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A review by lisaesmee
The Last Namsara by Kristen Ciccarelli
4.0
I got sent this book for free by the lovely Stevie Finegan over at Gollancz (Orion Publishing). It's an uncorrected manuscript proof. I got it for free and I read it for free. This is my part of the generous exchange: a review.
Boy, oh boy. This book. I have a hard time figuring out how I can explain what I feel and why I feel it. This book is good but not amazing. It's clearly a debut novel which has both pros and cons. About 90 pages into the story I started to highlight and annotate in the book to immediately write down my thoughts as I was having a lot of them.
The Last Namsara tells the story of Asha, dragon-killer extraordinaire, daughter of the dragon king and betrothed to Jarek (aka Jarek the Jerk. I love his name since it's a play on the word JERK. Hence Jarek the Jerk or just Jerk from now on), who's some sort of general who climbed his way up to social ladder due to his charm *cough* blackmail. Asha was burned severely by the First Dragon when she was quite young, leaving her with the right side of her body scarred. She is about to marry Jerk w which obviously she doesn't want to, but her father gives her a way out. This is a chance she's willing to take even if it means her life.
Let me start by saying that this story really intrigued me. A female dragon hunter who bows down to no-one (except her father and Jerk). Her character developed nicely. She shed her past, learning that there is more to life than dragon killing and being her father's weapon. However, I do have some problems with her. Asha is supposed to be an amazing hunter having killed a lot of dragon. Hunters/warriors always know what weapons they are carrying and where they are strapped to their bodies. Asha more than once forgets that she's not carrying her slayers or axe. She reaches for them and then doesn't even remember where she left them. This might be a small thing and most people won't even notice, but as reader of lots of hunter/warrior stories, I find it annoying and bad character portrayal. A real hunter wouldn't do this, just saying. But Asha is a strong character who grows a lot in the book, which is something I highly appreciate. There are a few more little things that annoyed me about her but I can't write that her because they apply to the story.
The budding romance *eye roll* was predictable and not even necessary. The boy has BEAUTIFUL COLLARBONES *double eye roll*. Collarbones are just bones that stick out a little. Nothing beautiful about them. Moving on, the boy smiled a CROOKED SMILE *infinity eye roll*. Why does every boy character in YA have a crooked smile?! What's so endearing about them? I don't get it especially when everyone uses it. It has lost it's charm, I'd rather see a boy smile with his entire face. Moving on: SHE LET OUT THE BREATH SHE DIDN'T KNOW SHE WAS HOLDING *eternal eye roll*. Can y'all stop it with this sentence? Another overused YA trait.
There are a few parts in this book that don't flow together. A few times it seems like a chapter or a scene was cut from the manuscript without making the story flow again. Maybe that's only in the ARC copy hopefully, because it hinders the progress of the story.
Besides the original story, there were some developments that were quite obvious and I saw them coming from a mile away. Points for originality but -points for obvious choices.
To conclude: besides the small annoying traits (which a probably only an annoyance for me) the story is fabulous with great characters and a good development. I highly recommend it anyone who likes YA, fantasy and strong female characters. I give this book a 3.5 stars, rounding it up to a 4 star rating.
Boy, oh boy. This book. I have a hard time figuring out how I can explain what I feel and why I feel it. This book is good but not amazing. It's clearly a debut novel which has both pros and cons. About 90 pages into the story I started to highlight and annotate in the book to immediately write down my thoughts as I was having a lot of them.
The Last Namsara tells the story of Asha, dragon-killer extraordinaire, daughter of the dragon king and betrothed to Jarek (aka Jarek the Jerk. I love his name since it's a play on the word JERK. Hence Jarek the Jerk or just Jerk from now on), who's some sort of general who climbed his way up to social ladder due to his charm *cough* blackmail. Asha was burned severely by the First Dragon when she was quite young, leaving her with the right side of her body scarred. She is about to marry Jerk w which obviously she doesn't want to, but her father gives her a way out. This is a chance she's willing to take even if it means her life.
Let me start by saying that this story really intrigued me. A female dragon hunter who bows down to no-one (except her father and Jerk). Her character developed nicely. She shed her past, learning that there is more to life than dragon killing and being her father's weapon. However, I do have some problems with her. Asha is supposed to be an amazing hunter having killed a lot of dragon. Hunters/warriors always know what weapons they are carrying and where they are strapped to their bodies. Asha more than once forgets that she's not carrying her slayers or axe. She reaches for them and then doesn't even remember where she left them. This might be a small thing and most people won't even notice, but as reader of lots of hunter/warrior stories, I find it annoying and bad character portrayal. A real hunter wouldn't do this, just saying. But Asha is a strong character who grows a lot in the book, which is something I highly appreciate. There are a few more little things that annoyed me about her but I can't write that her because they apply to the story.
The budding romance *eye roll* was predictable and not even necessary. The boy has BEAUTIFUL COLLARBONES *double eye roll*. Collarbones are just bones that stick out a little. Nothing beautiful about them. Moving on, the boy smiled a CROOKED SMILE *infinity eye roll*. Why does every boy character in YA have a crooked smile?! What's so endearing about them? I don't get it especially when everyone uses it. It has lost it's charm, I'd rather see a boy smile with his entire face. Moving on: SHE LET OUT THE BREATH SHE DIDN'T KNOW SHE WAS HOLDING *eternal eye roll*. Can y'all stop it with this sentence? Another overused YA trait.
There are a few parts in this book that don't flow together. A few times it seems like a chapter or a scene was cut from the manuscript without making the story flow again. Maybe that's only in the ARC copy hopefully, because it hinders the progress of the story.
Besides the original story, there were some developments that were quite obvious and I saw them coming from a mile away. Points for originality but -points for obvious choices.
To conclude: besides the small annoying traits (which a probably only an annoyance for me) the story is fabulous with great characters and a good development. I highly recommend it anyone who likes YA, fantasy and strong female characters. I give this book a 3.5 stars, rounding it up to a 4 star rating.