Three Deadly Trials

Battle for the Dark King, Book 1

By: V. S. Winters

Narrated by: Hollie Whitmore, Robert Kelly

Length: 7 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's summary

A dark fae king, three deadly trials and a forbidden passion that could destroy everything....

A sexy new series perfect for fans of: Half-Blood Academy, Bound to the Battle God and Stolen by the Fae King!

Fae exist only in children’s stories, or so I thought. That was before a nightmarish creature of the Fae Realm dropped into my life. He claimed a seven-pointed mark on my skin signified my magical lineage, the bit of DNA my mother passed down. Days after I arrive in the Fae Realm, I’m thrown into a series of trials titled ‘The Devotion’. I must compete with demons, vampires, elves and more who want to claim their place at the future King’s side. I have no interest in this guy, but it doesn’t help that the King-to-be is a gorgeous, brooding fae. He’s dominant, commanding and everything I shouldn’t want. But the longer I’m here, the more I’m questioning everything - including my own heart.

©2019 V. S. Winters (P)2020 W. F. Howes Ltd

Great story, well developed characters- spoilers.

There are times where I was like why doesnt she say something!? Use words! The demon killed my friend! How is that allowed!? How is she not on trial for murder! She didnt say aNything!? She stands around with her mouth hanging open catching flies. Soo frustrating! She's very slow on the uptake and reactive not proactive when fighting. Also, took a long time getting used to this narrators male voices bc she makes them all sound like they are speech impaired simpletons. Overall i listened to the whole thing and was entertained but so many times I wanted to smack the main character for not speaking up for herself, in an intelligent manner.

it will suck you in

I absolutely love Fae stories and this one did not disappoint. there were no cliche "it's all my fault!" moments in this book. the characters don't whine and the sex is.....whew it's hawt in here!
if your not a fan of strong language and rip your clothes off - up against the wall sex then this book is not for you. if you are then grab some whine, a fan lol and snuggle in for a long night because you won't want to turn this off.

Confused Insta love

Insta love and sex scenes that felt like they lacked story building to make them more fun. The story is interesting, and I think you want to root for the main character, and I am honestly confused by some of the authors choices. So, it makes me curious about the next book.

*Spoiler*
I think she killed off a character o thought could be really fun part of the story, siren friend/ally?! But she has no real friends and she is for some reason in love with the Fey she has never met before who treats her like trash? I. Don't. Get. It. Hot sex but not relationship material, and also why does he treat her like trash when *spoiler* her mom died protecting him. She gets abducted, forced to leave her father dying from cancer with her younger sister (still in high school) to compete in a competition for the future Fey kings hand. And at first she is like nah I don't want it. Smart. I wanted her to just be a bad ass, win, and take the crown and flip the weird hateful court. Like egahh what an a**hole! And she is just like yep friend, I love you, let's have sex, here will do.

Finished it, and probably won't listen to the next one.

The 3 deadly trial

I like this book it's very good good storyline good character good characters Can't read can't wait to read the others

Exquisite

Loved it from the first page! Story line is great with complicated characters that keep the storyline moving along swiftly! Lots of twists and turns that accompany interesting plots throughout the book. Can’t wait to hear/read the second book of this series!

Awful narration

The female narrator was awful, reading all the dialogue like you would read a book to a toddler-slow and over dramatic. It got worse as the book went on. The live story was very very superficial-it went from animosity to love and marriage in a blink. It’s too bad, the story had potential but it just wasn’t there.

Really good!

At first the narrative was a little different, but I quickly adjusted and ended up loving it. I listened to the whole book in a day and a half on my flights back to the US from Serbia. Downloaded the second book and am about to listen to it on the next leg of my journey. Haven't watched a single movie on the whole trip home as this book is way more interesting than any movie.

Not worth my time

The only reason I finish this book it because I used a credit to get it. The main character was whiny and so weak!! She should have been dead within the 1st hour. The Prince isn’t much better!! Not worth the credit or time.

Good story but could have been better

I like the story but honestly it had a lot more potential to be better. First, the male narrator was awful. He had a good voice but the way he spoke drove me crazy. He tried way to hard to sound sexy or something? The way he would draw out the words was nasally sounding and just awful. Hard to explain really. The girl was good though. Plus, I wish the romantic scenes would have been built up better and not just thrown right into the sex scenes which were too much in my opinion. There was no build up really to their attraction to each other. Not sure I’ll buy the second book.

Much potential in the storyline, falls flat and leaves you unsatisfied

So much potential, falls flat and leaves you unsatisfied...

Narration really needs to be much better: Before I bought the audio book I actually read all the 6 reviews that were available. even though most of them said the performance of the narrator was not good, I thought if I put it on 1.25x it should speed up her voice a bit. It helped a bit but not by much. I unfortunately have to agree that the narration is not good, for the female voice a bit better but for the male voice from the female narrator terrible. Overall very mechanical and really much lower quality than Tantor media for example.

Story is very predictable: it is trying to be hunger games but for the love of a prince. However there are so many unlogical turns that you really need to shut your rational brain off and just don’t question the writing to enjoy this.
For example: the heroine gets attacked but does not mention this to anyone; the heroine hates the prince and wants to go back home ASAP, but then she wins the trials in stead of losing them. The heroine hates the prince but suddenly out of the blue with no cause decided she wants him sexually. There is a side character who is underdeveloped as a character: what is his role, is he her brother or in love with her. Just very confusing.

Price is waaay to high: for this bad quality of narration and medium quality of writing paying 12.99$ for an audio book is way too much. Just not worth it. It is free in kindle unlimited but not in audible romance package.

So why would you read it? If you can turn your brain off and not get annoyed by the stupid things the heroine does, not the predictable twists, and just enjoy the storyline you can have an enjoyable read. I would not listen to this again.

Oh an btw: there is a cliffhanger which adds to the annoyance factor.