Title: King of Flesh and Bone & Queen of Rot and Pain
Series Name: The Pale Court
Author: Liv Zander
Audience: Adult
Genre: Romantasy
Publication Date: April 13th, 2022 & June 18th, 2022
Pages: 264 & 272
Reading Format: Audiobook
Publishers: Ink Heart Publishing
King of Flesh and Bone & Queen of Rot and Pain was a wild ride to say the least. These ones definitely had their issues but I found myself enjoying the reading experience more and more as book 1 went on and then for the most part enjoyed book 2. This is one of those ones were I can see how the book is bad, I can see the problematic characters and I don’t agree with things throughout but the reading experience was good and the narrators of the audiobook really came through for this one. So that leaves me in this weird middle ground where I don’t want to actively recommend it but I also kinda want to recommend it. Help me….
So, King of Flesh and Bone follows an obsessive & vengeful king, Enosh, who has the power over Flesh and Bone and curses corpses of mortals to never rot. Then we Ada, a widow who unwillingly capturing his attention.
I saw a review on StoryGraph where someone describes this as The Walking Dead crossed with Beauty and the Beast but porn and well yeah that kinda sums it up. The spice in this one was next level. There was a very fine line being played with here when it came to consent which I wasn’t a fan. Quite frankly in the beginning the consent was forced on her thanks to his powers. Which is a no from me. I think this book could have avoided this as well. If we had even a little bit of build up and chemistry between them in the start we could of avoided that aspect which definitely would have increased this books rating all round.
This magic system and world had SOOOO much potential but it fell a little flat in some places for me. There were some things left unexplained like how Ada ended up in the Pale Court when no human had been able to in a couple hundred years. Also Enosh’s powers were left a little vague. I would have liked to understand them a bit more. But overall the magic system and world was fascinating and I’d love to learn more.
As for character Enosh is of course a piece of shit wrapped in a sexy bow but ya know, Romantasy…. It happens. Ada I really enjoyable actually. I felt like we got more depth from her than from Enosh. I really enjoyed that she used the situation she was in to tell others where she could and not just try and help herself. I would have liked to see a bit of build up to Enosh’s emotions towards Ada. Really they weren’t love to me, he was just obsessed… I can’t say too much without spoiling but I would have enjoyed a bit more build up of their relationship in book 1 to help make the ending and book 2 more believable… Oh and I love Enosh’s mind reading brother whose name I can’t think of for the life of me. He was just a fun addition that broke up the darkness.
Overall I had issues with these books but I enjoyed the reading experience, especially with the audiobook. I definitely enjoyed it more and more as the story went on and I enjoyed Queen of Rot and Pain more than I did King of Flesh and Blood. Queen of Rot and Pain just had a bit more depth, a bit more chemistry, a bit more plot and a bit more world building which ultimately resulted in a better experience. Oh and by book 2 there was less rapey, forced consent happening… Which, always a bonus.
Trigger Warnings: Sexual Violence, Rape, Forced Consent, Abortion, Torture
King of Flesh and Blood
Review Breakdown
Characters: 6
Atmosphere: 8
Writing: 6
Plot: 6
Intrigue: 7
Logic: 6
Relationships: 6
Enjoyment: 9
Queen of Rot and Pain
Review Breakdown
Characters: 7
Atmosphere: 8
Writing: 6
Plot: 8
Intrigue: 7
Logic: 6
Relationships: 8
Enjoyment: 9
Dusk Angel Reads 
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