This was a really interesting grimdark fantasy read. I happened to run across the book and thought the summary sounded really interesting and I was not disappointed. It seems as though this is also a debut novel by the author, so I look forward to seeing how he progresses on his writing journey.

Just know that these characters are dark and flawed and there's no real happy ending. These characters are also, fighters, power hungry, and self-serving. They are morally ambiguous and you aren't sure whether you want to cheer them on or if they are potentially the bad guys, when people die around them, they seem to shrug and keep going. The rituals they conduct seems to sap away their humanity each time they conduct it.

Don't look for happy endings in this book and don't get too attached to too many characters along the way. But with all of that being said, the battles are brutal and well written. There is an impending sense of "not going to make it".

If this sounds up your alley, I hope you will consider picking it up!

The Last Ritual marks a commendable debut dark fantasy novel from Dragos Gaszpar, with a compelling plot and an atmospheric world that hints at strong potential. The story itself intrigued me, and I appreciated the dark, immersive setting that the author crafted. There's clearly a rich imagination behind this work, and the overall direction of the plot held my interest. I do appreciate the exploration of themes of morality and consequences throughout this book, and how it does actually make me reflect and ruminate.

However, the reading experience was hindered by a writing style that often felt clunky and overly convoluted. At times, I found it difficult to follow what was happening, and the flow between scenes and sequences lacked the smooth transitions that help maintain narrative clarity. This made me frequently reread earlier paragraphs just to understand what was going on. Plot points sometimes became a little too repetitive, and the large cast of characters also proved to be a challenge—there were simply too many introduced without enough depth or distinction to make them memorable. As a result, it became hard to stay fully engaged with the story, especially in the early chapters, although admittedly as the novel progressed the writing and plot slowly picked up steam.

All in all, The Last Ritual is a solid first effort with lots of potential. The execution might be a little rough, but given this is a independent debut novel with (seemingly) no editor, I do believe that Gaszpar has succeeded in making an atmospheric dark fantasy novel. I do look forward to any future revisions made to this novel.

(I was provided an ARC by Netgalley, but all opinions are mine:))

It had all the elements to be such a good story but it just didnt meet it. All in all it wasn't a terrible story it just wasn't what I expected.

Dragos delivers a quick read at Novella length, but what it lacks in large background dumps, its makes up for quick & sometimes tense action.

If you enjoy dark reads, theyre is blackness a plenty with gore, monsters and dead god!

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