5 Words: Dragons, stories, power, obligation, family.

Going in to this I know only one thing about it: Dragons. I knew that there would be dragons. And I love dragons.

Before starting, I was in love with the cover. The gold foil, the intricate details, even the font. Such a beautiful cover immediately sets my expectations high.

And I was not disappointed.

I loved Asha's character, how she changed within the pages. As much as I experienced the story through Asha's eyes, I also felt it in how she changed as a person as the story progressed. Asha is the Iskari and she is bad ass. She is physically strong, mentally strong, yet still authentically vulnerable. I loathed the villainous Jarek. I was so-so about Torwin, but I am generally so-so about any romantic interests.

Throughout the story itself, are small stories. The old stories. I thought that these were a fantastic touch, and I loved the parallels between the old stories of the past and what was happening in Asha's present. The stories within the story held power.

I did feel like pace faltered a little in the middle. It wasn't that it was slow - there is no way that you can call this story slow paced - it's just that it was a little slower than the majority of the story. But right after, it ramps right up again.

Overall this was a fantastic debut, and I cannot wait to read more.

Once there was a girl who was drawn to wicked things...

I ended up really, really enjoying this. The Last Namsara follows Asha - the daughter of the dragon king of Firgaard, as she tries to atone for her sins of the past and embrace the role of dragon slayer, warrior and weapon. The Iskari. Betrothed to the high commander, trapped in a cycle of death and hate from all around her, when she's offered the chance of freedom by destroying the First Dragon Kozu, Asha seizes the opportunity. Forming an unlikely bond with her commander's slave, Asha comes face to face with the beast that haunts her dreams, and uncovers some truths along the way.

At first glance this seems like a straight forward fantasy YA novel with dragons, but on reading it's so much more than that. At the heart it's about a girl overcoming the beliefs and prejudices instilled in her by her father, and a fight for the rights of the slaves and people of her county. It's really about freedom.

Interlaced with this plot is a magical world and a mythology that is well crafted and detailed. The idea that speaking old stories can draw dragons and power to the wielder is a rather unique and a wonderful idea. I loved the interjections of the old stories throughout the text which interweave and support the main story. They felt almost lyrical in their presentation, and I was actually craving for more of them. The dragons themselves also have wonderful personalities, and I really felt a bond with them - especially Shadow. Asha's relationship with them is also great to see unfold - from her initial mistrust (mutual) and her growing love and respect for them. I did cry at one point.

Asha, The Iskari, was a wonderful main character. She's feisty, and powerful yet vulnerable to the men who ultimately hold her in their power. It's her journey that really makes her character so strong however. She starts the novel as a hated warrior, feared by all with no love for anything besides her brother and cousin. She has no respect for the dragons or slaves, yet as we progress we see her begin to warm to others and realize that she might have more in common with these people and creatures than she first thinks.

Jarek is a wonderfully mean character. He's loathsome, mean spirited and resentful with a lust for power and domination over Asha. This is displayed perfectly in the passages about Asha's wedding gown, which Jarek has designed so that she can't get out of it herself and must resort to having someone else do it for her - an ultimate act of submission and humiliation for Asha.

I felt the only weak link in the story was Asha's love interest. It starts out strong, with a 'forbidden love' element that builds slowly, but as the story progresses it becomes a little bit cumbersome to the plot and slows down the pace as we spend time with Asha mooning over him and repeatedly stating that she needs to keep away from him 'for his own good' and 'to keep him safe'. Many times I just wanted her to realise that he could look after himself and get on with the adventure.

I really believe this is a wonderful fantasy novel, with generally good pacing and plenty of action. I look forward to the next installment.

Asha is the daughter of the dragon king. The people are afraid of her because she brought dragonflame upon the city as a child, telling Old Stories which attract the dragons. She herself was badly burned, but was rescued by the commandant’s son, Jarek. Now she is a hunter of dragons, a dragon slayer for her father the King who has also named her Iskari, from the Old Stories.

Asha is betrothed to the very boy who saved her. He’s commandant now, leader of her father’s armies and one of the few people who isn’t scared of her. In fact, if anything, she is scared of him.

When her father offers her the chance to call off their impending marriage, Asha leaps at the chance. Should she finally capture the First Dragon, Kozu, the very one that burned her skin and torched her city, her father would be willing to cancel the ceremony but Asha doesn’t have much time. Her quest leads her to cross paths with her betrothed’s slave, a boy called Torwin who doesn’t seem to fear her. In fact he breaks laws to look directly at her face.

There is much to love in this book – not least the dragons! Our story is told around Asha but also shares the Old Stories that she holds dear, those that remind her of her late mother. However, not only do the stories make people ill and are therefore banned, but they also draw dragons. The telling of the Old Stories attracts the dragons, which is a tempting proposition when you are hunting them, tasked with returning with their heads.

I enjoyed the storytelling style of this novel – the way the old and new cultures and beliefs were conveyed, so integral to the story yet also told as part of the tale.

I was unsure of Asha at first but I grew to like her. Honestly, and probably unsurprisingly, Torwin was my favourite character in this novel. As for other characters, I’d have liked to have seen more of Safira (Asha’s cousin) and Dax (Asha’s brother). I felt that they were kind of peripheral although they played a role in the story.

I will admit to feeling slightly overwhelmed by the world at times. It took me a while to get things straight in my mind, the different peoples, regions, names etc, but that’s probably down to my foggy brain!

I really enjoyed the writing in the novel and found it so easy to get swept up in this tale. This is the first book in a trilogy and I will most definitely be picking up book two.

“Asha lured the dragon with a story.”

Such a great first line! Right there you get the tone for the whole novel.

Ciccarelli builds a creative new world with a complex political history, fascinating mythology, and DRAGONS!!! I love everything to do with dragons and the dragons in this book were fabulous. They are more than just vicious animals; they can actually communicate and bond with humans.

I love the role that stories played. You can probably draw all sorts of metaphors for how knowledge is power. I also love how it all ties in with the mythology of the land and the Old One.

Asha is a very compelling character. She has to face various truths and lies and breaks down her own walls to become who she was meant to be. I also like her relationship with the slave, Torwin, and how it builds gradually. I did feel like the secondary characters aren’t fully fleshed out, and the villains, who are really evil and sadistic, don’t have much depth to them either.

The plot at times was a little slow, but I was so absorbed in the story that it just swept me through anyway. Some of the reveals were a little obvious in coming, but I don’t think they were meant to be totally hidden anyway. Other twists I didn’t see but were cleverly hinted at and then revealed! I do hate the "girl has to escape from marriage" cliché as her motivation to action though.

Overall, I really enjoyed the story and will definitely read the next one.

I’m a sucker for a good YA romantic fantasy, and when I heard that The Last Namsara was due to be the next big dragon-oriented YA book on the market, I couldn’t get my hands on it fast enough. I was expecting some How to Train Your Dragon vibes, mixed in with an epic fantasy world.
The Last Namsara definitely delivered. Though at first glance it appeared to be a rather formulaic YA story, it gradually opened up, and developed layers that gradually hooked me. By the end, I didn’t want to stop reading.
So: Asha is a dragon slayer, in a world where dragons are feared and hated. As the Dragon King’s daughter, Asha is the Iskari: a person who is equally hated for attracting the First Dragon to their country’s capital city, Faargard, years ago. Today, the city has broken with the Old Ones, the original gods, but when they start speaking to Asha things start to change.
I loved the twist that Ciccarelli included in the dragon mythos: that dragons gain their powers from, and are attracted by, the power of storytelling- and that these same sacred stories, passed down from the Old Ones, are toxic to anybody who speaks them. It’s a nice way of keeping the story fresh, and highlights a love of telling stories that speaks volume in a kingdom that has banned people from telling, or hearing, them. The Last Namsara has a rich mythology that is developed and built upon with interjections of these stories through the book, which makes Asha’s struggle with the Old Ones, and the meaning behind the words Namsara (hero) and Iskari (death-bringer) much more interesting than they’d be otherwise.
The character development is also great. Asha comes across as a rather typical female protagonist at first: a haughty king’s daughter who doesn’t want to see the truth about the way in which her country treats the skrals, their slaves, but becomes much more interesting as the book goes on. She is scarred from her encounter with the First Dragon, who burnt down Faargard when she was younger, and she blames herself for attracting the dragon and causing the death of her mother: she calls herself ‘corrupt’, and a huge part of this story is about Asha learning to love herself and come to terms with the fact that she might not, after all, be as bad as she thinks.
A large part of that is down to her relationship with Torwin, the slave. I wasn’t a huge fan of the romance between those two: it seemed a little generic and insta-love-y for my taste, but Asha’s relationship with her brother, Dax, and cousin, Safire was fully rounded and made for some plot twists I really enjoyed reading as the story unfolded. Ciccarelli plotted her story really cleverly, giving you plot twists that built on each other to create a completely different picture by the end of the book.
Also, there were dragons- especially the Toothless-like Shadow, who I would have loved to have read more about, and Kozu, the First Dragon whom Asha hates. There was a good balance between fearsome- after all, they need to be hated for a reason- and adorable, which was trodden very neatly as the story developed.
The best thing about this book, though, was that Kristen Ciccarelli keeps you guessing throughout, with a fantastic story, great plot development and a fast-paced, exciting story that I loved. If you like fantasy: read this.

What if the old stories hold true powers? And what if the old stories can get the people who tell them killed? But, overall, what if the old stories are true?

We have a princess, Asha, who kills dragons. Yep, you're reading right, we have a princess that does her own killings, and it's not a mere huntress, she hunts and kills dragons! (And yes, I wasn't really so happy about it, because come on! I love dragons and I am not happy to see them killed! But that's not important right now, trust me!). Asha is a good main character, she covers a lot of YA tropes without being too much, she thinks of herself as wicked, because she kills dragons to atone for her past wickedness: she called the dragons with the ancient stories when she was a child, and the most powerful and ancient dragon of all, Kozu, wanted her all for himself, so he attacked her when she refuses to be taken her prisoner and he destroys half of her city.

And now we see Asha as the Iskari, the destroyer, the one who hunts and kills dragons to keep safe the people of her city and to obtain forgiveness. But that's not all. When we met Asha we're almost on her wedding day: in a week, given or taken, she would marry the captain of the guard, Jarek. But she's not in love with him, soooo not! And she would do almost anything to escape the marriage. And that's why she accepts to kill Kozu, the most powerful dragon and the one who gave her the terrible scar that mars her face and body. But the things will not go as planned.

I really want to say more about the story, but I don't want to make some spoilers. And there are a lot of plot twists in this book, some foreseeable and other more unexpected, so I don't want to spoil the read for you! But I can always speak about other things!
So, back to Asha. She's really secure in her ideas and her behaviors are coherent, she's not always the most pleasant or nice girl to have around, and I really appreciated it. Sometimes authors went overboard to make their characters nice, but coherence is far more important than an always nice MC, at least in my book. I think Asha is the best character if we speak about development.
The other characters aren't so good, if we speak about development, they are all interesting and they have a lot of potentialities, but they are a little plain, not really tridimensional. I would have liked to know a lot more about the motivations, the backgrounds and the plans of all of them. It's not that they are bad, but they could have been better, way way better!
Dax, for example, is Asha's brother and the heir. It's usually a disappointment to his father and he seems to possess some peculiar ideas about the ways of his kingdom, and he has a big role to play in this story, but his motivations, feelings, and ideas are never explained to us. And the same goes for Jarek. He's hideous, bad, with a lot of negative adjectives, but we don't learn why he does the things that he does. Yes, sometimes we have some answers but they are not enough if I have to be honest.
I am pointing all this out to you, but I want to make clear that I liked the book, I really enjoyed it, it hooked me up from the beginning and the things just get better and better during the reading. I really liked this one, really really liked, but it's far from perfect. But it's the first book of the author and it's quite good so I would not hold all this against her, but I have to be honest and say even the things that I didn't like.

The story is quite captivating and is full of action, and we see the present and the past. Some chapters are set in the present, with Asha, and others are set in the past, sometimes we read about Asha's childhood and sometimes we read the ancient stories. And we learn that these stories are true! They are not only myth and legend, they are real. It was a thing that I really loved! And I liked the worldbuilding, even if the author could do better in this area, too. It's a complex world, and I really liked it (I have to say that I love the stories and the past of this world!) but I'd liked to learn more about the society and the culture. We know that there are different population, of different social status (and we learn why there are these differences, in some case) but we just don't know the why and the how, usually, and it's a shame because the world seems so interesting and so rich!

I know that my review could seem not so positive, but I loved this book, I couldn't put it down and when I had to close it (sometimes I need to sleep, too, and I have to go to work, even when I am not so keen to do so!) I thought about it, about his characters and their stories, and we have dragons!!!!!! Ok, I would have liked more dragons, but we can see a lot of them as it is, and they are so cute!
And I loved the ending because the book it's the first of a series, but it does not end with a cliffhanger, and that makes me a really happy girl!

So, if you're searching for a book with dragons, full of action and with an interesting world building, and dragons, you totally have to read this one! I'm reading the next books, that for sure, because if this one is her first book I really have great expectations for her future works!

Asha is a dragon hunter. The fiercest, most feared person in the city of Firgaard and branded the Iskari. The old stories give power to dragons, and so the stories have been outlawed by the Dragon King. What he doesn't know is that his daughter uses these stories to help catch them.  As Asha learns more of the old ways, will she side with the Old One or the Dragon King?



At first I worried I wasn't going to be as into this book as I first thought. It takes a few chapters to really become immersed in the world and characters. But it does pick up and it got a lot more exciting. It also sets up a trilogy (I think) really well due to the world building throughout. There's some amazing back stories to this world that are told throughout by both our main characters and the dragons. 

I enjoyed Asha as she evolved over time. She was a walking trope of an unfeeling female warrior at first but she grew into a much more likable character by the end of the book. Although secondary characters lacked some depth and needed more page time. Roa, Dax and Safire in particular are some of who I would want to know more about. The slave, Torkin, didn't seem to have a name for the majority of the book, but this of course may be the authors intention. 

I loved the use of dragons throughout the story. They're part of the in world religion and they thrive off stories. Telling stories helps make them more powerful and lures them to the teller. This was such a unique thing to this series that it really intrigued me to how it worked. There was also the mystery as to why and people who tell stories die from telling them. This added some intrigue and deceit that I didn't see coming. 

Overall I'm really excited to see what happens in the next installment and to read more of Ciccarelli's work as this was her debut. I received The Last Namsara* by Kristen Ciccarelli as an e-book from the publisher via Netgalley. This is an unbiased and honest review.

I received an advance reading copy of this book, and as a debut novel I was incredibly impressed with it. I went into this book mostly blind just on the recommendation of a friend. And I must declare that it is one of the best debut novels I have read in years. Once I started reading I could hardly put the book down. The writing is very tight. The characters were wonderfully fleshed out. And the pace of the story exhilarating.

One of the aspects that I loved most was the stories within the story. First the story of the dragons; and dragons love of stories. The stories of the Namsara's, and the stories of a people who have lost their way. It is also the story of a kingdom filled with slaves. In a story with a dragon king, his daughter the dragon slayer, and her brother who seems to be a dreamer but not all things are as they appear.

This is a story about finding the truth. The truth about what you have always believed about yourself. The truth that was foisted upon you. And the truth of unlearning falsehoods. The relationships are part of what make this book so amazing. Ashas strained relationship with her fiancée. Her relationships with her brother and her cousin.

This book was an excellent read and I look forward to the rest of the trilogy.

I quite enjoyed this. I loved the world the author created, and the fact that DRAGONS exist in this world. I furthermore liked our badass and quite hotheaded female protagonist. The romance between her and Torwin was slowly forming which was really sweet. There are stories at the end of each chapter which I enjoyed very much.

What I didn't like, though, was that the secondary characters had no depth or complexity at all. Also, at a few times the writing felt off. It is her debut novel so hopefully in her next book she is more confident.

When I started reading The Last Namsara, I had high hopes but wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. As I turned the last page, I knew I had found a new series to add to my favorites. This book is a story about perception and morality, how they shape us and how they can change us. This is a book about challenging expectations in favor of being true to your self. This is a book about the power of stories and the truth. The Last Namsara is a wonderful debut that is full of political intrigue, character growth, and dragons.

Since it’s always hard to write reviews for five-star reads, I’ve decided to make a list of the top five reasons why you should read this book.

1) Asha is a beautifully written, complex heroine. Her character growth throughout the novel was amazing and a joy to read.
2) The world-building. I loved how the history was imparted through stories and how the character’s (and reader’s) perspectives of that history was challenged.
3) The Last Namsara did have a bit of a slow start but the plot overall was engaging, clever, and full of twists.
4) While the romance did develop quickly, I loved that there was such a strong aspect of mutual trust, friendship, and support. Additionally, you don’t often see a princess falling in love with a man of a lower social class, let alone a slave.
5) An absolutely brilliant ending that will somehow wraps this book up perfectly while still leaving you desperate for the next installment. (No, there’s not a cliffhanger).

While it got off to a slow start, the strong foundation that was built ultimately paid off in the end. The second half of the novel had me glued to my seat, utterly entranced and desperate to find out more. There were some minor flaws but The Last Namsara is one of the best debut novels I’ve read this year. Kristen Ciccarelli is definitely an author to watch out for, I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next. I know that I’m already counting down the days until The Caged Queen is released.

*Disclaimer: I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Absolutely riveting! The Last Namsara is a book filled with action with a story which will surely be a bestseller!

This was such a fast exciting book. The world building was done well, but I feel like more needed to be explained about that world. Hopefully more will be explained in the next book. Im excited to see where the next book will take us.

I should have waited closer to publication day to read this but I was anticipating it too much to wait that long. Im always on the look out for great dragon books and the fact that this was also written by a Canadian author made it to the top of my TBR. I absolutely loved the little stories through out the book and the power they held. The concept was just amazing. Using stories to lure dragons was fascinating and the Old God plot line intrigued me. The last third of the book was definitely the best part and I absolutely love the dragons.

I liked that the main character was kind of an antihero. I enjoyed the main character Ashas complexe relationship with her brother and cousin. I would have liked to see more of her relationship with her cousin. Her cousin could have been more developped, but the I thought the main character was well developped. I enjoyed the direction of her brothers plot line, but I wasnt impressed when he forbade her to do something. I thought the romance was cute. I even ended up liking Torwins character more than Ashas.

I felt like it would have simplified things if the obstacles had been dealt with differently. My main issue with this book was how Asha kept shrugging off important questions and not making the best decisions. Ashas naivety was frustrating to say the least, but I understand those stupid decisions were probably made so she could have some character developpement and to advance the plot. I just really wanted her to act against Jarek. If someone I cared about was missing I wouldnt be getting my dress fitted. By the end things start making more sense and the characters growth helped me overlook some of my earlier frustrations.

The writing was alright but it didnt completely hook me. Since this is a debut I expect the author will get better with more experience. There was also some tropes like being betrothed to a monster and her thinking shes not pretty and getting mad when someone tells her she is, but to be fair she is scarred and I dont mind the betrothal trope. I ended up liking the authors twist on these tropes. I loved the world, the dragons and the power of storytelling. I really enjoyed the ending and I have high hopes for the sequel. Id recommend this if you like dragon books with a unique concept.

Ok I will be honest and say from the synopsis I had expected much younger characters so it was a pleasant surprise to discover that the characters here are young adults. It's an unusual way to tell a story that initially puzzled me as we frequently revert back to old stories that are now apparently against the law of the land to tell. That being said it really opened up the world that Asha lives in with glimpses of the past and portents for the future so it was well worth paying attention.
Asha is viewed as Iskari ( the destroyer ) both hated and feared by all and yet her father the dragon king believes in her and trusts her to rid his kingdom of dragons. Asha is promised to marry her fathers commander who absolutely makes her skin crawl so when her father offers her a way out if she slays the dragon that previously destroyed their city not to mention burned Asha she jumps at the chance. Trouble is things start getting in the way as not only does she help her brother save a slave from her thoroughly nasty betrothed but she finds herself dreaming of the first Namsara and he offers her amazing help but at a price. Asha is torn between helping those who she's previously never really identified with or doing her fathers bidding in order to save herself!
Ok first things first and I loved the dragons! Although perhaps I liked them too much because yes stopping now because spoilers! Asha is at times well frankly totally oblivious and I hate to use the S word so will just say blinkered . Her brother Dax and cousin Safire both play a part but unfortunately neither really felt that real or particularly heroic. I almost like Dax as he clearly wanted to be a good man but poor Safire wasn't really explored enough so her character felt one dimensional. The slave that Asha helps is Torwin and he stood out from his first scene so having him as a possible love interest really felt right if predictable. What was never really explained were the vivid dreams that Asha experiences but it's fantasy so I think magical license is allowed. With evil comic book villains to boo and hiss at it certainly kept me interested. Although in terms of world building I felt a little lost trying to decide what sort of landscape or culture to imagine.
My final thoughts are for a book aimed at those who enjoy 'clean' stories then this had a lot going for it. Strong if blinkered heroine, exciting action with dragons and I really liked that the stories of those who have gone before could be so instrumental in shaping the plot.
This voluntary take is of a copy I requested from Netgalley and my thoughts and comments are honest and I believe fair

I wanted to like The Last Namsara but I just couldn't. I liked the world building but the characterisation and the plot just didn't do it for me. Asha is probably meant to come off as fierce and strong but to me she just seemed blind and foolish. The romance felt a bit forced and there were often parts where I was bored. So much happened off page and I would have liked to have read more about Asha's brother and the rebellion.

This was such an amazing story, I'm only sad I'm done reading it. The author has a real talent for sucking the reader into the story and the characters straightaway. From the first page, I was drawn to Asha, vested in her goals, challenges, and character growth. I absolutely loved Torwin. Jarek plays the perfect ruthless villain. And the dragons! I LOVED Shadow and Kozu. I love what the author did with the dragons, the story-telling lore, the twists and turns in the story that kept me trying to read just one more chapter till I couldn't keep my eyes open. Can't wait to see what else this talented author whips up!

The book opened with the intriguing line, "Asha lured the dragon with a story", and I was pretty much sold from this point forward.

Asha is the daughter of The Dragon King. Responsible for the dragons that burned her city, murdered her mother, and left her with a disfiguring scar, she is both feared and loathed by her people. It is only her closeness to the throne that keeps her from becoming openly ridiculed, or worse. By once bringing the destruction of the dragons to her city, she now devotes her life to riding her lands of the ferocious and fearsome mythical beasts. And nothing can alter Asha from continuing on this quest. Not even her impending marriage to the cruel Jarek. Not even her brother who has returned to her waning from a mysterious illness. Not even an ancient prophecy that seems to be haunting both her dreams and nightmares. But maybe in the face of the slave who doesn't seem to know his place beneath her.

I was never not going to be interested n a book about dragons! But what I didn't expect was how much more this book had to deliver. Whilst the dragons continued to play a major theme throughout this book, this fantasy also dwelt on the harsh treatment of the slaves who serve this story's focus. The slaves are subjected to both harsh cruelty and casual degradation, and the protagonist is provided with a steep learning curve of the equally as devastating effects of the two when confronted with one who will not conform to this treatment.

Through the immersion of these deeper themes the reader is provided with a broader insight to these mystical lands, as all levels to the social hierarchy are covered and explored. This enhanced my understanding of these realm and added an authenticity to, what was clearly, a well-thought out and well-built world.

The magic system used, in where words can summon myths and stories can drain a human of their health, I initially found a little overwhelming, however. I struggled to understand the particulars of this but, as the story progressed, all my questions were answered. It slowed my pace of reading during the first quarter, as I personally prefer my fantasies to have a solid foundation before the story advances, but didn't continue to impact my enjoyment once I realised all would be revealed in the book's own, sweet time.

My only slight point of contention was with how large a part the budding romance, between Asha and her unintended, played in the story. I found Asha to be such an independent and feisty female who, in my opinion, could have remained just as strong without the additional complications of love. It wasn't an over-blown or hastily written romance, but a slow-building and believable one. But one, nevertheless, that added nothing much to the story for me, as sweet as it was.

In all, this was a thrilling kingdom fantasy that provided a unique world, an intriguing magic system and a story-line I am interested in seeing continued in the series' following instalments. Now, if the romance would only take more of a back-seat to the action, this would become perfect!

I received this book in e-arc and I have never been so happy, because it is a real favorite.

Let us begin by underlining the richness of the universe, we have a complex history and religion which are also at the heart of the plot, a part of magic, but especially dragons, and I love dragons. I must say that I loved being immersed in this world and to discover every corner of it. It was different from the other YA fantasy novels (is it really YA) that I could read even though it is basic in it construction, the complexity of the history brings something new and we soon want to know more .

This book focuses mainly on a heroine, Asha, she lost her mother when she was young and after that, she had to take the role of Iskari, which means she hunts and kills a maximum of dragons for her father, the king . I find that she has a nice evolution in this book, she will quickly discover that what she thought to be the truth is not,and it will change part of her life and her personality, I really appreciated this character.

But I think what I loved above all is the plot, this book kept me busy all the way, although I was traveling, I took every opportunities to read it and I loved it from the start to the ending. I also want to emphasize the author's writting style which is beautiful, it is very immersive and has a touch of poetry, it was really well written.

So, as you guessed, I loved this book you should read it.

This book lured my interest thanks to its gorgeous cover, an interesting premise, and the promise of dragon & storytelling – honestly, a match too captivating for me to resist.

It was a fast reading that kept me totally hooked despite this book was far from perfect.

Considering that the author was on her debut, she crafted an original story, full with action and twists, that moreover had a delightful magical, dreamy touch. I loved the idea of the Old Stories (especially the one about Iskari and Namsara that gives the title to the book), and of dragons as storytellers themselves. I liked the complex political situation and the (forbidden) romance between Asha and her betrothal’s slave, Torwin.

But…

But despite the great job done by the author, you can feel that she lacks a bit of experience – and I say this in the most non-judgmental way – that would have probably helped her fixing some issues.

First of all, characters are not described in depth. Let’s take Jarek, Asha’s hideous betrothal. He was depicted as pure evil (cruel, fierce, plotting against the king…) and with a wicked, possessive desire for Asha. However, he felt too flat, one-dimensional, (view spoiler) and his real motives were never explored (for instance, why he was so infatuated with Asha).
The same goes for Dax, Asha’s brother: he was nothing more than a list of adjectives, (view spoiler) but his feeling and his thoughts were never expressed.
Even about Torwin, IMO the (potentially) most interesting character in the whole book, I felt as if the author just scratched the surface, showing us only the tip of the iceberg, leaving the most, maybe the best, underneath.

Maybe all those flaws related to Asha: although her character was the best-portrayed, seeing the story only through her eyes meant that whenever she dropped some important question for later (and invariably never asked it) or did not give importance to some not-so-minor-issues/details, we inevitably missed a deeper insight in the story (for instance, (view spoiler)) having the unpleasant feeling that too much was happening beyond the screens.

Also the dragons remained on the sidelines, playing only a limited part in the story, when they should have been instead one of the hinges around which it all revolved.

Also the complex relationship among draksors, scrublanders and skral could have been explained more in detailed to offer a more articulated, complete picture of the political background.

The romance was interesting, but also a bit infuriating (view spoiler) and often it reminded me of the famous quote from Manzoni’s The betrothed: ‘“Mark well,” said the bravo in a lower voice, but with a solemn tone of command, "this *love story* is not to be performed, not tomorrow, nor ever."

All in all, despite those flaws annoyed me a little bit, I got attached to this story and I will keep an eye on the next instalments.

I heard about The Last Namsara when the Dutch Publisher Blossom Books let known that they would be translating and publishing this book around the same time as the English release. It has dragons. When I saw the book on Netgalley after that, I just had to request it.

While I do think this book has its flaws, overall I really enjoyed it. One of the reasons for this was the world. I loved the idea and the building of it. The stories that were told after each story were not boring to read and added to the world building and the plot of the story. It gave us an idea of the background of the current world. It did slightly pull the pace out of the story when it was a longer one, but overall the book wasn’t super fast to begin with so that didn’t bother me as much.

Of course dragons is what drew me to this book initially. I love dragons. And I especially love fierce dragons. There are some fierce dragons in this. But I needed more dragons. More fierceness. I think the start up of the dragons was good. But as the plot turned a bit too much towards the romance in the end, the dragons fell a bit away. Scenes that I was expecting to see regarding dragon calling and training to ride dragons were casually mentioned. After everything these dragons went through I can’t imagine that they would be so meek to the humans. I at least expected someone’s hand to be bitten off. At the very least.

As mentioned the book had a good start and while I do not dislike the ending, I do think that it went too much towards the romance. I don’t dislike the pairing in this book, at all, but I think it could have slowed down a bit more or could have given more room to the dragons incorporated into the plot.

Having said that, I did truly enjoy the characters. There is something about Asha that instantly appealed to me. She has a strength of character, and despite what has happened, she has accepted what she needs to do. She tries to harden herself but can’t quite deny that she has feelings for a slave. It is a shame though that she refers to him as slave for most of the book while she knew his name. I understand why but it gives a bit of a skewed feeling towards their romance. Torwin as a character was a great asset. But I also really liked Asha’s brother who was being underestimated by even his own sister.

Overall I think The Last Namsara is a good start to a fantasy series and of a debut author with a story and a world that has a lot of room to grow into something great.