*I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review*

Ariana Nash should be an auto-buy for everyone who enjoys reading dark, intricate M/M romance. She’s one of the few authors whose work haven’t let me down ONCE. Seriously, I don’t know how she does that. Every story is better than the last, and King of the Dark might be her best book yet. It’s definitely my new favorite, and I’m really excited to be one of the first people to read and review it.



As soon as I got my copy (and stopped fangirling…), there was only me and the book - I could not put it down and finished it in one sitting. The blurb promised great things - a gay GOT/Witcher combo - so the bar was set pretty damn high, but it somehow surpassed my expectations!

A couple of chapters in, I was already thoroughly immersed and enjoying the lovely worldbuilding, but I was also experiencing a vague déja vu. Vasili kind of reminded me of Captive Prince’s Laurent - he was this cold, untouchable prince with a dark and mysterious past, carrying most (but not all) of his scars on the inside, always a few steps ahead of his enemies. Niko shared some of CP’s Damen’s characteristics, too, but to a far lesser degree - Vasili’s complete opposite, he was a blunt, no-nonsense soldier with a short fuse, who took no shit from anyone. Despite being pretty jaded after all he’d been through in the past, on some level he was still too trusting, and easily deceived.

Fortunately, any similarities ended here. The plot was wonderfully dark and twisted, and completely unpredictable. Suffice to say that just when the author had me totally convinced the story was moving in one direction, it did a complete one-eighty - which, in retrospect, was something I should’ve expected, as she seems to delight in stringing her readers along (and they secretly like it, too)! Here’s my advice to my fellow readers: do not fish for spoilers, and just go in blind - that way, you’ll get the most out of this one.

There’s no need to go on at length about Nash’s wonderful writing style. Her voice is unique and very engaging, here even more so than in her previous works. The book was also beautifully edited and typo-free - truly a balm for this finicky reader’s eyes. I really liked Niko’s POV, but it’d be even better if the future installments allowed the readers a glimpse into Vasili’s complicated mind. That man is a complete enigma, and I can’t wait to get to know his inner workings.

King of the Dark is a strong start to a fantastic series, and I can’t recommend it enough. As always, I’m on the lookout for more releases from this amazing author. ( )

I swear to God, this woman can't write a bad book even if she wanted. I loved, even if I was already feeling the twist. Some of the "I was a step ahead" made me roll my eyes, because of course he was, but Pacat used the same strategy with Laurent on caprince, so I'm fine with it. I'm so engaged with this book, I loved to read something by Nash that doesn't have the usual dual pov, it gave some mystery about the relationships and how they would go to the second book. ( )

Loved it. Slightly reminded me of captive prince in the beginning, but I like Vasili and Niko even better. ;) ( )

Is this series just another"Captive Prince" clone?

Ok, I noticed a few similarities to captive prince, mostly between the actual princes of both books. On the surface, they both come across as treacherous and cruel. Both prince's are almost asexual on the surface, especially compared to those around them. There's the rumor going around that neither one of them have dicks. They are both cold fuckers. Icey cold. And I believe they may share similar physical characteristics. I could go on, but really it doesn't matter. This book is awesome and it's unlike "Captive Prince" in every other way. Plus with " King of the Dark" you don't have to wait a couple of books before things start to get spicy.

If you are thinking about reading this stop reading other reviews now and just do it or you are going to get spoilers that will take away from some jaw dropping revelations that make this such a great read. The entire climax was giving me everything I needed. In fact the last 20% of this book are so good I would recommend reading just for that. ( )