King of Death (Folk Book 3) by Lily Mayne

King of Death gives us an epic ending for our beloved fae heroes, Ash and Lonan. 

From the blurb:

Everything should be fine. The Brid is dead. I’m the new seelie king. And Lonan is with me, safe from the unseelie queen—his mother—and terrible brothers.

But it’s not fine. Nothing is fine.

I can’t seem to let go of my old life, even as this new one—and my new responsibilities—overwhelm me. Something is wrong with Lonan—he’s closing himself off even more, he’s quiet and distant, and every day the rift between us seems to get bigger, no matter what I do.

I know he wants to go and take his crown. I know he doesn’t feel right here, in this place that’s too hot and too crowded and too different from his home. But I can’t bring myself to let him go. I’ve already lost everything once. I can’t stand the thought of losing him.

But something is happening to me, and I don’t know how to stop it. I can feel myself changing. Becoming something uglier, darker, further and further from who I once was.

Lonan is the only thing stopping me from getting swallowed up completely by whatever now possesses me, but my desperation to keep him close just seems to be driving him further away. And that scares me more than anything.

King of Death is the final instalment in a mm fae romance trilogy about a dark fae assassin prince and a ‘mortal’ who is thrown into the cruel world of the Folk.

Warning: This m/m love story contains explicit sexual content and is not suitable for young readers. It also contains graphic depictions of violence, serious injury, death, minor drug use and deals with the death of close family members. There is a brief mention of a secondary character being forced into a sexual situation in the past. It is not described in any kind of detail. The book ends on a firm HEA.

Jacqueleen the Reading Queen's Review:

"𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥. 𝘈 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘯𝘰 𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘯. 𝘈 𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘬 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨'𝘴 𝘱𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦."

What a wild and magical ride this series has been! I admit I was nervous for a bit there. Lonan was so freaking miserable. He may have been safe from his family on Seelie land with Ash, but he wasn't truly free. He had left the cage of his mother's for another, albeit safer, alternative. Every time he held his tongue instead of telling Ash what was truly going on with him, my heart broke. He was just so used to being an afterthought. Someone unworthy of having a true opinion. He didn't know how to break that cycle, and Ash's paranoia about something happening to Lonan just made everything worse. I didn't blame Lonan one bit when he decided to do what he did in the end.

"𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮. 𝘐 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘈𝘴𝘩 𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦.

King of Death may have been the HEA for Ash and Lonan, but I really felt it was the story of whom the book is named for. Lonan had so much character growth. It was truly lovely seeing him come into his own as King. To see him flourish and even make friends of his own. Yes, he had Ash, but he needed more than that. Your entire world can't just revolve around one person. It isn't healthy.

Then there's Ash. He'd been through so much, and he still had to go through so much more before he could find his HEA with Lonan. He had to fight the power within him. He had to learn to let go, not just of the past, but of his terror that everything could be taken away from him at a moment's notice. He had to be both selfless AND selfish in a way in order to balance taking care of his people and taking care of himself.

When it was all said and done, it was all worth it. Every struggle, every betrayal, every twisted fae bargain. It was all worth it to see Ash and Lonan truly settled in the end. Happy. In love. Content. Nobody in the Seelie or Unseelie kingdom deserved it more.

Rating: 5 Stars

King of Death is available to buy as an ebook, paperback, or to read with Kindle Unlimited subscription.