The Vampire King’s Victory

Ever Dark #9

by X. Aratare

In this epic conclusion of the first Ever Dark serial, Caemorn realizes who he truly is. Balthazar must confront the one that hurt him most. Fiona stops running. Julian and Christian accept their places in the Vampire World.

And Daemon?

He will be king of all…

This series is complete, but there's more to come in Ever Dark Academy and Ever Dark Equinox! This series will not be in KU, because it is on the Raythe Reign serial website. There is also a free podcast on Youtube with a full voice cast!

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

264 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 1, 2024

About the author

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

Reviews

[ML · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. 🫤

The term of childe seemed to come out of nowhere in the last couple of books. It’s creepy. I do not like this term when you are basically having sex with your “childe”. Ewww. No. Fledgling is much better and I’ll act like the term childe doesn’t exist in this book. 🤢🤢

They got super sloppy with the editing. Lots of typos and the flow wasn’t as good. I’m not sure I’ll read this author again after this series. Too wordy and not enough sex. Plus lots of repeated scenes where I assume the author was getting paid by the word. Got annoying.

66% in on the 9th book AND Balthazar and Christian finally have full on sex. Christian surprisingly topping. The fact that we missed so many opportunities over all the books of them being together like this reading each other’s minds is a crime really. The Eyros gift wasted 🙄 on these two bumbling idiots.

Julian’s parents are brought back by Caemorn/Kaly. As soon as they were corporeal, the book fades to black.
Like WTF 😳. 9 books and we don’t get to see the full reunion AND everything is told in flashback after that. This is super shitty storytelling. Not to mention the constant typos. It’s like book 9 was an afterthought. Have some pride in your work. Typos are proof of you not giving a shit about the final product. Ugh 😑

The end was super anticlimactic where Julian’s parents white wash everything that happened to them on a broadcast to persuade people to become vampires. Julian and Christian’s tv series. 🙄🙄🙄🙄 LAME 😒

After 9 books, this was a bit of a ho hum pedantic ending. Needed more closure.
I know the Ever Dark Academy is getting a separate series but if it’s anything like this series I’m not sure it’s worth my time.

Loose threads: What is going to happen with Caemorn? Does he ever find love? What happened to the dying guy from the gala?!?! Like WTF. Lots of missed opportunities. Ugh

This is not a romantic series. It’s basically mythology and politics about vampires and where they occasionally have sex but only the main leads. Whatever.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5

[Lucy Larsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book and can honestly say that this was just an amazing ending to a series that I really loved reading all the way through.

I think one of the things that I really liked about this ninth and final book is that it didn’t leave the whole series hanging. It ended the series in a way that you knew it was the ending to the series. But it also left hints at a sequel series that would hopefully have some of the same characters while still introducing a whole new cast in a new world that would definently make it feel like a whole different series and not just a continuation of this series.

Honestly, every book I’ve read by X. Aratare (or Raythe Reign) has been an absolute banger and I really liked this series a lot. I really want to read the sequel series (Ever Dark Academy) now. I want to see a whole new set of characters set in this fascinating world but I also want an occasional glimpse of Balthazar, Christian, Daemon, Caemorn, Julian, and the others. I found that my favorite characters were the side characters. I loved Elgar and Arcius and I hope to see more of them. The spicy level was also a level 5.

Overall, I would give this a 5 out of 5 star rating and would certainly recommend this series for those who are super into paranormal romance stories and fantastic world building.

[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.

[He11zbelles · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fantastical journey this was! I’m sad this series is over! Well there is a spin off with the Academy but it isn’t in audio yet. After listening to this whole series (9 books) I don’t think it would have been the same if I read it.

The audio is the best group of voice actors I’ve ever had the pleasure of listening to. 12 voice actors in a duet style. If you like fantasy and vampires this is such a great series. It’s like a mix of ACOTAR, Harry Potter and Twilight but adult and M/M lol.

The series is not as spicy as I’d have liked it to be. But that just tells you how good it was, that it kept my interest. After the first book everything gets really good. Not that the first book was bad but it just got better after. Not once did I feel bored or wanted it to end.

The humorous banter was everything. The narrators had impeccable comedic timing. There were also plenty of heartfelt moments. Highly recommend binging this series, but make sure to listen to it!

[Gandalfus-The-Colorful · Rating 3 out of 5]

It feels like the whole series is 90% people discussing things. No action and barely stuff happening. Which is okay, but there is also barely romance. Sure, people are dating and having sex, but that just happens. No conflict, no question, it just is. Usually I'm fine with insta-love or mates and such, but over the whole series which is supposed to be romance ... no, not enough.
This book is for people who like vampire stories. Not fantasy nerds, not romance dudes.

Biggest issues:
- Julians Parents just pop up. Like, literally inbetween two chapters. They are in that laboratory hugging at one second, and the next they a few days later discussing things, no emotions anymore. This scene, which is SO important, was such a huge let down because it just feels like it's put out of the way for just another mild let-down.
- In one book the author introduced a couple of gay dudes of which one is dying because cancer. Julian gave the dying one Balthazars number. Nothing happened with it. Never mentioned again. This was a great scene. There should have been some payoff, like them becoming the first new vampires officially of the new world or whatever. This guy only had two month to live but I guess he is dead now because the author forgot him. :)

[DarkSide · Rating 2 out of 5]

I spent a lot of my time reading this just being mad. I felt like some scenes which would have been very interesting to see were skipped.
Also, there is a lot of dialogue. I mean. A LOT. Like, don't get me wrong, I love dialogue and I know it's important, but the dialogue here was sometimes too much and interrupted the action and the pacing of the story. Like. Just. Stop. Talking.

[D. J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

No Longer A Secret

I really like this book series and I can't wait to read the second book ever dark academy I started reading a small portion of the next book And I was like this is kind of crazy but once you read this book especially towards the end where it mentions the academy and what the academy is going to be it's so worth the read. I'm gonna wait for the podcast update which the podcast for free is not going to be finished until April of 2025. Great read Chemistry between the vampires is of course great and the friends
hip between the original enemies is so cute.

[Christina Camann · Rating 4 out of 5]

4-4.5 ⭐️


Series overall 4 ⭐️
We’ve come a long way from 2 boys who were investigating vampires… but have we? Like so much happened …. But did it?

Very interesting elements, the writing was picturesque and the scenes painted vividly.

I do feel like some transitions throughout the series were a little confusing.. the full cast audio at first was distracting- but now I’m addicted. I demand more full cast audios from all authors.

A fun ride.

[Daniel S. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I write this for you for the entire series of nine books. It was a very fun read and very satisfied. The story is exactly how you think it’s going to be, but it still is a great one to put a smile on your face. I highly recommend all nine books. I look forward to starting the Ever Dark Academy next.

[Leidy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I very much enjoyed this series. I binged the audiobooks and was so entertained. The books were short but fun. I listened while running errands and doing chores and didn’t have the need to read along on my kindle. Love me some vampires.

[Sugarpop · Rating 4 out of 5]

It feels a bit fast for an end to the series to me but it still manages to bring all threads to a satisfying end.

[Denise White · Rating 5 out of 5]

This whole series was spectacular. I can’t wait to read about the Academy.

[Shivani Imagines · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars for my fav author. You never cease to amaze me with your stories.

[Reader · Rating 2 out of 5]

2-2.4/5