Dragons, danger, romance; The Last Namsara is everything I love about fantasy fiction.

Following a traumatic dragon attack in her childhood, Asha becomes the Iskari – the King’s fiercest dragon-slayer. Feared by everyone (except her family), it’s a lonely life that leaves her feeling more like a weapon than a girl, and with a bleak future married to her father’s cruel, violent commandant, Asha has little to lose. Until the king offers her a way out: kill the First Dragon, and win freedom from her betrothed.

First things first, I totally loved this book. For starters, dragons. I love dragons. The dragons in this are both fierce and friendly (very How to Train Your Dragon-esk) – what more could you want? Second, Asha is a great main character. She’s strong, sassy and deeply troubled – the vital characteristics of any fantasy hero. Third, the relationship between Asha and Torwin is adorable and a delight to watch unfold.

The Last Namsara is well-written and engaging, although Ciccarelli’s style was at times a little too careful. You could tell that it’s a debut novel; I would love to see her take more risks and use a little more variety in her language.

I enjoyed this book from page 1, right up to the very end. I’m really looking forward to book #2. (Also, the cover is stunning).

"Asha wore her scar like a crown"

* * * *
4 / 5

The Last Namsara grabbed me from the first scene: Asha calls a dragon forth with a forbidden story and slays it, bringing it's head home to her father, the king. Any good book could probably get better with the addition of dragons, but it's hard to get a fresh perspective on them, though a few have managed it - Seraphina springs to mind. The Last Namsara manages it. It has a couple of flaws, but is overall a stunning debut novel and I can't wait to snag the sequel.

"Asha lured the dragon with a story"

The telling of stories is forbidden. As a young child, Asha used to sneak out of the city to speak them to the skies and the dragons answered. The First Dragon, Kozu, listened to her stories, but when she denied to tell him any more he burnt her to near death and set the city on fire. Ever since, Asha has been paying penance for her sins - her stories summoned the dragons and their fire and she must make amends to her people, to her city, and to herself - by taking on the role of the Iskari from myth and hunting the dragons into extinction. Further, her father promised her hand in marriage to his commandant of the army Jarek, a man full of cruelty and a thirst for power. He looks at Asha like she is something to be owned, to be dominated, and in desperation Asha strikes a deal with her father: he will call off the wedding if she brings him the head of Kozu, The First Dragon.

I loved Asha. Telling stories killed her mother and telling stories killed her city and Asha hates herself for it, so much so that she accepts the role of Iskari, the destroyer and the death-bringer, and makes it who she is. She pursues her prey like it is the only thing worth living for and spends little time thinking about society, about the quarrels her people have with other kingdoms over the morality of slavery, amongst other issues. She is angry and dutiful and dangerous and vulnerable and afraid of Jarek and of her future; there is so much emotion in this girl, but she is almost always sensible and reasonable. Her brother, the heir, Dax is pretty much her opposite: air-headed, foolish, concerned with morality, his actions swing between the result of utter stupidity and far fore-thought.

"Life taker," they said. "Death bringer. Iskari."

The romance is a bit weird - and not just because I'm not often a fan of romance dominating my books - in that Asha's love interest is a slave that doesn't have a name for a good half of the book. It didn't really sit comfortably with me that she could entertain ideas of liking this man, who under the laws of their society is not allowed to look her in the eyes, when she didn't even know his name for half the time! It's odd in other respects to - for a good chunk of the book it doesn't seem like he will be a love interest at all, just a way for Asha to re-evaluate how her father and her society treats people badly and how slavery is wrong and all that, but then they go from zero-to-obsessed and willing to get beaten for each other real fast.

Aside from the romance, Torwin, the slave, is a great character. Unlike many YA male romance-interests, Torwin is gentle but stubborn, he's willing to walk away from "the great fight", and it would have been nice to watch a more natural relationship blossom between the two, one not trapped by their roles of slave and social-outcast-but-nobility. Talking about side characters, Ciccarelli doesn't seem to have quite struck the right balance: you want side characters to populate your book, to give a sense of breadth to the narrative and to be well-written, but you don't want them to dominate the page. For example, Asha has a cousin called Safire, a girl who gets quite a lot of backstory and reader sympathy initially but whose actions and presence are barely noticeable beyond the first few chapters.

The Last Namsara bears the marks of a debut novel from the fairly obvious plot twist at the end to the slight stumbles in pacing and plot, but overall it has so much to love: dragons, storytelling and a unique magic, a fantastic main character in the form of a dragon-hunter, and a great narrative voice. Woven into the plot are stories and they work really well, giving this book a unique character.

This is an absolutely amazing first book in a debut YA fantasy trilogy! Hunger Games, Graceling, Incarceron and other favourite YA fantasy of mine have a new friend because The Last Namsara deserves a spot next to those gems on my print bookshelf!
I'm not going to tell you what this is about because you can read the blurb. Instead let's talk about things that make this such a wonderful read; but first I have to do some national pride gushing...

Canadian YA Fantasy
It makes me so proud that Kristen Ciccarelli is Canadian! As a fellow Canadian I try to read a few authors a year that are Canadian. I have never ever read a young adult fantasy book by a Canadian that was this amazing! Don't get me wrong there are some wonderful books and authors out of Canada but it's rare to find a teen author with this kind of talent anywhere in the world; never mind my own country!

An unusual, yet genuine love interest
My number one complaint in YA books is love interests. The insta-love, triangle, stunningly handsome boys, and over-the-top 'he's so hot' descriptions get boring after a while. Besides the real world is not like that! At 35 with a husband ( yes - I love him more than anything) I can say that you might have chemistry when you first met someone but that doesn't mean it's insta-love or even your life partner. So it's nice to read teen fiction that is realistic, and yet still sweet and romantic in a real life way.
In addition our main gals love interest is seemingly a very random character. Not someone super special or a prince or any of that crap. Just an average person dealing with the cards in life they've been dealt; just like a real life partner is bound to be.
Even though it maybe a fantasy world and story I still appreciate characters who are honest and realistic (magic aside) to what real people are like.

The Last Namsara has everything!
Seriously everything is in this book. Including betrayal, sketchy family, forbidden love, female warriors, dragons(!), magic, 'old' religion, poison, death, double crosses, loyal friends, gorgeous settings, elaborate architecture, cool weapons and so much more!
It's rare to read a YA fantasy that has all the elements of an amazing adult fantasy series. Yet Ciccarelli manages this without even needing 800+ pages.
While The Last Namsara is not overly complex, like Sanderson or Martin are, it doesn't need to be. With a full list of 8-10 characters who are all unique and complex, alongside simple yet awfully disturbing politics; I didn't feel like I was reading a 'lesser' novel at any point.

Still YA writing
Just like Hunger Games, the writing in The Last Namsara is for a teen audience but elevated enough that adults will still love it. If I have one critique of the writing it's that the first 20% or so of the novel is very YA feeling (but hey that is it's genre). However it quickly turns more to showing over telling and eventually the YA voice was irrelevant because I just wanted more! Given this is Ciccarelli's debut novel I'm more than forgiving of the slightly cliche YA sounding beginning.

In a league of its own
For those who remember earlier this year (2017) there was a ton of hype for: The Bone Witch, Mask of Shadows (both which I thought were decent 4 star books) and Caraval (which is awful!); it appeared early on we might have a stellar YA fantasy year. Yet none of these YA fantasy books really lived up to the hype they had. Luckily just as the year is ending I read the book that deserves all the hype of 2017 and more!
The Last Namsara could have had huge hype (which it didn't) and still have blown me away!! Proof that having a large marketing budget or bigger publishing house behind your book doesn't mean it's the best of the best. At the end of the day writing, plot, atmosphere, lore and characters are what really counts. Dragons help too!

Overall
In case you haven't figured it out I absolutely loved this book. I'm desperate for the second book; but will be patient because I want the next book to be as wonderfully put together as this one and it looks like the proposed publishing dates aren't too far away!

If you want to read a YA fantasy that isn't your average everyday YA story then pick up The Last Namsara. I finished it three days ago and can't stop thinking about it and replaying scenes in my head. Something I only have happen with books that are special and will have staying power. So do yourself a favour and read The Last Namsara; then purchase copies for everyone you know because you want the whole world to appreciate it like you do (wait maybe that's just me). I do know what everyone I buy gifts for is getting next (whether they like to read or not!).

Booooring 

I have to say this - this was so boring to me. When I first started it, I got to about 10 percent of it and I just stopped. I had other obligations, and the book did nothing to pull me in. It lacks the appeal, that compulsiveness to get me thinking "I need to know what happens, I need to read this NOW". It's just boring, especially in the start, when the author tries to set up the story and the world (more on that in a minute). There's a really painfully slow start and if I hadn't DNFed the previous 4 (I know, I know) ARCs, I would have put this down and never thought about it again. But I pushed through, and decided to finally finish it. The good news is that it stopped being boring. The bad news is that it got interesting to hate. 

Get a personality 

I honestly can't tell you anything about this characters. Our main character, Asha, is such a two dimensional, flat, typical YA heroine who is supposedly strong, but is mostly whiny and naive. There's this whole thing where she was burned by a dragon, so she has some scarring, and she feels somehow corrupted and not worthy. While I think it's great we're seeing someone who is different, Asha never acts like we are constantly told she feels. She is this great dragon hunter (even though we see her kill a dragon once) and she is so gullible that it's ridiculous. The only time her supposed low self esteem comes into play is when the love interest, Torwin, tells her she is beautiful and she refuses to believe him. 

Oh, and Torwin. No depth whatsoever. He is just there. Their relationships sparks out of nothing, even though we know Torwin's been obsessed with her since they were kids (weird). The tension between them builds solely on the fact that he is a slave, and she is the princess, so she is drawn to him and it's FORBIDDEN. Do you feel me rolling my eyes? Because I am. 

The rest of the characters have names, but no personalities. I couldn't pin point a thing about them to tell you. And the villain is so laughable that it makes me sad. 

What world building? 

My main issue with this book is the world building. I am a huge Fantasy reader and Adult Fantasy books have such lush settings and interesting worlds and that's my favorite part of the book. YA Fantasy however suffers here. I can't name any YA Fantasy book that has world building that matches Sanderson's or Rothfuss' world building. This however was on a whole other level of bad. If you asked me if this is a mountain setting, or a desert setting or whether it's in a freaking metropolis, I wouldn't know what to say to you. Because I don't know. There is ZERO world building. ZERO. I don't know anything about this world at all. And the little world building we get is so clunky and clumsy and doesn't really work. Since there's a focus in this story on old stories that are forbidden, the author TELLS us those stories. BUT ACTUALLY TELLS US. She interrupts the plot and the book to tell a story in a separate chapter. But not even as if the story is happening. Nope. It actually feels like she goes "Okay, so I need to set up this next scene - this is what happened". It's so weird and it's sort of lazy and it totally did not work for me. 

Oh and the dragons. Not a lot of focus on them. There are supposed bonds that form between Asha and the dragons, but it never actually feels like a bond. No emotion there and it just happens out of nowhere. And the dragons keep telling these stories as well, but it's never explained how. Do they talk? Do they project these images into her head? Do they act out a Broadway production of it? WE DON'T KNOW. 

I knew what was gonna happen 300 pages ago

This book is so predictable. A ton of stereotypical and tropey YA things happen. I knew that things were gonna happen. There's not a lot of originality there, even though the dragon aspect is so fresh and new. The story doesn't have good world building, so it relies solely on these tropes. It's readable (barely) but there's just nothing to keep you interested. You can see the villain from a mile away, you can guess some of the things in the beginning and it's just not that inventive. 

So what's the verdict? 

I really did not enjoy this one. I  would not recommend it. I'd suggest skipping it, there's so many better YA Fantasies out there.  If you're thinking about reading this because of the dragons - not even a lot of dragons there. Just saying.

The premise of this book sounded so good and it did not disappoint. I thought the structure of the book, mixing the main novel with the old stories, was really clever and made the world much richer and more developed. I love that the romance in the novel wasn't love at first sight or shoved in the reader's face. It was a mixture of dragons, storytelling and a love that transcends time which made me fall in love and fall hard.

The Last Namsara by Kristen Ciccarelli is one of the best fantasy books I have read this year. There are no words to accurately describe how much I enjoyed this book.
From the first sentence of The Last Namsara I had a feeling it was going to be my kind of book:
“Asha lured the dragon with a story.”
Asha knows that she shouldn’t be telling the ancient stories, her own father, the king has banned them because of their deadly nature. Unfortunately, dragons have become scarce recently and the only way she knows to lure them is by telling the stories. Asha has never returned to The Dragon king without a kill and she doesn’t want to disappoint him by doing so now.
“Asha hasn’t been afraid of fire since the First Dragon himself left her with a vicious scar running down the right side of her body.”
When hunting Asha dresses herself from head to toe in armour made from the hides of the dragons she has slaughtered. On this particular hunt though Asha is distracted by the presence of her beloved cousin Safire. Safire has come to speak to her but is not wearing anything to protect her from the dragon if it breathes fire, so Asha lends her own gloves to Safire.
When the dragon appears, Asha comes to regret lending her gloves to Safire when the dragon’s fire burns her hand. Asha must hide her burn from the other’s in her party because the dragons stopped being able to breathe fire when the old stories stopped being told because the stories make dragons more powerful.
Asha knows she must act quickly to treat the burn as dragonfire is toxic if left untreated but when she returns to the castle she quickly realises she cannot easily treat the wound on her own. She doesn’t realise that there is a slave or Skral watching her. Not just any slave either it is Torwin, her fiancé Jarek’s slave.
Skral like Torwin and Safire are not allowed to touch or make direct eye contact with those they serve. So, in helping Asha he is breaking all the rules. In exchange for his silence over her burn he asks Asha to dance with him in a time and place of his choosing.
The story behind Asha becoming a dragon hunter went that as a child she was drawn to wicked things like the old stories and that in turn her wickedness drew dragons to her. She didn’t care until she drew the first dragon, Kozu to her, the deadliest dragon of all. Kozu wanted her to tell stories to him all the time and when refused her burnt her and then took out his rage on her home.
Jarek was the one who saved her and as his reward the king decided they would be betrothed.
After the fire her own people despised and feared her and called her ‘Iskari’ after one of the old stories. Her father decided to use that name to create a title for her.
The old story went that in the beginning ‘The Old One’ was feeling lonely so he made two companions for himself.
The first companion was named ‘Namsara’ and was formed from sky and spirit. Namsara was a golden child. When he laughed, stars shone out of his eyes. When he danced, wars ceased. When he sang, ailments healed. His very presence was a needle sewing the world together.
The second companion was name ‘Ikshari.’ Ikshari was formed of blood and moonlight. Ikshari was a sorrowful child…Ikshari brought destruction and death. When Ikshari walked, people cowered in their homes. When she spoke, people wept. When she hunted she never missed her mark.
Ikshari hated her nature and pleased with the Old one to make her more like Namsara but The Old One refused stating that the world needed balance. In her anger Ikshari tried and failed to kill The Old One and for punishment was banished to wander lonely in the dessert. In the end she died of loneliness.
This was the legend Asha’s title was born from and like her namesake her title brings her a certain amount of loneliness.
The evening of the hunt Asha’s brother Dax returns from a diplomatic mission and brings ‘Scrublanders’ back with him much to everyone’s surprise.
“Enemies in the heart of the palace. In the home of the king they’d tried to kill on three separate occasions.
Dax as an heir was always causing scandals and was an embarrassment to the King so Asha and everyone else wonders why he has chosen to bring enemies to their home.
Later on, in the evening Asha passes out because of her wounds and Torwin catches her in front of everyone causing Jarek to sentence him to death.
Dax comes to Asha and begs her to use her charms on Jarek in order to save Torwin’s life but Asha is reluctant to intervene on behalf of a Skral.
Whilst Asha is passed out she receives a visit from a messenger of the old one named Elorma. Elorma gives her a gift of two blades curved like half-moons. In return for the sacred slayers she must follow Elorma’s command that they only be used to make a wrong right. She receives more gifts over the course of the story and each one comes with a command which Asha is reluctant to follow because she knows The Old One abandoned them when Kozu attacked the city.
This was a story of multiple of betrayals and many twists and turns.
As soon as I finished this book I immediately wanted to start reading it again. I loved the Old Stories mixed in to the book and learning about dragons.
I also liked that Asha was such a strong and fierce leading character but that she also had her imperfections.
I cannot wait to read the next book.

On the surface a gripping YA high fantasy with a sympathetic heroine. But looked at more closely this is a novel about claiming your own identity rather than the one foisted on you by societal expectations. It’s about choices too, and the consequences of your actions. Plus dragons – everyone loves a good dragon and this dragon lore is brilliant and not incidental but essential to the overall plot. Overall I really enjoyed this.

Asha is the Iskari - the dragon-slayer, death-bringer, and all-round wicked girl. She lives every day to prove herself to her people and her family.

I received a free ecopy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This story follows Asha, the daughter of the Dragon King. She is weighed down by the sins of her past, reviled by the general populace; blamed for the dragon attack that injured and killed many innocent people.
Her future is not a bright one. She hunts dragons, to gain redemption; and she has agreed to marry the violent and power-hungry Jarek, in a bid to keep him in check. then one day, her father offers her a way out - if she kills the first dragon, Kozu (the same dragon that had burned the city and scarred Asha for life) - there would be no need for Jarek in their lives.

I really enjoyed this. It had the warm feel of an old-fashioned story, a myth or legend that had been passed down; just like the stories that Asha loves to tell.
It has dragons, an old ally that is now their greatest enemy.
There are dragon hunters, and Asha drives herself to be the fiercest of them all.
There is a family that is royal, but still subject to pleasing the masses.
And there are betrayals and secrets.

Lots of betrayals...

I enjoyed the tension that rose every time Jarek steps into the room. He is a vile character, the head of the army; he is ever-ready to inflict punishment on anyone that steps out of line. He toys with Asha, threatening to punish anyone she ever gets close to, if she doesn't do as he says - or sometimes, if he feels like it. You get the inescapable sense that he wants to own Asha, and to control this fierce dragon-hunter. He can't wait until they are legally bound, so he can spend his time breaking her to his will.
I can't remember the last time I hated a character so strongly. I was really rooting for Asha to get out of marrying him.

Most of the plot focuses on Asha trying to complete the mission of killing Kozu, while the Old One (their half-ignored god) does everything possible to put hurdles and restrictions in her path.
She is so focused on this mission, Asha doesn't notice that her father's rule is on unsteady ground, and there are hints of rebellion in the air from the slaves, and the traditional Scrublander enemies.
On occasion, Asha did seem a little too oblivious to everything going on around her.

I found the romance between Asha and Torwin to be sweet and poignant and... also long-winded.
There are whole chapters dedicated to touching a wrist, or deciding whether or not to remove an item of clothing.
What can I say, I prefer dragons and battles to star-crossed lovers.

I really enjoyed this book, and would definitely continue with the series. I'm curious where it will go, as this book nicely rounds off Asha's story.

This book is freaking amazing!!!! Dragons, a bad ass character. Who needs more?! I do!

Asha is the Iskari, she protects her people from dragons. Her father is the King, and he protects Asha from the people who believe she caused the dragon who burned her to burn them too. When a new slave arrives, Asha must decide who needs protecting from whom.

I very much enjoyed this story which added some new ideas to the genre, something which is getting harder and harder to find these days. As a first novel, I think it could probably have done with a bit more editing towards the end as the scenes between Asha and Torwin were rather over-long and slightly unnecessary in part. Nevertheless, Asha and Torwin are great characters (with Dax and Kozu as a fabulous supporting cast) and I definitely did enjoy reading it. I will certainly be looking for the next one in the series when it is available and I am sure other fans of the genre will feel the same.

I looooooved this book! Dragons seemed so much fresher than they have recently and the heroine was believable.

This was one of my most anticipated books of the year but turned out to be the most disappointing. I won't go into it too much but I'll just say the main character was weak and nothing like the tough hunter she was marketed as, and the dragons and world-building were barely described. I believe I read a draft though there was so much wrong with the plot and characters that unless a great re-write happened, I can't say the finished version will be much better.

This novel started off very well, but I found it started dragging a little after the first couple of chapters. The background and history is vital in a novel like this one, but I thought it was clumsily worked in. I found I was putting off going back to continue reading it. I'm sure other readers will enjoy it, but it's just not my cup of tea.

Thank you for the chance to read this book.

I cannot recommend The Last Namsara enough! If you enjoy YA fantasy or just plain fantasy, it doesn't matter. This one has excellent crossover appeal. There is everything from lush world-building to a fleshed out plot and did I mention dragons? Yes, this is a phenomenal story featuring dragons as an important part of the story. There is action, romance, and a bit of everything. Be sure to check out The Last Namsara today!

All is not what it may at first seem. This is a fantastic YA debut that is exceptionally well crafted. Despite a large cast it is easy to get into as well as get engrossed in. There is a yin yang balance towards good and evil that is supported by old backdrop stories, which are punctuated throughout and are very powerful at keeping you hooked into the story, whilst gaining a deeper understanding of what has passed.

Our main protagonist, Asha, is a strong, fearless, yet reflective female dragon slayer. Only dragon numbers are dwindling, so the only way to draw these to her is tell them some of the forbidden stories. But this makes them stronger and able to breathe fire. Asha’s father the king has warned against doing this and stresses the importance of killing all the dragons to atone for her sin when they killed her mother and left her with a permanent scar. Her brother seems weak, yet loyal and her betrothed who has control of the army is the arrogant baddie you will want to hate. The story is extremely well layered with a complex storyline, with many characters not turning out not to be as they seem. All the characters are bold and memorable, and the noble dragons in particular have fantastic characters that you readily fall in love with. You definitely won’t want them to get hurt.

The story runs at a rapid pace and the reveals are ongoing and relatively rapid. There is some young romance amidst all that occurs, not necessarily with a ready happy ending. There is too much going to on to capture, but this makes for a very engaging and compelling read that adults and young people alike can enjoy. Ciccarelli, I think will soon have a strong fan base.

This book is brilliant! I usually love anything with dragons in and this certainly didn't disappoint. Wonderful characters, particularly Asha, and the dragons are fantastic. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series.

❝ The Old One formed the second out of blood and moonlight. He named her Iskari. Iskari was a sorrowful child. Where Namsara brought laughter and love, Iskari brought destruction and death.❞

Thank you so much to the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book! This in no way influenced my opinion, all thoughts are my own.

The first thing that really drew me to this book was the beautiful cover design. It’s really simple with just part of the face and glitter but I love it so much! There’s just something that draws your eye to it. So, props for the great cover design!

But really, once I started the book I knew it was going to be one of my favorite releases of the year because of the great storyteller quality. For just about every chapter, Asha shared a story–either one from her own history/experience or one of the forbidden ones–and every time it drew me in. I felt like I was sitting around a campfire with her, just listening to her tell these beautiful and often heartbreaking stories. Not only did it give the book this really great storyteller vibe, but it was a nice way of providing background on the world, characters, and their relationships.

That being said, I was really happy with the worldbuilding for this book. Ciccarelli did a great job of giving us the history bit by it rather than just dumping it all on us at once.

❝ Once there was a girl who was drawn to wicked things. Things like forbidden, ancient stories. It didn’t matter that the old stories killed her mother. It didn’t matter that they’d killed many more before her. The girl let the old stories in. She let them eat away at her heart and turn her wicked.❞

As for the characters themselves, I really loved them. Especially Asha. Asha was this really fierce dragon hunter that was always trying to prove herself to the world. She wanted to make up for her mistakes and it really made me sympathize with her whenever she showed just how little she believed in herself. She was really stuck in the mindset of her being evil, wicked, and tainted because of how others hated and feared her. It was what made me enjoy seeing her character development throughout the book.

I also enjoyed Torwin’s character development. Or rather, more like the unfolding of it because we saw very little of him and he was kind of reserved but little by little we got to know more about him and see how he really was. I liked how he could bring out the best in Asha and could see things differently. He was kind and very brave.

The plot was very interesting and had me gripped from the first page. I think the stories that were told and Asha’s inner dialogue really had you rooting for her. You wanted to see this character redeemed, you wanted her to succeed, and more than anything you wanted her to be freed from the situation she was stuck in with Jarek. And the ending of the book really had me dying to see where the story goes next. I’m really looking forward to continuing the series and can’t wait for the next book to come out!

The Last Namsara was just released on October 5th, and I highly recommend you go pick up a copy!

First I’d like to give a huge thanks to HarperCollinns for giving me an ARC of this book. I adore dragons and so any book about them will automatically jump to the top of my TBR list. I’m always hesitant of course because I’ve read some very bad books featuring dragons and so I always worry about how well they’ll be represented. Thankfully, this book represented them excellent and I loved the portrayal of the dragons in them.

In this world, Asha is an extremely skilled dragon hunter as dragons are evil and need to be destroyed. However, is that really the case? Are they really a threat or is something more sinister going on? As the novel progresses, we learn more about the dragons who used to be on friendly terms with humans until recently. Asha slowly goes on a journey as she learns more about herself and her history while discovering the truth about Dragons.

As already mentioned, the portrayal of dragons in this book is fantastic. One particular piece of worldbuilding I loved was the fact that telling the ancient stories was forbidden as it drew dragons and I just really enjoy the concept of dragons being big fans of storytelling. It conjures up an image of a cosy hearth with a large dragon reading to a bunch of tiny baby dragons and if I was able to draw, I could definitely see myself doing a lot of fan art for this novel.

The characters are excellent and I love the interactions between them. In particular, I really enjoyed the portrayal of Asha’s father and their relationship and seeing how it developed throughout the novel.

I read this book in one sitting as I just could not put it down and upon finishing it, my main thought was “Oh no, because I got this as an ARC I have to wait even longer than most people until the second one!”. My review for this is a bit late as I didn’t want to publish it too early (and so ended up being too late) but I’ve got it out now! I highly highly recommend this book and I can see it earning a place amongst my favourite books of the year if I end up making a list.

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.