Lord Caliban, the Leanan King, the Unholy King – the Unseelie.
“The doors of his castle opened before him of their own accord. In the Unseelie Kingdom, every soul recognized his, as an animal sensing an oncoming earthquake or the rumble of a mighty storm. Ears perked and stone listened, and doors opened to make way. The sound of boots on stone echoed in the vast emptiness of the palace, sending shockwaves of preparation through the realm’s inhabitants. There was silence there, in those waiting eyes and those rapid beating hearts. But there was music as well. If it had been audible to a mortal, it would have sounded foreboding, beautiful but deadly. It was the haunting melody that welcomed a haunted sovereign to his solitary world and its dark and lonesome throne.”
For thousands of years, two realms of unspeakable magic and mystery have existed in peace side by side. One is a land of light and possibility. The other is drawn in the stark lines of wickedness and seeped in the unbearable beauty that comes with it. The first is ruled by the Seelie King. The other is ruled by Caliban.
The Unseelie King is the sixth book in Heather Killough-Walden’s acclaimed paranormal romance series, The Kings. Within its pages, a dark lord finds hope in a beautiful, powerful soul, its tempting and forbidden magic, and a fierce and willful love that he will have to fight as never before to claim as his own.
Heather Killough-Walden is a California native currently living in Texas with her husband and child. She is the New York Times bestselling author of the Big Bad Wolf series. Heather’s educational background includes religious studies, archeology, and law. She has traveled all over the world but hopes to one day live in a town with a world-class hockey team. (Let’s Go Pens!) Visit Heather’s website at www.killough-walden.com, where you can sign up for her newsletter. Also, be sure to keep in touch with her and other fans through her Facebook fan page and through Twitter (killoughwalden)!
This really is kind of finishing up things that were started in the previous book The Seelie King: The Kings, Book Five but stands on its own pretty much but it grabs you from almost page one and the action hardly slows down.
Minerva the sister of the now Seelie Queen is possibly the most powerful fae alive or at least one of them but she is out of control at the beginning of this book and the Unseelie King already knows she is destined to be his queen, what he does not know is how he will ever get the angry powerful woman to accept him (seeing as how she tries to kill him on the first few pages). He has a LOT of work ahead of him
There is also still a creeping overarching story-line of a prophesy that there is a traitor among the Kings so that story moves along also in this book.
Bottom Line: This is just another 5 Star book in a 5 Star series, The Kings is one of the best series in paranormal romance/urban fantasy being written today IMHO and I cannot wait to see what happens in the next book The Shadow King. All of these books have been great, some better than others but all immensely entertaining and leaves you desperate for the next one without using cliffhangers.
I hate spoilers...Heather has a way with her stories. They suck you in and keep you tied up until the epilogue where you get spat out. She came through yet again with another amazing King story. Heather has never disappointed her readers in any of her books. She truly is an amazing storyteller.
Don't get me wrong. I'm reading the whole series and enjoying the stories, but the Grammar Geek in me is dying inside. The wrong words. Omitted words. Frequently awkward sentence structure. These things stop me abruptly and kill the fantasy. It's gotten worse with each book in the series, which makes me think there's no one editing, or at least proofing, the author's work.
AudioBook Review: Stars: Overall 4 Narration 4 Story 4
Not having read earlier in the series, the world is one in which thirteen kings shall ultimately battle it out for supremacy (I think), and each book introduces a new King and his Queen, while their rise to prominence is detailed. A bit of an ongoing thread from the earlier title, this story focuses on Minerva and Caliban: she sister to the current queen and possessed of a rare fae talent as a wisher: he, brother to the King and possessed of the darker impulses and the ability to control them – necessary in his attempts to rule. We’ve seen the power of the kings (particularly Avery) to maintain and tamp down the power of both Minerva and Selena (her sister) when they discover their parents were murdered, and the understanding from Minerva, in realizing that her ‘correction’ from Avery was to mitigate even worse events, she was quick to realize that actions have consequences and can cause reactions far worse than intended or expected.
Starting with a bang, and never really settling down, the action and romance moved along at a fairly rapid pace: we see the struggles, the trust placed in Caliban’s hands by Minerva, trust that often depends on him doing the right thing to save her life. Together, as they worked through her grief and her questions, Caliban and Minerva came to develop a connection that felt honest and plausible, a connection that strengthened them both. Interest in this story never waned, and the author managed to give drips of information that allowed, for the most part, for me to understand connections and just where these two fit into the overall picture. Honestly, as a stand-alone the story was gripping and engaging, but I would suggest (and I intend) to grab earlier titles in this series to understand the world building and creation of origin stories in this unban fantasy.
Narration for this story was provided by Antony Ferguson, and his presentation of Caliban felt appropriate and constant. There were distinctions between each of the characters, the over-arching prophecy about a traitor king was given appropriate moments and reverence, the fire Imp Pi was clever, and each of the Kings (introduced and not) were given moments here, some with eerie overtones, perhaps harkening to the prophecy. While I occasionally have difficulty with male narrators presenting female characters, Ferguson didn’t overwork the voice, keeping it passably ‘female’, and not bordering on bad imitation. I’m sure to encounter his work again, and am glad to do so.
Please note – while I found the story engaging, despite the fairly common ‘fated mates’ trope, the world building and unusual powers were the true stand out for this story, even when I felt I would have benefitted from the earlier installments in the series. Best, I believe, as a read (or listened to) in order series, this was solid and surprising, far more than I initially expected.
I received an AudioBook copy of the title from Tantor Audio for purpose of honest review, I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.
Man, it's been four or five years since I've read the earlier books in this series and I couldn't for the life of me remember what happened in those books. I probably should have went back and re-read at least the last book, but I was being optimistic. Luckily, I was still entertained even though my memory failed me.
The gist, and what I could remember, is that there are 13 kings, each of the paranormal variety. After centuries of life, the kings are finding their fated mates one-by-one. Each book features a different couple, but there is also an ongoing series arc that sees the kings meeting and plotting in a board room. That ongoing arc is where I'm the most fuzzy.
Our hero in this installment is Caliban, the Unseelie King. Caliban is the brother of Avery from the last book, the Seelie King. Caliban seems to be the darker and more dangerous brother, which I suspect is necessary for ruling over the unseelie and dark fae. I really like his type of character, but I feel like I didn't get to know him well enough. I would have loved to see more character development and learn about his life over the centuries. I liked that he was patient and understanding with our heroine, without giving up his dominant and commanding nature.
It probably comes as no surprise that our heroine, Minerva, is sister to Selene, Seelie queen and Avery's mate. Like Selene, Minerva is a very rare wisher, a race who was hunted to extinction by fae who were afraid of their immense power. And we get a power demonstration fairly early on from Minerva after she learns of the murder of her parents. Luckily Avery was there to prevent a bigger disaster, though she did not thank him for it. I was glad that Minerva got with the program fairly quickly and she didn't hold the earlier subjugation against Caliban. She seemed to take everything in stride after that, without becoming a meek and mild mouse.
This was a fairly quick read/listen, so the romance had to move along at a good clip to fit within the confines of the book. I liked Minerva and Caliban together. They worked well and fought well as a team, and I was glad that Minerva trusted him even when her life depended on it.
I'm not usually a fan of male narrators as they have a hard time affecting a believable female persona for me. However, Anthony Ferguson did a good job with this performance. He was a great representation of Caliban, and his affection of Minerva didn't grate on my nerves. The only complaint was the pronunciation of Minerva.... it sounded like Minn-over and drove me a little nuts. Otherwise, this kept me entertained as I planted flowers all day Sunday.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this audiobook that I received from the publisher, Tantor Audio.
I love the King series! It is unusual for me to read a series where the chase and ultimate H/h happiness is a given in each book, however HKW gives us fascinating Kings and Queens each unique in their personality and with special magical gifts. Each King/Queen story is gripping because while we know there will be a joining by book’s end we don’t know how each unique K/Q pairing will fit and the overarching plot of mysterious supernatural powers trying to kill or steal power from the Kings and Queens and support characters is riveting in each book with favorite secondary characters being tortured, killed, or helping to save the day. You never feel that it is a given that all your favorite characters will survive to the series end or that the evil supernatural powers will absolutely be defeated.
The action is non stop in The Unseelie King. We have a few more developments in this book; there is a surprise of an unknown traitor among the Kings, a glimpse at characters to come, and a new player with powers that are eerie (like Slender Man).
Minerva the twin sister of the now Seelie Queen is possibly the most powerful fae alive but she is out of control at the beginning of this book and the Unseelie King struggles to gain control of her murderous actions. He suffers lasting damage in his efforts to bring her to a place of calm introspection of her new abilities. She totally freaks when she realizes the consequence of some of her violent behavior before calm is achieved.
This is a 4 Star book in a 5 Star series. I gave this one 4 because there was just not enough romance for me. It is hard to live up to the hotness of the Warlock and Phantom Kings! The actions, the enlightenment of the Unseelie race, the continued development of the plot made up for a mild romance. The Kings is one of the best series in paranormal romance/urban fantasy and I eagerly await each new King installment and the next is The Shadow King. In this book HKW introduced all the 13 kings giving a little bit of their story. We saw almost all the previous characters play a role in this book
I love this series. Having fallen for Avery i couldn't wait for this series i couldn't wait for this book. Sadly it was as let down.
Yes they were destined to be together but beyond that there was no romance and no understanding of why they fell for each other. And Cal was the first king that i actually couldn't care less about
I've been meaning to read this series for a while and completely forgot about it untill I found it on a list of Urban Fantasy NA books.
I decided to read this book first because I really wanted to read a good book of Fea romance, sadly this was not as good as I had expected it to originally be.
The first half of this book deserved 5 stars. I loved Minerva at the begining. She was strong, powerful and as far as I knew uncaring. She did not care what Caliban thought of her, she did not care at all because she as a Wish Fae is fueled by anger. I didn't mind Caliban, he was okay at first and he also liked Minerva because she was really smart and was also more powerfull then he was.
However the second half o the book shows Minerva as weak. She may be more poweful then Caliban but unlike in the begining of the book, she is unable to control this power. What is the point of having a strong and powerful female lead who is stronger than the male lead if she is unable to do anything with her power. It just felt as though HE was controling HER which I resented.
At one point of the book it also seemed as though HE was going to force her to stay with him even though she did not want to. Truth be told the one reason I didn't like the second part of the books is because Minerva didn't fight more. She IS suppose to be fueled by anger and empahy but all I saw was weakness and submision.
I really hoped this book would be good, I mean it's really short but this didn't stop the book from having a whole load of irrelevant drama that just made me rate this book 3 stars.
To tell you the truth I didn’t see one thing that was dangerous, cruel, mean, evil, whatever, about Caliban. And the only thing that Minerva hurt was Caliban. They were both as nice as they could be, so I don’t see where he was the opposite of his brother, The Seelie King. I mean, it was a really good story but nothing like it was made out to be.
And like The Seelie King, it was NOT a romance. They had a looog drawn-out sex scene, just like the Seelie King book, but there was not even a smidgen of romance. Not a kiss, without sex, not a kind word, no I Love You, I Like You, nothing. They are the most unromantic stories I’ve ever read.
It was rather exciting because someone was trying to kill Minerva and her twin Selene, because of the type of Fae they are. And it was great some of the magical things that Caliban did.
So, let me just say this: I hate the name Minerva, don’t know why I just do. However, I’ve always heard it pronounced Mi-ner-va in every book I’ve listened to where the heroine’s name was that. In this book it was even worse. He pronounced it Mener-va. (Just a little complaint on my part.)
Drawn-out sex and the F-bomb was used 5 times.
As to the narration: Unfortunately, Antony Ferguson can’t do a woman’s voice, even a little bit, and he’s emotionless in his reading.
Caliban is the Unseelie king. Ruler of all dark fae, he is even more powerful than his brother. Minerva is the sister of the Seelie queen. And just like her sister, she is a wisher. A powerful wisher. She is also the mate of the Unseelie king. Caliban knew that she wasn't ready to face her fate. There are 13 queens for the 13 kings. Each powerful in her own right. Anger rules Minerva. Passion rules Caliban. Together they are a powerful match, but the gorgeous Unseelie ruler will have to work to convince her they belong together, especially since her first reaction to him is to try to kill him. With the help of the other powerful royals and a lot of persuasion, Caliban will not only convince her she is his but he will win her heart. All the while, the vampire king and the other kings of the 13 are after a traitor and the clues that will reveal who their ancient enemy is. The battle goes on in the sixth book of The Kings series.
Not my favourite book of the series. The prologue and the first chapter started quite promisingly. However, the whole story fell flat for me throughout the book and only got better at the very end. The couple were also not one of my favourites. Similar to the story, I thought that their chemistry was rather bland. Again, I didn't know why this couple and the former ones were like this. Typical destined couple just fell in love simply because they were fated together and because they were simply HAWT! There was not much development in their chemistry. There were similar flaws that appeared that former books of the series. The main characters became rather repetitive in their characteristics and attitudes as the main characters in former books. Overall, this was an okay book. I didn't hate it. Just that I had expected it better.
Minerva is the sister of the Seelie Queen and, of the two, she is the darker one. The book starts where she finds the bodies of her adoptive parents, dead in their bed. If it wasn't for Caliban, the Unseelie King, showing up things would have gotten really bad in the human realm. Instead, she focuses her anger, and her magic, on him and he somehow manages to get her to his realm. He has to keep her unconscious for awhile until she calms down - some. Now he has to convince her to stay with him because her life is in danger and he can keep her safe. Meanwhile, he is badly wounded from her attack and only sex will allow him to heal fully. Unfortunately, now that he has found his Queen she is the only one he is willing to heal with - and she has yet to accept her place at his side. Can he convince her to accept him as her's before it is too late?
I can honestly say that I skimmed through about 30% of this book. Once it got to the point where Minerva met Cal and he exploited her power for his own gain....I was really pissed off at him. They’re supposed to be soulmates, true loves or whatever...and as soon as he can he weakens her so he can get stronger and not feel like an inferior male. That’s bullshit. I needed to keep reading because I want to keep up with the story line, but that’s the only reason why I kept reading. This asshole just wanted to subjugate his queen. And the first time they had sex he was thinking that he was going to take her whether she wanted it or not. Real winner there. So their HEA didn’t even make me feel happy in the slightest.
I have a complain about both The Seelie king and The Unseelie king books. These were too small and had so much more potential. We could have had a backstory about how both of them came to be kings not just a quick summary that Damon Croi gave us.
Why didn't they allow Selene to meet Minerva, pretty sure she would calmed her. That would have made more sense. I don't much care for the lead male character. He puts Minerva's heath in jeopardy in the beginning with the rubies and just so he could power up.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
The Seelie King’s brother: Caliban and the Seelie Queen’s sister: Minerva hit it off, as Caliban has to protect her from herself and someone trying to kill her.
I found a lot to like in this story. I always like scenes that show the world around the story so Minerva’s tour around the Unseelie kingdom and their castle was interesting.
I’m glad the fire imp Pi was back but since he can go almost everywhere I not sure I could trust him to keep secrets. And I like Drummar and Poppy. Can’t wait to find out her secret.
Footnote: 1) I have got to make/get me a rainbow crepe cake. Yummm.
Fave scenes: the Hollow Box, the ruby heist, the tissue in the library and the unicorns.
Extra Book #75... Not of the EBN Challenge. This was the last book for 2019!
I love Caliban and Minerva. At first I was a little put off by Minerva's behavior, but Heather explained everything so well and she love to have you really love her characters and hate her villians.
I liked this story about Caliban and Minerva. She knows what she is right away and takes it out on Caliban. He has to convince her that he wants her, and not just because fate says so. There is a darker force trying to get to them in this book. We don’t really find out exactly what he is, but he’s very powerful. Most of this book is in the unseelie realm with cool beings.
I didn't really like the heroine for some reason so because of this is kept dragging me out of the story. Also the Unseelie are supposed to be the "bad guys" and nothing ever sinister or "bad" actually happened and everyone is always a "good guy" so to speak.