Claimed by the Horde King by Zoey Draven
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
She broke their laws. Now, he has come to punish her…
Claimed by the Horde King
In my human settlement on the hostile plains of Dakkar, I am an outcast, a strange girl orphaned since birth, alone, and dreaming of a life I don’t have. I hunt to survive, though it is forbidden, though it breaks the strict Dakkari laws that we all must follow.
When my desperate actions catch the attention of a Dakkari horde king—a cold, powerful, and merciless warrior leader, with eyes like flint and a body like steel—he seeks to punish me…and he succeeds.
But then he does the unexpected.
Instead of taking my life, he claims me as his own.
He steals me from my village and brings me back to his battle-bred horde. There, I warm his bed. I make bargains with him on starry, cold nights. I look into his grey eyes and see not a monster, but a demon king who captures my soul.
But demons have a way of never letting go…and as the cold season descends upon Dakkar, I begin to wonder if I even want him to, even when it hurts.
“The Horde always comes first!”
The following ratings are out of 5:
Romance: 💙💚❤️💜
Steam: 🔥🔥🔥
Story/Plot: 📕📗📘📙
World building: 🌏🌍🌏🌎
Character development: 🤓😉☺️😍
Narration: 🎙🎙🎙🎙🎙
Narration Type: Dual Narration
The Hero: Seerin – he was a Dakkari Horde King, and he watched the girl hunt. It was illegal to hunt, and she was good at it, she had created her bow and arrows with skill. He knew he must take her since she broke the law of their world. He had to make an example of her and could not grant her mercy. Hunting was punishable by death.
The heroine: Nelle – she was a human on the planet Dakkar, she hunted for food in the dark forest, so that she didn’t starve. She knew it was against the laws her people were supposed to live by, but it would be the only source of meat for her village, but she didn’t know that a Horde King was nearby watching her. When humans wanted to settle on the planet, they agreed not to hunt, though farming hadn’t worked, and they were starving.
The Story: Nelle sold the grounder she caught for one credit which would get her a bowl of broth. The man that made the deal, told her a way she could get an extra credit. She was a woman alone, but declined, reminding him what happened to the last man that tried to get with her. The following morning, Nelle finds out that a Horde came through and saw her out hunting and wanted her. She walked to what might be her own execution and just felt numb.
“This was the only life I had, the only one I’d known. I mourned that now. I’d dreamed of other things, things I knew I would never have…like family, a safe home, companionship, love. I wanted to laugh at that foolish dream. Love didn’t exist in a place like this. It never could.”
The Horde King stood in front of hundreds of Horde warriors, all of them massive and scarred. His chest was bare and sculpted and had gold tattoos, blonde hair and grey eyes. He sentenced her to five lashes, but only one if she would tell who else from the village had been hunting. She wouldn’t talk and got sentenced five lashes. After 3 lashes, Nelle decided she would let go of all her worries, angers and fears so she could find peace and die, then she dared the Horde king to give her the last two. He did not. He took her with him instead so she wouldn’t die of her wounds.
The story was good, and I liked that the two main characters got to know each other before things got steamy. They spent a lot of time together talking and asking each other questions. The world building was terrific. Nelle walked around the camp for a few days, just noting everything she saw. I liked the fact that she gets a job with the weapons maker and kept busy during the cold season. Seerin had a lot on his shoulders and there were a few side storylines that were interesting.
This book was told in dual points of view via dual narration and was narrated by Lia Langola and Aaron Shedlock. Lia is a good narrator with a low, but soft voice which is very pleasant, and she does a terrific job. Aaron has a soft, masculine voice and is one of my favorite male narrators.
Books Best Blog 