Recently I had an existential crisis because I was worried that romance just wasn’t for me. This came on the heels of reading a romance novel and being more concerned about the labor rights of the minor characters than the romance or the plot. King of Immortal Tithe by Ben Alderson was everything I wanted it to be, and it proved me wrong. I have been in the mood for a romance novel, and Alderson delivered.

Despite my professed hatred for the trope, this story is a “retelling” of the Hades/Persephone myth but make it gay. I think the only reason I enjoyed it so much was the fact that it really was nothing at all like the Hades/Persephone myth (canon or fanon) except Faenir is the elf of death? god of death? idk unclear, and there was a sex scene that involved pomegranates. So basically, nothing at all like the Greek myth.

The plot is layered and interesting. The book opens with our main character, Arlo going out into the world and killing a vampire for its blood. He has a terminal illness and vampire blood is the only thing keeping him alive. This is a secret. On the other hand we have Faenir, death king, whose evil grandma is making him do a “Choosing” except everything he touches dies so instead of “Choosing” a mate he will be killing a human which will lead them to war. When Arlo stops Faenir from choosing his sister by TOUCHING him and does not die, our fateful love story begins. There’s misunderstandings and murder attempts, and angst because even when Arlo falls in love with Faenir, he does not tell him about his terminal illness. It was really nice when the romance part actually started about halfway through the book.

The sex scenes were spicy, although probably not as spicy as some of you more hardened romance readers like, but I did blush. And clearly the author has a spit kink because these men need to learn about proper foreplay and the magical substance known as lube.

Arlo was a really fun MC. He is sassy, bratty, selfish. He has his motivations, and they are consistent. He also has a thing for stealing knives to threaten people with at random times and it felt like that vine with the kid and the mom where she’s like “what do you have?” and he yells “A KNIFE!!” before running away screaming with glee. That’s it, that’s Arlo. Faenir was a little less interesting. Gloomy and broody because he’s an ancient virgin who kills everything he touches including his own parents, he’s just kind of there to be the menacing service top. Didn’t really bother me.

The interesting thing with this one was the tone with which it ended. I would call it a tragedy? Almost a corruption arc? Because the main characters at the end, despite being together and achieving one of their goals have lost everything else? The only issue with that is I’m not sure that’s how the author intended it to read. It would be very interesting to explore that if he did.

All in all this was a really fun read, and it was just what I was wanting from a romance novel: gay, sexy, had a decent plot.

 bookshop.org ┃ local houston

★★★ THE ENDING WAS A BIT ASTONISHING BUT THE AUTHOR HAD TO END IT SOMEWHERE STARS