The Death King

Death, Book 1

By: Penelope Barsetti

Narrated by: Michael Ferraiuolo, Ramona Master

I was fifteen when the Death King came for us.

With a mighty black dragon and the ability to command the dead, he raised an army of our fallen soldiers to fight for him—and conquered us in the night. My father, King Laurier of Scorpion Valley, couldn’t stop him. I tried to flee but came face to face with the man in black armor, the man who looked more like a god than a human. Instead of killing me, he chose to show me mercy… but it didn’t feel like mercy.

Not when the next ten years of my life are spent as a slave in the Arid Sands, digging for Black Diamonds from sunrise to sunset. I'm also the personal slave of General Titan—a man who has grown obsessed with me. The work under the hot sun is unbearable—but I prefer it to his company any day. I’ve never tried to escape because there’s nowhere to run in the desert, but all of that changes when I hear the news—that the Death King is coming.

I sneak out in the middle of the night to steal his dragon, but that backfires in my face—because you can’t steal a dragon. Khazmuda is no mindless beast. He can speak directly into my mind and hear my thoughts in return. The Death King is about to kill me, but Khazmuda changes his mind—because I have the gift.

The ability to speak with dragons.

The Death King spares my life once again and takes me back to his castle. He has no idea who I am, has no idea what he did to my family ten years ago. He asks me to fight for his cause—but he won’t tell me exactly what that cause is. And then he tells me he wants more from me… desires me more than any other because, like him, I have the gift.

I can’t deny he’s the most handsome man I’ve ever seen, with eyes black like midnight, a jawline as sharp as his dragon’s talons, the height of a mountain, and shoulders as broad as a stream. But no amount of attraction will ever change the fact that he destroyed my life. The answer is no—and it’ll always be no.

But the Death King doesn’t accept that answer.

This book contains dark themes with subject matter that may be difficult for some listeners.

©2024 Penelope Barsetti (P)2024 Dreamscape Media

previous reviews not completely accurate....

I almost turned this series down because someone hDlad mentioned it was similar to bad blood, which I had just read before this series. Not to say there was anything wrong with that series.....I liked it. But I didn't want to continue with something identical in cass I would loose interest. I will say some of the issues that reviewers have mentioned about consent aren't wrong however this is a fictional book and trigger warnings are present for a reason. If it's something you find completely uncomfortable, its best to just move on even though its very minimal compared to some of these dark romance books. Once you get past book 1, the rest of the series really great and makes the issues book 1 lays out for you a little more understanding or " accepting" to and extent. Overall, this series brought out many emotions. I don't normally do reviews nor would the stories really resonate with me. I new after book 2, I would have to give my review to hopefully offset some of these others that have been posted. It's worth the read and then some.....

Loved it

This is a great story and I can’t wait for the rest of the tail. What will happen when they meet again? Will the general catch up to her and what will happen then?

A little familiar

I listened to this and read book 2. It's starting to sound like a mix of the FUSE series by another author and the Dirty Blood series. Still good overall, just hope to see more differences in the future books.

Would have been 5 stars, but…

The story is great. Totally new idea, not the same old genre plot regurgitated. I like the characters and the world building, etc. I’ve even gone on to read the next couple books. But there was one big problem I had with this book that almost caused me to set it aside: when first getting to know the MMC, I really questioned the author and character’s understanding of CONSENT. And especially after what the MFC had been through in the slave camp, it is very unrealistic that she would react the way she does and would accept the MMC at all. The author doesn’t understand trauma. But considering the books that have inspired the author’s pen name, and her choice of male narrator, it shouldn’t be surprising. This issue alone costs this book an overall 2 star loss in rating from me. This day and age, the author should know better.

But the plot and MFC were compelling enough for me to keep listening and eventually the issue ceased (even if unbelievable), and I got lost in the story. I just want the author to learn from this and not repeat it in her future writing.

Loved the story

I wish the narration was done more in line with the descriptions of the main characters. I felt Talan seemed more hardened but the narrator read as if he was constantly melancholy. From the description I felt Calista had also been hardened from her ordeals but the narrator read her character over dramatically and sometimes to the point of whining.

Trigger warnings needed

FMC is subjected to many nonconsensual interactions with the MMC. The lack of respect for her boundaries and refusal to accept her no is supposed to be sexy 🤢🤮

DNF: Terrible writing quality, made worse by overly dramatic female narration.

This is written so poorly, “The tension was taut like a rope about to snap in the middle. It was sharp like the edge of a new blade. It was heavy like the summer air mixed with rain.” That entire paragraph could—and should be omitted. The entirety of the book reads like that. All purple pros and empty phrases. As if that isn’t bad enough, there are also the phrases that make no sense, “I won’t shield you from horror, but I don’t want you to be oblivious either.” How about, 𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘭𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘳 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴, or 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘭𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘳, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴? The descriptions are carelessly written, too, “Out of the sky, an enormous, winged beast slowly lowered to the stone foundation of the castle…When its claws hit the earth, the ground rumbled.” Ok. So, did his claws land on the stone of the castle, or on the soil (earth)? Did the castle rumble, or the ground? (And lest anyone argue that the author meant that he came down to Earth from the sky—notice that Earth is capitalized when used thus.)“He had dark eyes like his armor—black not brown like hazelnut or warm coffee. Dark like the scales of his dragon or the sky on the darkest night. They were black…an eye color I’d never seen.” We are all familiar with the color 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬. And I have no idea what this means: “Rivers ran up his neck, tight cords like branches from the roots of his muscles.” Rivers ran up his neck? Three paragraphs describe, in conflicting detail, The Death King’s expression. And they continue throughout several pages: “He gave my father a stare that was both menacing and indifferent at the same time. Not once had he blinked since dismounting his dragon. His eyes held no fear or dread, just a hint of annoyance. His face was distinguished by its hardness, with its sharp cheekbones and jawline sharp like his blade. Rivers ran up his neck, tight cords like branches from the roots of his muscles. I’d lived a sheltered life of luxury in the castle, so I’d never witnessed such a sight—a man with so much rage. All of it was conveyed in a single stare….My father stood there in silence, the recipient of that ruthless gaze…. Seconds passed, and the Death King stared, his eyes still focused and angry.” Menacing and indifferent? Ok, perhaps it’s possible. But he can’t also express annoyance—it’s the opposite of indifference. So are anger and rage. It’s just needless word vomit to fill the page. Silly redundant stuff like, “…the revelation [was] news to me.” A 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 is a surprising and previously unknown fact, which is also what the expression, 𝘯𝘦𝘸𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦 conveys. “His eyes narrowed as he scanned my face for further scrutiny.” In the context, she was not scrutinizing him. Therefore, he was not searching her face for scrutiny, rather, he was 𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘻𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦. “I was cornered by a heartless dictator…” No, Love. A king is (in this instance, an absolute) monarch. He is not the head of a dictatorship. Despite the derogatory use by those of us blessed to live under democracy, dictatorships are actually types of governments, and they’re different from monarchies. Because the setting is a kingdom, and the man spoken about a king, that description is ludicrous. I couldn’t get past all the ridiculous fluff like this to enjoy the story. Penelope Barsetti’s overuse of juvenile adjectives and cliche similes were just too much. Then, Ramona Master is so overly emphatic that the descriptions become mind-numbing. I made it two hours in, and so little has happened because the author is failing to move the story along. The story is muddled by all the unnecessary details. There are 7 hours left, and while I think there’s potential for a somewhat enjoyable story beneath all the word-salad, I just can’t stand anymore. I’m too distracted with the nonsense. Unlike others, I have no problem with cruel book boyfriends, and think that feminist sensibilities and people requiring trigger warnings are not compatible with the dark romance sub-genre. My issues are with poorly written narratives.

Great F narrator and good M narrator can't save it

Narrators good/great (Ferraiolo not really the best fit, imo).

Story is trite and chauvinistic, The MMC is cut out of broody, angsty cardboard -- very two-dimensional. Adding some pitiful backstory to give the MMC trauma doesn't excuse his inability to see women as human beings. The persistent dehumanization of women the MMC engages in is aggravating and pointless to the larger story, other than the laziest way to emphasize how awesome the MFC is, since he's capable of comprehending her humanity (debatable).
Truly, a very shallow story.

juvi with bad language

presentation and no depth of character development. i couldnt endure past 3rd chapter. wish i could get my credit back. wont buy suggested reads again.

Awful

This is painful to listen to. The male voice actor is creepy AF and does not fit the description of the dragon king at all. The voice belongs to a thin, weasly character, not a tall, dark, strong, magical king. I hated listening to that voice, no matter how well he acts, it just didn't fit. The female voice actor does a great job, although the character's constant antagonism to everyone about everything gets real old, real fast. The actor does bring to life a character that is horribly written. She deserves kudos for that but the author deserves a time out for awful writing. For instance, after the dragon king brought the mfc to the castle, he says to his soldiers "Take her to her room and if she ever tries to leave, kill her." Several days go by, she hasn't seen the king, so she thinks 'I bet I can go anywhere I want in this castle, who is going to stop me? I bet his men don't even know who I am so if I just act normal like I belong, I can just walk right out the front gate. And if the soldiers do stop, they won't do anything to me, they'll wait for orders.' Seriously? He already gave orders! It's stupidity like this that makes people make fun of these novels. That's right up there with the slasher films and instead of taking the vehicle that's right there and leaving, the lone woman decides it's a good idea to see what's going on in the dark cellar. And of course she won't have a weapon. So stupid. The main female character in this story wants to be tough but she has a horrible attitude and makes horrible decisions. It's really hard to listen to. It's even more difficult to enjoy.