Gabriel by D.B. Reynolds

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It was a time when gods walked the earth, when armies fought not for bits of land, but for the very existence of humanity. On such a battlefield, five formidable warriors stood against an evil greater than any the earth had ever seen. But evil is not an honorable foe. Betrayed by someone they trusted, the warriors were cursed, one by one, tossed into the maelstrom of time, imprisoned in stone, their freedom resting on nearly impossible conditions. Until. . . .

Gabriel Halldor. . . one of the fiercest warriors the world has ever seen, but his tremendous skill can’t save him from a sorcerer’s curse. Trapped in stone and left lying in darkness for thousands of years, he is, at long last, brought into the sunlight of a Japanese garden, where a young girl comes to sit at his feet and read him stories as she grows to womanhood.

Hana Himura. . . beloved granddaughter of a Japanese mob boss, raised to the life of a warrior. When death comes for her grandfather, he sends her to the one guardian courageous enough to protect her from a sorcerer who will stop at nothing to have her.

Raphael. . . the most powerful vampire lord on earth, and the only man who can save Gabriel and Hana from an enemy who would enslave them both.

Running from the certain death that awaits them in Japan, Hana and Gabriel flee to Malibu and the vampire lord her grandfather called friend. Raphael is magic and power combined, and Gabriel and Hana will need both if they’re going to survive long enough to defeat their enemy and light the flame of desire that’s been simmering between them for years.

Gabriel

On the run from a sorcerer!

The following ratings are out of 5:
Romance: ❤️💙💜💚
Steam: 🔥🔥🔥
Story/Plot: 📕📗📘
World building: 🌏🌍🌏
Character development: 😠☺️😋😍
Narration: 🎙🎙🎙🎙🎙
Narration Type: Solo Narration

The heroine: Hana – she lives in Nagano Japan and is the granddaughter of a Yakuza mob boss. Her grandfather raised her and taught her the forbidden ways of magic and sorcery. When enemies attack their home, they are after Hana. Her grandfather tells her to go to Gabriel, the statue he got her as a gift when she was young. Though she was raised as a warrior, she ran from their enemy, went through the hedge in the garden to the statue.

The Hero: Gabriel – he was an ancient warrior who fought with his four brothers in arms for a sorcerer named Nicodemus. He was a berserker and a vampire who drank the blood of his enemies. They fought for good until an evil sorcerer named Sotiris cursed the four brothers by encasing them in stone and sending them to the far reaches of the planet, where they have been lost to Nicodemus for thousands of years.

The Story: Hana goes to the statue of Gabriel in hopes that he will wake from his curse and offer her safety. She knew her grandfather was now gone, and her enemies were looking for her (one of them she knew had magical powers). They were after her because of who she was, what she was and what she could do. She was an amplifier of magic. She could double the strength of a magical sorcerer and Sotiris was after her.

The story was ok but not spectacular. I wanted a bit more action and there was something about Hana that I didn’t like. Maybe she was too tough or something. I just wasn’t feeling the attraction between them like I wanted. It did get steamy in parts but I wasn’t feeling it as much as in the last two books. Also it was stupid that Gabriel refused to drink blood from Hana, especially since he was supposed to protect her. He just got weaker and weaker.

This book is told in multiple points of view via solo narration and was narrated by Tor Thom. I have listened to him many times before and really like his narration. He does different voices very well and has a nice deep voice which is great to listen to. I don’t even mind that it isn’t dual or duet narration.

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