The Rogue King by Abigail Owen Also in this series: The Blood King
Series: Inferno Rising #1
Published by Entangled: Amara on July 30, 2019
Genres: Paranormal Romance
Narrator: Sarah Puckett, Alexandre Steele
Length: 11 Hours and 58 Mins
Pages: 400
Format: Audiobook
Source: Library
Kasia Amon is a master at hiding. Who—and what—she is makes her a mark for the entire supernatural world. Especially dragon shifters. To them, she’s treasure to be taken and claimed. A golden ticket to their highest throne. But she can’t stop bursting into flames, and there’s a sexy dragon shifter in town hunting for her...
As a rogue dragon, Brand Astarot has spent his life in the dark, shunned by his own kind, concealing his true identity. Only his dangerous reputation ensures his survival. Delivering a phoenix to the feared Blood King will bring him one step closer to the revenge he's waited centuries to take. No way is he letting the feisty beauty get away.
But when Kasia sparks a white-hot need in him that’s impossible to ignore, Brand begins to form a new plan: claim her for himself…and take back his birthright.
This review may contain spoilers, so fair warning, upon reading the review.
The Rogue King is the first book in the “Inferno Rising” series. I have been watching this series ever since this book was first published and I am not sure why I had waited so long to read this one. I think I wanted to wait on seeing some reviews for this one first, but I have been witnessing such lovely thoughts on this one here. So I knew that I had to read this one for myself. I can say without a doubt that I am so thrilled that I finally grabbed this one up here. There is something so rich and exotic about “The Rogue King” I went into this one not fully knowing what to really expect of this one. I have read the reviews but never really delved into the summaries of the story, and its a book I never thought I would get such a kick out of, and I am left feeling so intrigued by the development of the plot of the series and I am so fascinated with how this author developed the world-building that was NOT what I expected. I have a feeling there will plenty of adventures ahead with this series.
The Rogue King is a fiery hot romance that delivers in multiple counts which features:
- Brand Astarot-Alpha male, a rogue dragon, orphan, witnessed his family murdered and has been an outcast all of his life from his people
- Kasia Amon-one of the four daughters of the epic pairing has been hunted all of her life, a phoenix that is highly prized in the paranormal world
A prize sought by every creature. Legend held that the man who captured a phoenix would be blessed. Unable to put a foot wrong. Every choice the right one. Every action leading to greater fortune. Except legend had it wrong. The man had to capture the phoenix’s heart. The man who’d come for her would never have her heart.’
The Rogue King sets off with seeing Kasia and her sisters witnessing their mother dying but not before she all sent them to four corners of the earth and to relative safety. Kasia and her sisters were trained by their mother to be survivors. They were always destined to be on the run because their powers are highly coveted among the dragon kind. Brand witnessed his whole family be murdered by the evil King who took over his clan and he had to become a renegade to survive but kept one sole connection to a fellow King that won his loyalty and one who has promised him a future and a place with the blue dragon clan but first his friend needs a phoenix to mate with because that will secure his place and power to take over the evil King who has terrorized their people for years. When Brand discovers Kasia, she is a gold mine, but he knows that she is reserved for his friend and that any relationship with her is forbidden. But he also realizes that sometimes fate has different plans and soon Kasia and Brand will have to decide if their love is worth the risk…
“Don’t give your trust too easily in this world. More often than not, people like me are out to harm you or use you.”
“Aren’t you trying to stop me from running away?” she pointed out. “You might want to work on your sales pitch.”
The Rogue King is a story I honestly never expected because it had so much more depth than I was thinking it would have. I am definitely impressed with this author’s ability to layer depths of conflicting plot lines that only pull the reader’s attention fully into the story. I have truly loved seeing these books be so popular though all over the community, especially as it’s paranormal. I truly appreciate the author’s style in her development of these characters. I almost always prefer character development over the plot but Abigail Owens really blends these two factors so well together that it becomes a challenge to separate the two from each other. From the first chapter, you are pulled right into the story. I was lucky enough to be able to grab this in audiobook and I am so blessed that I was able to do that due to the pure talent of these narrators who just spun such a solid tale. I definitely want to read the rest of these books in audio format if I can because I loved the craft these narrators build within this novel. The Rogue King is a story that blew my heart away and I will be honest I have a soft heart for the “Forbidden Love” trope. There is a certain unique element that it cultivates in a romance and Abigail Owens blew it out of the WATER in every way possible. Now I won’t say that this was a five-star read because it just didn’t reach that level for me. But I had such a blast with this book and it truly adapted elements that I gravitate towards in a solid romance. I will mention that I wasn’t sure how this book would truly play out in the end. You never know will this type of setup, but I did enjoy the ending of the story and seeing how the author developed their HEA. It isn’t an easy road for Brand and Kasia and I was worried in seeing how Ladon would complicate matters for them.
“Sleep, sweetheart. I’ll make sure you’re safe.”
“I know you will.”
I only had a few issues with this story, and much of it was the last 20% of this story here and I really didn’t care for some of the actions of the heroine. I really struggled with misjudging Brand in the manner in which she does. I really struggled with this because I couldn’t see how the reveal of his past caused her to treat him the way that she does. But bravo to BRAND for staying true to her and being patient until she worked through it all. I can understand miscommunication issues, but in this circumstance, I just couldn’t understand the development of it here. It was a very swift development and it didn’t work for me. I did find the ending of the story to be such a TEASE. Now you definitely get a HEA/HFN in featuring our pair here, but there is a teaser for how the second book begins. So I honestly don’t think I will wait too long before I will be picking “The Blood King”
Overall I found The Rogue King to be a spectacular beginning to a fiery hot series that will set your spirit on edge in a way that will keep you in suspense from beginning to end. It’s a story that you will be drawn to like bees to honey, it will keep you in suspended motion from reality as you delve into these complicated machinations that develop. Get ready for a wild ride of curl your toes adventure, sassy sensuality, and stimulating writing to capture your attention.
About Abigail Owens
Multi-award-winning author, Abigail Owen, writes adult paranormal romance & upper YA fantasy romance. She loves plots that move hot and fast, feisty heroines with sass, heroes with heart, a dash of snark, and oodles of HEAs! Other titles include wife, mother, Star Wars geek, ex-competitive skydiver, spreadsheet lover, eMBA, organizational guru, Texan, Aggie, and chocoholic.
Abigail attempted to find a practical career related to her favorite pastime by earning a degree in English Rhetoric (Technical Writing) and an MBA. However, she swiftly discovered that writing without imagination is not nearly as fun as writing with it.
Abigail currently resides in Austin, Texas, with her own swoon-worthy hero, their angelic (mostly) kids, who are growing up way too fast, and 2 adorable fur babies.
I really liked this one too. I’ve read all the books in this series so far and really loved them.
This sounds like a fun series. I’ll have to take a look!