RazielxAriel ship is kind of odd, but also somewhat fitting I suppose.

The deal with Janos and Raziel... eh, feels very much like something that a fan fiction would come up with. Why couldn't Janos just be a compatriot to Raziel and let their relationship be significant in that way? Why must there be a secret father-son relationship to complicate things? I think it lessens what their relationship would be without this very obtuse element.

Of all the stories I've read, this one felt the most ponderous. I felt like I had to push through it much more than the other ones where I felt compelled to go along with the flow. There were just too many strange departures from the canon LoK world. Dragons for example. Raziel starting and also being born after the beginning of the Hylden war. The surprise romances of Raziel and Ariel alongside, seemingly Tiamatu and Ajatar, both of whom are OCs. The ever-expanding element of this entire Divus faction.

It ultimately comes down to a simple fact I think. This is no longer a Legacy of Kain fanfiction. This is a story which borrows elements and characters from LoK to create something entirely new. For all intents and purposes, it is no longer a 'what if' of the canon world. It is so far removed that it is now the 'Divus universe' for lack of a better term. While that may be enough for some, clearly it isn't enough for most. The number of reviews you have been getting has been getting lower and lower with every new entry in this series but this story had by far the sharpest decrease. And I think the growing divide between your world and the canon one is the main reason. I'll continue onward for a while but most of my enthusiasm has run its course. I hope that gets rekindled in the next story.

Neat.

Gotta say though, I pretty much expected Ophiel from the moment she brought Kain to the city. It was confirmed when she saved Raziel, so this was quite expected.

I guess the self depreciating self criticism is aimed at that. Nobody can out manipulate Moebius so these OC's attempts seem rather transparent to us, the readers and fans.

Good attempt though.

No idea why Ajatar is so invested in the Hylden woman. They clearly did not like each other just a few chapters ago now she is brooding over the Hylden's injury? Odd.

Who the hell would hide their offspring in a freaking realm of demons? That is insane.

Not sure what all I think of the Hylden presence in the story. The characters themselves are fine, but the idea of the entire race managing to be sheltered there doesn't make a lot of sense. By the time of the Second Sarafan, the Hylden were twisted in mind body and soul. Then when the binding fell they made their attempt at Nosgoth and failed, crushed by Kain. That was, presumably, the end of the Hylden existence. Either they went extinct or became so corrupted they could no longer even scheme across dimensions. So the notion that they managed to not only survive but thrive for at least a few thousand more years past that point feels strange.

So at this point in the story, there seems to be at least thousands of Hylden, a handful of Vampires, and a few dozen Ancient Vampires. Quite the population imbalance. Should the races here survive whatever comes with the Divus, the Hylden would unquestionably become the dominant race in Nosgoth. And that just doesn't set well.

As much of a beast Kain is in terms of fighting, it is his keen intellect that is always the most interesting. Seeing him either as the leader of a ragtag coalition of forces against a god-like being, or seeing him verbally spar with his Guardian predecessor, you capture that delicious mix of pride, arrogance, intellect, and determination quite perfectly.

This may be the one chapter in all of your writing that I enjoy most of all. Good job.

Of all your writing, the gobsmacked disbelief Vorador showed in this chapter is probably the most delicious I have read. Bravo.

I have read all of your legacy of kain stories and I have to tell you you are THE best author on this site! You written so many long chapters and have made so many sequels. If I was square Enix I would hire you.

When you revealed your intention to make another “Soul Reaver” installment, to tell the truth, I wasn’t entirely sure how to react to it in the very beginning. At first, this seemed like a very unexpected and very controversial move to me. As you probably know, many LoK fans often complain about Raziel stealing way too much spotlight in this series while this is supposed to be Legacy of KAIN, with Kain being the one who should get the most of attention and thus play the more important part for the progress of the story’s plot. Therefore, after ‘SR-3’ and ‘Absolution’, one could think that the character of Raziel had already had more than enough moments of fame, and now was the time to fixate on other less well-known, though equally important LoK characters. It’s hard to tell now how objective this observation is, but what has also seemed objective personally to me is that even after everything we’ve learned about Raziel from the canon plot of the classic LoK games and all the new information about his past and origins we’ve gained from your tremendous works with ‘SR-3’ and ‘Absolution’, there was still some element of incompleteness left about his persona. This is hard to put into words but it felt almost palpable from the very pages of your works how this very complex and ambiguous character had still not fully reconciled with himself and with his past even after all the good he had done on his path towards redemption. A character as important and multifaceted as Raziel definitely deserved a proper exploration of its whole depth and a proper completion of all its inner struggles. And this is something I realized along the way of reading this brilliant novel of yours and delving into all the new insights revealed on Raziel’s life and origins. Now I can safely say that SR-4 has been a more than worthy, well-deserved, if not even necessary addition to your continuation of the LoK saga that is equally important both for the understanding of the Raziel’s character and for the progress of the entire plotline. The continuation of the LoK saga clearly wouldn’t have been the same without this volume in place, so thank you very much from the bottom of my heart for expanding it with this tremendous masterpiece!

Aside from the general compliment on this whole installment, I would like to also emphasize a couple of specific key moments that have caught my attention throughout this novel:

1) First of all, it was a very unexpected and pleasant discovery about the importance of the elemental shield that Raziel had retrieved from his former self at the end of ‘Absolution’ for the progress of this novel’s entire storyline. I never imagined that there was so much more to its use than just the deflecting purpose displayed this far and that it would also turn out so vital for reaching the book of Raziel at Fanum-Divus. Also, the way Raziel was gradually collecting the power of the shield’s elements one by one, thus enabling himself to progress farther and farther in his quest, made it feel a lot like a walkthrough of a game. It’s great that you managed to retain this video game atmosphere in a fic which derives from a game-plot (even though its scope certainly goes well beyond that) without making it feel too banal or meddlesome at the same time. I think if Eidos / Crystal Dynamics were to use your works as a basis for designing the scripts of new video games for the LoK franchise, they would definitely achieve some better results than what we’ve seen from ‘The Nosgoth’ and ‘Dead Sun’ this far.

2) Another unexpected and surprisingly remarkable move was to make Raziel team up with a crew consisting exclusively of ladies. If you take a look at the canon SR games, Raziel has never had too many female characters surrounding him other than Ariel, so it was refreshing to see how our blue wraith gets along with other ladies. Although I’m still looking forward to seeing Raziel fight side-by-side with Kain & company again, taking a look at him partnering with other less obvious companions really did feel amusing for a change, so kudos on this bold and clever twist!

3) The development of Raziel/Ariel romance is another very difficult task that you’ve been handling splendidly this far. In a universe like Nosgoth where the concept of love itself often feels a bit alien and in a relationship as complex and unorthodox as the one between Raziel and Ariel, it’s hard to develop such theme without either ruining the canon characters or making this look like another snotty ‘Twilight’ like love story that would be in complete dissonance with a dark and grotesque world like Nosgoth. However, like I already, you’ve handled that challenge with dexterity of a pure genius. You didn’t make it look like any conventional romance but at the same time you managed to portray such strong emotional tenderness between Ariel and Raziel that its strength would put any well-known literary romance to shame. Bravo!

4) As soon as it became clear what kind of stigmatic secrets the book of Raziel contained and how they could corrupt the mind of our blue friend after he discovered them, I’ve been constantly kept on my tenterhooks wondering whether Raziel would prevail over the book’s power and retain his good side or it would turn him evil again. And I was really glad to find out that Raziel managed to come out as a victor out of that battle and prove that a heart and soul can be stronger than any arcane magic or some premeditated enemy scheming. I understand that the implications of reading that book might not have manifested in Raziel completely yet and we might still see further repercussions of it in the future volumes, but I still think that for now Raziel’s experience with that book sets a good inspirational example, especially, in a dark world like Nosgoth where the good doesn’t always beat the evil.

5) I already mentioned it to you via Skype but I would like to once again reiterate it here that I praise you for your idea to restore Umah to flesh. Not that I have much love loss for this particular character but like I already said, I think exploring her true depth would be easier now that she’s no longer just a soul animating a set of armor. Despite your very thorough approach toward reflecting the canon treats of Umah’s character after the reanimation of her spirit form, I’ve always found it hard to correlate the image known to me from ‘Blood Omen 2’ with the guise created in your novel, even though it was an absolutely necessary move. Having Umah back in her flesh form, even though slightly changed, in my opinion makes it easier to follow the development of this character and the recognition of its true nature. I’m not sure how important Umah’s role going to be for the progress of your storyline, but since the Keeper specifically mentioned her in his lecture to Raziel in SR-3 when talking about the MVP on that ‘chess-board’ he and Elder were playing on, I’m really looking forward to reading more about her

6) And, of course, the final elephant in the room to be addressed is the pipe-bomb you dropped on the readers by revealing that Janos is Raziel’s father. There isn’t much for me to say here other than what I’ve already shared with you, so the only thing left for me to do is just to applaud your writing genius and bravery and show you my utmost respect! Making such mind-blowing spin for two canon characters takes a lot of guts and a lot literary effort to make all the logical connections click into places. Yet again, the topic still remains to be fully developed, but I’m sure an author as talented as you are will make an excellent job out of it! For now, can’t wait to see how things are going to work out for Raziel and Janos and everyone else around them.

As always, I won’t even go in for praising the tremendous style, language, plot, the clever balancing of various literary genres and everything else connected directly with your writing skills – like I told you before, this goes without saying in respect to you and has already become an integral feature of all your works. You really managed to retain and maintain that level of literary quality you attained in ‘Heritage’, which I believe has been the highest you’ve ever raised the bar, so it’s really delightful that your new works still successfully keep up with this very high standard.

In conclusion, I can only say that ‘Soul Reaver 4’ has been a hell of a pleasure to read and has really been lighting up some of my weekends for the past year or so. Moreover, the level of drama intrigue it has set for the entire saga has also made the anticipation of the end of ‘Insurrection’ and the beginning of ‘Equinox’ evermore longed-for. Thus, nothing much to add but the common cliché: “Keep up the good work!” (I know you hate those but I just couldn’t help myself lol).

Once again, congratulations on another masterpiece and wish you very success in your future writing!

I'm speechless! Completely dumbfounded! Raziel has been Janos' son all along. Those two have crossed paths more than once and never have they realised their connection. Now that I remember it, Janos did say he had a son named Raziel, and I kind of suspected there could be a link, but I dismissed it as just being a coincidence. This was definitely the biggest surprise so far in your stories.

On the other hand, it was pleasing to know that Raziel's new memories have not changed him, at least not in a bad way. And you've been managing the relationship between Raziel and Ariel with incredible finesse. You can give a romantic twist to the story without making Raziel or Ariel seem out of character, and without making their relationship seem intrusive to the overall plot, something not easily done in a story based on a universe as violent and complex as LOK.

And now, the next stage begins. Raziel, Kain and all the others will need to organize to face the oncoming threat of the Divus.

That is an interesting twist! Can't wait for the next installment!

OMG! ; honestly this was my reaction as i was reading the ending of this chapter! What a great way to end this story x3 x3 now i can't wait to see what's next!

And that is two borderline psychotic twists in relatively rapid succession. I love this series. Can't wait for more.

So Asmodeus is the Starscream of the Divus! He was lucky not have had Kain as his King before as Kain would never have let someone like him live long enough to attempt to kill him.

Now this was surprising. Ophiel was a double agent all along. I should have guessed it. Now it makes sense why she was helping Raziel.

But best of all, Raziel has finally recovered the book. The new memories he has aqquired will be very helpfull in the battle against the Divus and the Elder God. However, we that we still don't know how those memories will affect Raziel's personality.

The King has returned. Update soon.