The Vampire King: The Kings Series, Book 1

If it's got the word 'Vampire' in the title then I'm interested, couple it with HKW as being the author and before you know it - it's in my basket.

This is a spin- off from The Big Bad Wolf series, but if you haven't listened to any of them it probably won't matter much as there are a few mentions of werewolf pack members. Yet another interpretation of how vampires came about and what they can do. Roman, the Vampire King, can't resist Evie who is 'hi hoing' it through life until she becomes a 'person of great interest' not only to Roman but an old enemy of his who thinks she's the key for his revenge. Apart from vampires (obviously) it's got Hunters, Werewolves, Witches, Warlocks, magic and all sorts of other supernaturals in it (sometimes too many) and they either help or hinder Roman.

A very enjoyable listen which was action packed and the plot was good - 13 supernatural Kings are going to find their Queens, but for me, I felt it lacked the dark sensual passion a vampire book should have (girls - if you loved and wrote vampire books and was saved twice by THE most handsome of all vampires wouldn't you say "bite me please"). If it wasn't for the very end then this seemed more YA than adult with only one not very hot or heavy sex scene.

Worth a credit? For me, I am looking forward to book 2 The Phantom King coming soon to Audible but it would help if HKW could make them a wee bit more passionate please please please.

It was an interesting start to the series. I liked the unique take on Vampire mythologies, incorporating magic was a great touch.

I'd have to say the interactions with each vampire, I wanted to know more of how their power worked.

My problem with this book was the narrator. How do I explain this, Anthony put a definite pause/punctuation at the end of every sentence. So instead of it sounding like a continuous story it sounded more like bad slam poetry. It made it so very difficult to get into the story, I KNOW I would have liked it more if someone else was reading it. And since he is narrating all of them I'll have to read them instead. I can't bring myself to pay money for that experience again.

Not particularly

I just wish someone else had read these books, someone else could have made them great. As is, it was more of a chore to get through.

A story that flows, not this chopped up one we get to listen to. Also more dialogue between the characters. Nearly 5 hours of narration gets old.

No, but I will never buy another book by this author.

The only redeeming quality is that Anthony Ferguson was the narrator, he is a very talented narrator and I have enjoyed many books he has read.Too bad he had such a terrible story to read.Anthony Ferguson was the reason I purchased this book.

The first 5 hours of this book is all narration with practically no dialogue between characters. The story jumps around so much it is disconcerting. One minute the story is in a hospital and the next it is in a house without any connection or chapter break..New characters are introduced without any warning. One minute you are reading about the king and the next paragraph it jumps to new characters. This might be ok if reading but not for listening. At least there should be a new chapter to bring in things that at the time are not connected in any way. Overall this is not a well written book. The story is weak and so slow during the first 5 hours with hardly any dialogue. I did listen through to the end because I thought something was going to happen. What a disappointment. No surprises as it is easy to predict the story. I read a lot of PNR and this one falls very short. The others usually have me hanging on to hear what happens next. Also they have a lot of dialogue. Listening to this book it seems that a lot of the story was cut out. When finding out vampires exist there should be more than a 3 word sentence. Perhaps this is bad editing because it does seem that parts of the story had been cut out. I would not recommend this to anyone.

I love vampire books but this one just lacked a certain "bite" of a typical vampire romance novel. There were too many characters and too much information given in such a short amount of time. I felt a little dizzy and confused in the beginning. Perhaps I would have enjoyed this one more if I read the Big Bad Wolf series first. The story switched back and forth between characters too much for my taste. Some of the side stories weren't even relevant to the main story. All the more reason I think I should have read the BBW series first.

Overall it wasn't a terrible book but it wasn't great either. I also didn't care for the narration but that's just a personal preference.

This book intrigued me enough that I'm downloading the second in the series to see where it's going. As a stand-alone novel I don't think I would consider recommending to others, but I like the world/ situation that is set up so I'm willing to ride this out a little further.

I'm curious to see what the 13 realms are, and how the overarching plotline is going to develop. The only problem I had was the romance between the two main characters. It didn't feel very passionate or real, just contrived for the sake of the story. I'm hoping (as is often the case) that the first book/ pairing is more about getting readers adjusted to this world than anything else.

British, Attractive and British some more.

I am really torn about the narration for this book. I definitely liked the tone, cadence, etc. of Antony Ferguson's voice, but ALL of the characters in the books were done with a British accent. If the story took place in England, or the characters had all been clearly ID's as Brits that would be cool, but the story takes place in Oregon, and so it's weird to hear everyone sounding like they're from the UK. I'm hoping this was some sort of producer/ directional oversight, and there will be more variety in The Phantom King. Although, like I said, he does have a nice voice, so even though that's annoying, he puts a lot of inflection and thought into his performance, so I'm willing to suffer through it. In my book, a British accent makes everything sound better!!

This was a pretty good start to a series. There were, however, way too many other storylines and characters being introduced - some which didn't have much to do with this book. It's like the author was trying to give you a taste of the characters for like the next 6 or 7 books. Normally, they will bring in characters from the next book in the series only so that you want to purchase the subsequent book. Having so many storyline beginnings was just confusing and I would just wait for those chapters to be over. I actually liked the vampire story, though. But that is probably only like 60 percent of the book.

Excellent narrator, someone who can easily move from men and women's voices & accents - very believable. First book set-up for multiple character book series, very doable. Story line flows well. Despicable bad guys and multi-layered good guys. Great action scenes. Imaginitive story.

I had to go back and get the 4 books about the wolves prior to this book. Now the storyline is making sense,

The heroin wasn't a -teen-, and as an older vamp fan, I'm sick of all the stuff that caters to the too young. Our heroin has a responsible mundane grownup life as an alone still-single. I like relatable characters in unreal stories.

My favorite character is the vampire King! So take charge and beautiful. He doesn't take "no" in today's politically correct world!

I'm a first time listener to this author.

There was one scene in the story that made me laugh.

Thank you author for this particular book, I love it.

Fell apart from the middle to the end. Could have been great, just didn't make it. Don't know what else to say. Save your money.