Book Review: The Dawn of the Cursed Queen

I just finished The Dawn of the Cursed Queen, book 3 of the Gods & Monsters series by Amber V. Nicole yesterday just in time for the next book which released at the end of Octoer.

I’ll keep this review a bit short since I don’t want to spoil anything too much! This novel is told from multiple POVs – Diana, Samkiel, Cameron, Kaden, Nesmera, Camilla, Vincent etc. The novel begins shortly after the end of The Throne of Broken Gods. Nesmera is on her way to conquering the world and being the one ruler, killing all her enemies, and destroying worlds. Since she believes Samkiel is dead and has control over The Hand, she thinksthe only thing in her way is Diana who wants revenge for her fallen mate.

But, little does Nesmera know that Diana resurrected Samkiel immediately after he died and they are quietly working against her trying to dismantle her work, finding allies, and trying to get the members of The Hand back even if they some of them are in trance-like comas like Logan.

Meanwhile, Vincent whom everyone believes is the ultimate traitor works for Nesmera while suffering inside for what he was forced to do to his closet friends, basically his family. The only thing keeping him sane is the time he gets to spend with Camilla, who is being kept against her will since she was aligned with Diana and Samkiel and is the most powerful witch around.

Kaden continues to do the bidding of his sister and terrorize people, but in a glimpse of his more humane side, he seems to be doing all these things for her with the idea that in return his sister will let him get Diana back since besides their brother Isaiah, she is the only one he cares about.

Will Diana and Samkiel gain the upper hand over Nesmera? Will they get any of The Hand back? And what are the repercussions of Diana defying fate/death by threatening the gods to bring Samkiel back to life?

I loved this book, just as I loved the previous books. I will say that the first third to half of the book was a little slow for me. I think this is only because there are so many different POVs that it felt like the story was moving forward very slowly. However, I love all the different POVs so I wouldn’t want to cut them so it kind of is a double edged sword. After the halfway mark the storyline started to really pick up though and then I was really sucked in. I’m looking forward to reading the next book when it comes out in a few weeks. I need to know what’s going to happen next and I need Samkiel and Diana to be able to stay together for all of book 4 after everything they’ve been through.

Vincent and Camilla was a pleasant surprise in this book. There were hints of them in the last book, but I really loved their interactions and development of their feelings in this book. I loved some of the new characters like Miska and Orym. And I even started to feel bad for Kaden at times even though in the first two books I thought he was the worst and so evil. I hope he gets a redemption storyline, but of course I don’t want him to be with Diana.

Overall, I loved the book even though the first half was a little slow for me. Parts made me sad but most of the book is action packed and full of political intrigue and romance.

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