I'm giving The King 5 stars, not because it was the best book I've ever read, but because J. R. Ward gets so many things right with this installment. I haven't been as enthralled with the last 5 books as I was with the first 6, but The King was a pleasant reminder of why I love this series and story. 
 The main storyline is of course, The King. Wrath's throne is in jeopardy. He drifting apart from his wife and he's been retreating into himself. I was reminded of the Wrath from Dark Lover, the last purebred vampire we all fell in love with back at the start of the series. 
 Beth wants a baby and Wrath's reasons for not wanting a child are presented to the reader in a series of flashbacks that explain quite a bit about why he feels that way. Beth is just as feisty with Wrath as she's always been, and it took me back to what I love in this series. 
 The subplots of Assail and Sola, Trez and iAm (I'm starting to get interested here after 12 books) and Xcor and Layla all kept from crowding the center stage for the most part, while moving these stories forward. I like drug-addicted Assail and his feelings for Sola and I'm curious to see how that will end up, although I could care less about the drug dealing stuff. And I thought there was some humor associated with Xcor in this that made me smile a little, although someone needs to find a way to get some sense into Layla. But I didn't find the way that J. R. Ward cuts to another storyline as annoying in this book as in the previous installment. 
 What I loved the most about The King was the beautiful character arc we get to see with Wrath. I loved seeing where he started and what sort of ruler he chose to be. It was just lovely, but made me feel also like this book was an ending of sorts.