The Last Namsara by Kristen Ciccarelli – Spoiler Free Review

Title: The Last Namsara
Author: Kristen Ciccarelli
Series Name: Iskari
Genre: YA Fantasy
Publication Date: October 3rd, 2017
Pages: 432 (Hardcover)
Publisher: Hachette Australia
Rating:

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 dark—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 hearing 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.

Generally, I don’t like people on the cover of books, but covers with part of someone’s face don’t bother me and I really like this one. I like how simple it is and how well it represents this book! I also love the design on the knife too.

I didn’t love the writing to be completely honest. Every now and then there were a couple paragraphs that really didn’t make sense. When this happened a lot of the time it was the movement of a character. It’s hard to explain but it was just kinda contradicting itself I guess. Like they would say this person was somewhere or doing something and then the next second they were somewhere else or doing something else that shouldn’t have been possible. That’s the best I can explain it.
But as I am reading an eARC of this book, this may have been corrected for the final copy but I’m not fully sure obviously. But it was a little annoying when that happened as it just wrecked the flow of the book.

But besides that, there was also the romance. It wasn’t my favourite either. Not only am I not a romance reader but it was also pretty predictable and typical of a “forbidden love” story. But I’m really glad that the romance didn’t overtake the rest of the plot of the book.

I also enjoyed that they included some of the stories they talked about in the book. I thought that was a cool touch.

I really enjoyed the plot of the book and I didn’t find it predictable even though I found the romance predictable. The plot was fairly unique and I loved the stories. And come on, the book has dragons!

Asha was a little annoying at times. Through most of the book, she acted like she was better than everyone else because she was the ‘Iskari’. I get that yes she may have been a more powerful person but that doesn’t mean you have to act stuck up about it. Her personality when it came to this really annoyed me but besides that she was okay.

I really enjoyed Safire though. She was awesome and such a badass. She is also really strong! No matter the crap she had to put up with she was strong all the way and was there for her family the whole time.

Jarek was a horrible person. He is so controlling and obsessive. Honestly, at a couple points, I cringed when he came up to Asha and I’m only reading about it!

Dax I also enjoyed. He wasn’t that present for most of the book but in the end I really enjoyed him and what he did. He cared for Asha a lot and even though she was the ‘Iskari’ and was meant to be this fearless person he still saw her as his sister and looked out for her rather than treating her like a prop or a weapon like others tried.

Torwin I don’t really know how I feel about. I did enjoy him for most of it but for some parts, he just felt like ‘the forbidden love interest’ and that was it. I would have really liked if this book was in Multi POV with Torwin & Asha because seeing him through her eyes that was all he was really, the forbidden love interest. I would have liked to see him as his own person a bit more but the only time we see that is the part with the dragon and when he was telling stories about the woman who raised him.

I won’t talk about my opinions about anyone else as I don’t want to spoil anything!

Overall I didn’t love the writing or the MC. I hope that in the next book she comes down off the high horse she has been sitting on for most of this book. The romance was not my favourite either, but I’m not a romance fan so that doesn’t mean too much. I did enjoy the plot of the book and some of the characters.

*For my rating I did not take into consideration the trouble I had understanding some parts just because I’m not sure if that is a fault with the eARC or not.*

I was provided with an eGalley of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you very much to Hachette Australia & NetGalley for this opportunity.

You can PRE-ORDER this book as an eBook, hardback or paperback copy from the Hachette Australia website HERE!

You can also PRE-ORDER it in Hardcover from:
Book Depository / Dymocks (Alternate cover – Below)

Paperback:
Book Depository (Alternate cover) / Dymocks / QBD

eBook & Audiobook:
Amazon/Audible Aus
*The audiobook is only $14.95 AUD or 1 Audible Credit*

Alternate cover (as mentioned above)