Review: The Last Namsara

The Last Namsara

By: Kristen Ciccarelli

My Rating: 5/5 Stars

Genre: High Fantasy, Adventure, YA, Dragons!

Synopsis: In the beginning, there was the Namsara: the child of sky and spirit, who carried love and laughter wherever he went. But where there is light, there must be darkness—and so there was also the Iskari. The child of blood and moonlight. The destroyer. The death-bringer.

These are the legends that Asha, daughter of the king of Firgaard, has grown up learning in hushed whispers, drawn to the forbidden figures of the past. But it isn’t until she becomes the fiercest, most feared dragon slayer in the land that she takes on the role of the next Iskari—a lonely destiny that leaves her feeling more like a weapon than a girl.

Asha conquers each dragon and brings its head to the king, but no kill can free her from the shackles that await at home: her betrothal to the cruel commandant, a man who holds the truth about her nature in his palm. When she’s offered the chance to gain her freedom in exchange for the life of the most powerful dragon in Firgaard, she finds that there may be more truth to the ancient stories than she ever could have expected. With the help of a secret friend—a slave boy from her betrothed’s household—Asha must shed the layers of her Iskari bondage and open her heart to love, light, and a truth that has been kept from her.

The first section of this review will be spoiler free

Here it is, my promised review of The Last Namsara. I was lucky enough to receive this book in my last Fairyloot box (a monthly book box subscription), and I was very excited to read it. This book blew me away, once I started I simply could not put it down! First of the world building was very well done, and not overwhelming, secondly there were dragons, I mean what more could I ask for? Asha was a great character and she had a wonderful evolution throughout the book. There were lots of twists and turns and revelations that really kept me guessing until almost to the end. It was also very cool that within the book there were other stories being told, mostly by Asha, and they were well integrated into the overall story. Torwin was also a brilliant character, even though he is a slave he is determined not to loose himself, or to bow down to his masters completely.

It was really nice to see a book that defied a lot of conventions, like maybe the main character isn’t totally a good person, and the fearsome  dragons are actually intelligent beings with their own stories to tell. the only critique I have is that the author did tend to play it safe with her character development. I could tell that this was her first, or one of her first novels. But despite that it was a very engaging and exciting read. I can’t wait to see what she writes next.

If you are a fan of high fantasy, dragons and kicks female characters this is the book for you.

***SPOILERS***

I will just jump right in to the romance of the book, Asha and Torwin. It was very refreshing to see a powerful woman falling in love with a slave, when it is usually the other way around. Torwin was perfect for Asha, he made her believe that she wasn’t something to be feared, that she was good and beautiful, and it was wonderful to read. There were several twists in the book, the biggest being that the King (Asha’s father) set her up when she was little, using her to kill the great dragon and then blaming the destruction he caused on her. He also happened to have murdered her mother which just confirmed what an awful swine of a person he was.

I am not sure if the sequel is about the same characters or not, my understanding was that it would follow someone else. This is a little sad as I would like to know where Asha and Torwin end up, especially since she is a fugitive after killing the king. I guess I will have to wait and see, and hope for maybe a cameo appearance!

Have you read the Last Namsara? do you have a favourite book that features Dragons? let me know in the comments.

I have included a link to the Amazon page below