Taken by the Horde King (Horde Kings of Dakkar, #5) By Zoey Draven

Giorgia Reads

4 stars

Where to start - I liked it. Compared to book 3 and even book 4 this was definitely better - in my opinion (I think the tropes in this are the kind I usually enjoy as opposed to the ones in the last book - which I tried hard to overlook)

We got angst, we got some emotional writing and scenes (which sometimes reminded me of book 2 - the way Nelle was so lonely and lost - Mina, the heroine in this one was very much the same for a long time).

I liked Mina and how she was portrayed. We didn’t get a strong, assertive heroine, not from the start - she came into her own little by little and I loved her evolution. At times she seemed like a bit of a pushover but I never felt like she was weak. When her convictions were strong, so was her will.

The hero, Wrune, I liked him too, I think he did some of the best grovelling I’ve read about in awhile. Well, technically he didn’t grovel BUT the man realised he was acting like an ass, stopped and thought about it then went to her and apologised on his knees and explained why he was being distant and why that was a mistake. In my book, good communication and a genuine sorry goes a very long way. As far as heroes go he was a good one, although emotionally constipated at times.

In regards to their chemistry and their overall relationship, I think it was good and I enjoyed reading the evolution of it. I feel like the emotional depths of their connection didn’t reach the levels of that in book 2 ( Seerin and Nelle are just superior. Mostly, I liked how the book started and the first 60% of it was where I felt the most. Afterwards - I’m not saying the book got worse - but I kind of lost the excitement I had in the first part.

If I were to rate the books so far - I think this one would take 3rd place after book 2 ( which I believe will never be dethroned from 1st place) then book 1 (because let’s face it, that was the light version of The Golden Dynasty and that book is superior).

It’s weird, because the book was 500 pages and I binged it in one day, so I should have more to say (maybe I should have waited a few days for my feelings on it to settle) but I feel like overall I enjoyed it and I would read it again in the future, but there was something missing to make it very memorable. I re-read the 2nd book a couple of times and let’s just say I don’t have the same urge with this one.

I feel like there’s way more to say but it’s just not coming to me right now. I’m not even completely sure of my rating, so I’ll probably edit this if I feel any different in a few days.

Val ⚓️ Shameless Handmaiden ⚓️

3.5 Smut Stars

Full review later…maybe.

↬ Ⓛ

If Zoey decides to write 15+ series of more horde kings, I’ll still be keepin’ up & reading every single one of my horde kings because I’m whore for them & thank goodness, this one is better than the previous one!

readabookonce

Have you ever looked at a review you wrote in the past and think, damn, I really said that? Because that’s how I’m feeling now.

MAIN CHARACTER NAMES AND AGES
Mina (?) | Wrune of Rath Rowin (?)

FEATURES
∘ fantasy romance
∘ nonhuman x human
∘ magic-wielding fmc
∘ she helps imprison him (and helps him escape)
∘ he then holds her captive
∘ forced marriage

REVIEW
In a misguided attempt to break the curse of a dangerous red fog, Mina agrees to help capture a horde king. Wrune of Rath Rowin (say that five times fast) is the unlucky target. When Mina succeeds in her task, Wrune attempts to manipulate her into helping him escape. Little does he know, Mina doesn’t need much convincing.

Wrune being a prisoner was an interesting element because we’ve never seen a horde king in that position of vulnerability before. He would’ve escaped regardless, but Mina did save him (even if she brought him there in the first place).

Mina was a strong character, but selfless to the degree that she readily took the blame and sacrificed for others who did not deserve it. Even as she is forced to do Benn’s bidding, she rebels against him in ways that don’t hurt anyone else except for her. Wrune was the only one who treated her with kindness, and since we are privy to his POV, we know he was genuine—though he didn’t want to be.

The first part of this book that took place within the mountain and the escape afterwards was captivating. Once they are “married,” the book loses a little bit of steam and becomes more about Wrune’s past and how it causes him to mistreat Mina. It was a cycle of never-ending angst, at the expense of both characters losing some of their personality.

Even the final conflict, while action-packed, did not have much suspense. We’ve already had a main character with magic in the series, so we know what to expect: they get drained, nearly die, husband’s heart breaks, they wake up, and then they are fine.

Being the penultimate book of the series, I thought the overall story arc would move forward. It did not. We knew from the previous book the fog was spreading, and that’s all that happened in this one. However, this was the most interesting couple dynamic & storyline (to me), so you win some, you lose some.

OW/OM DRAMA minor OW — Wrune was (sort of) considering another bride before meeting Mina, and there’s drama from that (mostly from the OW’s father).
CHEATING none
THIRD ACT BREAKUP no
ENDING HEA — one month later epilogue; story of the fog is not concluded, but the couple’s story is over, as they are happy and in love.

POV dual / first person
SPICE LEVEL 4 / 5
RATING 4.5 / 5

Reread Notes: Original review edited to fit current review format.

Jac K

3.5 ⭐'s
I really enjoy this series and have never been disappointed. With that said, I have enjoyed some more than others and Taken by the Horde King falls somewhere in the middle. I liked the characters, I liked the plot, it just dragged some for me. I’m not sure if this one was longer than usual, but it felt like it. I also think that part of my problem was that it took us almost 40% to get past the blurb. It was just so many pages of the same stuff that I had to fight not to skim.

This is Wrune and Mina’s story. Wrune is the Vorakkar of Rath Rowin and has been around for a few books. He’s been sort of brainwashed by his unstable father that relationships and love will destroy him, so he’s not super open to a coupling. Mina is part of a human group that lives under the Dead Mountain where she’s treated horribly.

I felt like this was a smidge of a mashup of the previous books. Mina reminded me of Luna from book 1 being a starving, lonely orphan, treated poorly by her fellow humans. The relationship reminded me of book 2 with the push-pull/denying feelings and hesitation of the H. The plot reminded me of book 3 with Mina working with the enemy to obtain a heartstone and having magic like Vienne. And Wrune’s grovel/make up after seeing the light reminded me of Kirin from book 4…. So, if you’ve enjoyed the series, chances are you’ll like this one too.

Random stuff-
🔅 Why do the cover models always have short hair?
🔅 Why did her stutter disappear? The pain made it go away (?)
🔅 If their names are so secretive, and they live in tents… why do the h’s always scream it? And how does no one hear it?
🔅Tess said she wants to stand on her own feet, but then just basically has everyone do everything for her. I so hope she doesn’t get a book. I can’t stand Tess.

Bottom Line- Another solid addition to the series. I will continue to read whatever she releases… but secretly hoping Serok might come soon and be totally kick ass, but I also think we need to put the red fog to rest before diving into the political side of problems.

Jac's Notes-

Vorakkar of Rath Kitala - Arokan
Captive of the Horde King
Vorakkar of Rath Tuviri – Seerin
Claimed by the Horde King
Vorakkar of Rath Drokka- Davik
Madness of the Horde King
Vorakkar of Rath Okkili – Kirin
Broken by the Horde King
Vorakkar of Rath Rowin – Wrune
Taken by the Horde King
Vorakkar of Rath Serok- king’s bastard
Vorakkar of Rath Loppar
Vorakkar of Rath Dulia

Ends w/ Okkili in the eastlands. (by the red fog) Vorakkar of Rath Serok’s responsibility to find the priestesses. Rowin is in the northlands.

Izzie d

I enjoyed this.
No intimate scenes other than the Hero and heroine.
Small other woman drama, a horde member thought she'd be his Mrs.
HEA.

Tami

2.5 ⭐️

Oh man. Es gibt so viele tolle Ansätze und die Welt ist so originell und anders und interessant. Die Umsetzung ist bei Zoey Draven nur jedes Mal leider nicht so mein Fall. Ob sich das mit den nächsten Büchern noch ändern wird?

Kristina

I’ve mostly enjoyed this series, but this addition wasn’t great. It was extremely long and so very similar to book three. The beginning had some merit and I was interested in their relationship but then it just dragged in the middle. It felt way too similar to every other book in this series. The hero had nothing to distinguish him, he was like the hero from the first book and the fourth book, muscled and broody and descended from horde kings. Also I’m kind of sick of all of these horde kings being complete assholes to their females for more than half of the book. And consent is also a big issue in this one as well, in that he doesn’t need or ask for it. The heroine seemed different at the beginning but ended up being the same as Vienne except less interesting and much weaker.
Also, let’s take a minute to discuss the covers for the last few. Why does the hero have short hair when he’s described as having shiny hair flowing to his waist. Same thing with the last cover. Are you telling me you can’t find some long haired shirtless guy in all the stock photography sites on the internet? This is a huge inconsistency and it annoys me.
To sum up; this was a miss and felt like the author was out of ideas and was stretching the series just to sell more books. Hopefully the final one will be better and more original.

daemyra, the realm's delight

Me trying to figure out how many more Horde Kings we have left to read about, hoping the series continues:

description

Alice Coldbreath's Brides of Karadok and Zoey Draven's Horde Kings are the only series keeping me going, at this point.

I innocently started Taken by the Horde King last night and holy shit. I think Taken by The Horde King may be better than
Claimed by the Horde King??

Book 2 is classic. Zoey Draven nails the chemistry between the MCs, the back story for the heroine (Draven writes the best lonely outcast heroines that are overlooked), and world-building of Dakkar. The whole story was keen sorrow, tender love, and I wanted to cry at the end!

While I was excited to read Books 3-4, something was, unfortunately, missing. Now I plan to reread them so maybe it'll change but Book 3 didn't live up to my expectations, I wasn't hooked on the plot, and I felt a case of insta-love. Book 4 was promising but again, petered out towards the end, for the same reasons (not invested in plot, insta-love).

I read Taken by the Horde King with these experiences in mind and I was GRIPPED from the beginning to the end. I did not skim once. I wanted to enjoy each sentence.

Mina is with a bedraggled group of humans setting up camp at Dead Mountain after their village was burned down by the Ghertuns. They are not doing well. The mysterious red fog surrounds Dead Mountain, snuffing out any life, plant or animal to be had. Consider this Lord of the Flies where Benn, the leader, is ruling based on fear and violence, and the trauma-torn humans are too focused on their survival that they become selfish, and suspicious of others. There is a pivotal moment where Mina is accused of stealing rations.

In this context, Benn has made contact with the witches indigenous to the land of Dakkar, known as sarkia (singular noun). The Dakkari witches promise the humans abundant food if they bring the heart of a horde king. The witches want it for a blood magic ritual so that they can rule over the horde kings again. This is an anti-witch/anti-matriarchal society book lol as the witches believe that they ruled before the kings took over. Anyways.

Benn decides to send Mina as a honeypot to lure a horde king. Wrune, the horde king (vorakkar) is living closest to the red fog in the Dead Lands to watch over it. Wrune has travelled into the red fog each day and one day he sees Mina. She is clad in translucent dress robe and her eyes are glowing, hair is having a good day - simply looking 10/10 in the red fog. She tells him she is his, spoke in words from an ancient language that the witches told her to say to him. Wrune is gone. Hook, line, and sinker.

Wrune is captured and taken to Dead Mountain for safeholding until the witches return on the Black Moon to complete the blood magic ritual.

2 things about Mina. She is your typical overlooked Draven heroine that is mistreated or looked down upon by her human neighbours. Mina is pretty but she is considered an outcast because she has a stutter. Her stutter disappears when she is with Wrune, but with the humans, she has a bad stutter and she often uses the stutter to ward off unwelcome male attention (Benn) and plays up her "dumb" mask. The only thing about Mina is she has special powers in the fog. She is only able to lead Wrune into the fog for as long as she can because she shields him from the effects of the red fog. For Dakkari, they cannot breathe and easily become weak in the fog.

Wrune thinks Mina is a witch and he does not like her. The first half of their story, Mina tends to Wrune's injuries. Such rich emotions here. Wrune is angry with Mina because she led him to his capture, and he also can't believe that he was enchanted with her when he next sees her - weak, scared, emaciated female who the other humans do not respect. But he also knows that she could be his way to escape, so he knows he must try to be on her side.

Mina has felt wrong about this scheme. In her defiance, she cares for Wrune, and eventually she revolts against the scheme. Mina's POV is great. I was in Dead Mountain with her, seeing the complex human dynamics - of a husband caring only for his pregnant wife, of a mother slowly staring herself to death to feed her adolescent son, of friends who are sympathetic but ultimately do nothing to stop the violence and the wrongs.

The human group was so messed up. And Mina recognizes that. Her spirit has almost been defeated. Until she decides to rescue Wrune, to do something about it. I was also invested in learning Mina's backstory, as it's skillfully teased and revealed as the story goes on.

I want to commend Draven for writing Mina's friendship with Tess. This was a real friendship. Mina and Tess consider each other sisters. Tess was strong, confident, always looked after Mina in the village. Now, Tess is one of Benn's women. She is physically bruised by him and even starts to believe in Benn's lies, starts to tell Mina not to do things to rock the boat.

Mina is concerned about Tess, eventually hurt and betrayed by Tess. Who was this person? They both believed in the same values. Now Tess is going along with Benn because she thinks what he's saying is the truth is the truth, and that it is working? I will not spoil anything but their resolution in the end was a triumph. Friendships are real, fights happen. I respected Mina and Tess so much and I hope to read about Tess.

I really enjoyed the nuanced morality among the human group. Ok Benn was an unredeemable piece of shit (perhaps the most benign thing about him is that he is garden-variety evil. He sucks and he’s not worth dissecting.) but even the witches, there is one moment where Mina feels like she can empathize with their plight. For the other humans at Dead Mountain, for Tess - there was a willingness to understand, to reflect instead of other and demonize. Thank you to Zoey Draven for not babying the reader, but making this such a thoughtful read.

Of course, this is a romance and I was satisfied on all counts. Wrune not trusting Mina to loving Mina pipeline was all of the feels. I loved it. I loved the tingles in my heart and the shivers in my body reading their romance.

Complete tangent but my favourite thing about horde kings are their tail. I always like to see what they do with their tail. It's so sensual! The mad horde king's tail was so possessive, wrapped around is queen's leg or ankle. Here, Wrune's tail really only makes an appearance when he is captured, and it is used to great effect - a symbol of his uncaged power.

I loved the worldbuilding with the witches, the romance between Wrune and Mina was angst heaven. 500 pages and it goes by quick.

I cannot wait for Vorakkar of Rath Serok's book!! I hope he gets set up with a priestess <3

✰ Liz ✰

I am truly addicted to these HORDE KINGS!!!!

For more reviews/reveals/giveaways visit:

Bex (Beckie Bookworm)

Mina is a human living with a group from her old village they are barely managing to survive and they use Mina as a scapegoat. Due to her stutter, she’s been labelled simple and is everyone’s whipping boy even her best friend who is supposedly like a sister keeps her distance just to avoid being similarly targeted herself just by close association. When a group of witches offer a deal the heart of a horde king to banish the red fog and save them all Mina's group agree and decides that Mina will be the one to lure him in.

Vorakkar Rath Rowin is instantly entranced by the human female that appears in the red fog and when he then finds himself captured and chained by humans he believes that she must be some sort of witch to entice him so. Now a prisoner under the dead mountain he will use whomever and whatever he must to escape his bondage and return to his horde even if she is the very reason he now finds himself currently in those chains. So when the captor becomes the captive and then the captive becomes the queen these two will now have to dig down deep to overcome their natural mistrust and dented pride especially if they hope to have any chance of a happy future together.

This one moves the narrative further along in regards to the mysterious and deadly red fog overwhelming Dakkar and in Mina, we have another human with gifts bestowed from the goddess Kakkari herself. Mina is able to manipulate the fog and bend it to her will but not without substantial payback in the form of intense pain.

Mina is quite a sad figure treated abysmally by her fellow humans she is used to and accepts all of the pain and loneliness she currently endures. But underneath all this, she definitely had a core of steel and I liked how pragmatic she was able to be. Mina really did evolve throughout the course of this and though she isn’t one for making a scene and at times appeared quite accepting of her lot her strength comes from a totally different place. At heart, Mina is a protector and years of abuse by others hasn’t dulled her drive to do the right thing. But what Mina wants most is to belong and much to her surprise she discovers that now might be just what she has managed to achieve residing with Wrune and his horde.

I liked Wrune his past has made him very rigid in his behaviour he likes to be in control at all times and he’s all about his horde they have always come first until Mina that is and because of this he finds himself Scared of the intense emotions that Mina causes him to experience and hence fights it all the way. So much so that he almost sabotages their union before it’s even had a chance to flourish. I liked that he was willing to apologise and was sincere he knew he’d acted badly and was willing to make amends I found his behaviour refreshing especially for such an alpha male.

Overall this was an excellent addition to the series it was as usual well written and I was easily engaged and invested in the unfolding narrative. I definitely recommend reading this and I’m going to be so sad when this is over that’s for sure.

Untitled design

Reviewed By Beckie Bookworm

https://www.bookbub.com/profile/63435390

Niki {Just lost her husband & going on semihiatus}

The gruff broody ones that end up being squishy teddybears inside are my favorite!!

AvidReader

Before reading a Zoey Draven book I always need to mentally prepare myself for the emotional wringer I’m going to be in.
This was no different. From the first line itself l was hooked! The heroine Mina was such a complex character. Complex is also another word I would use to describe this book. Complex characters, complex emotions and unpredictable plot.

Many characters had grey shades that make you question about the right and wrong. Through all the abuse and suffering Mina still came out as loyal protecter with soft heart and steely core.
Hero was that person who sacrificed so much to become what he is, a great horde king who will do anything for the safety of his horde. Throw both this characters together add intrigue, evil witches, deadly fog, untapped immense power you’ve got a great book.
I love this author writing and style. Especially the climax was done very well.

Safe and absolutely recommend this whole series.

The author warned that this book was long but for me the story just flowed. I couldn’t put it down.

Snow

2.75 - 3 stars.

the h forgave the H too fast. in my opinion, if a hero is a jerk for weeks on end, the heroine shouldn't become open to forgiving him within one conversation. i mean, at least she didn't actually Forgive him within that one conversation but she made it clear that she was giving him another shot.
but honestly he'd fucked up so bad and the worst part is that the heroine's bar was SO LOW to begin with. she'd been treated like shit for so many years, she literally just wanted someone to care about her a little bit, and he KNEW THAT and still he decided to treat her badly.
i wanted her to be done with him for a few weeks and really make him panic that he'd lost her but she went easy on him, ugh.

still an entertaining series, though. enjoyable and very well-written. im looking forward to the next book but i want less cruelty and pushing away by the H, and more pushing away by the heroine for a change.

Elle ♡ [semi-hiatus]

3.75 stars

This was better than the last book. I really liked how it started and the darker dynamic between Wrune & Mina even though Wrune was being unreasonable towards her for way too long when she wasn’t really at fault for what went down between them. As the series has progressed I’ve had more issues with the plot/world building…it’s just not very strong and kinda random at this point with powers and the fog etc etc. There are some more minor continuity/inconsistency things that bug me as well. That said I still really liked Wrune and Mina together and it was nice getting a tassimara (wedding) scene because I really enjoy the cultural Dakkari horde side of things and I don’t think we’ve seen a tassimara since book 1? Anyway I’m ready to finish this series 🫡 up next is the bastard son of the king of Dakkar + a hybrid Dakkari/human priestess…sounds fun and it’s the last book so hopefully we finish strong💪

Ava

2024 reread: loved this reread!!

I feel like this author just can't write a bad book!!

This is the next installment in the Horde Kings of Dakkar series. Book 5 follows the story of Rath Rowan and human Mina. Mina has been forced by her human village and a witch to lore a horde king to essentially his death. The witch claims she can save the village if they bring her the heart of a horde king. Mina is reluctant to do so, but she follows through with the plan. Rowan is the horde king that falls under her spell and is chained and beaten by her people. From the moment Rowan is captured, he swears he will seek retribution for what this woman did to him. But through his vengeance, he ends up falling hard for the woman who tricked him.

What a great addition to the series! I adored reading about these two characters. Both of them grew as people by being in each other's life. And I'm just a huge sucker for a captor-captive trope 😉

Please be aware- this is one of the darker books in the series for sure

TW: starvation, torture, beatings, attempted SA, kidnapping

TROPES: aliens, barbarians, betrayal, captor-captive, caretaking scene, kindle unlimited, tails, "who did this to you?"

Seline

3.5 stars

Really liked the first half

Ainhoa

Very much the same thing…

And I refuse to acknowledge the new covers. Yikes.

Marcia

I swear this series can do no wrong. This was such a beautiful story which starts off with all the angst that comes from two characters who start off on the wrong foot, but are meant for each other. The relationship that develops between Mina and Wrune is so heartfelt that I wish there would be a continuation to their story.

Christy

I want to say that I would sell my soul to be sucked into this universe just for the low chance that I would catch a Horde Kings eye but I think we all know that I would die of famine before I even got within rock-kicking distance.

Katie Utterly Unashamed

This series has my heart, I can not wait for the last book to come to audio. Yes I know I can read it, but I'm gonna be 100% honest, the chances of me being able to pronounce half the words in these books is pretty slim.

The narrators do such an amazing job and for me they real give this story so much feeling.

I will definitely start this series over many times. I'm not even sure which book is my favorite. They are all a little different, but give you that same happy feeling.

If you read this, Enjoy My Friends….

Instagram |
My Blog |
Facebook

Grey Story

DNF @44% - Clearing book queue for a fresh start.

Oof, I liked this series but my interest slowed in book 4 because I disliked Kiran so much and then this one.. from what I recall, it was just extra rough with the way the FMC was being treated around the part where I stopped reading so I dreaded returning to it at that part. Hopefully it gets better but I'm honestly not sure when I'll ever pick this back up again. I would still like to finish the series someday!

Bee Mills

Not as good as Book 2, but still lovely.

I really like the way the heroine grew through the story, although I would have preferred for her stutter not to disappear the moment she met the hero. Instead it's like all she needed was an injection of tongue and BAM! No more stutter.

I just really, really love this entire series. It's got all the good parts of
The Golden Dynasty, without any of the uncomfortable bits - like, you know, the fact that all the male characters in that book are rapists and the general aura of sexual violence that hovers over everything.

Instead, even when the consent is on the dubious side (because blackmailing someone into bed is pretty sus) you can see that the hero does actually want the heroine's proper consent, if that makes sense. Like, he blackmailed her into bed but once he got her there, he was good about checking in with her that she was actually okay with what was going on (not as good as some of the other Hs in this series, but still a cut above the rest)

The only thing that really sucks is that I don't know when the next book is coming out. I hope it's about the Dothikkar's bastard, he sounds excellent. And maybe the hybrid girl that was mentioned in Rath Drokka's book? That would be cool.

Stacie

4 1/2 "Witchy" Stars!

Loved! Rtc.

Stephanie

The fact that this is my least favorite book in an otherwise great series shows how strong the writing, characters, and relationships are. This book was still good, just my least favorite for a few specific reasons.

First, I was actually going to skip this book because the plot summary describes a deceit plot, which I always hate. If one MC is lying to another for 75% of the book and it’s revealed in the third act conflict… like, c’mon, you’ve been lying the whole time, you suck, I don’t want the other MC to forgive you. I was told the lying doesn’t go on long and it doesn’t - but I felt the first 30% of the book were just too bleak and stilted for me.

For the first 30% of the book,

Once we’re back with the horde and the story moves forward, I just… couldn’t really latch on to the relationship. Rowin says he can’t grow close to her because of his own father’s warnings about loving someone, and so that self imposed distance on top of the first 30% of the book left little time for us to see them “normal” and happy.

Lastly - the entire third act conflict and “climax” of the story was hard for me to visualize. The plot with the blood witches was easy enough to grasp, and the high stakes of the moment were as well ……. but Mina’s powers are never well defined. And the attempt to explain how they were working was confusing. I’m someone who visualizes books and scenes in my head and I was blank for this passage because I couldn’t understand what she was doing. At least in book 3, we knew the heroine had grown up with this power, she knew her limitations and how it was growing… and she wanted a heartstone to amplify this power. There was no kind of similar logic in this book. (Also I hate to throw this in but, Mina’s power in this book reminded me a bit of Bella Swan’s from the Twilight series - and she spent months learning to shield y’all!!)

Still a good book, just happens to be my least fav.

I’m interested to see where the author will take the story as nothing has really been resolved with the red fog, though apparently the Gherkun’s are dead?? Good riddance.

CW: blood magic, human sacrifice, violence/murder, imprisonment, abuse, attempted rape, starvation

Book Snob Sue

Uh yeah, when you lure and capture one of the toughest horde kings....shit gets real fast. She lured him into the red fog, so that her people could capture him for the witches, because the witches needed a horde king’s heart to defeat the red fog. Yeah, it doesn’t quite end the way they all had hoped, but here is what I will say, yes he is a fierce horde king, but she is quite a force herself. So powerful, I was in awe of her, and she is the sweetest soul too. This book was full of twists and turns, and definitely will have you wanting more.

I flove this series so much, it is so addicting. I was reading it during lunch, and when my lunch alarm went off, I joked with my co-worker that I couldn’t come back because the Horde King just, but the Horde King just…so ya’ll have to read it to find out, what he just, just did, but I did not want to quit reading it. Late nights to finish this book. #WorthIt.

Safe Read, with a fierce Horde King obsessed with his powerful new wife…as he should be. So much goes on, and the red fog is still a force. We get to see some favorites from past books, like my Mad Horde King and his wife. If you are a fan of this series..,you’re welcome, because this is a fantastic addition to the series. Seriously, if you haven’t read this series…then what are you waiting for?

Gemma Voss

Flawless 💜🥰💜

Deanna

4.5 stars! Mina was such a great heroine, she’s very calm and grounded and composed, even when mistreated and talked down to by her fellow humans. She’s not outwardly strong, but her inner strength, kindness, and resourcefulness made her a really compelling character to root for.

“You don’t have to tell me about darkness, horde king,” I murmured to him, bending so close that I could almost rest my cheek on his upper arm. “I live in it.”

Because of her abilities to walk through the toxic red mist unaffected, she’s tasked with luring a horde king to the human settlement in order to complete a ritual that is said to defeat the all-consuming red mist. Despite being the reason for Rowin’s imprisonment, she cared for him and treated his wounds; she was strong in ways the others weren’t. She and Rowin were both prisoners to the human settlement, in different ways.

For once, what would it be like to be chosen? What would it be like to be loved and protected and safe?

I like how the hero humbles himself before the heroine when he realizes he messed up. I appreciate alpha heroes that aren’t “too alpha” to admit when they’re wrong. On that, Zoey Draven delivers! Another great book in the series, I can’t wait to read what comes next.

Poppy || Monster Lover

So much groveling

This book was PACKED with both MCs (but mostly Rowin) effing up and needing to make amends. The struggles they had were high stakes, which checks with how previous books have gone.
I liked Mina a lot. She had a crap life and Rowin was good for her. Rowin’s backstory was awful too. They both learned new kinds of strength and had a good romance thing going. And Rowin’s grovel was top tier.

Spice: 4/5

Triggers: captivity, SA, abuse, child abuse (off page), starvation, murder, violence and gore

Aou

I loved the MCs and their steamy relationship even if it haven’t been consummated till %57 of the book. However I still don’t get why the model on the cover has short hair? 🤔

Title	:	Taken by the Horde King (Horde Kings of Dakkar, #5)
Author	:	Zoey Draven
Rating	:
ISBN	:	-
Language	:	English
Format Type	:	Kindle Edition
Number of Pages	:	-
Publication	:	First published February 1, 2022
Awards	:	Swoon Award Sci-Fi Romance (2022)

Taken by the Horde King (Horde Kings of Dakkar, #5) by Zoey Draven

Taken by the Horde King (Horde Kings of Dakkar, #5) Reviews

Taken by the Horde King (Horde Kings of Dakkar, #5) Reviews

Releated on Taken by the Horde King (Horde Kings of Dakkar, #5)