The Rebel King

The Rebel King is the second in Maxwell’s Deviant Kings series and, like the first, it features a fae king with a penchant for wink-wink kink. Its hero, Tiernan Verran, is the current King of the Dark Fae who rule Las Vegas. Like many a second son, Tiernan never planned on being a monarch but due to the events in the better first entry, The Dark King, his older brother resigned, leaving Tiernan stuck with the job.

There are many things he dislikes about being King including the crimp it’s put in his regular hook-ups with Fiona, a half-fae maid who works in the Verran hotel Nightfall. (If you are looking for a thoughtful exploration of power dynamics in a workplace romance, don’t read this book.) Because, you see, Tiernan has bodyguards and cameras following him at all times and there’s just no privacy. Except, of course, in the BDSM dungeon, a place Fiona would dearly love to visit but Tiernan refuses to take her to.

Why? you ask. Because Tiernan once lost control with a sub there and thus he can no longer trust himself to whip those he bones into orgiastic frenzies. It’s just so hard to be king.

But king Tiernan is and he has a lot on his plate. There’s Edevane, the evil king of the Day Court who is trying to kill him and destroy the Dark Fae, the super annoying sexy vampire Dmitri “D’yavol” Romanov whom Tiernan needs to help him defeat the Day Court, his Tuesdays with Morrie friendship with Robert, an 80 year old human with whom Tiernan plays chess, not to mention the demands of running his vast and wildly profitable Las Vegan empire. And then, SO STRESSFUL, it turns out that the best way to disarm the bad guys is for Fiona to go undercover as a stripper at a club where fae women keep going missing. I mean, if he wasn’t such a stud, I can’t imagine how he’d cope.

He figures it out, though. For starters, he comes to his senses and does indeed take his bae to the dungeon (among other places) where he gives Fiona the sexcapades of her dreams. He whips her, she moans and comes and comes–no one is hurt in these scenes–and, over the course of the novel, the two discover… wait for it… they are IN LOVE. So, that’s one less thing to worry about.

But there’s still SO many problems. And you, dear reader, are probably SO WORRIED something BAD might happen to Fiona or that Tiernan might lose his fairy light crown. You are concerned about the wrong thing. What you should fret over is how predictable and insubstantial this book is. Little in it will surprise you nor will it make you care about its outcomes. Which, really, is a gift because this is the middle book in the series and it ends on somewhat of a cliffhanger.

You may have noticed I’ve not said much about Fiona. That’s because she’s not very interesting. She has a DESTINY–I’ve kinda forgotten what it is–she’s very nice, she has red hair everywhere–I’d add a rugs and drapes joke here but that would be wrong–and she digs boning then cuddling her man king. Nuff said.

I admit I’m a little salty about this book–I really enjoyed The Dark King and had high hopes for this one. And it’s not all bad–Maxwell writes banter well and she has a lovely, snarky sense of humor. The sex scenes, while not my jam, are hot if somewhat unbelievably consequence-free. Fae romance is having a serious moment and this one isn’t the worst I’ve read. It’s fine, kinda dumb, but fine. You could do worse. Or you could do better and read some Holly Black. Your call. #nojudgement