Last of the Talons by Sophie Kim*
*An eARC was sent to me by the publisher in exchange of an honest review. This does not affect my review or rating in any way*
This was the first book in my reading vlog where I read 4 ARCs that I got approved/sent because frankly a) they were all my most anticipated releases and b) I need to get my NetGalley ratio up (whoops).
Author’s note: Actually, it ended up being 3 books because one of them had ended up being archived and I didn’t think to check. This is also reflected in the vlog!
So, after using a generator between the three books, Last of the Talons was the first I read. I am SO happy I got an ARC of this one (not entirely sure how I managed to) and I LOVED this one.
First off, we have the main character: Shin Lina. She is known as the Reaper of Sunpo and is an assassin that is greatly feared. She is part of the Talon gang which, throughout various flashbacks in the book, we find out that they had the majority control of Sunpo. After a confrontation went wrong, we find out that Lina had gone back to the Talons’ house and found them all dead. Everyone except her little sister who was sent to a school in the mountains for her own safety.
I really liked the character of Lina. I think she was pretty awesome and really kicked butt. I also think that despite the abuse she had to go through from the head of the Blackbloods (who took her sort of like a prize for killing off the Talon clan), she pushed through and worked around the demands that were given to her in order to protect her sister and also keep herself alive because she didn’t want her sister to end up alone or have her put up with the cruelness of the Blackblood’s.
Second, we have the other character of equal importance as Lina, Haneul Riu, also known as the Pied Piper.
I often say that one of my favourite fairy tales is the one of the Pied Piper of Hamelin and I really like how the author incorporated such an iconic fairy tale character. He is very mysterious and also incredibly attractive, as a lot of Dokkaebi do and he is also the Dokkaebi Emperor.
The next is the setting:
I think that the setting of the book was absolutely awesome. We have the mortal realm and then we also have the realm of the Dokkaebi. There are also mentions of other realms such as the Yongwangguk, the realm of the sea god and Okhwang, which is the sky kingdom where most of the major gods reside. We also have the realm of the Dokkaebi, of which the name I have absolutely forgotten and cannot remember for the life of me but basically, the realm of the Dokkaebi is sort of a pocket realm in a sense - Riu created it as a safe place after they retreated from the mortal realm.
The plot:
I think something that Sophie Kim really excelled at, besides the descriptions of the settings and filling the reader in on Korean mythology (which makes it even better to read because you’re not confused at all, even if you don’t know anything about Korean mythology), is the plot. I really enjoyed having flashbacks and going back and forth between the present and the past and we find out how the Talons actually got killed and what led up to that as well as the consequences and how Lina ended up where she did at the beginning of the story!
A lot of books I read often have such great beginnings, good middle-part and then the end just seems…rushed. Like everything happens all at once and my brain cannot, for the life of me, process everything all at once but this one had a really clear plot structure and the ending was so, so good! I need the next book ASAP!
So, that is it for this review! Do give me a shout on IG (or on my Youtube) if you end up picking this up later this year!
Release date: September 27th, 2022
Rating: 5/5 stars
Love,
Mila
