Book Reviews

Book Blurb

The Demon’s Blood

When Simeon is wounded Asher hides him and suddenly, next to a king's death, a cousin's hate, and Ludvik's black magic, love falls on the agenda.

Surely love must wait, when there is an entire kingdom at stake?

 

The Incubus Agenda

When Nicholas Tarrant sees a broken and bloody Brody Lennox dragged into the Werewolf Coalition he has to decide. Stay under cover or help the incubus live. His decision is simple.

 

The Third Kingdom

The story that began as a simple Retriever case has become the tale of the fight against a thousand years of evil.

In a battle on the barren fields of Arberfan is where this story will end.

 

 

 

First Edition of 'The Demon's Blood' published by eXtasy Books, 2013.

First Edition of 'The Incubus Agenda' published by eXtasy Books, 2014.

First Edition of 'The Third Kimgdom' published by eXtasy Books, 2014.

 

Book Review

It is quite fun to return to the world RJ Scott has built and discover whether Joseph, Phin, Levi, Declan, Connor, and Micah, plus the new characters to be introduced, will succeed in preventing Ludvik from destroying their world through blood magic. I do not recommend reading this volume unless you have either read the first volume, or the first three novellas in the series.

The Demon’s Blood
“There was a reason the Second Kingdom had formed, and it wasn’t by chance. With the Red Mountains separating them and Glitnir, they lived peacefully and untouched. Not to say there wasn’t trouble in the kingdom.”

Simeon is a cat shifter, a member of the Feline Guild who chose to stay in the Second Kingdom, and away from Glitnir. Joseph needs Simeon to accompany Phin home to the Second Kingdom so Phin can talk to his father, the king, about what is going on, and Simeon can talk to his older brother, the head of the Feline Guild. The Resistance needs an ally in the Second Kingdom against Glitnir as, despite Joseph’s hopes, this situation can’t be resolved through talking alone.

“But if he was honest, he knew little to nothing about blood demons, only that they were beings created thousands of years ago by Vampires as walking blood banks. Only when the vampires had no more use for them, relying on synth instead of real blood in the most part, did a separate blood demon home become necessary.”

The Second Kingdom has its own issues, one of them being that blood demons are considered slaves with few to no rights. Unfortunately Asher is Phin’s half brother, whom the king knows nothing of, and Asher is a half-blood demon. He is also the older brother, technically heir to the kingdom, the one Phin believes, as half elf and half-blood demon, can unite the kingdom and bring it into the current century. Asher is also a direct line descendant of the original blood demons which makes him as much royalty within his species as Phin is to the elves. Needless to say, Joseph is sending Phin and Simeon into a very volatile situation, considering the felines hate the elves, the elves hate the blood demons and the felines, the caste system is atrocious, Simeon’s brothers hate him, and Phin is to be killed on sight if he returns (long story there). Phew!

I could go on and on here telling tales of what happened between Simeon and Asher, or whether Phin took up the reins as heir, or if Asher became who he should have been all along, but I’m not going to. I need to leave some secrecy and there is plenty to get excited about in this installment. Really loved ‘The Demon’s Blood’!

The Incubus Agenda
Nick has been sent to the Wolf Coalition to gather information for the Resistance. Unfortunately, it’s even worse than Nick thought when he discovers that the wolves and vampires are backing Ludvik to preserve Glitnir and their ideas of species separation. When Ludvik delivers a bloody and tortured Brody to the Council, Nick is given the job of getting information out of the incubus and then killing him. Brody is only one of two incubi in Glitnir and he’s very valuable to the Resistance. What in the gods is Nick to do, and how is he going to get Brody out?

“I’m never having sex with anyone else other than you?” he asked.
Nick nodded. “Pretty much until the day you die.”
“Given what kind of battles we’re in the middle of? You realize that could be a very short time.”
“Best start healing then.”

Brody doesn’t believe in fated mates and he loves not being monogamous, whereas Nick does believe Brody is his fated mate and he refuses to sleep with Brody if it’s not going to be it for each of them. None of this matters, however, when whatever Brody endured at the hands of Ludvik seems to be preventing him from healing, and might lead to his death. Again, there is so much that I can’t say because it’s huge spoilers. Regardless, Nick and Brody are accompanying Reuben to Arberfan, the site where all the battles a millennial ago occurred. The site where Ludvik, in his jealousy, spelled Reuben into the Vampire Book of Days and cursed Reuben’s lover, Methulan, a half human, half incubus to wander alone, his lifeline tied to Reuben’s.

Wow. So much going on here it’s exciting beyond belief!

The Third Kingdom
Reuben and Methulan’s, or Ethan as he is known now, story is so sad. I’ll admit that the author’s explanation for all of it left me a little confused, but I was simply happy that these two men were finally reunited. Now, they all need to defeat Ludvik once and for all.

“I loved you, and I love you. I always have and I always will. I don’t want the bond broken because you are the other half of my heart and I can’t imagine a life without you. It hurts when I consider what it would be like.”

This final novella was fascinating, jumping back and forth between the different factions of the Resistance trying to get enough support and allies to be able to take Glitnir and Ludvik. It was a lot of politicking which, I’ll admit, is not my favorite thing, but I really enjoyed seeing Asher and Simeon take on the issues in the Second Kingdom, and Joseph and Micah work on the Vampire Council, while Connor and Declan worked the wolves, and Phin seemed to be porting all over the place to help everyone. I loved the fact that Connor was persuading some of the Retriever wolves to his side because they believed he was alpha, even though Connor wasn’t so sure of that.

The ending was phenomenal and I loved it. I’m not saying whether the sides met in war or negotiation. The only way to get all the fabulousness is to read these two volumes. Thank you, RJ, for such excellent worldbuilding and wonderful characters.

 

 

 

 

DISCLAIMER: Books reviewed on this site were usually provided at no cost by the publisher or author. This book has been provided by Love Lane Books for the purpose of a review.

Additional Information

Format	ebook
Length	Collection/ 3 novellas, 319 pages/75000 words
Heat Level
Publication Date	19-June-2017
Price	$3.99 ebook
Buy Link	https://www.amazon.com/Kingdom-2-RJ-Scott-ebook/dp/B072YWM2TQ