She thinks she can steal from me, the little human. Adorable.
Lord of Population
I can’t decide what will be more fun—the hunt or what I will do to her when I catch her. And I will catch her. There is nowhere she can run.
Abel was of perfectly sound body and mind when she looted the Other’s corpse. He looked dead. Wait. Did he just smirk up at her? No. Definitely not…
Hiding out in an abandoned townhouse, Abel doesn’t expect to hear that same bloodsucking alien come knocking on her door or that, when trouble finds them, he might stand at her back rather than stab her through it.
When he offers to help her cross the ruined world of Population, Abel knows better than to believe him. Because when he looks at her, it’s with a hunger that seems to go beyond the taste of her blood, and when he asks for payment, he requires the one thing she can’t give up—her trust.
Run all you like, little human. The sword you carry won’t be enough to stop me from coming for you. You’re mine. Blood. Body. Heart.
Dark and action-packed, Lord of Population is a steamy, end-of-days romance ripe with unexpected twists and epic battles, perfect for fans of JR Ward or Laura Thalassa. It ends with an HEA (no cliffhanger) and features a rebellious human heroine of color and an inhuman hero with fangs. This is a dark romance with medium-high heat levels for mature listeners.
A Brutal World and One Dangerous Alien
The following ratings are out of 5:
Romance: 💙💛❤️🖤
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️
Chemistry: 🧪🧪🧪🧪
Story/Plot: 📕📗📘📙
World building: 🌏🌍🌎🌏
Character development: 😋😀😍😎
Narration: 🎙🎙🎙🎙
Narration type: Solo Narration
Main Characters and Plot Overview
Abel is exactly the kind of heroine I enjoy in a post-apocalyptic story. She is tough, resourceful, and completely focused on survival, especially when it comes to protecting the people she considers family. The world she lives in has been devastated by the arrival of the Others, vampire-like aliens who came to Earth after the destruction of their own planet. Human civilization has collapsed into a brutal landscape where gangs, violence, starvation, and the Others make almost every encounter dangerous. Abel has learned to survive by scavenging and fighting, so when she comes across an Other she believes is dead and decides to loot the body, she thinks she is simply doing what she has to do. Then the corpse smirks.
That Other is Kane, and their first meeting immediately establishes the uneasy chemistry between them. Kane could easily kill Abel, but instead of becoming her enemy, he ends up helping her navigate a world that neither of them can safely face alone. After Abel’s best friend is killed and her young sister Ashlyn is taken, Abel’s priorities become even more desperate. She and Kane form an unlikely alliance to get her back, and what begins as distrust gradually becomes friendship, loyalty, and eventually something much deeper. I particularly liked that Kane recognizes Abel’s strength rather than trying to turn her into some helpless human who needs constant rescuing. Their promise to help each other, regardless of what happens between them, became one of my favorite parts of their relationship.
Highlights and Limitations
The strongest part of this book for me was the combination of survival horror, alien romance, and genuine character loyalty. Abel isn’t just surviving because the plot says she is tough. We see her make ugly, difficult choices, fight when she is outmatched, and repeatedly put herself in danger for people she loves. Kane also surprised me. I expected the dangerous alien hunter from his first appearances, but seeing him gradually reveal a more protective side gave his character much more depth.
There is also plenty of action. Abel’s journey through the ruined world, the attempts to rescue Ashlyn, Kane’s conflicts with his own people, and the increasingly dangerous threats kept the story moving. The blood bonding between Abel and Kane adds another layer to their connection that I found particularly interesting.
That said, the book definitely took me on a few emotional detours I wasn’t prepared for. The second half introduces Mikael, Kane’s brother, and the story gets considerably darker and more complicated. Abel’s relationship with Mikael and the assault that follows were difficult for me to read, particularly because I didn’t feel the aftermath was handled with as much emotional weight as I wanted. I also thought the story became noticeably more sprawling once the rescue storyline expanded. Since this edition combines material originally published as Population and Saltlands, I could feel the shift in story structure. I enjoyed the first portion more than some of the later developments.
Narration
Diana Richardson handles this entire 20-hour-and-19-minute audiobook herself, which is a serious performance undertaking considering the number of characters and the amount of action. I thought she did a particularly good job giving Abel a strong, determined voice while still allowing the other characters to sound distinct. Kane needed a presence that could balance menace with the more protective qualities he develops, and Richardson brought out that contrast nicely.
I also enjoyed the small sound effects incorporated into the performance. They aren’t overwhelming, but they added some atmosphere to the darker scenes and made the post-apocalyptic setting feel a little more immediate. For an audiobook this long, I appreciated having a narrator who could keep the emotional intensity going without making the performance feel flat.
Final Thoughts
Lord of Population was a messy, violent, surprisingly emotional ride for me. I loved Abel’s determination and the way her relationship with Kane developed from distrust into genuine partnership. Their connection worked best for me when they were simply relying on each other, fighting side by side, and slowly realizing that the person they thought they should fear had become the person they trusted most.
I did struggle with some of the darker choices in the second half, especially the Mikael storyline, and I wished Abel’s trauma had been explored more deeply afterward. Still, I couldn’t deny that the story kept pulling me forward. There is something addictive about watching Abel try to carve out a life in a world where almost everything has been taken from her, while Kane slowly becomes the one person she can truly depend on.
This is definitely a dark romance, and the violence, assault, gore, and other disturbing material are significant. It isn’t a fluffy alien romance by any stretch. But if you like ruthless survival stories, dangerous vampire-like aliens, enemies-to-lovers tension, a capable heroine, and a romance that develops through shared danger and loyalty, this one gave me plenty to sink my teeth into. I finished it with mixed feelings about some of the plot choices, but I was absolutely invested in Abel and Kane.
