Book Review: King of Pride
In that moment, I wanted to hunt down every person who’d ever made her feel like she was a failure, a disappointment, or anything less than fucking perfect
If I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again: I do love Ana Huang. You always know what you’re going to get. True, after a while her works do come across as formulaic, however, they are always good fun, and the characters always have depth to them. King of Pride is book two of Ana’s ‘Kings of Sin’ series and this one is just as juicy as the last book. Ana’s literary universe is the same as her ‘Twisted Series’, and we occasionally see a glimpse, an overlap with other characters from this universe, which is always good fun. Or maybe the Elite business world is just that small. Who knows?!
King of Pride focuses on our hero: Kai Young, a British old-money dynasty member who likes to translate books into Latin… for fun as well as our Heroine: Isabella Valencia, an heiress who isn’t your typical heiress and would much rather be a writer – minus the writer’s block but with added sass. Naturally. As you can tell they shouldn’t work, but they do – somehow. This is your typical Grumpy (or in Kai’s Case British Stiff-upper-lip-ness) and Sunshine. It’s a great trope, tried and tested. There is also a little of the ‘forbidden romance’. See, whilst Isabella would LOVE to be writing, Isabella is: 1. moonlighting as a bartender at Valhalla (the exclusive members-only club Kai frequents and there can be no fraternising between staff and members) 2. She doesn’t technically become an heiress until she is 30 and is flourishing in her chosen career – writing, and that’s going SUPER well right now. So yeah – it’s super sticky for all those involved. Not to mention spicy ;)
Now, while I do love Ana Huang and the universe she has created – I naturally do have some thoughts. Nothing can beat the ‘forbidden love’ story that was Bridget and Rhys in ‘Twisted Games’ The pressure cooker of that story will always win. Hands down. So, the ‘forbidden love’ between Isabella and Kai doesn't really feel forbidden to me. It’s more like unfortunate circumstances. I have mentioned that Huang’s stories are formulaic – you know what to expect. That is not a bad thing, other writers such as Agatha Christie were famously formulaic. However, Christie was known for adding twists and turns which is lacking in Ana’s books. There are some surprises and there are high stakes situations that add tension. That said, it doesn’t overshadow the fact that you can evidently see the formula or where the plot is going.
Lastly, I’d like to mention a few positives from the negatives. I love that the characters are diverse. Kai Young is a Brit (whoop) and Asia. Isabella is also Asian but – correct me if I’m wrong, is mixed. Kai isn’t the standard ‘morally grey man’ as we saw in King of Wrath’s Dante. He is the epitome of class and culture – he doesn't go down the road that so many others have done (Christian Harper I’m looking at you) in order to get what they want. Isabella is a cool girl. She has multi-coloured hair for crying out loud! But she also works a regular job (yes, she comes from wealth) but hustles whilst dreaming big. And I respect that.
This is probably the calmest of all Ana’s books thus far and I’m here for it. I just don’t love the overrunning formula.