Today’s review is about THE LAST ONE by Rachel Howzell Hall. This is a romantasy debut by the author and appears (so far) to be a standalone book. Although the comparison to N.K. Jemisin meets The Witcher sounded intriguing, unfortunately this was a DNF for me. Read on to find out why.
Author: Rachel Howzell Hall
Series: No
Age Category: Adult
Publisher: Entangled: Red Tower Books
Publish Date: December 3, 2024
Print Length: 496
Want to support local bookstores? Buy a copy of The Last One on Bookshop.org!*
*These are not affiliate links and I do not make a commission from any purchase made using these links.
The Last One Synopsis
Explosive and enthralling romantasy debut from New York Times bestselling author Rachel Howzell Hall…
Thrown into a desolate land of sickness and unnatural beasts, Kai wakes in the woods with no idea who she is or how she got there. All she knows is that if she cannot reach the Sea of Devour, even this hellscape will get worse. But when she sees the village blacksmith fight invaders with unspeakable skill, she decides to accept his offer of help.
Too bad he’s as skilled at annoying her as he is at fighting.
As she searches for answers, Kai only finds more questions, especially regarding the blacksmith who can ignite her body like a flame, then douse it with ice in the next breath.
And no one is what–or who–they appear to be in the kingdom of Vinevridth, including the man whose secrets might be as deadly as the land itself.
The Last One Review
I received a free, digital, advanced reading copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. My review is my own and reflects my honest opinion about this book.
Despite the intriguing synopsis, THE LAST ONE by Rachel Howzell Hall was unfortunately a book I did not finish (DNF). I made it to the 30% mark, or about 150 pages of an approximately 500-page book. The reader begins just as confused as the main character, whose name we later learn is Kai. This is understandable since she awakes while being robbed and then realizes she doesn’t know who or where she is. Kai then chases her accoster into a nearby village and spends the next 140 or so pages there. (And possibly longer–I DNF while still in the village.)
Although there is a lot of action, I was not a huge fan of the narrative voice, which is in the first person point of view. I felt like I was reading an unedited diary of events. Rather than trusting the reader to form their own questions by showing them what’s unfurling, Kai strings together a slew of them at once, written in the text. This conveyed panic, but not in a way I prefer. Kai also lacked a lot of forethought and everything felt rather surface level. For someone who doesn’t know what’s going on, I’d expect a little more stealth and caution. Instead, she often barely assesses a situation before launching into a course of action. This does not serve her well at the beginning, though it serves her well in battle against mythical beasts.
There are also some inconsistencies with how someone might act given their knowledge of current events. For example, there is a drought. Yet when provided drinking water, the blacksmith, a respected village leader and someone Kai is drawn to, pours it over the back of his neck after battle. There are multiple small things like that that just felt incongruous.
THE LAST ONE also has a smidge of budding romance in the first 30% I read. It is very obvious Kai and the blacksmith find each other attractive. Thankfully they kept it to flirting filled with lots of dirty puns. Normally I’d find this entertaining, but it felt out of place within the context of events. They barely know each other, but Kai quips a bunch of dick jokes despite underdeveloped chemistry.
Ultimately, the combination of the writing style/voice and a lack of plot movement after 150 pages led to a DNF by me. I know I received an advanced copy of THE LAST ONE, but I felt like and hope it receives another round of edits. Surely there is a set of readers who will enjoy this, but I do not fall within that group, which is a shame because the premise sounds interesting.
Rating: N/A
Content warnings: violence, blood
Reading format: Kindle e-book
If you liked this book, you may enjoy THE LAST PHI HUNTER by Salinee Goldenberg.
Oh too bad, I had fun with the last book I read from this author, although it was completely different, a contemporary mystery. I am going to try it though, since I have an ARC!
I look forward to your review…curious to see what you think about it.
A shame that this one didn’t work out for you. I always think that first person narration is tricky to pull off especially if the character doesn’t know very much about their situation.
Yea, I’m sad it didn’t work out for me. It sounded so interesting, but I just wasn’t connecting with the story once I started reading it.
I’ve just finished reading this one and I feel the same! I really struggled through it!
I wish I had DNF’ed! I had the same problems with the first part. It’s like nothing happens, and everything that does happen makes no sense. The main character knows nothing. She follows someone who stole her stuff. The thief then sort of defends her from . . . the jailer? Who is like the authority in town? And then the thief’s brother demands she not be jailed because . . . he has authority? As the . . . blacksmith? And then she goes to LIVE with the thief she tried to kill and the brother to earn out her “debt.” Of course, we are told no one in the village has money to pay her because they are poor, and the amount she must earn is HUGE. She then earns it back in about three days from doing odd jobs that don’t actually need to be done. Like . . . helping to dip candles. Because there’s only one guy who knows how to make candles??? I have never made a candle in my life, and I understand the basic process if you get a wick and then dip it repeatedly in wax. This is not an arcane skill! But he is VITAL to the town and RICH because he is the candlemaker. The details are just ridiculous, and that’s not even getting into the ACTUAL, overarching plot of who the protagonist is and what her mission is.
I completely agree with everything you said here. :-/ I felt like she made a lot of money in a very short amount of time to pay back her “debts.” And how were so many tasks available for her to do, as if there weren’t other townsfolk to also do them and earn money? I was surprised when you shared this book is on some popular reading list…I felt like this book needed more polishing.