ARA Review by bstanzell of End of the Last Great Kingdom

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bstanzell
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ARA Review by bstanzell of End of the Last Great Kingdom

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[Following is an OnlineBookClub.org ARA Review of the book, End of the Last Great Kingdom.]
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3 out of 5 stars
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End of the Last Great Kingdom is a fantasy novel with elements of so many other fantasy and dark fantasy novels. If you are a fan of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever[\i] this story is definitely for you. The story follows Leaf into his journey to the powerful mage Brimstone. He is a smaller than average boy with no outward powers or elemental affiliations. When he survives a mage test with a battle mage with Fire magic, it becomes clear his powers are something different from what is typically seen. Befriending the pure fire mage, or demon, Heat, his days at mage school start out well. When mage games go dangerously wrong, Brimstone takes the blame. He along with his follows, dubbed Crimson, must not only fight to clear his name but also save the various races of people throughout the land.

This book starts out extremely strong and has so much potential. I hadn’t intended on reading it all in one day, but even with a toddler and an infant I finished it in a few hours. The storyline is intriguing and engaging. Grammatically I would say this book is well written and likely professionally edited. This author clearly is well read as elements from Greek mythology are woven in with great precision. I am a huge fan of many fantasy series, but am also quite picky. I can honestly say I plan to read the next novel in the series as well.

That being said, there are some issues with the book. It is advertised as “fast paced” but maybe too much so. I had trouble keeping track of how the different races played together, how the prologue and initial chapter linked with Leaf/Brimstone, where the different places where, and how the timeline was working together. Perhaps this is a similar scenario to “Witcher Season 1” where things will eventually go back together, but it does make it hard to follow Brimstone’s journey. Characters also change their names frequently so names are not always helpful. While this is a dark fantasy so violence and death are to be expected, there is much more violence and death amongst small children than I would prefer. The senseless death of an infant especially upset me. As a mother, a death of an innocent baby in a way that did nothing to move or explain the plot line left a poor taste in my mouth. Reader be warned if violence towards children is triggering.

If the death of the baby had no been present, I likely could have given this book 4 or 4.5 out of 5 stars. As a gifted reader, I could still piece together the hurdling pace of the book even with the minimal character development. However, with that piece and the way it was added and then moved on from, I just can’t get to the four range. However, I also cannot give it much lower. This book was so engaging and had so many fantastic elements. I think it’s hard to believe these kids are early teens at the oldest given their actions, but it’s so deep. Most of the violence doesn’t bother me as it is a dark fantasy. If you can handle The Hunger Games[\i] the vast majority of the violence and death shouldn’t affect you. I truly give this novel 3/5 stars. It is so close to getting more.

Despite my qualms with a few elements of the story, I did enjoy this book. It has been a long time since I’ve become so engrossed in a book I lost track of time. I look forward to reading the next book in the series to follow Brimstone further. I have high hopes this author will have improved some elements from his debut novel.

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