Review: The Unseelie King

The Unseelie King by Kathryn Ann Kingsley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Note - I'll be reviewing the entire series here, just because I'm lazy.

I'll start out by saying that I'm not one for dark romance. I believe I've abandoned every single one I've tried within pages (that terrible JT Geissinger one, previously reviewed, immediately comes to mind). I knew this what categorized as a dark romance, but fae books are a special kind of catnip for me (I'll be the first to admit I have a pointy ear fetish - elves, fae, vulcans, whatever), so that drew me in.

After finishing all four books (plowed through the first 3, slogged through the last one) I'm not sure I would lump this in with those toxic-bf mafia crapfests I've had the misfortune to stumble upon in the past. Yes, the MMC is an asshole, yes there's dubcon, but to be perfectly frank there was a lightheartedness to this entire series that I definitely wouldn't put this in a dark romance category. I can't believe I'm saying that a book where the MMC literally chains up the FMC is lighthearted, but yeah, here I am.

The dialogue is funny, sarcastic, snarky, and at all times aware of what it is - you're not meant to take this seriously (and that's not because it's a fantasy setting) and despite the copious amounts of blood and gore, you'll still find yourself laughing out loud. Yes, you will find yourself laughing at decapitations, so if that's not enough to get you to read this, I don't know what is.

Valroy, the MMC, is an absolute delight - there is something to be said about a character that is at all times aware of how literally awful he is, but still finds a way to enjoy and have fun. It's like he can't help himself - I got real Lestat vibes here, because the last thing I need is someone that spends an entire book brooding and bemoaning their existence (Louis, looking at you). That said, Valroy, for all his self-assured nastiness, still finds ways to improve and become better, but literally only with regard to Abigail, and it was so sweet to see. He's still awful, still nasty, but seeing how he's sweet only on her, and will to change himself ONLY for her (and not as a whole) was extremely entertaining. And Abigail stands up to him at every turn, which is a nice alternative from the damsel in distress FMCs you can sometimes encounter in dark romances.

The books have a great supporting cast of characters, entertaining and fulfilling in their own right, so you aren't pulled out of the story as the focus periodically switches to them.

Being a dark romance, sex abounds, but interestingly enough it doesn't happen until book 3. I'm not opposed to slowburns by any means, but I'm not a fan of slowburns that build up for hundreds of pages and have minimal payoff - that's not the case here. The sex is pretty filthy, and when it finally gets there, it happens frequently enough that you eventually get numb to it (as I imagine poor Abigail did at one point as well), and by the end of book 4 I could have taken or left it.

Speaking of endings - I know a lot of people weren't keen on the ending, but personally I loved it. It fit, it made sense, and the last thing you need after watching Valroy be an insufferable-yet-entertaining bastard over the course of 4 books is for him to be saved and changed by love. One of the things you love most about Valroy is that he never once pretends to be anything other than up front about what he is and what his purpose in life is, so it would have made no sense at all for him to change for Abigail. Abigail is just as steadfast about who she is, though she's on the other end of the spectrum, but somehow these two find each other and make it work. I'm not sure I can explain how a dynamic like that works, but it makes me think of a quote from Valroy that says something to the effect that all love is is wanting to be loved in return. Abigail and Valroy just found something in each other, found that they needed each other, but neither was willing to ultimately compromise themselves for the sake of the other - and when you finally find out what they each are, the resolution they come to makes absolutely perfect sense. I'm not sure we needed four books to get there, but the bon mots and one-liners kept me fully entertained until I got there.

A couple of points of contention - I really really really dislike the use of the word "mewl" or "mewling." It has juvenile connotations and reminds me of kittens, and who wants to think of fluffy baby kittens in the middle of reading filth? Lastly, I loved Anfar, but I'm not sure I entirely bought his romance with Perin. It's not to say that they didn't work together, I just feel like the build up to them coming together wasn't very well constructed, and kind of came out of nowhere. Like one day they're just acquaintances, and the next they both realize they're in love with each other - I couldn't call it instalove (which I despise to no end) because they'd met prior to falling in love, just that they both seem to have woken up one day and been bonkers for each other, and it just didn't feel organic in the way Abigail and Valroy did - it was an immediate physical attraction, but a much slower build up to being genuinely in love.

In any case, if you love snarky bastard MMCs and obsessed over the move Labyrinth and were way pissed that Sarah and Jareth never got together like I was as a kid, you'll find a ton to love here. Keep an eye out as well for the author's amazing character artwork at the end of the books - she's talented with both words and pictures, and I really look forward to reading more from her.



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