Samael will do anything for his king, even give up the chance to be with his true mate. Meira is one of the phoenixes that has been hiding from the rotting king and his kind. She is willing to give up ever finding her true mate to help and join with the Black Dragon, even if that means giving up happiness and her chance with Samael. However, fate has a way changing things and soon Meira and Samael find themselves on the run, jumping from one mirror to the next. Can they stop long enough to discover what the two of them can truly have together?

Took me a bit to get into this story though I liked the characters individually they just struggled for a while at the start. I'm happy I kept reading because the story was very enjoyable!

Meira Amon is one of four phoenix sisters who have been in hiding until recently. Two of her sisters have already mated dragon kings from differing clans to help facilitate the demise of the pretender to the throne, the Rotting King, Pytheios who murdered their parents. Meira is the most reclusive of the sisters preferring computers and tech to dealing with people. The geek version of a phoenix, Meira has come out of her shell offering herself the as mate to the king of the black dragons, Gorgon. What complicates this mating is that she has seen her true mate and he is a low born warrior dragon, Samael Veles, who is in service to the King.

When an impostor goes up in flames during after the marriage ceremony and attempted mating with Meira, she and Samael flee to keep her safe from the clan uproar and Pytheios who has several nefarious plans in place to have a phoenix for his own legitimizing his false claims of being the High King. As Meria and Samael work together trying to help his clan, they fight the compulsion to becomes true mates.

Meira enlists the aid of her two dragon Queen sisters to fight against the dragons who support their enemies. One sister is still in hiding, but they are now all in touch after years of isolation. The evil king has several tricks up his nefarious sleave including running down the unmated phoenixes and a special nasty surprise that makes it seem he is the rightful ruler.

Much of this story revolves around Meria and Sam trying to do the right thing as he sees it. Because of his low born stature, Sam does not believe his people will accept him as king if he mates with Meira. Their relationship goes through a lot of angst, torturous feelings, and self-doubts before they finally do come together and even then, they have a rocky road filled with dangers and battles with more to come in order to finally defeat their supreme enemy. Third in the Inferno Rising series, Angelika’s story will be next as the last of the four sisters to remain unmated. I am really ready for the Big Evil King to be overthrown and a new high king established. This story’s prolonged anguish and torment between Samael and Meira got a little old at times, but fans of the series will want to keep reading to see how things progress.

I think this is my favorite of the 3 so far. Meira and Samael are great together even when they are not really together. Meira is smart and I loved that she a techno. Sam was stuck between love and loyalty. Each of them were fighting the mate pull to try to do the right things. Story was fast paced and we see some characters from the past books. The dragons and phoenixes are coming together to face the big bad and suffering with some losses along the way that were heartbreaking.

The Warrior King (Inferno Rising, #3) by Abigail Owen

This is a great series Samael and Meira's story. We catch up with old friends, family and enemies there is danger, evil "Red King", angst, strong feelings, mystery (some solved, some still needing solving), laughter, tears "ugly" and some happy and plenty of steam to get us to a very HEA. I am hoping Airk and Angelika will get a story and solve the last mystery.

Reasons I enjoyed this book:
Tragic Action-packed Great world building Easy-to-read Witty Wonderful characters Romantic Page-turner Scary Tear-jerker Entertaining Unpredictable Steamy Happily Ever After

This is the third book in the Inferno Rising series. I recommend to read it in order to get to know the stories. This is Samuel and Meira's story. Meira agrees to marry the black dragon king until she finds herself falling for the dragon warrior whom is guarding the king. This is a fantastic read with so much tension that it will drive you crazy. I suggest that you sit back and enjoy.

The Warrior King is the fourth book in the Inferno Rising series and though it can be read as a standalone I would recommend reading the books in order. The series contains an overall arc that runs in the background of each dragon's story and references are made to events in other books. Dragon King legend says the true dragon king will be mated to the phoenix but the last phoenix had four daughters, all phoenixes powerful in their own rights. Meira Amon is a phoenix that can travel between places using a reflective surface and only one person has ever seen her in a mirror when she did not want to be seen- Samael Veles. Samael is the fiercest warrior in the black clan and the black king's most trusted man. Samael is pretty sure Meira is his fated mate but she has vowed to marry his king. This begins a steamy story of two honorable people trying to fight fate and the bad guys in a sweet and sexy story full of action and temptations. The Warrior King is a page-turning and addicting story with a feel good HEA that will keep the reader coming back for more of the sexy dragon warriors. My voluntary, unbiased review is based upon a review copy from Netgalley.

A high five stars!

This is my first book in the series, and while I extremely enjoyed it as a stand alone, I will be going back and reading the first two in the series. This book focuses on the third of four sisters, Meria, who is a phoenix. We find out that each of the sisters is marrying a king from each of the dragon clans, and now it's her turn. While she doesn't love her new king, she knows he will be kind and hopes to fall in love with him. After they are married everything is thrown into one insane twist and turn after another of running for her life, with her new guardian, Samael at her side. I don't want to spoil it, but their adventure and love story is one for the ages. I will be reading this whole series and recommend you do too.

Love these dragons. This is Meria’s story. When she makes the choice to mate with the Black dragons king,, she can’t forget the dragon in the mirror. When she meets that dragon at her future mates home she is torn. Mate a king to save a kingdom, or mate for love? See what she chooses and the obstacles she must go through to get there!


I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own

What a fantastic addition to the Inferno Series! Samael and Meira's tale is fraught with danger, heartache, and sacrifice.
*****
Rating: 4 stars
Steam: 2 flames
Genre: Dragon Shifter / PNR
*****
What would you do if the woman you can't stop thinking, the woman your dragon wants is marrying your king? If you are Samael, intent on doing what is right, you step aside and you hope the hurt goes away.

Meira has always done what is right and in order to unite the Blue, Gold and Black Dragon clans, the Black Dragon King needs to mate a phoenix. Months go into the planning of the mating ceremony. Meira doing what is right, even if she has dreams of another. Samael keeps his distance because he can't bear to watch the woman, he dreams about marrying another.

After the exchanging of formal vows, Gorgon (the Black Dragon King) and Meira return to his chambers to begin the mating ceremony. What is the one thing we have learned in all the books? If the phoenix does not choose the mate, completely the dragon will go up in flames.

One kiss is all that is exchanged before he goes up in flames, but just as he is dying something happens…. Yikes…not going to tell you but something happens! Samael races into the room, takes a look at the situation and fulfills his promise to the king, keeping the queen safe. Next thing you know they are teleporting through the mirror and on the run!

Samael is a warrior through and through, duty and honor are not just words but a way of life, a code. He has lost his king and is with the woman he dreams of, lovely, logical, scientific, Meira. These two have a hard path in front of them.

This book is filled with lies, betrayal, treachery, pain, and loss. I will be honest, I teared up at the end of this book, my heart broke, and then slowly started to mend.

The war with the Red false King is coming to a head and the battle has just begun. The Warrior King is filled with suspense, twists, and turns that will keep you guessing, characters I am completely invested in, and another swoon-worthy mate match, Samael and Meira are simply perfect for each other. This book and series gets my recommendation!

The Warrior King is the third book in the “Inferno Rising” series. Along with continuing the ongoing storyline where the dragon shifter clans attempt to rebel and remove the false high king, it tells the love story of Meira, third eldest daughter and phoenix, and Samael, a dragon shifter in the Black dragon clan.

After her two older sisters fall in love and mate with two other rebel kings, Meira feels she must do her part in the ongoing battle and offer herself to Gorgon, the current Black clan’s king, as a way to help solidify the alliance between the three clans. They have a proper wedding ceremony, and when it comes time for the physical mating, Meira’s fire kills her new mate. Samael, the captain of the king’s guard, rushes Meira away to keep her safe, worried that the rest of the Black clan will want to kill her in retaliation. Through a series of adventures, including the ever present threat of the false high king, Meira and Samael come to realize they are fated mates. However, just when things seem most straightforward for the pair and what they need to do, things that had previously been hidden come to light, and they each must decide what is most important, and from that how to work together to save the Black shifter clan from ending altogether under the reign of the false high king.

I really liked this third book in the series. I enjoyed that I was unable to foresee some of the twists in the overall storyline, and that things that were predictable for the main characters to have a happily ever after were handled with care. I felt that the relationship that developed between Samael and Meira was more natural and had enough story time given to it within the overall spelling, especially since I felt book 2 (The Blood King) spent too much time on the false high king plot and not nearly enough time making me believe Skylar and Ladon were falling in love. So far, I think this is the best book in the series, which gives me very high hopes for book 4. I do not think it can be read as a standalone because there is too much back story not given as to who Meira is and what is going on in the world to get her to this point.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

THE WARRIOR KING is the third book in the Inferno Rising series, and this time it is the time of the Black Clan and Meira. She has promised herself to Gorgon, the King of the Black Clan before she realised that Samael was her mate. Of course, she has been told for years that phoenixes can choose and so she doesn't have quite as much faith in the whole 'fated mates' thing as others do. Samael, on the other hand, does believe in fated mates, but he also believes in loyalty, and so he refuses to do anything about it when Meira is with Gorgon.

This was an amazing addition to the series. I thoroughly enjoyed books one and two, but this one? This one blew them right out of the water! And I don't know why! I know it sounds like I'm disappointed, I'm not. I just wish I could say more clearly WHY I thought this one was better. Is it because I ended up in tears over the death of a faithful friend? Maybe. Is it because of the sensual, slow-burn, forbidden love romance between Samael and Meira? Possibly. Or maybe it was the intermingling of technology and magic? Could be.

Whatever the reason, I was fully engrossed in this story, fully invested in whether Samael and Meira would end up together, and even though I hoped that would be the case, I was desperate to know HOW they managed it.

Although this finishes with a HEA, it also gives us a teaser for Angelika. Bless her, I don't think she's going to have it easy either. I really can't wait for this series to continue.

Absolutely amazing and highly recommended.

* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *

Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!

Meira has decided to marry the Black dragon clan’s king to help bring peace and defeat Pytheios. But when things go wrong at the ceremony, Meira has to trust Samael to help her win over the members of the black dragon clan despite the whispers of her betrayal. Samael is in trouble because must protect his future queen and reunite her with his king while pushing back his instincts that tell him Meira is his mate.

This was another fun book in the Inferno Rising series. Sam is one of my favorite male protagonist so far, though Meira felt a little unfinished. I couldn’t put this book down, and I’d recommend the series to anyone who likes the shifter genre, and dragons in particular (and very smutty love scenes, because they get pretty explicit).

I would highly recommend reading the books before this on the series or you may be a little lost. I made the mistake of not reading the first in this series, and then reading one of the books in the Fire’s Edge series, thus totally confusing myself. The series are linked, and you should probably read them in a certain order.

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Just like the previous two books, I devoured The Warrior King. It had so much drama, betrayal, and sexual tension throughout it. Plus, I liked seeing Meira's sisters and Maul in this one. I mean, their mates are cool too. I will admit that I was a smidge sad for Meira in the beginning. Mostly because she was choosing to marry just for the sake of marrying the King of the Black Clan dragons. She didn't find her true mate like her sisters ended up doing before her. She also didn't believe in the whole true mate thing either.

Well, she didn't until Samael. Now these two had sparks, chemistry, and so much tension. I loved and ate it all up. It wasn't hard falling for them but it was hard seeing them pretend that there was nothing going on.

In the end, it was cute and I was shocked by some things. Definitely intrigued to see what's going to happen with her sister next.

Oh the angst in this! I can’t get enough of Star crossed lovers. And dragon shifters, where can I get one of them?

This broke my heart and put it back together. Reading as Meria and Sam have to deny their feelings, just pulled at my heart strings.

This series is so good and just keeps getting better. I can tell from the epilogue, angelika’s story will be just as good!

3.5 out of 5 stars

The Warrior King was another solid addition to the Inferno Rising series. I liked Meira and Samael well enough, they were both very loyal, duty driven, kind souls. Sometimes that extreme loyalty proved to be difficult when in opposition to their own wants and desires. I think it was just a bit more difficult to connect with these two for me. They spent a lot of time and effort bottling their feelings and closing themselves off which I understand but sometimes outwardly they came off a bit more robotic than some of the other more fiery characters seen previously.

I enjoyed the furthered overall series plot with the dragon war against the Pytheios. Seeing old faves and getting to know others more is nice. I'm really dying to see the big showdown with Pytheios! The ending was a sweet little surprise. I liked that ending for this couple especially. It just fit so nicely. I look forward to all that Angelika's book has in store for us next!

ARC from NetGalley

2.5 stars

This wasn't bad but also wasn't good. There was nothing glaringly awful, but it was very predictable and entirely forgettable. It has that sort of churned-out paranormal romance vibe. There is sex in this book, and it was eh. It was okay, nothing stellar. I can forgive a mediocre plot in a PNR if there are some well-done steamy bits, but eh.

Eh.

Warrior King is the 3rd book in the Inferno Rising series and I have to say my favorite so far. I loved both Meira and Samael so much! They have this strong sense of duty that both choose duty over their own heart. Meira offered her hand to the King of the Black Clan to assist in the revenge against King Pytheios, who murdered her parents. Samael Veles had pledged his life and loyalty to the very king that Meira had wed, and his dragon is not happy. Samael may have found his mate, but his loyalty to his king will not allow him to claim her. But as they are on the run together to try to figure out what happened to their king, their attraction and their mating bond could no longer be denied.

Meira and Samael’s story was such a joy to read, in their hearts they knew they belonged together but it was duty over love until they could not fight it. The story is action packed and there are some twists and turns that definitely had me turning the pages. Overall, a great read and looking forward to reading the 4th phoenix sister’s story.

Thank you Netgalley and Entangled Publishing for giving me the opportunity to read this complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.

This is a voluntary review of an advanced copy.

The series was interesting to start with but with the introduction of four phoenixes to the story, it has gotten even more interesting and so fun to read.

When the last book shows that Meira was willing to mate with King Gorgon, when you can see that Samael is her true mate, and yet the alliance between them is necessary - you just don't know how they will end up together!

When they are forced to hit out together, they can't hide their attraction and that they really are true mates. Yet, Gorgon is still in the picture and so many other complications!

I love seeing Rune involved and getting a bit more of his story.

A few secrets are revealed and the loss of one characters is just so sad, while another makes a huge sacrifice. I am not going to give away any more spoilers than that - you need to read it for yourself and enjoy the whole experience!

Another great book in the series! Meira and Sameal are destined for each other,... However Meira has made the decision to marry Gorgon the King of the Black Dragons, and Samael is loyal to the king.. hes been like a father to him so there is no way hes going to do anything about the feelings he has for Meira.

After Meira and Gorgon marry some major things happen, and Meira and Samael end up on the run.. They are going to do whatever they can to stop the Rotting King, who has some tricks up his sleeve.. Things that are going to throw all the dragon kingdoms in to chaos..

Through this story we get to see Meira really starting to believe in herself, and realize that although she is different than her sisters she still has some skills.. Which I mean being able to move through mirrors, and being a wiz with technology is nothing to sneeze at, I also enjoyed seeing Samael let go a little bit and show the feelings hes had for Meira ever since the first time he saw her. Once they admit that they do have feelings for each other their chemistry is explosive.

. Its full of action, awesome fight sceens, and steamly love scenes. Also we get to see more of Maul my favorite hellhound, a goat, and a clan of gargoyles..

Starting this book I was so curious how Meira and Samael were going to end up together.. Meira is so determined to marry Gorgon and help unite the dragon kings against Pythos.. and Samael is determined to be loyal to Gorgon and not let his feelings get in the way of what Meira and Gorgon are trying to do.. The journey was long and crazy.. I mean especially at the end this thing happens and I was like OMG.. but they do finally end up with their happily ever after which was really beautiful..

I can't wait to read the next book in the series and see whats going to happen next!!!

I've really been enjoying this series and this was my favorite so far. Owens has created a great paranormal world with each story building on the last.. The Warrior King again gives us a sexy, strong hero and a similarly strong, capable heroine.

Samael is the epitome of torture alpha males. He's more stoic than almost anyone you'll meet. He's so honor-bound and loyal that he would willingly, but not happily, give up the one woman he can love to his king. He's the best warrior and a great leader but even while confident in his abilities he doesn't view himself as good as he is.

Miera sees herself as less of a warrior and not as strong as her sisters but she is, just in her own way. She's clever, her magic is strong and she's perfectly capable of being the Queen. She's exactly like Sam in that she's not even willing to admit their destined for each other because she's offered herself to his King to further the war against the " Rotting King Pytheios". She's also built amazing alliances including her sisters, her hound, her gargoyle protectors, etc. all of whom prove invaluable in the war.

Does it get much more starcrossed than two people who feel their destiny but fully well intend to stand by their decisions and loyalties? Can anyone be more perfect for another than these two are for each other? Is it possible to find that one great love AND further the fight for the good guys in a devastating war? You'll have to read the book to see but I promise it will be entertaining, gripping and answer these and more questions.