If you’re a writer, you’re
probably aware of the idea that you should chase your MC up a tree…and then
throw rocks at them for approximately three hundred pages. THE LAST NAMSARA is a perfect
example of how to do that, because nothing was easy for Asha. Nope. I’d even propose
that Ciccarelli enjoyed throwing rocks at her poor heroine, as they came from every
possible direction: rocks from family, sense of self, destiny, and romance. And
the culmination of those rocks—boulders, actually—made for a heart-jammering,
gasp-inducing, book-dropping good time.
*Surprise! The final version of THE LAST NAMSARA has a different cover than the ARC, which you'll see down below.
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The
back jacket, from Goodreads:
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 darkness—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 learning 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.
These are the legends that Asha, daughter of the king of Firgaard, has grown up learning 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.
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I’m always drawn to YA fantasy because the action gets going fairly
quickly. THE LAST NAMSARA absolutely slayed in that regard (😆) but even better,
the action never stopped. The moment one problem was solved, two more
appeared—a Hydra of escalating bombshells, if you will. At one point, I thought
I needed to get my asthma inhaler because the intensity squeezed my throat to
the point I worried about passing out. And in the middle of it all stood Asha,
the legendary dragon slayer and newly-appointed Iskari.
Jacket art based on an original jacket design by DAS ILLUSTRAT, Munich, Germany.
Photograph of female lips by Ervin Usman. Jacket design by Michelle Taormina.
Also, there are dragons. Did I mention that? DRAGONS, PEOPLE. And
while I don’t often find dragons in my reading adventures, I’m kind of
wondering why that’s the case because dragons are freaking awesome. Tied in
with the dragons, the world building itself proved to be exquisite, lush, and
fairly straight-forward for its magnitude—a plus for me because I can get
lost.
Enormous thanks to HCC Frenzy and
HarperCollins Canada for giving me an ARC!
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For this mani, I used:
OPI – My Silk Tie and matte topcoat
China Glaze – Chroma Cool, Intelligence Integity &
Courage, Counting Carats, and The Outer Edge
FingerPaints – Black Expressionism
Julep – Mona
Mitty Burns – Daisy 1.0, Peachy 000, and Clean Pro
Flat nail art brushes
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