Throne in the Dark - A. K. Caggiano // Book Review

  

Throne in the Dark
A. K. Caggiano || Publication Date - 28.09.2022

Damien will not let anything stand in the way of his dark destiny, except maybe her...

Fantasy | Adventure | Romance

Damien Maleficus Bloodthorne, his resume runs thick with dark and evil musings. He is the spawn of a demon lord, a prince of darkness, prophesized realm destroyer and saver of kittens. His latest creation is a tool to command, which inevitably he will be using to ensure the release of his father from banishment. That is until Amma comes along and tries to steal it.

Unfortunately for Amma, this tool for control is a single use item, which has now been absorbed into her body. The only way Damien can get it back to use it for its intended purpose is to kill her. However, he doesn't particularly like the mess that would cause and Amma understandably has an aversion to death.

There may be another way to free Amma from this artifact without the inconvenience of dying, which takes this reluctant pair over the realm in attempts to save her life, and allow Damien to unleash his father.

The Review (may contain spoilers)

I specifically waited until the 3rd book in this series was published by Sourcebooks to be able to publish this review. Not only do I ADORE the new covers for the series, but there is now worldwide distribution physically for 'Throne in the Dark' and I couldn't be happier. What a series A.K. Caggiano has written...

Firstly I need to get my gushing out of the way. If you're looking for a review which is not tainted by absolute love for this series, I'm afraid this writing will not be for you. The premise is very standard Fantasy, the son of a demon lord and a thief meet in less than stellar circumstances. What ensues is a literal rumble through every single quest objective ever known to anyone who has played a Fantasy RPG. There's witches & wizards, werewolves, cults, vampires and a slew of various other races and enemies fondly detailed within the genre.

There is adventure and humor in spades throughout the novel. Ashley's writing and characters are beautifully detailed. In addition to the writing, there are over 400 pages of quests, escapades, fights and plot to get through. Generally longer Fantasy novels burn me out, especially if I feel there is not enough within the book to sustain the amount of pages. However, with 'Throne in the Dark' I felt this length was not a negative at all. The full narrative had not been explained within these pages, and I had spent a lot of time not reading the book imagining all the ways it could be going. All those theories on my part were very wrong.

I also cannot leave without speaking about the dynamic between Amma and Damien. This romance is incredibly slow burn, almost to the point of torture. If you like fast pace relationship development, this will not be a series for you. There's plenty of tension, banter and steam which develops naturally over the time the characters spend together. It was pure joy experiencing their reluctant friendship grow and pure frustration simply wanting them to FUCKING KISS EACH OTHER...

Overall Thoughts

With the above all being said, if you're looking for an adventure full of wit, funny characters and some truly absurd quest hooks, then look no further. I've never wanted to go back through and re-read a series when I've completed it and A.K. Caggiano has inevitably ruined that sentiment forever. I can see myself going back to this world and these characters over and over again.

I've personally purchased this series twice, once on Kindle and the other being the new Sourcebooks published copies to have for my trophy shelf. It is available on Kindle Unlimited for those who have it, and if you do I would highly recommend giving it a go.