Monstrous Ends

Forgotten City, Book 3

By: K.A. Knight

Narrated by: Kasi Hollowell, Tor Thom

Thirty years ago, the world as we know it was lost.

Now humans live like rats, desperate for food and safety, the wall towering before us as a mocking reminder of what happened… A wall I find myself running to for refuge.

I've spent my whole life uncovering the truth, telling the world the reality behind the stories that they watch. I'm the one on their screens, the adrenaline junkie, the mayor's perfect daughter. Until one day, I pick up the wrong story. With no other choice, I run and hide in the one place I will be safe from those hunting me—the wall.

However, once over it, I don't find safety; I find chains. Captured by my enemy, a monster, and held at his whims, I have no choice but to use every weapon at my disposal to keep myself alive and prove my worth to him.

Samael, The Mad King: the monster that hates humans more than any other, the one who watches me like he cannot wait to kill me, but when fate intervenes, and we find ourselves turning to the other for answers, he has no choice but to keep me alive. After all, my enemy's enemy is my friend.

Lies have been told, truths have been revealed, but now it's time to end this once and for all.

It is time for the monsters to take their revenge.

It is time for our Monstrous Ends.

Monstrous Ends is the third book in the Forgotten City series. Each book can be enjoyed as a standalone and features different characters, but the series is best listened to in order.

©2023 K.A. Knight (P)2023 Podium Audio

Epic tales!!!!🔥🔥🔥

3 different stories with 3 different couples, which all come together. Past trauma connections that find a way to bridge the gap between species. Then finding out they aren't so different at all, but highly compatible. Great romance scenes also finding a love worth fighting for. HEA

Deeper than expected

I thought the main FMC was pretty unlikeable in the beginning, but once you understand her backstory and motivations you cheer for her. What suprised me most was the exploration of deep healing from mental and physical and intimate abuse. I appreciated that the author didn't shy away from the MMCs trauma. And yet that did not turn down the heat and love story. There was also action and justice seeking. Great story and the voice actors did it justice. My only complaint is it went on too long with the utopian prognosticating at the end.

Seemed a bit like a monster biker gang, without the motorcycles!

The following ratings are out of 5:
Romance: 💙🖤💜💚
Heat/Steam: 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Story/Plot: 📕📗📙📘
World building: 🌏🌍🌎🌍
Character development: 😠😘🤓🥰
Narrator(s): 🎙🎙🎙🎙🎙
Narration Type: Dual Narration

The heroine: Lyra - she was a journalist that wanted a big story and she stumbled upon the biggest of her career. Thirty years ago, humans waged war against monsters from another planet and were losing when they built a wall to keep all the monsters in the old city while humans were outside the wall and built a new society. Lyra finds out that the monsters were not from space but were created in Labs and mistreated until they fought for their own freedom.

The Hero: Samael (a.k.a. the mad king) - he is the leader of the feral group of monsters. When the monsters escaped, rebelled and waged war on the humans that created and then tortured them, they saw red, literally. They went into a fugue like state where all they wanted was to kill and all they felt was anger against all humans. This group remains hating all humans and they never really came out of their ‘red’ state. Some of their members were also kicked out of the two other groups (the warriors and the thinkers).

The Story: Lyra is chasing her big story and finds herself running for her life. The only place she can go is beyond the wall, where it is patrolled by a group of monsters that hate all humans. Samael’s throne is made from the skulls of his enemy and his gang lives in a prison. He fights every day for his position and they live with only two rules: 1. Samael leads and 2. They kill every human they find.

When there is an alert at the border, they go to the wall to kill any humans that come through. There is only one woman that comes through the wall and she tells them she wants sanctuary because the humans are trying to kill her for what she knows about the monsters. Samael and his group capture her and drag her to their lair.

I have to say, I didn’t really like Samael’s little kingdom. It was like the most brutal biker gang ever. He gets challenged to the death on the regular by members that want his throne. I don’t know how he can still have any members when he is challenged so often. He ends up holding the still beating hearts of his enemies every time. Which basically means he won’t live that long because someday someone younger, stronger and meaner will challenge him. It is a bit depressing. I also don’t really like how much the group is into exhibitionism.

This audiobook was told in dual points of view via dual narration and was narrated by Tor Thom and Kasi Hollowell. I like Kasi’s voice which is age appropriate for a young woman and very clear. She also does a good job on her male voice which is quite different than her female voice. Tor Thom is one of my favorites, especially for paranormal and alien romance. His voice is so deep it almost sounds otherworldly, and I really like it.

love the ending

complex characters great world building great narration and a wonderful ending it's a must read

Great way to end this trilogy!

I was happy how this trilogy came to an end. We finally got to see how Samael was going to get his HEA and was wondering how we were going to see his walls break down. I also was so intrigued about Lyra, after we got a glimpse of her in earlier books and we knew she was captured by the feral pack of monsters.

This one did not disappoint! I was not happy how he treated her in the beginning but he did protect her and not let the others hurt her, so there was that. He couldn't help the connection and chemistry, he kept orbiting her and she was trying to survive but her temper and feistiness definitely put that in jeopardy haha. The banter between them and them finally showing their true selves to each other was smexy and adorable! I liked how feral they both got, how they were able to explore things together. I was so happy when he finally FINALLY gave in haha. I appreciated Lyra's back story and how she connected with Samael so well unfortunately. They both had a lot of trauma from people that should not have done that to them, a lot of things to overcome and allow themselves to trust again.

Loved the plot with everyone coming together, the back and forth over the wall and back home, the animals in this one too. I liked all the cameos, all the previous couples and characters making appearances. I was pretty disappointed with how the previous monsters treated Sammie and how they didnt trust him/thought he was hurting Lyra and keeping her hostage against her will. Glad to see Lyra sticking up for him and being such a BA. Loved seeing others come together to take down the baddies. Don't want to give anything away but the battles were fantastic. I will say I was losing hope, but the author did a great job with bringing it all together. I will say there was a super sad scene/moment but the ending was giving us possible HEA for this one character. I was kinda hoping for a short story/epilogue for her but totally understand why.

Narration was good in this one too! I love this female narrator and again I wish the male narrator had more range with his voice (his more recent ones have variety now but the older ones didnt as much). Still thought his voice was perfect for monsters and Samael was the best one he did (his tone and gruffness were perfect for him). She did a great job with how strong Lyra was and the trauma she dealt with was portrayed well in here, especially when she had to confront her demons and her OG baddie in her life.

4.5/5 stars from me, but rounded it up because I thought it tied things well up, the lead up to was great, pace felt right. Sometimes this author can drag some things out and add too many spicy scenes when it wasn't necessary but this one didnt feel that way. It became one of my favorite of hers to be honest <3