Book Review: The Book of Azrael

Title: The Book of Azrael
Author: Amber V. Nicole
Genre: Romance, Romantasy, Magic, Fiction

What It’s About:

Dianna speaks to Peter, a celestial working for the Hand, who tells her that it’s impossible that she’s around as the Ig’Morruthen had been wiped out. She calls out and Alistair comes in, and takes over Peter’s mind, making him his own minion. Alistair and Dianna leave Peter’s place, and make their way to the house on an island owned by Kaden. Dianna gets changed and then comes down to the conference room, where Kaden—her boyfriend and the man who created her—has prepared a meeting with the members of the Otherworld including Banshees, Witches, Vampires, and more, who are loyal to him. Kaden talks to people at the table during the meeting, with Dianna sitting next to him, and everyone listens to him. He does point out the Vampires, and asks them where their King or Prince is—Ethan and Drake hadn’t shown up to the meeting. One of the Vampires explains that they had been busy with other issues in their territories, and Kaden replies that it’s been like this for months, getting frustrated with their lack of loyalties. He asks Dianna to kill them, and so she does go ahead to kill the three representatives, but then she hesitates on the third one, who pleads to spare him because he has a family. She ends up throwing him into the pit that has been created from the table by Kaden, where his other two friends had gone as well. No one else speaks or comes to their defense, because they do not want to be the next ones who Kaden puts his focus on.

Later, Dianna and Kaden talk in his bedroom—they have been sleeping together, but he hasn’t been giving her anything more than that. He tells her that he hated noticed that she hesitated and reminds her that the only sure-fire way to kill her is to take out her heart—her very much mortal heart that cares for her sister, the one person in this world that she loves and who has kept her from the brink. She tells him that she won’t do it again, and asks to see her sister, but he denies her the opportunity. He then has her go kill Drake—the vampire Prince, who is one of her closest friend in their world, which she doesn’t want to do. Dianna goes to the club that Drake owns, killing the vampires inside, and then goes to speak with him, after which she kills him. She gets a phone call from Kaden, who tells her that she can go see her sister now.

Dianna arrives at her sister’s place, and lets herself into the apartment, but she is not up. She walks into the bedroom, after having seen the flowers on the table, and finds Gabriella—Gabby—in bed with Rick, her coworker and her boyfriend. Gabby kicks him out of the apartment, and the two sisters catch up. They spend the next two weeks together enjoying time at restaurants and watching movies. At some point Dianna gets paranoid that something has happened—Kaden is suspiciously quiet and hasn’t messaged her for two weeks—so she checks her cellphone excessively. Dianna and Gabby go out to a club, and while there, she gets propositioned by a beautiful man with tattoos down his arm, and with numerous rings. She turns him down, and later leaving the bathroom, she runs into a beautiful woman also wearing those rings. Another day, Dianna and Gabby go to a restaurant to eat, and Gabby once again gets on her about leaving Kaden, claiming that she deserves more, and telling Dianna that she would like to have Rick forever, wondering if she could have him changed by maybe asking the celestials that she works with to change him to have a long life. Dianna doesn’t want to argue with her but tells Gabby that she is fine, and that the Celestials are bad people. Their lunch date gets interrupted by Tobias and Alistair showing up to tell her that Kaden wants to see her as he has been up to some things and now needs her, so she leaves with them after telling Gabby good-bye.

Alistair, Tobias, and Dianna scout the ruins in their large cat-like form. They meet to talk and agree that they cannot find anything or anyone in the ruins, so Alistair tells Dianna to continue scouting and wait until Kaden shows up, before he and Tobias continue to go scouting. Dianna continues scouting, but then decides to go inside to check out the ruins, and enters into the basement of the temple, where she finds a library consisting of ancient scrolls. She tries to pick up as many of them to take them to Kaden, when a man with a tattoo and rings shows up. He is similar but wholly different from the one that she had met in the club, and the two of them start fighting—his own tattoos start lighting up blue, showing that he is a celestial. She manages to stay fighting with him, until Kaden, Tobias and Alistair show up and manage to capture the man. He does get out of his binding and makes a run for it, with Dianna following him out of the temple where she watches hopelessness flash across his face, and he stabs himself after telling her that he’s going to call down the god, Samkiel also known as Liam, to come because what they’ve done is not possible, as the Ig’ Morruthen were wiped out. He speaks the words that would grant him passage to Azeroth and call Samkiel, and a light shoots up through the clouds and the universe. Kaden comes up and wonders what she has done, to which Dianna says that she had done nothing, and there is a flash of fear across his face.

Liam wakes up after yet another nightmare, of the battles he had fought, and his whole room has been destroyed—a lot of things have been levitating. This is why he has locked himself away from the world—to not show how broken he really is to the Hand, his friends and protectors. He does his usual days—working out, and looking at the galaxy, the same way that he has done for a thousand years. He takes a moment to look at the message from Imogen, who has been working with the Council on Rashearim, he planet that he is on, telling him that there has been some sort of disturbance in Onuna. She is not able to tell him more, but asks him for more information and input from him as to what he would like to do. Liam chooses to ignore the message, and go back to doing what he has been doing, until he hears the voice of one of the Hand—an organization that he had put together of celestials and fighters—named Zekiel, calling him and asking him to be granted access to Aseroth. He is sent to Onuna, landing on the continent creating a storm, and finding himself surrounded by light. He finds himself facing Logan, one of the Celestials from the Hand.

Logan quickly helps Liam acclimate to the land and the languages, along with assistance from Vincent, another member of Liam’s Hand organization, whom Liam had left in charge of Onuna, when he locked himself on the remains of Rashearim after the God’s War. Logan tells him some information on what they were able to figure out, including limited information on the woman that they think might have killed Zekiel, whom they had started tracking some time ago but of whom there is no mention. He shows Liam a picture of Dianna Martinez, and her sister, and tells Liam that no one knows what they are looking for or why, or who they are. At the behest of Vincent, Liam holds a meeting with the different rulers and ambassadors of the countries of the mortal realm in order to assure them that they are doing all they can, and for them to get to know him better. He does not care how he look, with an unkempt beard and long hair, as he plans to finish this as soon as possible so that he can go back to the remains of his house on Rashearim. As he talks to them, one person in particular—Henry, speaks up and talks back to Liam, which causes the ambassador for whom Henry works to try to apologize to Liam for his talk. Henry then changes into Dianna, and fights her way through the building, destroying it. Dianna had changed into Henry’s form just prior to the meeting, after killing the human and seeing his memories by drinking his blood. Her mission was to keep the Hand and the ambassadors busy while Alistair and Tobias looked through documents to try to find the tome that they are looking for. After having destroyed the building, which killed many of the mortals including the ambassadors, Dianna had escaped to look through books and documents as well, in order to help Alistair and Tobias. Liam captures her, knocking her out, and brings her down to the cell, where she is placed behind bars that are a hum of energy that hurt her.

Liam tries to talk to Dianna, and puts her into a contraption that will hurt her if she lies, when he asks her questions. She uses her bravado and refusal to tell him anything, so he realizes that she is not going to be useful in providing any information to him. At one point, while she is waiting in the cell, Alistair shows up in the form of Peter, the Celestial that they had captured, and speaks to her through Peter. Kaden tells her that this is all her fault for not following instructions at all, and that she needs to get herself out of this mess. Not too long after that, Liam decides to have her moved to Silver City, as he needs to leave as well and does not feel comfortable leaving her behind. Logan gets into the caravan with her, despite the distaste that he has for her as the Ig’Morruthen since Ig’Morruthens and Gods have been enemies for centuries. Neverra, Logan’s amata or mate, is tasked with looking after Liam along with Vincent. They drive as part of the caravan, but then they get attacked.

Dianna kills off some of the Celestials, and she finds Alistair fighting with Logan. A part of her snaps when she looks at Alistair and Logan fighting, and remembering Gabby’s words to her—to fight for something—she kills Alistair, and takes Logan for herself. She later shows up to an event where Liam is surrounded by his council to try to figure out what happens, with Logan in tow. Neverra freaks out when she sees Logan being held by Dianna, and especially when Dianna threatens to kill him. She offers Logan’s life and to help Liam with what Kaden is looking for, in exchange for protecting her sister Gabby. Liam tells her that he agrees to it, but she does not trust him so she asks for a blood deal to be done. At first Neverra tells him not to do it, but Liam does agree to it, and they make the oath in blood that she will help him in exchange for her sister’s life, with both of them getting the same mark across their palm. Liam has Dianna placed in custody, telling her that he will go get her sister, but she tells him that he will not be able to find her, and to go without her. Dianna had run to Gabby after Zekiel’s death and told her to hide per the agreement that they had if anything went wrong. She gives him the location on where to go find Gabby, and Liam goes to the hotel, struggling to figure out how to get to the floor in the elevator, and eventually to Gabby’s room. He manages to find her just as Otherworldly creatures show up, and they have to fight. Dianna shows up as well and takes the rest of the creatures out, with Vincent in tow, which is something that Liam is not happy about. But they return to the Silver City, and he puts Gabby in a safe house with Neverra and Logan to watch over her, and besides Logan needs healing.

Dianna and Liam begin to spend time together on the road in search of Kaden and his obsession—a book that was written by Azrael, one of the Celestials that Liam had trusted during the God’s War, as the book can show how to kill Liam, who is the one keeping the realm sealed. Upon his death, the realms will re-open, and it seems that Kaden wants this. As they travel together using a car to find a friend of Dianna’s, Dianna and Liam spend the nights in the hotels and the car talking, during which Dianna comforts Liam, who has been afraid of sleeping for the destruction that his powers cause, and he starts sleeping soundly with her by his side. They make it to a convenience store and she goes to talk to the cashier there—who is a type of spider in a human body—and after threatening the woman, she gives Dianna a cellphone and tells her to call this particular contact to meet at a carnival—he is the only one who is able to get them in to the place they are trying to go. So Dianna and Liam make it to the carnival, and while they wait for the contact to show, they talk and spend some time going and playing in the carnival. Liam has a good time, and seems to relax. The contact shows up and takes them to the location that they ask for. They walk around the jungle, and Dianna is sure that they will find her friend, when Drake shows up and twirls her around, surprising them.

They spend time at Drake’s and Ethan’s mansion, talking to the vampire brothers. Dianna hadn’t killed Drake at all, but had made it seem like she killed him for show—using magic from the Witches to obscure it. Liam and Dianna spend a dinner with the two and later they take a walk in the garden, where Liam gives Dianna a flower for the garden and tells her about a similar flower that his mother had in her garden in Rashearim—how it’s beautiful but could be deadly as well. Dianna and Liam’s frostiness to each other mellows out, but later Liam meets with Ethan who tells him to not make her fall for him if he’s just going to leave them behind on this planet when he goes back to Rashearim. As a result, Liam pushes Dianna away, and she spends time with Drake, fueling feelings of loneliness. They get into an argument over him pushing her away, and later they make up on the sparring mat, where Liam starts to teach her how to fight better in case she ever gets stuck without her powers. They work out their differences, and when they get the confirmation that the invitation has been accepted by Camilla, a witch with whom Dianna had been close years ago but who is angry at her because she feels like Dianna had been the cause of her not getting a place by Kaden’s side.

Dianna and Liam attend the party, and Camilla sees right through them. She takes them separately to a different room, and flirts a bit with Liam, which makes Dianna pretty protective of him. Camilla tells Liam that the cost of the information is going to be a kiss, which pisses Dianna off, but Liam accepts it, and realizes that this is Camilla’s way of giving them information without speaking out loud. Ivirkuva—gargoyle like beings controlled by Kaden—show up and they have to fight their way out, destroying some of the palace that Camilla has created for herself. Dianna turns into her wyvern form and fights them off. At some point though Liam goes to help save her, and they manage to get away from the Ivirkuva, who had even attempted to drag Dianna into a portal in the ground to take her back to Kaden.

They travel to meet with Ava, Azrael’s daughter, and wait outside of the temple, until Ava and her celestial guard show up. Then the four of them make their way through the temple and it’s underground tunnels until they come across a cavern containing a lot of sarcophagi that was placed their by Ava’s mother. The group searches for the book, and then Dianna finds the sarcophagus for Victoria, Ava’s mother, but she is unable to open the sarcophagus in order to get to the book, so Liam opens it up for her, and they find it. As soon as they have it in hand, Tobias shows up and reveals that Ava and her guard had been dead for a while but that they couldn’t reach the Sarcophagus and the book without Dianna’s help. A fight ensues, and Liam hides the book while Dianna fights off the Ivirkuva, though she comes back to the cavern to help Liam. Ultimately, she gets captured by Tobias, who puts his claws around her heart and tells Liam that he will not be able to save both her and the book. Dianna decides to take matters into her own hands and rips out her own heart, in hopes that Liam will be free to grab the book and run. She is resurrected by Liam, who heals her heart back into place, but he tells her that the book was taken by Tobias.

Eventually, they visit Rashearim, where Dianna changes her look to that of Imogen—a Celestial who is running the council and who Liam had sexual relations with in the past—and the two of them make their way to the library to start to research more information on who Kaden, and Tobias might be. While there, Dianna meets Cameron and Xavier, two Celestials who are part of Liam’s Hand organization. While doing their research, Dianna stays something to Liam that gives him an idea, and he takes them to a vortex where they meet Rocurrem, the fate that Liam’s father Unir had bound to this vortex. Rocurrem tells them that the Book of Azrael does contain information that would kill Liam, as that is the balance that is called for in the world.

They continue searching to try to find what has happened to the Book and where Kaden and Tobias might be, but then news comes from Logan that Neverra and Gabby were taken after Liam had sent Drake to them to lighten Gabby’s mood since they know each other. The news comes online that shows News anchors who are clearly dead talking to each other about the Universe. Kaden comes on screen and talks about the state of the Universe and that the worlds are blocked from one another. Then Kaden brings out Gabby and asks her if she has anything to say to Dianna, and Gabby tells her the line they always use at the end of their phone calls—Remember, I love you—before Kaden has her killed. Dianna erupts in anger and hurt at the loss of the one person she loves, taking off in Wyvern form.

My Thoughts:

The first quarter of the book had me wondering if I would DNF the book because it was just setting the scene and I was wondering what was the whole point of the book because it didn’t really make sense from the beginning what was going on—some things weren’t introduced, like what is an Ig’Morruthen— and I think that it could have been written better to be more engaging to the reader. That said, once the first quarter to first half of the book was done and you start to see the interactions between Liam/ Samkiel and Dianna, the book does become better. The story itself and the concept of this book is very unique and I really thoroughly enjoyed reading it, so I can’t wait to see what happens in the next book in the series. I do have a suspicion that Dianna is Liam’s mate/ fated person (amata as they call it in the book).