Book Review: The Dawn of the Cursed Queen

Title: The Dawn of the Cursed Queen
Author: Amber V. Nicole
Genre: Romance, Fiction, Fantasy, Romantasy.

What It’s About:

Dianna and Samkiel are stashed away on a planet where healers reign. She had not told Samkiel about his death and resurrection, nor of her bloodthirstiness since. She also hadn’t told him of the chaos she had sown in the eastern realm to draw attention away from them. Samkiel and Dianna train when they can, and Samkiel meets with the Head Healer of the planet, playing a role of a soldier in the Celestial army that is looking to get healing. There is a girl, Miska, who helps them at night with some tea—having told the healers that they are not helping him at all but being ignored by them—and reveals that she has been mistreated because of her mom leaving them with her before returning with her back to the healers. Dianna and Samkiel sneak around the healer compound, and Dianna uses a different form, at which point she finds out that Samkiel is not attracted to her in any other form but her real form, and he reveals that he doesn’t find anyone else to be sexy. They realize that there are a lot of forbidden herbs in the stockroom, and eventually, the healers have Miska take Dianna to a different planet to search for some herbs, while the Head Healer speaks with Samkiel alone. There it is revealed that they have been healing but also slowly poisoning him to keep him weakened as they are working for Nismera, and soldiers show up to take him away. Dianna fights off another group of soldiers and races back to the compound only to find out that they are too late. She has Miska go and grab some things that she will need, and then she goes around killing people as well as burning the palace. Then she, Roccurem and Miska go searching for Samkiel.

Samkiel in the meantime is being taken to a fort, and gets helped by an elf, who hides his rings while they are in the prisoner transport wagon. Samkiel denies being Samkiel, and the elf agrees to keep up with his ruse. They end up sharing tents together, and at one point Samkiel saves the elf from being killed by the guards and he reveals that his name is Orym. As they continue traveling towards the Fort, they pick up more prisoners, and at one point, during a stop, Samkiel gets an idea of how to leave information behind for Dianna—he frees a birdlike creature and asks it to take the necklace he has to her.

Kaden has Cameron working off his bloodlust, but then decides to send him out into the field to find Dianna—he desperately wants Dianna back and has a plan for her, a knife that will wipe away any of her memories of Samkiel and will replace it with memories of him, because he believes that he loves Dianna. He spends some time sneaking around the palace where he is with his sister, Nismera, and gets Camilla’s help. He finds out that Nismera had collected vials of blood from Isaiah, his brother, and has a vial labeled with his name. He and Camilla give the impression that they are together and sleeping together. Camilla on the other hand spends her time in the palace under Victor’s watchful eye, when he is around, and other times under the watchful eye of other guards. She is there to work on repairing an item for Nismera, and she works on with with the help of the other healers. She spends some time sneaking around and gathering intel on what is going on, and finds that Nismera has been torturing people, bringing in bodies to do god knows what with them. Vincent is tightlipped, and only seems to tell Camilla that if that is what Nismera wishes, he will do it, which disgusts Camilla. But he does take her out of the Palace for them to have lunch away from prying eyes occasionally.

Dianna, Miska and Roccurrem go to a different location, and the bird that Samkiel had set free comes to meet them, giving Dianna the necklace and telling her where Samkiel is going. Dianna has the bird take Miska and Roccurem away from her to safety, and then makes her way towards the caravan, following it along. She meets Samkiel and they have sex, before they are found out by Orym. He tells her that he has to go to the Fort because apparently there is a secret weapon there according to Orym, who knows this from his sister who coincidentally works with Isaiah in Nismera’s palace. She ends up joining them in the wagon and they arrive at the prison. Samkiel and Orym are placed in the lowest level of the fort that is meant for this prisoners that Nismera would like to see herself. Dianna turns into various creatures to try to find this weapon, and eventually the three of them make plans to escape, bringing in another person into their plan. The four of them start digging out their way out from under the fort, and Dianna turns into the commander of the fort to get into his office, where she discovers the weapons is none other than Logan. Unfortunately Logan does not respond to her, but he sees her and he is locked away in his own mind so he cannot respond. She tells him that if he’s in there, he needs to know that Samkiel is alive and here. Dianna does take Samkiel up to the room as well to see Logan, but Logan doesn’t respond to him either. They continue working on digging out the exit from the fort, and at some point Dianna finds Samkiel working there alone. They get into an argument about her feeding, and she reveals that she has been taking from the guards but sending them off on their own with no memory of it. They end up having sexy time, and Orym and Roccurem interrupt them. Roccurem tells them that they need to get a move on because Nismera has sent an army their way.

Vincent and his group of guards were sent to the Fort where Dianna is, and they make their way up all the way to the fort without any issues. Vincent and his guard think that it’s too quiet for the Fort, but before they’re able to investigate any further, Dianna uncoils from her position as a wyvern-like creature, and destroys the whole contingent sent by them. She fights with Vincent in hand to hand combat, and ends up throwing him over the ledge, thinking that she’s killed him. At least she believes it enough to tell Samkiel that she has killed Vincent, and so they disappear to a different planet with Orym in tow.

Cameron has been able to follow Dianna to the town where she had met with the bird, but he loses track of it because he falls into bloodlust and ends up killing people by drinking them dry of blood. Eventually Kaden calls him on the mirror that he had given him and tells Cameron to come back to him, so Cameron has no choice but to go back to Kaden. Isaiah in the interim kills a whole group of men who had been laughing and talking about buying Imogen for sex. While Imogen is unable to do anything because she is not in control, so she watches the situation, but then Isaiah tells her that she is his, and turns her into one of his guards. This news makes its way across the palace, but no one dares to get on Isaiah’s bad side so they leave Imogen with him, and he has his lover take care of her, making sure that she is taken care of. Camilla is also pissed off when she realizes that Nismera had had enough of the Eye and their rebellion, so she had destroyed the whole eastern side of the galaxy.

Samkiel, Dianna and Orym make their way to another planet having received information from Orym’s sister that Nismera is interested in a creature that is being auctioned there. One of the creatures there that looks like a massive bug breaks out of the glass enclosure, and Dianna is forced to act on instinct to go after this woman who has stolen one of the swords. She and Orym come across a seer, who tells him that he should not follow Dianna or he and his twin shall be headless. Then the seer starts talking to Dianna about all that she gave up, so Dianna kills her, and reveals to Orym what had happened—making sure that he is sworn to secrecy as she doesn’t want Samkiel to know.

Eventually, it comes out that Dianna resurrected Samkiel. She is forced to tell him the truth—that they had the symbol of Dhishin, but that it disappeared after he was saved, and she feels empty. This makes Samkiel extremely angry, and he sends her away into the location where Roccurrem and Miska are hiding in safety. For three days, he ignores her and goes around to different planets including making his way to one where an old friend of his lives. This friend of his helps him make some rings that he has wanted to be made, with his wife’s help, and Samkiel tells them that they will be welcome to run their business freely on his planet once he gets control back. Samkiel then shows up for Dianna, who has disappeared off into a fighting ring in the nearby area. He takes her away to a different planet, and asks her to help him find this Priestess. They fight off a bunch of bee-like creatures that have overtaken the planet and become an infestation. While they finish fighting them off, Samkiel goes down on one knee and asks Dianna to marry him, to which she says yes—after realizing that he will never leave her. They find the priestess, and he takes the two of them to another planet. There, he reveals that he has begun rebuilding a palace for them and their friends in what will be the New Rashearim. He and Dianna get married in front of Miska and Roccurrem, by the priestess, and then they consummate their marriage. The rings that he had gotten from his friends are the ones that are meant to mimic the Mark of Dhishin and so they can read each other’s thoughts, as well as to let them know when the other is in danger. At some point, Samkiel and Dianna come across Neverra and fight her off. Samkiel tells Dianna he’s got it—Neverra was one of his best, but she isn’t him. He fights her and tells her that they have Logan—there is a sign of recognition from her, but she attacks anyway when it goes away. He manages to knock her out and they take her back to safety.

Camilla attends a ball with Kaden, but Kaden tells her off and so she rushes out of the ball, leaving Vincent next to Nismera’s side. Vincent does follow her and finds her in a room, where they talk about him following Nismera, before they end up having sex. Cameron finds them, and tells them that they need to be more cautious—he also tries to get sent out by Kaden elsewhere because he has his own agenda about finding Dianna. Vincent does tell Cameron where Xavier is, and eventually, Cameron gets sent out by Kaden to a different planet, where he comes across Dianna and Samkiel. He is shocked to see that Samkiel is alive, but is relieved when they capture him and take him to safety. Dianna begins to teach him how to control the bloodlust of the Ig’Morruthen. Camilla finishes up the amulet, finally putting in several pieces into place, but convinces the other healer that she holds onto it to make sure that it is safe. She goes to Vincent, and gives him the amulet, but he arrests her telling her that she is breaking the rules and drags her away, while she cries at the betrayal.

Orym’s Sister shows up and tells them what will be happening, and that she is defecting to their side. Dianna agrees to their plan along with Samkiel and so they carry it out. Orym and his sister are at a different planet, and Dianna goes to meet with them, only to be told that they have gone elsewhere, and that there is a bike that she can use to meet with them further into the land. Samkiel continues to wait for Dianna to check in when he realizes that Dianna had taken off her ring, so he can’t feel her, and whether she is okay. Dianna arrives at the location only to find Orym’s and his sister’s head on a plate from the bartender when she asks about them. Then she finds herself face to face with Kaden and Isaiah, and a fight begins between the three of them. She manages to keep up with them and even turns into her real form as an Ig’Morruthen. She fights them in that form and manages to harm them, but when they turn back into their human forms, they heal themselves and she realizes that she will not be able to fight them off again, because she’s not able to heal herself. Kaden reveals his plan for her—that he will use the knife to make her forget because he’s loved her all this time.

Samkiel is furious, and Roccurem tells him to call his power home, so he pulls all of the silver power in the universe to him, realizing that he does not need Oblivion—the blade he forged—because he is Oblivion. Roccurem tells him to go get their queen, and Samkiel basically flies through the galaxies, landing next to Dianna, and he fights off both Kaden and Isaiah, killing Kaden with his Oblivion blade and surprising the brothers that he has it, because they thought that Nismera had it. He tells them that he doesn’t need it, because he is oblivion. He then captures Isaiah and takes him to the cells that they have made in their new Rashearim with space for Cameron, Neverra and Logan—both of whom are staring at each other or away from each other without any recognition.

Camilla is put in front of Nismera, who chops off her hands for the work that she has been doing and her sneaking around. Later, Vincent shows up with her hands, and she magically reattaches them to herself, before the two of them run out. People start panicking and reveal to Camilla and Vincent that the silver in the sky disappeared. Camilla and Vincent look out the window and sure enough, they watch the silver disappearing from the sky, as if it was being sucked into a particular place, and they both realize that Samkiel must be alive, so they decide to make their way to search for him—because Camilla was planning to go find Dianna to fight on her side.

Roccurem meets with Death, who tells him that Samkiel should have never killed Kaden with his blade, because this was going to be the route towards bad things, and that he will undo the oblivion for Kaden. He also reveals that Dianna had given up her soul for Samkiel, with pieces of her soul being embedded into Samkiel’s soul, which is why she feels better and more complete when she’s near him. He tells Roccurem that she needs to stay close to Samkiel to not lose her humanity, but that everything else is interesting indeed. He also reveals that he keeps a little bit of power from each person who passes through Death’s gate, including some power from Alistair. So when Roccurem tells Death that he will tell Dianna all of the things they spoke about anyway, Death wipes his memories.

Xavier is making his way across a bridge with his contingent, unable to do anything but watch as they are attacked. He sees lights—those of celestials, but he is not able to look and see what is happening in the attack. Finally, someone comes into his field of view and pushes away the thing that has been holding him back from being able to access his body, and he recognizes Kyrella. She tells him that they have been alive and part of the Eye—the rebellion movement—to fight off Nismera for ages.

My Thoughts:

I really love the way that Samkiel and Dianna grow together—Samkiel’s quiet and consistent approach to show her that he will always love her and nothing that she will do will push him away, but rather that she hurts him through his actions. And I love how protective Dianna is of him, caring for him when he’s hurt, going to scorch the earth when he’s been taken, and just all around going after him. I also love how she will do what she can to get Samkiel’s family back together, though Vincent is one of my least favorite characters. I really don’t like him, though I do think he is Camilla’s amata, but he is so undesirable and such a coward that I wouldn’t want to see him at all, although I hope that he has some kind of redemption arc in the next book. That said, I do wonder how they will get around the fact that Nismera had him magically chained to her through some kind of curse or spell—It does seem like he’s going against it when he’s leaving the palace with Camilla, but honestly I wouldn’t be able to trust him considering he is a two faced bastard. I really am looking forward to the next book in the series though to see how these groups come together, and what is the deal with Kyrella—how will she play into the series in the next book, especially in the fight against Nismera, the terror.