The Last Slayer

Why I Read this Book: I had not read a book involving incubi/succubi before so now’s a good as time as any, right? Plus I’ve been wanting to read one of Nadia Lee’s books.

What I Liked: The author did an incredible job with the world-building. It was interesting; it was unique. Every twist and turn made the story even more fascinating. Like Sex for instance – where ‘sex’ is an act in our world, it’s a power booster of sorts that’s bottled up and ingested in The Last Slayer. (read more) ( )

Why I Read this Book: I had not read a book involving incubi/succubi before so now’s a good as time as any, right? Plus I’ve been wanting to read one of Nadia Lee’s books.

What I Liked: The author did an incredible job with the world-building. It was interesting; it was unique. Every twist and turn made the story even more fascinating. Like Sex for instance – where ‘sex’ is an act in our world, it’s a power booster of sorts that’s bottled up and ingested in The Last Slayer. (read more) ( )

At first, I thought THE LAST SLAYER was going to be my new favorite urban fantasy. Ten, fifteen, twenty percent of the way through the book, I was glued to the page, thrilled to my toes, ready to squeal with glee. I adored Ashera because she seemed to be effortlessly in control of her life, in peace with herself and her place with the world.

One of the first things we learn is that she's plain bordering on ugly, but she shrugs off the sting of being mocked for her looks by being a savvy and competent demon hunter. She's aware of her true value and secure in herself, so much so that she's got a great relationship with her very, very beautiful sister Valerie. Likewise, she's an orphan and foster child who was adopted into a very wealthy family where she was never quite treated as an equal. But she's grateful for the blessings she received - a fine education, for example - and not resentful about her lot in life.

Ashera balances corporate savvy with savage martial skills, and the first few scenes show us Ashera at her most competent. Overworked but sharp and snappy, she dives into a dangerous fight with a demon and comes out ahead. Things start to go wrong when the dragonlords arrive in town, supposedly for a meeting with a pharmaceutical company. Ashera attends as part of the security detail, but it soon becomes apparent that the dragonlords - powerful demigods - have their own agenda, and cooperating with the suits is not on their list. Actually, they're looking for Ashera.

Most of the stuff that happens after that point veers off into spoiler territory, so I can't go into specifics. Ramiel shows up, and Ashera's wishy-washy emotional monologues about him provide the first hint of where the book is headed. He helps her, but can she trust him? Is he interested in her as a person, or is he only helping her because he swore some sort of vow? Ashera changes her mind about him every chapter or so. Ramiel, for his part, is painfully consistent. He bends over backwards to protect Ashera, he offers her help and hospitality, but the second he's even the tiniest bit withholding or fails to lavish her with affection, she assumes he doesn't care about her and throws a tantrum. A tantrum! What happened to the kickass Ashera of yester-chapter?

In fact, the deeper we get into the book the less kickass demon-fighting action there is and the more long baths and wardrobe changes there are. It gets to the point where even Ashera thinks to herself, "Gee, I seem to be taking a lot of baths," and, oh-em-gee, that could pass for ironic understatement. She takes a bath at every single residence that she visits over the course of the novel, and at the really fancy palatial destinations, she takes several (to sample all the different tubs, I suppose). Once she dries off, she begrudgingly dons some sort of fabulous gown, grumbling all the while about how she's a slayer and doesn't care about such finery. It's around this time that she stops seeming like someone who can rise above her own plain looks and starts seeming really, really superficial. Once the quality that drew me to her the most corrodes into something so unattractive, I was done rooting for Ashera.

The story itself mostly amounts to Ramiel telling Ashera what she needs to do, and Ashera wavering a bit before she decides to follow instructions. Another thing that makes the formerly kickass heroine seem passive and weak.

By the end, this book that had me on the edge of my seat had turned into a chore. Not recommended. ( )

I got this book a while ago for review but it's taken me a while to get to it, as I explained in a previous post. I'm really happy that I've finally read The Last Slayer, though, because it's a fast and delightful read set in an outstanding world.

Ashera del Cid lives in a world where demons are common, though dragonlords, who are demigods, are not. Ashera's made a great living as a demon hunter for her adopted family's firm, as she tries to track down the incubus who killed Miguel, her first love. Unfortunately for her, she's hired to help with a meeting with a dragonlord, which is what propels the rest of the novel, since the dragonlords have been looking for her since she's the titular last slayer. A spell had hidden her until her 27th birthday, so now she's fair game and they're looking to eliminate her as soon as possible. Thankfully, she has a mysterious ally in Ramiel, who saves her and helps her explore her birthright while also sexing her brains out.

Ashera's a fun protagonist and I quite enjoyed following her journey from regular (though talented) hunter to potential dragonlady. She's in a situation she's not prepared for, which is unusual for her, but she copes and struggles and perseveres even though she's out of her depth. I was rooting for Ashera almost instantly and I'm sure you will be too if you give The Last Slayer a try.

Ramiel's a nice foil for Ashera. He's mysterious at the beginning, but we learn a lot about him over the course of the novel and it gives him a lot more depth and helps explain his motivations. He acts as Ashera's guide, partner, and also lover, though the roles don't always sit well with Ashera, particularly when he's being less than forthcoming. After learning about his past, I'm quite intrigued to see where their relationship is going since they will likely continue to work closely together.

The world building of this story is what really grabbed me, though. The idea of dragonlords and dragonladies is quite fun, even though I think the term dragonlady doesn't sound nearly as powerful as dragonlord. (It does make sense etymologically but there's something about it that made me cringe the first couple times.) Dragon society is explored in really interesting ways and I particularly liked learning about the different types of dragons and the hierarchies and roles they have. My favourites were the fairy dragons, especially Toshi, who was absolutely adorable. He'll win you over instantly!

The one thing I did find a bit odd was the idea of Sex (with a capital 's') as a way to power up magically. But not necessarily by having sex. You can just drink it and apparently it comes in different flavours. The origins of Sex are discussed in The Last Slayer but I'm still not 100% sure why folks use it so I hope that it gets explained in more detail in the next Heartstone novel, which I fully intend to pick up because I want to find out what happens to Ashera next.

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Why I Read this Book: I had not read a book involving incubi/succubi before so now’s a good as time as any, right? Plus I’ve been wanting to read one of Nadia Lee’s books.

What I Liked: The author did an incredible job with the world-building. It was interesting; it was unique. Every twist and turn made the story even more fascinating. Like Sex for instance – where ‘sex’ is an act in our world, it’s a power booster of sorts that’s bottled up and ingested in The Last Slayer. (read more) ( )