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booksthatburn's review against another edition
The opening pages have a bizarrely dense infodump between two enemies which seems entirely performed for the sake of giving info to the reader, not because the characters actually need to say these lines to each other.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence, Blood, and Torture
Minor: Genocide and War
koistyfishy's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
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? It's complicated
3.5
This book has me at a literal FEELINGS crossroads as it took me 50% before I was into it. This wouldn't normally be a problem as it can be expected in some books there could be a need to build up the plot and characters before that hook drives itself completely in! The only problem is 50% of this book was OVER 400 PAGES!
The story follows the dual POV of Dianna and (Samkiel) Liam. Dianna is what the world thinks is a villain. One thousand years ago she sacrificed her life to save her dying sister Gaby. Dianna is turned into an Ig'Morruthen (evil monster basically) after making a deal with basically the Devil, Kaden. Kaden is awful and continuously threatens the safety of Gaby if Dianna doesn't do his atrocious bidding. Now Kaden is after the Book of Azrael and he has tasked Dianna with finding it.
The world-building in this super, it is really good for a debut novel and is pretty fleshed out and complex whilst still being easy to wrap your head around. There were unique aspects I had not seen done before and I have read quite a bit of fantasy recently. I was intrigued by the power system possessed by the Gods and Monsters. I loved how the different worlds were spun together and the history of the universe carried a weight that actually added to aspects that had brought our characters to this point in history. There were a few info dumps (often disguised as "blood dreams") but it didn't feel over-saturated with these, so they were manageable.
Dianna was an interesting character. She is morally grey and Amber Nicole does not shy away from aspects that would make her a villain in this story, but she doesn't fully encompass true darkness. Dianna has brutally killed and harmed people before and has anger issues very similar to the Hulk. She is also very badass, sassy and powerful but is not unbreakable. The one thing that makes her extremely likable though is she has not fully lost sight of her moral compass. She is only bad and evil because Kaden makes her so, but through actions is VERY self-sacrificing - (this almost becomes nauseatingly repetitive how often it happens though since IT HAPPENS A LOT IN THE BOOK).
Liam is emo, suffering pretty badly from PTSD and depression, and is very cold at the start. His POV does feel a little lacking and bland but these seem to evolve over time as he learns about the customs of the world and starts spending more and more time with Dianna. In the end he did change into a real wholesome person, and it is understandable why he is as broken and almost void of emotion at the start given everything he has gone through to earn his name World Ender.
I did like the Banter between the two, and the slow burn mortal enemies-to-lovers was done really well! This relationship took time to develop and didn't feel rushed or forced. There were things they each had to work through as both Dianna and Liam are a little bit broken but both ended up helping one another battle their internal demons. They really do encompass "stronger together than alone."
The one bad thing about this book however is its writing. It is very sloppy at times and could have really used another round of editing. There are typos and missing words. The spacing on the ebook also drove me INSANE at the start as everything was paragraphed with spacing, which made the flow of the book really difficult as I had to deal with unnecessary pauses the whole time. There were also words and terms thrown in that the reader was just expected to understand and know what they meant without a clear explanation. Often Action scenes or descriptions of places felt muddled and weren't fully clear what was going on so there were numerous times I had to reread sentences or go back a few lines to understand what was happening. I also felt a few plot holes slipped in and aspects were not always explained clearly. I am hoping these holes are plugged and explained in book two and not forgotten. I also started growing increasingly annoyed at the word iridescent, as this seems to be the only way colour was described. IT APPEARS 9 TIMES IN TOTAL PEOPLE!
The other aspect of the writing that bothered me was the characterization in general. This is meant to be a NEW ADULT. These characters are all WAY WAY over 1000 years old. BUT THEN why does it feel like every one of these characters is still a teenager? The characters' actions and behavior at times were extremely immature and childish and for beings who have lived as long as they have, this shouldn't be the case. This immaturity is mostly seen in Dianna, but it also slips in with the way Logan acts and Gaby speaks, and how Liam interprets situations.
Overall I did like the concept and if I miraculously knew the first 50% of the book and only rated this on the last half, then this would have been 5 Stars. Based on this I cannot wait for the second book to come out so that I can see where this story and the world go.
Overall I would recommend this book if you like the following:
▹Mortal Enemies to Lovers
▹Captor/Captive Romances (slightly)
▹Slow Burn
▹Only one bed
▹Morally Grey Characters
The story follows the dual POV of Dianna and (Samkiel) Liam. Dianna is what the world thinks is a villain. One thousand years ago she sacrificed her life to save her dying sister Gaby. Dianna is turned into an Ig'Morruthen (evil monster basically) after making a deal with basically the Devil, Kaden. Kaden is awful and continuously threatens the safety of Gaby if Dianna doesn't do his atrocious bidding. Now Kaden is after the Book of Azrael and he has tasked Dianna with finding it.
The world-building in this super, it is really good for a debut novel and is pretty fleshed out and complex whilst still being easy to wrap your head around. There were unique aspects I had not seen done before and I have read quite a bit of fantasy recently. I was intrigued by the power system possessed by the Gods and Monsters. I loved how the different worlds were spun together and the history of the universe carried a weight that actually added to aspects that had brought our characters to this point in history. There were a few info dumps (often disguised as "blood dreams") but it didn't feel over-saturated with these, so they were manageable.
Dianna was an interesting character. She is morally grey and Amber Nicole does not shy away from aspects that would make her a villain in this story, but she doesn't fully encompass true darkness. Dianna has brutally killed and harmed people before and has anger issues very similar to the Hulk. She is also very badass, sassy and powerful but is not unbreakable. The one thing that makes her extremely likable though is she has not fully lost sight of her moral compass. She is only bad and evil because Kaden makes her so, but through actions is VERY self-sacrificing - (this almost becomes nauseatingly repetitive how often it happens though since IT HAPPENS A LOT IN THE BOOK).
Liam is emo, suffering pretty badly from PTSD and depression, and is very cold at the start. His POV does feel a little lacking and bland but these seem to evolve over time as he learns about the customs of the world and starts spending more and more time with Dianna. In the end he did change into a real wholesome person, and it is understandable why he is as broken and almost void of emotion at the start given everything he has gone through to earn his name World Ender.
I did like the Banter between the two, and the slow burn mortal enemies-to-lovers was done really well! This relationship took time to develop and didn't feel rushed or forced. There were things they each had to work through as both Dianna and Liam are a little bit broken but both ended up helping one another battle their internal demons. They really do encompass "stronger together than alone."
The one bad thing about this book however is its writing. It is very sloppy at times and could have really used another round of editing. There are typos and missing words. The spacing on the ebook also drove me INSANE at the start as everything was paragraphed with spacing, which made the flow of the book really difficult as I had to deal with unnecessary pauses the whole time. There were also words and terms thrown in that the reader was just expected to understand and know what they meant without a clear explanation. Often Action scenes or descriptions of places felt muddled and weren't fully clear what was going on so there were numerous times I had to reread sentences or go back a few lines to understand what was happening. I also felt a few plot holes slipped in and aspects were not always explained clearly. I am hoping these holes are plugged and explained in book two and not forgotten. I also started growing increasingly annoyed at the word iridescent, as this seems to be the only way colour was described. IT APPEARS 9 TIMES IN TOTAL PEOPLE!
The other aspect of the writing that bothered me was the characterization in general. This is meant to be a NEW ADULT. These characters are all WAY WAY over 1000 years old. BUT THEN why does it feel like every one of these characters is still a teenager? The characters' actions and behavior at times were extremely immature and childish and for beings who have lived as long as they have, this shouldn't be the case. This immaturity is mostly seen in Dianna, but it also slips in with the way Logan acts and Gaby speaks, and how Liam interprets situations.
Overall I did like the concept and if I miraculously knew the first 50% of the book and only rated this on the last half, then this would have been 5 Stars. Based on this I cannot wait for the second book to come out so that I can see where this story and the world go.
Overall I would recommend this book if you like the following:
▹Mortal Enemies to Lovers
▹Captor/Captive Romances (slightly)
▹Slow Burn
▹Only one bed
▹Morally Grey Characters
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Grief, Physical abuse, Torture, Murder, and Death of parent
xta_07's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Over all I really enjoyed this book. I appreciated the exploration of grief, and over all I liked Liam/Samkiel's chapters much more than Dianna's. The over all plot and story were very satisfying, even if sometimes the bravado that Dianna displayed was incredibly unbelievable.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Sexual content, and Blood
Moderate: Toxic relationship, War, and Injury/Injury detail
steffandbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
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? Yes
4.5
Amber, what have you done 😭 THE ENDING!! I can’t 😭😭 when is book two coming out?
I can’t even imagine how this story is supposed to entail five books overall, Dianna and Liam already went through so much in this book, what else are they supposed to endure? I can’t, I literally can’t…
I love how Liam is such a big teddybear and open with his feelings and so on and I really liked how he and Dianna went from enemies to more. They were literally enemies in the beginning. Both are not heroes in this story. Both already committed atrocities to save those they loved. I liked how Amber was portraying them as not being “good” guys.
The story and world as such is really complex, which took me a moment to get into, but I like reading a book where not everything is explained in the beginning. Gives me that tense feeling, you know.
I need more of Dianna and Liam, like right now.
Please don’t keep them apart for long in the second book, okay.
I can’t even imagine how this story is supposed to entail five books overall, Dianna and Liam already went through so much in this book, what else are they supposed to endure? I can’t, I literally can’t…
I love how Liam is such a big teddybear and open with his feelings and so on and I really liked how he and Dianna went from enemies to more. They were literally enemies in the beginning. Both are not heroes in this story. Both already committed atrocities to save those they loved. I liked how Amber was portraying them as not being “good” guys.
The story and world as such is really complex, which took me a moment to get into, but I like reading a book where not everything is explained in the beginning. Gives me that tense feeling, you know.
I need more of Dianna and Liam, like right now.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Violence, Death, Blood, and Torture
Moderate: Genocide, War, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Death of parent
wordwilderness's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
The Book of Azriel has an interesting plot and worldbuilding, but unfortunately, the characters and their relationships fell flat for me. From the beginning, it was obvious that the reader was supposed to perceive the main character as a villain, but at the same time, the book was constantly reminding me that she only committed evil acts to save her sister. It was like the story didn't trust me to interpret the character for myself, which was also reflected in how the other characters were developed. I was told how to feel about their personalities and relationships instead of getting to see them develop through their actions. As a result, I didn't really care what happened to the characters by the end of the book.
Other than the characters, the story was pretty interesting though. I loved all the legendary monsters, and there were plenty of plot twists I never saw coming. I definitely think there's an audience for this book, even if it wasn't me.
Other than the characters, the story was pretty interesting though. I loved all the legendary monsters, and there were plenty of plot twists I never saw coming. I definitely think there's an audience for this book, even if it wasn't me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Gore, and Sexual content
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Toxic relationship, Grief, Torture, and Emotional abuse
Minor: War
manubookland's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
slow-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
5.0
I loved this book! The banter, the slow burn, the enemies to lovers combined with forbidden love, the main characters, the plot twists everything was EPIC.
The emotional damage at the end is heartbreaking, I need the next book!
The emotional damage at the end is heartbreaking, I need the next book!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Violence, and Blood
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