Review: Kiss of a Demon King

Kresley Cole’s Kiss of a Demon King is book 6 in her Immortals After Dark series. Here we finally learn what happened to King Rydstrom when he disappeared in Dark Desires After Dusk. We had a glimpse then of how Sabine tricked him into her prison cell.

Now we see from Rydstrom’s perspective how important his crown is to him. How guilty he feels that he couldn’t be there for his people. And how much he wants to find his fated female. Of course, he had no idea that both of those goals would be tied up with Sabine. She is the Queen of Illusions, a sorceress with loyalty only to her sister Lanthe. She is tied to her evil half-brother Omort, and wants to have a child with Rydstrom only to free herself from Omort and rule in his place.  She tortures Rydstrom with seduction, wanting to become his wife. Omort is behind the seduction because he wants to take Rydstrom’s heir and sacrifice him.

Rydstrom manages to escape and takes Sabine with him… working through the demon realm, trying to get back to his brother, to get to the sword foretold to defeat Omort.

Of all the IAD books, this one was my least favorite.  I like Rydstrom, but Sabine is awful. I’m sure she’s supposed to be, but perhaps it’s too much so. I also didn’t like that we are cut off from all that’s familiar for most of the book. The previous installments were all so intertwined and while there is a link to the last book… it’s just not the same.

I’d never suggest skipping this one if you are reading the IAD series, but for me, it wasn't nearly as good as A Hunger Like No Other.  Cole set the bar too high early in the series. I look forward to getting back to our Valkyries. 4 stars.