Reviewed by Becca

TITLE: King John

SERIES: The Lost and Founds #4

AUTHOR: Edmond Manning

PUBLISHER: Pickwick Ink Publishing

LENGTH: 270 pages

RELEASE DATE: September 10, 2015

BLURB:

English attorney Alistair Robertson can’t quite believe an astonishing tale of kingship and transformation he hears at Burning Man, the annual counter-culture art festival in the Black Rock desert. Who are the Found Kings? Is “being kinged” as magical as it sounds?
Determined to find the mysterious garage mechanic named Vin who helps men “remember who they were always meant to be,” Alistair catches his quarry amid the extravagant sculptures, fire worshipers, mutant cars, and lavish costumes. After searching for three years, he’ll finally get to ask the question burning inside him: “Will you king me?”
Wandering together through the desert, Vin Vanbly and Alistair explore Burning Man’s gifting culture and exotic traditions, where they meet the best and worst of their fellow burners. Alistair’s overconfidence in Vin’s manipulative power collides with Vin’s obsessive need to save a sixteen-year-old runaway from a nightmarish fate, and the two men spiral into uncontrollable, explosive directions.
In this fourth adventure of The Lost and Founds, beneath the sweltering summer sun and the six billion midnight stars, one truth emerges, searing itself on their hearts: in the desert, everything burns.

REVIEW:

What is it with you authors and cliffhangers? ARGH! Anyway. I didn’t care for this one as much. Not so much not liking the book, as in I didn’t care for this ‘kinging’ as much. Maybe I’m used to Vin driving me nuts? Lol. The kinging was good. Don’t get me wrong. Profound with a message as always, but it wasn’t the same. What affected me more this time, was Vin himself. Especially the ending.

Alistair has been searching for ‘the mechanic guy’ for the years. Ever since he heard of a mass named Liam telling a story of him being ‘kinged’. He was totally entranced and enthralled by this story and wanted to be a king himself. This year, he did all he could to find out if ‘Vin’ was going to be there. Now he just has to get up the nerve to ask. He does, but all his questions are putting Vin off. Vin knows he’s hiding a few things as well. Things that are profound themselves. But the voice inside him says ‘king him’, and he works a weekend in. But everything for Vin seems to be falling apart. A missing 16 year old, who is about to be raped, getting lost in the desert, and worst of all, having to see most of the men he has loved in one spot. They’ve got lives now, and no one seems to want Vin in it. At least that’s how he sees it. And just when things seem to finally get better, something backfires on him in a way he never thought possible. Now he’s truly in trouble and has never felt more alone.

In all the times in these books that Vin has drove me insane, this one he tears my heart out. He is so heartbroken, having to hear or say that he’s a Lost King. He wants so much to be found. To be loved. No one quite believes him when he says he’s not only loved just one man. He loves over a dozen. He’s given so much of himself in each kinging. Whether wrong tactics or right, he gives so much of himself. But to hear all the time, he’s nobody or a ghost. He doesn’t belong. It’s tearing him into pieces he can’t put back together. And this weekend confirms how miserable he really is. He decides to King Alistair. He knows he has to dig through some crap. It’s obvious that Alistair is holding back many truths, but he has to tear those walls down himself. And this is one time Vin can’t help someone over. Alistair has to cross on his own. But everything that’s happening over this weekend is messing up Vin’s judgement on so many things and I can’t help but cry at how hopeless he feels. This book has confirmed for me how much I would love to be a friend for Vin. If only we could travel into these books, right? Shew.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. If you guys are not reading this series, you don’t know what you’re missing. It will change your life and your way of thinking. You never know when a kind word or smile or something could change someone’s life. Be kind. Be loving. And remind yourself daily, you are somebody.

RATING:  

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