The Vampire King's War

Ever Dark #8

by X. Aratare

The undead are unquiet! Beset on all sides, Julian and Daemon must face off against an army of zombies. Christian, Balthazar, Caemorn and Fiona have their hands full with ghosts. The Immortal Kaly is not giving up their fight against the Vampire King anytime soon, but neither is Daemon going to back down from regaining what is his.

This is a long serial that is divided into book-length segments. Every single one ends in a cliffhanger. This series is COMPLETE. This series will not be in KU, because it is on the Raythe Reign serial website.

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

254 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 11, 2024

About the author

X. Aratare is the pseudonym for Raythe Reign's Gay(M/M) books.

Reviews

[ML · Rating 4 out of 5]

NGL this installment was too chaotic and tbh very very dumb. Zombies?!? Really ugh. The Vampire secret is out and it happened in the most stupid of ways. Zombie apocalypse 😳🙄🙄🙄 oh and every important political person in town died instantaneously.

The Kaly immortal seems more powerful than The King. 👑 this volume just proves it.

Poor Christian almost loses Balthazar and doesn’t even realize it until almost too late. Plus is he ever going to have sex with him? It’s volume 8?!?!? Spoiler alert. 🚨 it was fine in the beginning because Christian was traumatized over David but that has long since passed. Now Christian is in a different world and may never return and they didn’t even say the I love you’s yet. And no real sex. Ugh. Volume 9 has a lot of heavy lifting to do. Meanwhile, Daemon and Julian are getting it in with rose 🌹 vines in the open air garden. 😂😂😂 at least someone has sex in this universe. 🙄🙄🙄

Off to read the final chapter 🫣🫣🫣🫣

[Sugarpop · Rating 4 out of 5]

I greatly enjoyed the Zombie fight and the humor in this part.
The humor in the middle of the book was good and I liked how it turned more serious towards the end with its cliffhanger.

It would have benefited from a proofreader as there are some typos.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[Lucy Larsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Second to last book in the Ever Dark series and all I can say is that I am shook and desperately need to start the final book.

This book left me on such a cliffhanger that I’m not sure how they are going to wrap this whole story up in just one book. There are so many things that I feel like they need to wrap up and I am absolutely all here for it. I think the craziest part for me in this book is that vampires are finally revealed to humans. And it was done in such a dramatic way with Daemon and Julian and then they just kind of left it. It’s such a Daemon thing to do though. Reveal something life shattering and then just walk away and say he’ll be back.

I also liked the ending to this book. I love the idea of Christian and Julian finally going off on their own to do an adventure. It might not be what Daemon and Balthazar want but I love that we’re getting more of just the two of them and their friendship. I feel like their friendly brotherly dynamic is part of the reason I started reading the series in the first place, so I like that we’re getting some more of that going into the final book. The spicy level was also a level 5.

Overall, I would say that this book was a 5 out of 5 stars and I desperately need the final book.

[BeckieLouLou · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars. Audiobook. Vampires and humans and love romances and bromances and friendships. Series of nine books with wonderful world building and a large cast of characters. Exceptionally well done character introductions, spaced out and different enough to keep them all straight, narration is with multiple actors, so that helped too. Low angst, low drama, a lot goes right for these characters and they actively try to fix hurts and heal emotional wounds for themselves and each other. Not OTT super sweet, but lots of support and caring. Felt like a mini series or soap opera since there were multiple romances and many different storylines with multiple POV. Really enjoyed the story, kept moving, stayed interesting. Totally binge-able, no tedious recapping. Recommend reading them all together or very close together due to the large cast and many plots, you need to remember who everyone is for the full impact at the end. Must read all installments for the HEA as many end on cliffhangers.

Sounded like there was a spinoff, Vampire Academy, that I would be interested in just to see what the characters are up to.

HEA, series, vampires, humans, m/m, urban fantasy vibes.

[Lilith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Same notes as before except there's a lot more action now.

I will add that I love that the vampires who can tell the future are actually useful and speak forward even for the tiniest predictions. In a lot of media, the future seers speak in riddles and BS and it's like, I'd have rather raw dogged the mission than now having to solve puzzles.

[He11zbelles · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5⭐️ Oh that cliffhanger and plot twist! Say what? How? I’m sputtering! I’m almost to the end of this journey and I’m sad to be leaving this world.

The audiobook is fantastic y’all! 12 voice actors in a duet style. They are all good! I adore the main narrator himself, which he also does the voice of the King and Balthazar. This is such a great, fantastical world.

Even if you’re not into M/M but you’re into fantasy, I highly recommend this series (must be audio though). This may turn you into an M/M reader. It’s not as spicy as I’d like but the scenes and the slow burn is so sensual and written so beautifully that you can feel the heat.

I binged listened to this series and have one last book to go. I’ll be at the conclusion and I know I’ll have a hangover.

[Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5 … Aratare’s habit of ending chapters on cliffhangers and switching to another point of view (and in this book often an earlier time to show readers what was going on with other characters in the meantime) got to be really frustrating/annoying and even more so in this one. It’s been an issue throughout the series, but with all the action taking place and the multitude of view points, it just kept happening over and over and over. It unfortunately really has a big impact on the pace of the book/story since it effectively means that, just as things get heated, the reader will get yanked out of the plot and plopped back in somewhere else in the plot line. You’re getting into the action and things are ramping up? Pause, reset. Sigh.

[Peter Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Penultimate book. Amazing story.

Like most stories by Raythe Reign (X.Aratare), I couldn't stop reading after this book was delivered. I finished it in one day.
The action and revelations in this book have increased, and I can't wait for the last book to end this series.
The longer this author writes, the better her stories get. I am totally addicted and really hope she publishes more of her stories. The YouTube audio chapters keep my interest and always look forward to each new chapter.

[Fudanshi · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5-3 ⭐ at best.

This was my least favorite volume (thus far). A zombie/vampire war - Why? I personally did not see any substance it added. We could have gotten to where we ended by several, more interesting, paths.

I also have a huge gripe with the "revenge my parents" tropes. They feel too safe, predictable, and trite. Though where there souls are is very imaginative and leads us forward, it too could have been done differently.

With 9 Volumes, they can't all be 5 ⭐

[Anna Beck · Rating 4 out of 5]

🎧 Holy cliffhanger Batman! Caemorn! Julian and Christian are too young and dumb for their own good in this book. They think they know best. Dumb dumbs. I think Balthazar is my favorite character, he defends those he cares for fiercely and it shows in this book so much. There seems to be so much to wrap up! Next book now!

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some genuinely creepy moments in this one! And big payoffs in character development and plot.

Part of me was worried about this particular cliffhanger -- I'm a big Caemorn fan and I was worried for him, but happy to report there's nothing to fear in book 9--the author clearly loves him too.

[~~~N~~~ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic series and suspense is building! I love this world enough to eagerly enjoy 10 more installments! Waiting on the edge of my seat for the *sad tears* final installment #9

[Denise White · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m just so enjoying this story I’m enjoying this part of the story excellent

[Gwen🤫 · Rating 3 out of 5]

DNF the rest of the series was fine I just feel like once I got to this book I lost interest yk

[Cassandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'M SORRY WHAT?! You're just going to leave the book THERE?! UGH! On to the next one!