Title: Once Upon a King
Author: Jambrea Jo Jones
Length: 12,000 words (55 pdf pages)
Publisher: MLR Press
Genre: m/m historical fantasy humour
Rating: C+
Blurb:
Flair Coruscate maybe be king of the dragons, but he doesn’t want to rule in the bedroom. Sometimes, it isn’t good to be the king. Saber Von Stein just wants to live a normal human life in the magical kingdom, but a curse has him hunting out an audience with the king in hopes of escaping the clutches of an evil wizard family. With a little Fairy Godmother magic and a royal ball can the King and the human have a happily ever after?
Review:
This is a follow-on to a free story Once Upon a Dragon that was written requiring certain prompts. I did not realize this when I started, but realized it seemed familiar. It’s not necessary for you to read the other story first, but it can’t hurt.
Flair is the new king following his father’s death and he’s miserable. He’s really a bottom, but no one would dare top the king, and to top it off, his father passed some kind if bizarre law that all servants have to drop their pants and be ready at any time for the king to have their way with them. He soon finds out a wizard family has petitioned him, because a dragon ate one of their family members (see previous book) and, oops, that dragon was his brother.
The brother is sent off to find the happy couple from book on,e to act as witnesses. The human mate from book 1 has a brother, who agrees to go with them and beg the king for leniency. Only now the king’s officials have said they will only repeal the law Flair hates, if he choses a mate at a ball. Before long, thanks to the family fairy god mother, Saber finds himself naked at the ball.
This is a story meant to be taken as extremely over the top. It’s a farce of a take on a fairy tale. Flair was amusing, though as he hates his current circumstance, from the weird laws, to his inability to get laid, and to the clothes he hates that always seem to leave him exposing himself. It was nice that while Saber may have been 100% human, he had a dom edge over dragon shifter Flair, which gave Flair exactly what he was looking for.
So I think this is a fun lark, as long as you take it all a bit tongue in cheek and over the top. But I do think that reading the first book would be useful and it’s a free download, so you get twice the fun for one price.
