Darksiders The Abomination Vault – Weapons of the Ravaiim

Well now, that was a good novel I read on my Kobo, and a Darksiders no less! So, if it’s something I love this much, then it’s review time!

This is the first ebook I bought on my Kobo and it reveals a lot of additional lore in the Darksiders universe. It’s not written perfectly and did leave me with some questions at the end.

There are quite a few familiar characters in this book, like in the prologue I saw Lilith again who is visited by a unknown entity at the time. Azrael also plays a significant role in this book as he helps the Horsemen, especially Death with their conflict. Even Abbadon appears briefly and I learned how he lost his right eye before he became the Destroyer.

It take place, likely centuries, before the events of the games. Death appears to be building himself a home of his own on some barren wastelands, as the Nephilim were always conquerors. Even he wants to settle down!

Apparently Watchers have names like one named Panoptos and Death goes to investigate an attack outside of Eden. His search leads him to a small camp to Kothysos, another world where the Nephilim fought a fierce battle prior to the battle of Eden. I enjoyed reading the action sequences in these chapters that led up to him meeting with the Crowfather to learn the ultimate truth.

But, one of my favourite parts of this book is when War is ordered by the Charred Council to go to the White City and dispose of a powerful angelic weapon that would no doubt be used against Hell. He fought his way through several levels of the arsenal, charging through angels like it was nothing. It shows that War was definitely a lot more reckless than he is in the games, he even has a sense of humor and enjoys grinning when he is victorious. At one point, he encounters Uriel and defeats her effortlessly and tells her to challenge him again. Of course she did!

Death learns that the mastermind behind the constructs attacking is the Maker Belisatra and she is searching for a way to awaken the Grand Abominations.

The Grand Abominations, are described as weapons made from the remains of a race called the Ravaiim: the first race to go extinct at the hands of the Nephilim and their blood was the key to wielding these weapons. This book also reveals how cryptic Death is sharing information with the other Horsemen and the Council. He also is full of a lot of a pride that he is willing to reject help from his brothers and sister after reporting his findings. Nevertheless, War managed to catch up with him.

Enter our antagonist Hadrimon, a rogue angel who wishes to use the Grand Abominations to exact revenge on Heaven after they exile his lover Raciel to Hell. He teams up with Belisatra to accomplish his goal. His name revealed when Death meets with Lilith. I don’t like how he threatened to leave War crippled when the latter protested about not being able to enter Lilith’s chamber with him.

But, Death becomes a better character towards the end of the story when he does everything in his power to resurrect War from Black Mercy’s shot. He finally feels guilt for hiding the truth from his own brother and is able to bring him back.

The final battle between the two Horsemen and the constructs, I couldn’t put it down, especially when Black Mercy itself turned against its wielder and Hadrimon and kills his lover. Ah Azrael, you and your illusions, and War, of course you would laugh and refuse to help clean up the remains on the battlefield!

So, yeah that’s that. I wish I found out what happened to Belisatra, the last I saw of her was when she surrendered to Death and War and was captured. Is she going to be sent into Oblivion like what Death did with the canister of Ravaiim blood? Nobody knows.

Great story regardless, it is Darksiders after all! I’m going to go back to the game as soon as get some more Witcher articles done. After all, I binged at the game to defeat a really tough boss to get Fury’s abyssal armor, braved a tornado, and then defeated Wrath (finally!). If Pride is all I have left, am I ready to say goodbye, probably not. Anyway, I loved this book, a must read if you love this franchise as much as I do.