The Unseelie King by Heather Killough-WaldenMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
I have to say that I feel sorry for all of Killough-Walden’s fans who read The Seelie King and then had to wait eight months for the release of The Unseelie King
because I could barely wait the five minutes it took my Kindle to download and open the book. Okay that’s an exaggeration … it probably took a minute and that was too long of a wait. While it’s true that I have wanted the next book in the series each time I finished reading an installment, the fact that books five and six are so closely entwined made the need to go from one book to the next even stronger. And in true storyteller fashion, the author kept me on edge and at rapt attention the first page to the last.The Unseelie King picks up where The Seelie King left off, with the discovery of the death of Selene and Minerva’s parents, but this time we’re seeing firsthand Minerva’s reaction and when her grief turns to rage, you come to understand why the old fae kings feared the power of the wishers so much. Unlike her sister, Minerva taps in to her innate fae knowledge almost immediately upon her transformation and sets out to make the world pay for its injustices. Fortunately Caliban understands his queen’s darkness better than his brother understood his bride’s and he’s ready to do what it takes to keep her from regretting her actions, even if it means he’ll never be able to claim his queen. And I must admit, even knowing that the queens are fated for their kings, I was right there with Caliban in doubting that their pairing would come to pass. Surprisingly, it was something as simple as food that breaks Minerva’s resolve and I for one want to know what the heck rainbow crepe cake is and where I can get some. But it is witnessing the potential of her power that shatters Minerva’s final wall and Caliban begins to make inroads in the claiming of his queen. And oh what a claiming it was!
I appreciated the author’s symmetry between The Seelie King and The Unseelie King. While all of the queens have been targeted once their identities were discovered, in both Selene and Minerva’s cases the threat against them came from within the fae realm and we finally learned who it was and why. And I just have to say … creepy! I really liked the author’s take on the myth of the unicorns. It’s not the first time that I’ve seen unicorns presented as the less than idyllic magical and gentle creatures we like to see them as, but it is a rarity and I found the reason behind it to be quite fascinating as was Minerva’s wish. Lalura’s discovery that there is another traitor among the kings’ ranks was disheartening to say the least, especially if it is as they suspect, motivated by jealousy. But it does keep the suspense level high in the series, especially in light of Imani’s divination. We also learned a bit more about the realms of the various kings and that the ever elusive Shadow King will soon be revealed as his bride is the next to be found. But the best part – aside from Caliban and Minerva – was learning Lalura’s secret and I was both surprised by it, yet not. As always, I’m ready for the next installment now!
I reviewed my personal copy of this book.
Reviewed by Angela at Crystal's Many Reviewers!
Check out The Unseelie King (The Kings #6) by Heather Killough-Walden blog post on Crystal's Many Reviewers.
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, I was wholly unprepared for what it meant when it came to fruition. And holy heck did that scene hurt like a mother. But noooo, ripping my heart out once wasn’t enough for the author. What’s astounding is that all of the emotional hits I took as I read through this installment in The Kings series is that they didn’t directly involve the focus couple. Rather they were part of the series arc that continues to run through each book as we learn more and more about the master that Rafael answers to – Kamon – and what his end goal is. I was completely devastated and the only thing that kept me reading was I had to know how Killough-Walden “fixed it” and what trials Avery would face as he claimed his Seelie Queen.
gives the author an opportunity to push the boundaries of the realms and she does so with fervor, or so it would seem. And I for one, could not read this book fast enough to find out what kind of woman was destined to be the Goblin Queen.
. I began the book knowing that Jason was finally going to claim his queen, but I had no idea just how special his queen would be. Yes, so far Evie and Siobhan have proven that the women destined to be queen were special. But Chloe is even more special than I would have thought possible. And it is killing me not to say why. Seriously, the world may be lucky that Chloe has basically starved herself for most of her existence because once the truth of her Akyri roots were revealed, I can only imagine what her future holds. And it seems fitting that an Akyri as special as she would deserve an equally special warlock as her “partner” so the Warlock King is a fitting choice by the fates. 
and unlike The Vampire King, I’ve only read Thane’s story once. Despite meeting him in book one, I really didn’t remember much about his story and while parts of it did come back as I read along, there was enough that I didn’t remember that made this almost like reading it for the first time all over again. Honestly, as I’ve revisited several of Killough-Walden’s books I cannot believe that I’ve allowed so much time to pass and so many of the author’s books to be released without reading them. She has a way of creating characters and storylines that are fantastical yet feel real at the same time.
was my introduction to Killough-Walden’s writing. The first time I read it, I immediately purchased The Big Bad Wolf Romance Compilation so I could get the background on the werewolves and the series that this book spun-off from. That’s how much I enjoyed the author’s writing – I immediately committed myself to almost one thousand more pages of her writing. I will admit that at the time, I was reading paranormal romances because the sex tends to be hotter due to the mating drive most supernatural creatures possess. And while Killough-Walden can write some seriously hot sex scenes, they are used judiciously as the author focuses on the character development and a storyline usually filled with action and suspense as the forces of good and evil battle it out. The Vampire King is all this and more.