Is it me, or is the new King, (can't remember his name at this point) the most obnoxious pr**k in the whole series?

Patrick. Yes he is really obnoxious. But remember, he's a teenager, he was living in the priviliged East, and because of the war, his parents haven't really had a chance to slap him down.

Personally, I think Pug should have blasted the H*LL out of him the first chance he got.

Agreed, I don't know how he held his temper in so much. Maybe the Kingdom will be lucky and Patrick will be the victim of an assasination. :)
Is this the last Kingdom book in this timeline because the Krondor The Betrayal covers the first Sierra game, then Krondor the Assasins is a lead in to the yet unreleased third Krondor book which will probably be titled Krondor the Return.
I'd like to see some of the events after Shards myself. The General who was made a Duke after betraying the Emerald Queens forces seemed an interesting character. •••• I can't remember his name either, I'll have to re-read some of these.

Well, he's written quite a few more after that by now.

He "finished" the series with "Magician's End"