[ARC Review] The Rebel King by Gina L. Maxwell
Of all the Verran brothers, Tiernan is the least suited to wear the Night Court crown. The Rebel Prince is happy with no responsibilities or accountability—just the freedom to pursue his own dark, lush pleasures in Sin City. Including his secret hunger for a certain smart-mouthed, fiery redhead.
Only, the possibility of having Fiona is stripped away when Tiernan is thrust into the one role he never wanted: king. As king of the Dark Fae, wanting—let alone pursuing—anything with a lower-caste fae like Fiona would shift from fun…to forbidden.
Now war is emerging from the shadows of Vegas, and Tiernan is caught between who he’s meant to be and who he wants. And somewhere in this maelstrom of lust, love, and rebellion is the key to the Dark Fae’s survival…even if the cost is more than he can imagine.
My thoughts: I was swept away by the world of the dark fae that Maxwell created in The Dark King; Caiden and Bryn's story was steamy and had plenty of twists and turns. Tiernan and Fiona's story takes everything up a notch, from the plot twists to the spice and left me devouring their romance and Tier's steps as he took his rightful (if unwanted) place as king.
Both Tiernan and Fiona had quite the journey throughout this book, but it was Fiona's character arc that I ended up loving the most. She ended the previous book knowing she couldn't be with a king; I dove into this book anxious to know how Maxwell was going to play out her storyline and give Fi her happily ever after. The plot twists certainly came early in the story for Fiona, and I ended up loving the rollercoaster of events.
Although the Verran brothers' tastes run dark, I thought there was a surprisingly lack of spicier scenes to showcase that. Maxwell does give readers a few steamier scenes, but the book does focus more on Tier and Fiona as they work to find a way back to each other as Tiernan prepares to take over the royal title.
While each Verran brother's book is technically a standalone in an interconnected world, I definitely recommend reading The Dark King before heading into The Rebel King; between characters and plot points, there is a lot of spill over from the previous book that deeply affects the plots of this one. In fact, I would have lost a lot of references throughout this second book had I not read Caiden and Bryn's story first.
I went into this book planning on a lot of shenanigans from our playboy prince of the dark fae. His reputation preceded him, but I was truly surprised at how much the plot deviated from what I was expecting. There was action and a bit of mystery, and while Tiernan remained his suave self, the story definitely focused more on his growth and maturity as a true king than I was expecting. Despite being different, Tiernan grew as a character exactly as Fiona needed him to and he was a better king for his people because of it.
[A huge thank you to Entangled Publishing for providing an advanced copy of The Rebel King. All thoughts and opinions are my own.]
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Release date: 7/25/23
Format: eARC
eARC provided via: NetGalley/Entangled Insiders
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