Reviewed by: Rabid Reads 
 Before I start my (rant) review I'd like to put things into perspective; last year when LOVER AT LAST came out I called in sick, and finished it the same day. Now, I didn't LOVE it, but it was still a 4 star read. For THE KING, I woke-up at 2:30 AM--patiently waited until it was actually available for download at 3 AM--and dove in. I'd anticipated a long day of uninterrupted reading, but after a couple of hours I could barely keep my eyes open, and gave-up. Ok, so if you haven't figured it out yet, I'm a BDB fangirl. I'm also no virgin to all-nighters, so the fact that Ward put me to sleep after two hours was a very bad sign. THE KING felt like a short stories anthology with a Beth & Wrath novella at the end. I enjoyed the latter, but unfortunately I had to push through 400 pages of meh first. 
 The BLACK DAGGER BROTHERHOOD series is renowned for its gangsta slang and shameless product placements, and never have the two been as apparent as in THE KING. The author went a little overboard with these two elements in my opinion, and I found this book a more difficult read because of it. But, those weren't the only reasons why I struggled to finish this twelfth installment; there were also too many side stories, not enough brother moments, and too much "filler". It took me FIVE DAYS to finish this novel! Need I remind you that I devoured LOVER AT LAST in one, and it too was pushing 600 pages. Reading the first 3/4 of this novel was a chore, I was dangerously close to do-not-finishing it on several occasions. And, what exactly is Ward's problem with Miley Cyrus!? 
 I found the multiple story lines very confusing because not only does the POV change from chapter-to-chapter, but there were subsections within each one with even more character perspectives, and none of them really went anywhere. I enjoyed the flashbacks to Wrath's parents, and the way that the author connected them to the present king's circumstances. iAm and Lassiter were a-m-a-z-i-n-g in this installment, and I liked Beth and Wrath's story once I finally got to it. As for the rest--Trez and Selena, Xcor and Layla, Assail and Sola, and... s'Ex(!?!)--I couldn't have cared less. There's very little actual brother action in this book, in both the fighting and the cameo appearance departments, which I found hugely disappointing. I was so psyched when Blay and Quinn made their first post LOVER AT LAST debut--only to not see them again for the duration. 
 I haven't DNF'd a book in years, I'm too type-A to be able to leave anything unfinished, but THE KING came dangerously close which pretty much says it all in my opinion. I still plan on reading the next installment, however it will not merit a sick day this time around. In fact, I might just wait until it's available in paperback because this one definitely wasn't worth the inflated price tag.