Reviews

The Book of Azrael by Amber V. Nicole

phoebealva's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

stephanielpotter's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny inspiring fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

zii_222's review against another edition

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medium-paced

5.0

bibi_reads_writes's review against another edition

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4.0

You already consume my every waking thought. Must you consume my dreams as well?

I have to admit I was slightly disappointed. Perhaps my expectations were too high? I will continue the series and see how things go.

❤️ Interesting worldbuilding and lore
❤️ TRUE enemies to lovers
❤️ Cliffhanger ending
❤️ Trauma and mental health rep
❌ Annoying FMC
❌ Choppy writing
❌ Too long (dragging, repetitions, and useless descriptions)

Trigger warnings: lots of violence, blood and gore, death and grief, murder, torture, war, injury detail, emotional and physical abuse, toxic relationship, PTSD, fire and fire injury, kidnapping and confinement, sexual assault, etc.

Plot:

To save her dying sister, Dianna gave up her own life. Now an immortal and lethal creature of the night, she must follow her master Kaden’s every order, losing the last shreds of her humanity with each kill. When a member of a powerful celestial order dies and she is believed to be the murderer, the god-king Samkiel comes back after years of hiding. But while they are sworn enemies, Dianna and Samkiel have a common goal: to save the world by finding the mysterious book of Azrael before Kaden.

Okaaaaay, the worldbuilding in this book was honestly epic. There were many different worlds and places and characters and types of creatures, but it never felt “too much” or confusing, and there were no tedious info dumps. The book started very plot-driven, but then the romance took over and it started dragging before picking up again. The plot was riveting, and I didn’t expect some of the plot twists. And while I expected the book to end the way it did, I still thought the big finale was well done, and it made me want to keep on reading.

However, there were things that didn’t make sense to me, starting with how Dianna and Samkiel fell for every. single. trap. possible. Aren’t they supposed to be superpowered, ancient beings? And since they can smell fear and arousal (among other things), how could they never tell when their enemies were close by?

Characters:
I thought Dianna was quite the brat. Meanwhile, Samkiel was a real cinnamon roll. I loved how he was superpowered and strong, but also vulnerable. I also absolutely loved most of the secondary characters, good guys and villains alike.

I enjoyed the enemies-to-lovers romance (“mortal enemies with benefits” lololol) and how Dianna and Samkiel helped each other heal, but I have to admit I expected more spice. (That was one slooooooooooow burn.)

Writing:
I don’t think the writing was bad, but I wasn’t impressed either. Some parts were great, while others were choppy and filled with anacolutha and zeugma. (More thorough editing could have fixed most of these.) I also felt like there was too much banter, too many snarky comments, too many clothing descriptions, too many repetitions (e.g., characters described the same way over and over, repeatedly “telling” emotions instead of “showing” them). Remove all that and the book could have been a good 100 pages shorter…

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jadeeellli's review against another edition

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dark tense slow-paced

4.0

aiscream's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

paulsenbirm's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

bdunks's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

rthais's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

chad_nation's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A few typos and lack of consistency with tenses disrupted the flow occasionally. But I read the whole thing in two days it's sick.