know that there were so many more amazing things - so much angst. So much hurt/comfort - that I could be telling you about, but honestly, I'm begging you: go check them out yourself. It's truly that good, I promise, I swear.


Final Thoughts:
I absolutely loved this book!

[Natalie Sypeck · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars

This book unfortunately was not for me. I've read this author before so I know I can enjoy their work, this one just isn't one of them. This book is very character driven, which isn't always bad, but I struggled to connect to the characters so I felt bored because there wasn't much of a plot and I didn't really care about the characters woes. This book follows two broken people who find themselves in a position to accept love and are struggling to come to terms with the fact that they deserve some semblance of happiness. The book has its sweet moments, it feels somewhat domestic for a book following a king of hell and revenge driven vampire through the zombie apocalypse. The ending was anti-climatic and though I liked some of the religious imagery, I overall felt the world was kind of flat. I feel this book needed to be edited, sometimes sentences weren't structured in ways that was easy to read of words were just in the wrong place.

My favorite part was that they were so casual about murder, that made me chuckle a few times.

[Katarína · Rating 3 out of 5]

Found this one to be a bit confusing at times, loved the characters tho.

[Jovana · Rating 4 out of 5]

~Big thank you to Morgan for letting me be a part of King of Hell's ARC team :)
POSSIBLE SPOILERS!!

"If there's one thing Laurenţiu can do, it's survive. Mostly, admittedly, out of spite. If he has nothing else, he’ll always have his refusal to be insignificant. [...] You deserve to be alone. We owe you nothing. So, he replied: Give me everything. If he can’t have love, he’ll have everything else. If not on Earth, then in Hell."

~ Having previously read (and enjoyed) only Providence girls by Morgan, I didn't know what to expect from King of Hell. I believe I expected something at least a bit similar, and boy was I wrong. I applaud the author's ability to write such marginally different books.

WRITING STYLE/FORMATING
"People become cruel when faced with their shame. [...] “It’ll be good to relax. An hour in, and I’ve already had to kill someone. It’s making me tense.” He’s lying. Killing is too much fun.
Briefly looking over at Paimon, Laurențiu bats his eyelashes. “Poor thing.” Paimon pouts. “I know!”"

~ There is only one way to describe King of Hell- moridly hilarious. Humor in this book is quite dark in a light, casual way that I adore!! Topics like death, gore, blood, sex and cannibalism are discussed with nonchalance one would usually use when talking about the weather. What I deducted from this book is that vampirism is just a more polite version of cannibalism (which comes with benefits). The author doesn't shy away from disturbing themes, they manipulate them into well-placed jokes and entertaining banter between main characters. I was ready to highlight insightful quotes, but instead I found myself marking every paragraph I found humorous (and I'm still delighted by the number of them). Also, I have to mention the representation in this book and how wonderful it is to read about trans characters whose identities are fully accepted without questions.
I've always been a fan of dual POV's and I'm glad this feature is present in every Morgan's book I've read so far. What's especially lovely is how unlike and different narration is in Paimon's and Laurenţiu's POVs! Where Laurenţiu's chapters are straightforward, informative and rigid, Paimon's are flexible, unpredictable and full of silly thoughts. The contrast in tones creates a flowing dynamic that helps the reader stay engaged in the story, but it also provides an insight in characters' personalities and how they differ and match. My biggest issue with the writing style lies in the beginning, which in my opinion contains unnecessary info dumps in some places. We are told about the workings and ranks in Hell in a way that could've been described and shown throughout the book, instead of told in the first few chapters (but since most of the book is set on Earth, I believe we could overlook this) (also, the "smote, smitted" reference didn't escape my notice ;)).

PLOT
"It’s the thirty-year anniversary since his ex-lover’s husband drove a silver stake into his heart, and currently, he stands outside a throne room of one of the Kings of Hell. Thirty years. Since Anthony watched him die."

~There isn't much I could say that wouldn't spoil the book, but what I can guarantee that King of Hell is very plot driven and fast paced, which I appreciate. After establishing the premise of the plot in the first couple of chapters (Paimon learning about Laurenţiu's past and offering to help Laurenţiu execute his revenge), we follow Paimon and Laurenţiu (and their child and dog apparently) on their vengeful road trip. Something is constantly happening which appeals to my attention spam. The ending was quite satisfying and I'm glad we didn't go back to Hell. Somehow, the ending the story on Earth feels right.

PAIMON
"After all, a monster is meant to be under the bed, not in it. [...] they haven’t killed anyone. Not even one person! It sucks.What is the point of being on Earth if he can’t enjoy the fact that mortal lives are finite? And their insides, for some reason, are very squishy. God really peaked with that one."

~Dramatic and gorgeous. Afraid of the quiet, the Darkness and his own thoughts. Exuberant, a hedonist and somebody who believes they're fundamentally unlovable. His character made me love this book as his POV is always refreshing, funny and again, very dramatic. What adds to the depth of his character is the fact that he's a fallen angel and carries trauma and guilt with him every step of the way. He's easily bored and endlessly intrigued by Laurenţiu, which perfectly sums him up. Having to constantly occupy himself to avoid spiraling is something most of us could relate to, and his flare for dramatics and complete aloofness regarding morbid topics is what makes him so dear to me.

LAURENŢIU
"He (Paimon) admires Laurenţiu's ability to kneel but not necessarily feel as if he's submitting. [...] No grief. No regret. Only revenge. He can’t act over sadness; that’ll pull him into despondency over things he can’t change. People he can’t bring back, even himself. He needs anger and hate to keep going."

~While Paimon needs to keep himself busy so he wouldn't fall apart, Laurenţiu clings to his need for revenge. Reserved and always guarded, he lives in resentment, righteous rage and envy (until he doesn't). His character undergoes the biggest development which was executed skillfully. His backstory is full of pain that stemmed from betrayal from his ex-lover, and the thirst for his blood (catch the double meaning) and death is the driving force behind most of his actions and decisions, and honestly who can blame him. The abundance of trust and abandonment issues not only forced Laurenţiu to believe he's unlovable (and aren't we familiar with this concept), but also made him believe pushing people away is safer than waiting for them to leave. Instead of falling apart after avenging his past self, he now has a purpose (and an impulsive fiancé, and an adult child and a demonic dog). My heart warms every time I remember he now has a cute (demonic and bloodthirsty) little found family of his own! Also, his Romanian heritage means everything to me. <3

PAIMON AND LAURENŢIU'S RELATIONSHIP
"In the hospital, he was a thing. Inhuman, abandoned, unwanted. With Paimon, he is inhuman, but he wouldn’t have it any other way. They look at each other’s inhumanity and go back to bed anyway. His monstrosity has a home with Paimon. [...] When Paimon stirs awake, Laurențiu reaches out, and they cling to each other again in the dying moonlight, as if it’s their last night. While there are teeth and blood in their kisses, there’s a tentativeness and gentleness that he finds achingly sweet."

~Their dynamic is truly everything. Laurenţiu's stoic and cynical nature contrasts Paimon's cheery and easygoing personality in the most delightful way. They started off as kind-of-friends, already attracted to each other, so I was scared of insta-love but I needn't have worried. Pining is there and it's SOFT (their bonding activities and banter are truly morbid and deeply disturbing and I loved every second of it). Paimon managed to break through Laurenţiu's reserved exterior and get him to lose his control and composure. They both consider themselves a monster while seeing the other as their home. I think their romance absolutely peaked with "would you eat my ex with me". I could honestly write an essay on their relationships but I'll refrain.

ADRIAN AND DAISY
"An odd kind of bonding, kneeling over a bleeding deer and drinking from it while Adrian complained that they hated the texture of fur. [...] In this household, nothing says a casual conversation like murder."

~Incredible additions to the story! I'm guessing Daisy is inspired by Dog from Good omens and honestly? Amazing choice, I grew so fond of her. Adrian's personality fits in perfectly with Paimon's and Laurenţiu's dynamic and their backstory left me reeling. I'm glad they aren't just a side character, but have an actual fleshed-out personality. They are similar to Laurenţiu, reserved and controlled (and a bit sadistic, but that's mostly Paimon), internalising their experiences and pretending that they bear no attachment to their practically adoptive fathers (Oh they so do).

[Zen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably more like 3.5? Maybe? For how short the book is, there is quite a well thought out storyline and world building. This read like a mix of Angels Before Man (aka gay Bible fanfiction) and The Walking Dead but throw in vampires. I wouldn’t really recommend this to anyone unless you like similar content to those.

I love the queerness; I went into this not knowing that one of the MCs was a trans man, plus a transmasculine nonbinary side character (but with how it’s written, they sound more agender to me personally). Both of these were incredible to see in the forefront since I relate to these experiences and identities. (I am a transmasculine agender person.)

I’m not a big fan of zombies, vampires, or angels/demons as pertaining to religion (which is discussed a lot considering the length) so this whole book really went against my personal preferences, but despite that it was mostly well executed. The end goal (revenge murder, not really a spoiler) was anticlimactic because it was all done in less than 2 pages, despite being the main driving force for the trans MC the entire book. I wish it had been more drawn out like an actual battle to make it worth the wait. The ending was sweet in that the MCs finally start believing that they are both worthy of love (and together at that!) despite all of their past traumas, plus a sweet reunion that I was not expecting.

The thing that bogged this book down the most is the horrific editing, or major lack thereof. There were disturbingly many instances in which the wrong word was used, an incorrect tense, missing punctuation at the end of sentences, and the beginnings of sentences starting with lowercase letters. And I am giving grace for the “poetic” section in which this was a stylistic choice, the rest was randomly distributed throughout the otherwise normal text. How does someone look at all of these highly noticeable mistakes and say “yep that’s my best work, it’s completely ready for publication!”?? I would be embarrassed to print something that did not utilize basic elementary school grammar. I kept getting taken out of the story upon every occurrence. (The last error was literally in the second to last sentence of the book, that is how consistent they were! There was no reprieve!!)

I was also disappointed in the lack of spice, considering the advertising. I wasn’t expecting a smutty scene every other chapter, but come on only one half page explicit scene in 188 pages is lame! How can anyone say this book is spicy?? It’s like 0.5/5 on the 🌶️ scale!!

[Alice · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars

Unfortunately, much like the author's other short book A flame in the night, this was a miss for me.

The concept is super interesting, a vampire making a deal with one of the kings of Hell to kill his traitorous ex boyfriend. Unfortunately, for how cool the plot was, the writing was not up to par.
The whole book was in need of a round of either editing or beta-reading because it's riddled with repetitions, grammatical and punctuation mistakes and a general naivete.
The dialogues are what suffers the most, coming off as stilted and generally not how people talk, not even more flamboyant characters like Paimon.
And it's a real shame because I really liked the themes and the characters themselves. The found family, the trans representation, I felt were really genuine and lovely.
I also feel like it needed to be at least a hundred pages longer, to set up the world and relationship between the characters better, but this could be a personal preference thing.

I'll definitely keep this author in mind, because I feel like their books are always super interesting, but I'll wait for the writing to mature a little bit longer.
I would love to edit one of their book in the future just to see what they have in mind next.

[Anna]

It might be me? It might be starting a new book at midnight?

In either case, I read the first 10 or so pages and felt like it was a confusing word soup with no flow. I might give it another try at some point, in daylight hours.

[Amanda Engqvist · Rating 2 out of 5]

Chaotic, not very well written. The one sex scene was awful and I didn’t get anything it went so fast and no feeling or description in the book. Short to

[Mimi]

There is nothing against this author, but the writing was not for me. Maybe at a later date I’ll revisit it, but as of now I have no rating.

[Beccabooks · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty boring in my opinion. I kept waiting for the book to get good and unfortunately it didn’t

[cuir_Bookseeker · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I love the parts of you that maim and kill, that craves a reckoning, but that's not all there is."

TW: murder, violence, gore, sex, Hell imagery, mentions of cannibalism

If you made it past the TW's then this might just be the dark fantasy romance for you!

Rating: 4.5/5!

In the 9th ring of hell lies one of its kings, the alluring Paimon who has remnants of deep suffering behind their piercing eyes. One of his people catches his eye, a vampire who belongs to his court named Laurentiu whose only waking thought is getting revenge on his betraying ex. A deeply dark and unsettling story of two morally grey characters who go on a journey for cold revenge all while becoming closer and finding friends along the way.

I do not usually read dark romance but when I saw that Dante was looking for readers for their new arc I WAS ECSTATIC! I read this book in a short time since the writing is eloquently beautiful while also being wildly fun with a great flow of chapters. The characters intrigued me with their emotional turmoil and craving for something more than the chaos of hell. Morgan Dante created a riveting story packed full of biblical references utilizing many paranormal creatures like vampires, angels, demons, zombies, and much more. I loved seeing the twists in the story and how characters and moments connected to older texts like Dante's Inferno and biblical stories. The author took something so well-known and created a well-balanced intriguing narrative full of death, destruction and so much QUEERNESS!!

This book is so unapologetically queer!! The main romance is gay, Laurentiu is transmasc, and another side character is non-binary! But also EVERYTHING about this book screams gay chaotic Neutral and I LOVE IT!

I am a very squeamish person, and yet I loved the disastrous and gory side of this story, the characters are so strong and dangerous it was so cool reading about their run-ins with those in their way. But I will say in some parts I had to skip a bit ahead because I am a sensitive soul! ajajaj so please read the TW's and be prepared for some HEAVY stuff!

The descriptions of hell and apocalyptic earth had me hooked, the author did some great world-building without having it be overwhelming and boring. The journey felt like a cozy road trip, and the story had many stunning moments surrounding love, found family, friends, and growth. The romance was subtle at times but felt like a natural progression of becoming vulnerable and choosing goodness in life. The plot was straightforward and fun, but the character's depth and past traumas brought phenomenal dialogue, growth, and interactions between the characters and the plot. The suffering of these characters was heart-wrenching, and at times human but their stories are vastly more impossible and gut-wrenching.

The only issue I had with the book was some of the stops the characters took in their search for revenge, many were interesting but it got repetitive towards the end. Especially since the story was very straightforward with its plot, I do feel if the end goal was slightly more complex and spaced out, the stops wouldn't have become overwhelming.

I highly recommend this book to fans of biblical-inspired dark fantasy romance books with unapologetic queerness and gore!

[atlas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to the author for the ARC! All opinions are my own.

My Rating: 4.5 Stars

CW: violence, murder, gore, blood, cannibalism, sexual content
Representation: bi trans masc MC, bi MC, non-binary SC

My thoughts:

"You bring misery, not comfort. You are a monster. Your existence is unlovable."

This was lovely. These murderous and depressed assholes really grew on me. Can I relate to only wanting revenge and caring about nothing else and "getting over it" not being an option? Well, no, but who am I to judge.

There was a lot going on: A dead vampire in hell, a demon king, more vampires, a zombie apocalypse, also cannibals; all in less than 200 pages. But somehow it works? It didn't feel cluttered or too much, it all fitted together.

This is written in dual POV and I always love that! You get to see how both of them are in a really dark place and think they do not deserve to be loved. That they both want to love and to be loved, but that they gave up that right a long time ago. And you can see how they both care for each other, but can't show it, because why would the other love such a monster as themselves?
(Which is also kinda funny, given how they're currently going around killing people for funsies.)
But at the same time their POV's read completely different. Laurențiu is more serious and brooding and Paimon is so over the top, no filter.

I loved how the power dynamic between them was handled. Paimon is a King of Hell and he's very aware of it, he doesn't want to accidently force Laurențiu to do anything, just because he feels like he has to.

They also literally adopt a kid together. This is found family par excellence.

The one thing I really didn't expect (in a good way) was that is was funny. All of them, but especially Paimon, are just over it. It is a rather morbid humour most of the time, but it sure is funny. Also Paimon has pyjamas with geese on them.

That said, more than once I was a bit confused as to who was currently talking. Also some scenes might have profited if they were a tad longer/a bit more fleshed out.

But very a delightful read overall!

[Mu · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure how to feel about this one. I both simultaneously liked it and nothing happened much in the entire book despite there being copious amounts of cannibalism and murder. I feel like the synopsis of the book does it a disservice in this sense though.

A better description of this book would be, three men go on a reflective road trip to find themselves while they commit heinous crimes for fun.

Like there's something very chill and enthralling about the way it is written. However, I was definitely confused at the very beginning. You're kind of thrown into the world and when you learn more about it, it's almost a whip lash because the realm of Hell is almost entirely a different vibe. Like when we jumped from ancient historical hedonistic setting to a post apocalyptic road trip talking about American football, I wasn't sure what I was quite reading.

Nonetheless though, I thought there were some good themes and good chemistry between the main characters. It was interesting to learn more about them slowly as the trip goes on. It's a pretty slow burn in the sense that they don't kiss until around I wanna say 80% in? The novella itself isn't too long though so in the grand scheme of things it's about an hour.

I'm not entirely sure if this authors stuff is for me just yet but I'm not ready to write them off either. I'm curious about their future works for sure.

[gung-ho_reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting premise and I enjoyed the couple but it was a little boring. I was expecting a little more villainy. The road trip aspect was boring because the worldbuilding wasn't expanded on.
This could've been better if hell was explored more. It felt more like a cosy fantasy with an mlm couple who are supposed to be villians but the stakes are low so there's not much plot.

This is definitely vibes based and more character focused over plot. I do enjoy that sometimes but the introspection needed more plot to balance it out.

Laurențiu is reflective of his past and focused on his goal to get revenge against his ex who turned him into a vampire, thus betraying him. Whilst, Paimon is supposedly evil and a King of hell but bored of the monotony of hell. He is also lonely and wants someone to spend the rest of eternity with. But they don't really do anything except roam about the human world when the whole aspect of hell would have been really interesting if explored.

Overall, a short read about the King of hell and a vampire but the execution fell flat. The romance was nice but nothing noteworthy. 3 stars

[misplacedselchie · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I first started King of Hell, the writing style threw me off a bit. It's not my favourite, but like when I read Night Circus, I decided to get it a few chapters and boy am I glad I did. It worked perfectly for the storytelling style Morgan Dante presents.

Dead vampire living in hell, Laurențiu is obsessed with revenge against the vampire slaying husband of his ex lover. Mind you, this is the ex lover that turned him into a vampire in the first place. Paimon, King of the layer of Hell Laurențiu is for eternity, is bored so he makes a deal to allow the vampire to return to the zombie infested earth to find his ex lover and get revenge. He, of course, has to come as well.  So they embark together on a snarky, sarcastic road trip with Paimon's lovable hellhound and a new person they pick up along the way, to find those that wronged Laurențiu. 

The bickering and commentary is really reminiscent of Good Omens and Supernatural and it left me cackling throughout. There is also great character growth in both our main characters 

[Cassidy S · Rating 5 out of 5]

Firstly, I want to say thank you for the ARC and the opportunity to review the book early! Everything is my honest opinion.

This is one of those moments where I sit back and wonder how the hell I will be satiated by the books I try to read after this.

I LOVE this book. It's gay, it's gross, it's got humour, it's pretty, and it's absolutely sacrilegious. Hell, vampires, zombies, a splash of Heaven — what a ridiculous combo that is EXACTLY WHAT I NEEDED.

The descriptions are beautiful, the flow is smooth, and I am obsessed with the visuals that Dante has come up with for what Hell looks like. Amazing.

My only qualm is that the ending barrels through so quickly that I didn't realize I was almost done the book, and then suddenly it was over. It felt anticlimactic after all of the buildup throughout the story. Could definitely have used some more meat for being the Titular Goal Of It All.

Long story short: read the book, you blasphemers and beautiful sinners.

[C M · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a ARC review! Thank you Morgan! :3

A vengeful vampire strikes a deal with one such king of hell to kill his ex-lover. They take a Chevy Impala through a zombie apocalypse and they meet (and eat) some new friends along the way.

I first read Dante's A Flame in the Night, which has a more serious tone than King of Hell, so I went in expecting a dark, moody revenge tale - and while I did get it to a degree, King of Hell is such an unserious book in the best ways possible!!! A witty, charming demon agrees to help you cannibalize your ex because you've unintentionally charmed him with your mysterious aura and pretty face? Hell yeah.

Such a gorey, funny, queer adventure with heartfelt characters - absolutely perfect for this Halloween season.

My one true critique is that it could have been bloodier! ;o

[my_throne_of_books · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was really something and I loved it. It's a short novella story about a vampire and a king of hell. Like what is not to love.
Laurențiu is a vampire that got staked by his ex-lover's husband which is an interesting way to go. He wants revenge and what better way to get revenge is with one of the kings of hell he was courtier too. Paimon is a king of hell but tries to enjoy his life. But he is very intrigued by Laurențiu so he proposes to help him get his revenge. Both of them venture off to the human world to get the revenge Laurențiu wants. The human world is overrun by zombie and they have their fair share of meetings with the "reanimated persons".
The dynamic these two have was really something and I like seeing their relationship develop. So if you are interested in a standalone mm paranormal romance perfect for this time of year.
Thanks to Morgan Dante for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Taylor Stoneburner · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 ⭐️, The characters are so sweet & I do like some of the development we get as well as the dialogue between them. I also love the LGBTQIA+ representation and diversity of cast considering how few characters we’re following. However this book needed a lot more support in terms of editing. It needed some light development/narrative edits just to smooth out the story.

This book really needed proofreading/editing. There are constant typos, words misspelled, random punctuation, and grammatical errors that make the story hard to understand at times. These are not fundamental flaws & are rather things that can be reworked or edited to improve the overall story & impact it leaves.