Rise of the Fallen

All the King's Men, Book 1

By: Donya Lynne

Narrated by: Mikela Drew

Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

In the streets of Chicago exists an uneasy, centuries-old truce between vampires and their distant cousins, a race of shifters called drecks. Vampire enforcement agency, All the King's Men (AKM), is charged with maintaining the truce, but when volatile enforcer Micah Black loses his mate and falls into the biological agony that results from the broken bond, he tests the boundaries of the truce by seeking out Apostle, a leader in the dreck community. Micah wants Apostle to kill him, a request Apostle is more than happy to fulfill.

When ex-Army medic-turned exotic dancer Samantha Garrett inadvertently disrupts the plot and saves Micah's life, a chain reaction sets Micah's heart on a collision course with hers, but he will have to protect her from Apostle and her obsessive ex-husband if they will have a chance at forever.

©2012 Donya Lynne (P)2016 Donya Lynne

"BROTHERHOOD" SERIES & ALL-GENDER RELATIONSHIPS

Any additional comments?

I was gifted this audiobook by the author, narrator or publisher for an unbiased review.

Introducing AKM... A new series revolving around the vampire members of "All the King's Men," an ancient Royal protectorate group that has evolved to become more of a secret force against the evil Dreks.

The concept is refreshingly new and many players are expertly introduced giving us glimpses into what their stories may be. This first book is about the vampire Micah and the human Samantha. Micah is the group's toughest enforcer and we meet him at the height of despair over the break of a relationship he believed to be a heart-bound mate. Samantha is on the run from a rich but abusive husband. Being ex-military, she uses her in-shape body to stay under the radar as a cash-only exotic dancer. Unfortunately, it was Micah's friend Trace's story that grabbed me the most. Shrouded in a mysterious background and lifestyle, with a surprise identity, he turned out to be the ultimate protector.

The conceptual story is great! The execution, IMO, needed some timeline tweaking?
Introducing Micah as suicidal was a mistake. First impressions, and all, I was never able to see him as the bad-ass his character was meant to be. Also, validating Micah and Sam's connection seems like (the author's) afterthought, written in as an explanatory missing link.

Micah's story should have opened as he celebrated some Alpha victory by watching Samantha dance... leading into his attraction to Jackson. THEN I'd have met an Alpha Micah, understood his later despair in a way experience, not recollection achieves, and the ultimate (life)mate revelation would've fallen easily into place.

I was pleased with the inclusion of genderless relationships; accepting that love is love, regardless. Brushing lightly into BDSM just upped the hotness ante. Everything taken into consideration, it was a good start to a new series.

Two Thumbs Up.

Good

Any additional comments?

This audiobook was given to me for a honest unbiased review. This was a good book. A great start to a series. Was a little confused due to lack of world building, but this was a good start to a series.

Woulda, coulda, shoulda ...

Any additional comments?

First I will begin by saying I found this book a hard to listen to story. Not because of the narrator, that was done well enough. The problem is the main character. I found him completely unlikable. I had a hard time listening because over the course of the book I grew to dislike him even more. There was potential in the book with other characters that was unrealized. I only kept listening for more of their stories. I could have been good in the way Black Dagger Brotherhood is. I would have been better I'd Tristan were the main character. I should have stopped before halfway through the story. I rarely leave unpleasant reviews, but there was little to like about this one. I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.

Not my cup of tea

I don't think this story was necessarily bad. In fact, the author's writing style paints very good pictures.

I'm always a bit skeptical of any book portraying BDSM culture, and this one is no different. Mind you, it's nowhere near the train wreck the 50 shades series is, so there's that. It's a bit hard to write about it when you lack decent experience, and there are a lot of people out there with the wrong types of "decent experience." I expected for these portions to fall short, but I was pleasantly surprised at the try. D/s is not absolutely take and give, respectively. Doms take pleasure in giving their subs what they want within the confines of boundaries; subs take pleasure by giving over control of their pleasure to their Doms.

Honestly, I applaud the author in doing better than the other cult classics with this subject matter. I gave this book a decent rating because I enjoyed the story. However, I never connected with any of the characters, so this book did not grab me.

very good

Loved it !! this story. the narrator is so fantastic it's like your really there!! good overall

It has a lot of potential but...

The narrator did a good job bringing the story to life.

I was really looking forward to this audiobook because I really enjoy paranormal romance but it seems like so much was missing. The characters were not well developed and there was little we knew about this world. I did not expect the main male character Micah to have been mated to another male... He was also supposed to be this scary independent warrior but all I saw was a pathetic individual that wanted to end his life. If a bond was that strong it would have taken more time to get over Jackson. I don't understand why there was any M/M intimate moments. If I wanted to listen to any of that in detail, I would head over to another genre.

There was so much that could have been done with this story. It seemed to jump around a lot between characters and much of it was totally irrelevant for the main story. IMO the story did not flow well and a lot of it did not make sense to me. I did not connect with the main characters. I know some people might actually like the things I dislike so I try to explain my reasons the best I can. I'm a big fan of the BDB series. I was hoping to find a similar series but this series is just not for me.

"I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review."

Falk in love with these vampires

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes. It's funny, has great characters, and a great story. I loved this story!

Who was your favorite character and why?

Micah, he's a major smart ass, tough, but with a soft spot for those he cares for.

Which character – as performed by Mikela Drew – was your favorite?

Sam

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It definitely made me laugh, so many funny parts.

Any additional comments?

I was gifted a copy of this audio in exchange for an honest review via Audiobook Boom.

interesting choice for book 1 of a series

Any additional comments?

I echo the sentiments from reviewers who compared this series to Ward's Black Dagger series. There are lots of other series about bunches of warriors who find their happily ever afters, but Ward's series is the one that comes immediately to mind. And so, because my mind wants to make comparisons, things that I look for in this type of series is an understandable and believable world, an overarching story arc, differentiated heros/heroines, and sexiness. And so, in my totally subjective opinion, Ward's 'Dark Lover' packed a more powerful punch than 'Rise of the Fallen'. My rating here is based primarily on the fact that I didn't find Micah to be a likeable hero at all. In Ward's BDB series, you could maybe/sort of compare Micah to Zsadist since both of them are loose cannons that are very dislikable. With Z's story, though, Ward was able to make his character more sympathetic. He was an a**hole (for good reasons) and we could see him becoming a better man because of the patience and love of Bella. Micah was an a**hole, but I didn't really think that the reason was compelling and sustainable. I don't want to write spoilers here, but many of us readers have been dumped before and we've experienced heartbreak - so there isn't much about Micah's situation that paints a picture of a hero. There's nothing hero-worthy about turning into an a**hole when you've been dumped, even if it was your ostensible soul mate. Soooo.... that kind of wrecked the book for me all along. I don't feel that he went through a trial and was redeemed. I thought that he was a heartbroken sad guy and just got back to normal again.

I agree with other reviewers, who felt that this series might have gotten off to a better start by giving us Tristan's story first. I'm not sure that focusing on the bad boy/loose cannon in the group was the best choice to launch the series.

I'm not bothered by the homosexual aspects of the book - reading Ward and Laurell K. Hamilton prepped me for that, so no offence taken. I'm mildly curious but not ravenously curious to read about it, but I won't put a book down or become disenchanted to read homosexual sex scenes. Besides, the book description on Amazon gave us fair warning about homoerotic content, so we knew what to expect.

I wasn't keen on the narration, in my opinion. The narrator's pacing and tone was really hard to listen to, so I increased the playback speed significantly and focused on the story/plot instead. Take my opinion about the narration with a grain of salt, because I'm generally critical of audiobook narrators and I know that audio narration is a subjective thing. I get cranky when the narrator hinders my enjoyment of an audiobook rather than enhances it. This narrator spoke so slowly, it was frustrating to listen to. Again, that's my opinion only...

I provided my opinion in exchange for a complimentary copy of the audiobook from the author, narrator, or publisher.

Interesting Story

Micah was one guy that went from total alpha back to wanting to die then back to alpha male. He is saved by Sam who is his true mate and they both have to save her from the dregs that he was allowing to kill him and her crazy X-husband. To top it all off there were hints of M/M which I don't like and am glad that it was just a small part of the story. I can see that one of the author's future books will be about the M/M couple on the team. Probably will not listen to that one. This story did have several twists but a good HEA and the narrator brought the story to life. There were parts that felt like I missed something, went back to listen but it was still not there. So I guess the author slashed it on the editing floor because it felt like something should have been there. loved the whole idea of Trace. Can't wait to listen to his story. I am also interested in the background story of their team leader. Guess I will have to wait on them as well. I got this book via audiobook boom and am happy to leave this review.

Good Vampire Romance

Any additional comments?

Micah is a vampire in Chicago and works for AKM (All the King's Men), an enforcement agency responsible for maintaining the truce between vampires and the vampire-like drecks.
When his mate dumps him, he becomes self-destructive and suicidal. He enlists his enemy Apostle, a dreck, to beat and kill him. His plan is interrupted by Samantha, an ex-military exotic dancer, who saves him. Micah realizes that Sam is his true mate and they'll get their HEA - if Apostle and her abusive ex-husband don't kill them first.

Rise Of The Fallen is the first book in the All The King's Men series and is a standalone. I enjoyed Micah and Sam's story, although the plot was kind of slow to evolve. There was a homosexual aspect but it wasn't the focal point of this story. The narration was pretty good but her pacing was a little slower than I'm accustomed to and it wasn't a huge issue. Overall I really liked Rise Of The Fallen and would recommend it.

I was voluntarily provided this review copy audiobook at no charge by the author, publisher and/or narrator. This review is my honest opinion.