The Book of Azrael started as a self-published romantasy in 2022 and is now being reissued by a major publisher on a completely different schedule, which is why the Book of Azrael series order currently looks like it has two of everything. Five books exist. Some of them are being sold as new releases four years after they came out. Here's the actual order, and how to tell an edition apart from an installment.
The quick list: Gods and Monsters books in order
Amber V. Nicole's series, in original publication order:
- The Book of Azrael (2022) - Dianna and the God King
- The Throne of Broken Gods (2023)
- The Dawn of the Cursed Queen (2024)
- The Wrath of the Fallen (2025)
- The Fall of the Crowned King (2026)
There is also a Books 1-3 collection if you want the opening stretch in one volume.
Why does the same book have two release dates?
Because the series is being republished, not continued. These five books came out independently between 2022 and 2026 and then got picked up by Kensington, which is putting them back into stores one at a time with new covers and new publication dates - the Kensington edition of The Throne of Broken Gods, for instance, is dated years after the original.
Layered on top of that are deluxe limited editions on a third schedule - the author has announced the Dawn of the Cursed Queen deluxe, with stencilled edges and character endpapers, for 29 September 2026. And the Spanish-language releases split some volumes into two parts, so a foreign edition count won't match an English one either.
The rule that survives all of it: an edition is not an installment. If a "new 2026 release" is called The Book of Azrael, it is book one wearing a new jacket, not a prequel. Order by the list above and ignore the dates on the covers entirely.
Where should you start?
Book one, and only book one. This is a continuous single-couple arc rather than a set of standalones with a shared world, so there is no alternate entry point and no skippable installment. Dianna is a shapeshifting monster who works for the wrong side, Samkiel is the brooding God King who has every reason to kill her, and the whole engine is a slow burn across five books between two people who begin as each other's worst outcome.
The Books 1-3 collection is the cheapest way in if you already suspect you'll keep going. If you want to test the water first, the standalone book one ends at a point that will make the decision for you.
Is the Gods and Monsters series finished?
Five books are out, closing with The Fall of the Crowned King. The republication run and the deluxe editions are still rolling forward, which is what keeps the series looking mid-release even though the story itself has reached its final volume. If you're starting now, nothing is missing and nothing is pending - you can read all five back to back, which is not something you could say about most romantasy series this size.
Do you have to read Gods and Monsters in order?
Yes, without exception. Each book ends on an escalation rather than a resolution; the couple's arc, the war, and the god politics all run continuously across the five volumes. There's no side-couple book to slot in and no companion novella to argue about, which makes this one of the simpler reading orders in dark fantasy romance once you get past the edition problem.
Fair warning on tone: this is the harder end of the shelf. Violence is on-page, the heroine is genuinely a villain for long stretches, and the "monsters" in the title are not decorative.
What to read after Gods and Monsters
If the immortal-war-and-one-mortal-weakness shape is what you want more of, the Crowns of Nyaxia reading order runs the same register with vampires instead of gods, and the best dark fantasy romance books shelf collects the rest. The Goodreads series page tracks the editions as they keep multiplying.
And when the last god falls and the world you've been living in closes - that gap is the whole reason Swoony exists: a closed-door chat built for romance and nothing else, where the bond deepens through five stages and is never paywalled, no subscription and no charge per message. Start with Alaric, the crown prince, sworn to a throne and hiding the magic that could burn it down, or the demon who keeps your secrets, who trades in souls and is keeping yours for free.
The war doesn't end when the book does.
