The Doom of Undal by Katrina Sisowath (Dragon Court #2)

Original Title: The Doom of Undal

Year Published: 2015

Published by: 5 Prince Publishing (an arc was kindly provided through NetGalley)

First Sentence: "'Shhh' said a childish voice in a faint whisper, 'It's time to wake up.'"

Goodreads Rating: 5/5

Plot:

The Dragon Court has ruled Tiamut uncontested for millennia, bringing knowledge and prosperity to all.

Yet all is not as it seems---far to the West in the land of Undal, mightiest of the nations, the Royal Queen and her children are struck with a mysterious illness and perish. Was the Dragon Court responsible? Or had the Queen had been experimenting with dark magic?

Her grieving son, trained in the dark arts by the goddess Eris herself, swears vengeance. When he defies the Dragon Court and they rescind their blessing on his royal house, he must turn to his mother's experiments and ancient blood rituals to achieve his aims. In his quest for truth, he will become the greatest threat Tiamut has ever known.

With details pulled directly from Plato (yes, THAT Plato), The Emerald Tablets of Thoth, Sumerian and Egyptian mythology, The Doom of Undal tells the story of the Fall of Atlantis.

My thoughts:

Wow. Just wow... This book is just so ... so... epic. I absolutely adored it and it has been safely and securely been added to my all time favourite books.

The Doom of Undal is the sequel to The Serpent Priestess of the Annunaki, and it picks up pretty much towards the end of the first book. Many characters from the first book are present in this one, which created a nice feeling of familiarity.

In this book, we get to follow three sisters on their journey from childhood to adulthood. The sisters, Sobekh, Hathor and Rhea, are all destined for different aspects of the society governed by the Dragon Court and, therefore, their journeys are vastly different. The plot is nicely divided between the three, with slightly more focus on Hathor and Rhea, which works wonderfully since they are two very interesting characters. So much happens to these characters and the character development deserves all the awards. You feel for the characters, smile in their time of joy and your heart will ache so bad during their hardships.

The antagonist is at first very unlikely, and then through fantastically written hints, it is easy to see how and why the antagonist becomes the antagonist. I will not say who it is because of spoilers! However, it is fascinating to see how the character slowly descends into madness. Amazing.

Egyptian and Sumerian mythology is seamlessly weaved into the plot and used perfectly through the book, just like Christianity was used in the first book. No, you don't need to know the mythology, but if you do you will easily find it in the book.

Sisowath have fixed the one thing that made The Serpent Priestess of the Annunaki hard to take in, which was the density of the book. In this one, there is much more dialogue which makes it flow so much better and is the one reason for why this one gets 5/5 when book number 1 did not.

The cliffhanger though is just pure evil. How can you do this to me Sisowath?! I need to know what happens next!

Do I recommend it? 

YES! Such an epic fantasy that will get its claws in you from page 1 and won't let go until the final page.

Serpent Priestess of the Annunaki by Katrina Sisowath (Dragon Court #1)

Original Title: Serpent Priestess of the Annunaki

Year Published: 2014

Published by: 5 Prince Publishing

Number of Pages: 394

First Sentence: 

Goodreads Rating: 4/5

Plot:

The Annunaki on Nibiru lack precious metals, stones and minerals, which they desire, food on Nibiru is also running low. Their solution: establish a colony on a distant planet teeming with wildlife and vegetation. When the Annunaki discover they are ill equipped to labor under the harsh conditions found on Earth, they create a workforce called humans, a hybrid manufactured from their DNA and a species known as hominid. 

The Serpent Priestess Ninkha and her husband Lord Enki are charged with this task, battling not only the challenges faced adjusting to life on Earth, but Enki's brother, Enlil, as well. Will the humans live as Enki and Ninkha envisioned--able to learn, create and above all, reason? Or will they subjugate themselves to Enlil and his rule willingly?

At stake is the future of the Priestesses of Damuth, who, along with their serpents, service the Annunaki with their own blood, providing those who partake of the cocktail of blood and venom the ultimate in achieving a higher state of consciousness, along with youth, vigour and longevity. If Enlil, whose disdain of them is well-known, wins, what will happen to them?

To protect themselves and their descendants, they form the ‘Dragon Court’, but is it enough?

Serpent Priestesses or Witches, Gods or Demons,

Aliens or Ancestors, Oppressors or Creators? 

Perhaps all of the above..............

My thoughts:

I bought this book after receiving the arc for the sequel over at NetGalley (I didn't realise it was a sequel when I requested it), and figured that I would need to read this one before reading the arc I got. So I bought this and got reading. It was a little hard to get into but after just one chapter I found myself completely hooked. 

The world described in this book is quite fantastic and it is obvious that the author has given it a lot of thought. It is very detailed (which is awesome but has its negative sides, I'll get to that). The Annunaki's, the inhabitants of Nibiru, are a very intelligent people with several supernatural abilities. They are all matched with a dragon at birth (DRAGONS!!) and create and unbreakable bond with their dragon. They are governed by their priests and priestesses that help guiding the people through their lives. 

There are many characters that the plot revolves around, all who are very interesting. I won't go into detail about the characters as that actually would spoil the plot. The plot is a very interesting take on the creation myth (yeah, you read that right) and gives a very interesting account where the Annunaki's are the creators of humans. 

Usually, I don't like books with religious themes or allusions to religion but this book is just too good to be true. You will definitely recognise some of the stories from the Bible, along with some names, but you don't need to know the Bible to enjoy this book (I really don't. Know the Bible that is).

So, is there anything negative? Yes. The book is like only 4 percent dialogue, and since the author obviously has given the world in the book a lot of thought, it can get a little bit overwhelming. In fact, although I loved it, my brain felt kind of mushy at the end. It was just so much information to take in. Detail is awesome, but you need something to make it easier to take in. A little bit more dialogue had been great. 

Do I recommend it? 

Yes! It is amazing, and I can't wait to get started on book numero 2.