Book Review of King Of Battle And Blood by Scarlett St. Clair

By Dan Watt

My brother Andrew gave me The Witcher: The Last Wish by Andrzei Sapkowski book because he wanted to discuss it.  He also gave me King Of Battle And Blood: Adrain & Isolde by Scarlett St. Clair.  When I first saw the cover of King Of Battle And Blood, romance novel came to mind.  I wondered why my brother would give me a romance novel.  Years ago, I was looking for something different to read so one of my clients recommended Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles.  As I was looking through a Chapters Indigo store a girl I knew from the gym I was working at, asked me what I was looking for.  I told her An Interview with a Vampire.  She gave me a quizzical stare and asked, “In the romance section?”  I realized than that the Horror and Romance section flowed into one another. 

King Of Battle And Blood is a Romance novel, it’s also a Horror novel.  St. Clair writes in first person and we see and learn through the main character Isolde a medieval world where vampires and other “monsters” exist.

While I was reading King Of Battle And Blood.  I kept envisioning Renée Elise Goldsberry, who plays Quellcrist Falconer in the series, as Isolde.  But there is a significant age difference.  Isolde is a young woman, while Renée Elise Goldsberry is ageless.  Who would play the mysterious Adrian?  Back to The Witcher, perhaps Henry Cavill could pull it off.  Eric Bana, Chris Hemsworth might also work.  But we’ll leave Adrian as a mystery.

What I really enjoyed about the book is the honesty.  Isolde acts upon her emotions, which reminds me of the main character in Nnedi Okorafor’s Who Fears Death, Onyesonwu.  Both are strong and determined characters who express what they think.  Isolde is a princess and a warrior, and behaves as such.

St. Clair fills the story with exotic scenery and erotic description.  She tells the reader the truth, how Isolde really feels.  She has written a gripping Romance Horror story that will intrigue and scare you one moment while arousing you the next.

To learn more about Scarlett St. Clair:

Scarlettstclair.com