Curse of the Damned: The Seven Duet

by Adriana Sargent

After being cursed by the Seven and sentenced to an eternity of torment in the Underworld, Rana didn’t expect a second chance. 3,000 years after her untimely death, a well-meaning archeologist was tricked into reincarnating her, unknowingly triggering an apocalypse of catastrophic proportions.

Ill-equipped to handle the consequences, he calls upon the one person he knows qualified to help. A disgruntled Hunter named Dinah, who specializes in Daemon possession, divine magic, and aggressive honesty. When she arrives, she has two simple questions: who would want to defy the Gods to bring Rana back, and why?

Genres: Romance

279 pages, Kindle Edition

Expected publication August 30, 2026

About the author

Long-time writer and full-time bourbon connoisseur Adriana Sargent creates character-driven, emotion-inducing, fantasy novels that are guaranteed to transport you to another world. Her characters, while clever and cunning, will enthrall you with raw reactions, desperate decisions, and foolish fearlessness.

In her spare time, you can find Adriana curled up with a good book, practicing tarot, or judging wine while binge-watching Supernatural.

Instagram: adrianasargentauthor
TikTok: @adrianasargentauthor

Reviews

[britt britt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such a fun read. Fans of ‘The Mummy’ and even bigger fans of sapphic yearning aren’t going to want to put this one down. I truly had the best time reading this and getting to know and love the characters. They all had depth on their own levels, and it was enjoyable watching them grow and bond. The yearning, the desire, and the motivation of it all was so intense and powerful. Overall, a fantastic read.

Thank you so much to the author for an eARC! All opinions are my own and posted voluntarily and most importantly…WITHOUT AI 😁 (we don’t tolerate that here)

[The Wild Weary Cow Reads Sapphic · Rating 4 out of 5]

ARC Read - Release date 30th Aug!

Curse of the Damned by @authoradrianasargent

When an Arc offers you Egyptian goddess’, Mummies, Magic, Mythology and feeds into your love of the Mummy films> You jump at the chance to be selected!

Egypt is one of my favourite places and the whole history has intrigued me since I was in my 20’s and visited Luxor

This book really does give off Sapphic vibes of Rick & Evelyn from The Mummy

Dinah= Rick and Rana= Evelyn

We also get Archer, Dinah’s friend who for me is very much Jonathan as far as I’m concerned lol

 

Whilst Dinah is busy performing exorcisms on humans who should know better, demons are everywhere, she’s pulled into one of Archer schemes and rushes to rescue him from you guessed it …MUMMIES!

When it turns out Archer has been involved in resurrecting a 3000 years old “Goddess” from the underworld, Dinah must fight keep all 3 of the alive and stop the end of the world which has been triggered by the Gods & Goddess’ who killed and cursed Rana, for reasons that are unclear.

The book kept me engaged and interested, there’s a few action scenes, the best kinda humour between Dinah and Rana! And the chemistry is there…. No Spice….

Rana has awoken to a whole new world and thrives on learning as much as she can while sexily fighting off demons and mummies with her sword…

I mean, we alllll remember the fight scene between Evy and Anck-su-namun……..

Pretty much what I was envisioning lol

For me it could have done with a little more dialog, personal taste

You know a book has been good when you get to the end and NEED book two!!!

Thank you so much to Adriana for giving us a Sapphic retelling we all wanted back in the 90’s

PS.. When’s book two out?????

[jenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 ⭐️
This story follows Dinah, a daemon hunter, and Rana, a mortal goddess who was resurrected from 3000 years in the past. I love both of these characters and felt their arcs were properly fleshed out and felt real. Dinah is a stone wall, she fights because it's the only thing that keeps her going. Rana is sweet, quirky, and quite literally a goddess. (well she's a human, but you get.) With Rana's resurrection comes the end of the world....

The slow burn and longing between Rana and Dinah is crazy, I can't wait to see what book 2 brings.

This is the second book by Sargent that I've read, first being Through the Embers Part 1, and the improvement in writing is quite noticeable. TTE was a book I struggled with, it could have used a lot more editing. Curse of the Damned does have some typos, but they were mostly small and easy to ignore. I also felt like the plot line for COTD was a lot more intriguing and intricate.

I'm not familiar with the story of Constantine or The Mummy, so I can't say how those storylines align with this book.

Something small that irked me (and maybe spoiler??!!) is Dinah's twins name. Her name is Zinah. I can't imagine anyone naming their twins Dinah and Zinah.

Overall, I enjoyed the book. I was sucked in almost immediately. The story picks up quickly and the lore and world building are easy to understand.

I received a free ARC of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.

[Queenhack · Rating 4 out of 5]

ARC Review
This was good!!

I loved the concept so much.It was slow paced and gave me time to understand most of their world. I learnt new things every other chapter. It was actually devastating when the 'divine' beings go out of their way to make humans suffer just so they can be worshipped. Morana seems to be their leader.

I also liked that the work of feminists were indirectly appreciated. They did do much for us women.

Yeah, Some of the characters are a tad bit selfish but it is fine and some were too selfless, it was sad to see them go.

With Archer, I loved him most of the time when he wasn't getting himself in trouble. Dinah was so selfless even if she grumbles at everything. Rana did a lot of good for people but was a bit selfish.I don't blame her though, she has been through enough.

I loved all of them and I was glad I read about them. Also, you are not ready for the slow burn between Rana and Dinah.

It was one adventure after another. The mummies, the daemons , the locusts and even the countless trips in the desert whilst sand clung to our skin. I enjoyed it a lot and would anticipate the release of book two.

If you like adventurous, fantasy stories inspired by mythology with sapphic love then this book is for you.

[BookNerd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5)
Spice Level: 🌶️ (1-2/5)
I received an advance reader copy (ARC) of this book and am leaving an honest review.

Curse of the Damned mixes Egyptian mythology, gods, demons, and demon hunters—and if that combo doesn't hook you, the main characters will.

The story follows Dinah, a badass demon hunter, and Rana, a mortal goddess resurrected after 3,000 years. The pacing is a bit slow at first, but that early setup is really worth it because it takes time to lay down the necessary lore and build out the supernatural world so everything makes sense down the line. Once the ball gets rolling, I was completely hooked.

Watching this unlikely group start the journey to become heroes and try to save the world was a fun experience, but the real heart of the book is the romance unfolding between Dinah and Rana. Their evolving dynamic had me totally invested, and now I need to know what happens next.

[Daphne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was hooked by the premise of Egyptian mythology, sapphic yearning and a resurrected Egyptian goddess. The characters are easily likeable and I loved learning about Egyptian history through this book. Still, the book didn't fully grip me but I think that's mostly preference - I usually prefer more fast-paced stories and the heavy worldbuilding (though really well done!) slowed things down a bit at times, and I expected Rana to be more vengeful after everything she was put through haha. I would still really recommend it for fans of the mummy but make it sapphic (I've watched the movie like 20 years ago but don't remember much).

[Faye Zenon · Rating 5 out of 5]

absolutely LOVED this book! Dinah and Rana are both wonderfully rounded, messy characters. I was hooked from the first sentence. Adriana Sargent is hilarious and well spoken, and i cant wait to get my grubby little hands on everything she's written!
similar to "the mummy" but queer 🥰
thank you so much to the author for providing me with an eARC, all opinions are my own and posted voluntarily!

[iesha Bright · Rating 4 out of 5]

this gave the mummy vibes for the sapphic lovers.
you get Egyptian mythology with gods, demons, and demon hunters.
we follow dinah a demon hunter and rana a mortal goddess resurrected after 3,000 years
it was slow paced which is not my normal but even still it was a great read that i became to love.