The Wrath of the Fallen

Amber V. Nicole’s The Wrath of the Fallen (2025) is the fourth novel in the dark romantasy Gods & Monsters series. The narrative follows the rightful god king, Samkiel, and his powerful Ig’Morruthen mate, Dianna, as they navigate a treacherous political landscape in their war against Samkiel’s tyrannical sister, Nismera. Their quest to build alliances is complicated by the return of ancient enemies, the meddling of cosmic beings, and a magically forced, life-binding bond with their most hated foes, Kaden and Isaiah. The novel explores themes such as Monstrosity and Heroism as Artificial Categories, The Redemptive and Destructive Power of Love, and Fear as a Tool of Political Domination.

An international and USA Today bestselling author, Amber V. Nicole is known for writing epic stories with complex villains and morally gray characters. The Gods & Monsters series, which began with The Book of Azrael, has gained significant popularity, particularly within the BookTok community on social media, where the romantasy genre has flourished. The series blends the high-stakes plot of epic fantasy with the intimate, character-driven focus of romance, a hallmark of the subgenre. By placing the relationship between Dianna and Samkiel at the center of a sprawling war, the narrative examines how personal devotion can alter the trajectory of history.

This guide is based on the 2025 Kensington Publishing Corp. edition.

Content Warning: The source text and this guide feature depictions of graphic violence, physical abuse, self-harm, emotional abuse, sexual content, and death.

Plot Summary

An unnamed boatman’s town is destroyed by monstrous creatures from the Otherworld. He is captured and brought before Umemri, a monstrous, tentacled figure who has recently become King of the Otherworld. Umemri is searching for his “murrak,” or mate. The boatman reveals that Samkiel, the former King of Rashearim—the realm of the gods—killed the murrak. Enraged and grieving, Umemri exhumes the murrak’s body, revealing that her true form was that of a beautiful woman. Umemri learns that Samkiel was traveling with a woman named Dianna, who is an Ig’Morruthen—a powerful being capable of shifting between human and beast forms. Umemri then kills the boatman. As the boatman’s spirit fades, a mysterious man made of darkness appears.

The setting shifts to the castle where Samkiel is staying with Dianna. He has a nightmare in which his sister, Nismera, murders Dianna, turning her to ash. The dream triggers his latent Oblivion power in the real world, creating a destructive storm that tears apart their bedroom. Dianna wakes him, and her touch calms the chaotic energy. They realize Samkiel can now summon Oblivion without his ring, a power that manifests when Dianna is threatened.

Three weeks later, Samkiel and Dianna have established a new city for refugees but fail to secure any alliances against Nismera from the remaining seven realms. At their final stop in Shorerock, they meet the arrogant Lord Iver, who has replaced his deceased father. During a tense dinner, Iver’s disrespect toward Dianna nearly causes Samkiel to unleash Oblivion again. Dianna grounds him, but they leave dejected and without allies.

Nismera slaughters an entire town to summon Death, whom she accuses of resurrecting Samkiel. Death denies this, implying that Dianna’s love was strong enough to tear the veil between life and death when Samkiel died. He warns that another powerful being also crossed over from the afterlife during that event. Enraged, Nismera orders her second-in-command, Henri, to find a witch named Camilla. Meanwhile, Camilla, who mended a powerful medallion for Nismera, is a fugitive, traveling with Nismera’s former second, Vincent, and a councilwoman, Elianna. Camilla has a prophetic dream revealing that the medallion can open portals to other realms ruled by powerful beings called Sovereigns. A mysterious witch in the dream warns her to destroy it.

Samkiel interrogates a captive Isaiah, Kaden’s brother. Seeking counsel, Samkiel summons the fate Roccurem, or Reggie, who advises him to build loyalty among the common people rather than the corrupt royals. Later, Dianna is possessed in a dream by Gathrriel, the first Ig’Morruthen, who wants to use her body to enact his revenge. He attempts to feed on a nearby city to solidify his control, but Reggie confronts him, goading him into creating a fiery beacon that alerts Samkiel. Samkiel forcibly ejects Gathrriel’s spirit.

Kaden infiltrates Samkiel’s palace, frees Isaiah, and kidnaps Miska, a young Jade City healer under their protection. A wounded Cameron arrives to report the kidnapping, and he, Samkiel, and Dianna begin hunting the brothers. Elsewhere, the ghost of Samkiel’s father, Unir, kidnaps Dianna and forces Gathrriel to possess her again so he can question the ancient spirit. Gathrriel breaks free and destroys a town before being trapped by Unir and a group of shadow assassins led by Faye. Dianna regains control and spares Faye’s brother, earning a life debt. Unir forces the possession one last time. Gathrriel attacks Samkiel, but as he is about to deliver a killing blow, Dianna unleashes a powerful internal fire, permanently burning Gathrriel’s spirit from her body.

Samkiel and Dianna track Miska to the city of Whitcliff, where they find her with Kaden and Isaiah. During the ensuing fight, Samkiel kills Kaden with an Oblivion blade. The moment Kaden disintegrates, Isaiah and Dianna also turn to ash. Death appears and reveals he has tied their three lives together, so if one dies, they all die. He resurrects them, forcing an uneasy alliance. They must work together to find the medallion for Death, who will then break the bond.

In the city of Goldpass, Camilla and Vincent are confronted by Dianna and Samkiel. Dianna kills Elianna for her role in Samkiel’s earlier death (detailed in The Throne of Broken Gods). The fight is interrupted by the arrival of Milani’s armada, allied with Nismera, which uses a sonic weapon to incapacitate everyone. To save Vincent’s life, Camilla surrenders the medallion. Dianna is shot down by a warship but saved by Kaden.

Milani captures Samkiel, and Dianna, Kaden, Isaiah, and Cameron infiltrate her warship to free him. After their escape, Samkiel and Kaden fight over Kaden’s cruel words to Dianna, leading Kaden to confess his lingering love for her. Meanwhile, Kaden discovers Nismera’s secret chambers and finds a decree proving Unir was not present when he and Isaiah were imprisoned, revealing Nismera’s long-standing betrayal. The brothers fight her and escape. The group then travels to Gathrriel’s cavern, where Dianna drinks from his chalice and witnesses his memories. She learns that the gods murdered his celestial mate, Vvive, and their child, and sees a vision of Unir with a silver-haired baby, Nismera. Nismera ambushes Dianna, and Unir’s spirit reveals that he created Nismera from Gathrriel’s blood and suppressed Samkiel’s memories of his innate Oblivion power.

Nismera, now possessing the medallion, manipulates the gods of The Eye, a rebel faction of gods, including Athos, Kryella, and Blayne. She turns them against Samkiel by stoking their fear of his and Dianna’s potential Ig’Morruthen offspring. In the celestial city of Arcelia, Xavier, a member of Samkiel’s former guard now with The Eye, is shown falsified evidence that Cameron’s negligence caused his sister’s death, leaving him feeling betrayed by his found family.

Nismera holds a public gala to execute Dianna and solidify her power. Samkiel and his allies, including Camilla and Vincent, infiltrate the event. During the execution, Dianna stabs Nismera through the head with a forsaken blade made from her own bone, but Nismera regenerates. A massive battle breaks out. Nismera, wielding her medallion-enhanced spear, aims a fatal blast at a wounded Samkiel. Dianna shoves him aside and takes the full force of the blast, disintegrating into ash. Due to Death’s bond, Kaden and Isaiah also turn to ash. Consumed by grief, Samkiel unleashes the full, untamed power of Oblivion, destroying Nismera’s city. Just as the gods of The Eye arrive, Cameron tackles Samkiel to stop the destruction. Believing Samkiel is a world-destroying monster, the gods attack and capture them both.

Dianna awakens not in the afterlife but in her old apartment on Onuna. She has been sent back in time, and her sister, Gabby, is alive. Their reunion is interrupted when the bloody, battle-worn Kaden and Isaiah from the future crash into her apartment.