Book Review: Last of the Talons by Sophie Kim

 Hello everyone! 

Today I want to introduce you to a new author and one of my fave books of the year :Last of the Talons

⚠Warning: full fangirl post ahead:

Goodreads / Amazon / My Bookstagram Post

Rating: 5 stars 🌟

For everyone who loves their female main characters scarred but badass, their hero powerful, lethal but with a deliciously wicked smile, their world rich and filled with action and mythology elements that transport you to a different continent, in a different time: this book can't be missed! Korean history and myths at their finest.  

I can't wait for this book to become all the rave! I want it to be a bestseller. I want it in special edition boxes with sprayed edges and foiled covers.(*edited to add that since I wrote my review, this has happened, there is a FaeCrate edition! Sadly, International shipping with them is not working for me, but I'm still happy there is a special edition out there in the world). I want reels and aesthetics. I want it on favorite lists recs. I want bonus chapters from HIS pov.(!!!!) I want a fangroup where we can all swoon and squeal over best scenes. Add it to your TBR and preorder asap. You're welcome. 

This was my first escapade into a Asian / Korean setting book, but it will definitely not be the last! So magical, unique, whimsical and deadly. Different from everything else out there but at the same time, having everything we hope to find in our fantasy books. A heroine with a difficult past who is forced by circumstances and bad decisions to travel into the immortal land of powerful creatures, set to kill their leader; court politics, intrigue, killing plots, action, adventure and a hero who pushes all her buttons and who makes her to want to kill him more every day - or to get closer to him for all the wrong forbidden reasons. A hero who can end the world on a whim, but who finally finds a spark and someone worth living for. These two... I can't even. *clutches heart*

It has ALL - let me repeat that in case you didn't get it the first time: ALL THE BEST TROPES! Are you ready? 

✔Badass stabby heroine (she's an assassin!)

✔Immortal hero

✔Enemies to lovers

✔Forbidden love

✔Slow burn

✔I came to kill you

✔Forced proximity

✔Banter

✔Sword to the throat that may or may not be followed by spice (in probably one of the most heated and tense scenes ever)

✔Who did this to you

✔Touch her and die (by her own hand because she's badass)

✔I thought I lost you

...

I literally can't think of anything better.

Part of me is glad I started my Asian books adventures with this one and that I read it early, as I could just enjoy the ride without expectations and pressure. I just went in blind and I was dazzled and mesmerized and melted in the best way possible. I wish I could read it for the first time again - you know that feeling!

This book is part of a series and I can't wait to be swept away by this world again! 

***Review copy provided by the publisher EntangledTeen in exchange for my honest opinion (fangirling is all my own!) and I couldn't be more grateful. <3

Memorable quotes: 

As we dance, I lean closer to Rui so that my whisper reaches his delicately pointed ears. “If you ever,” I snarl, voice quavering with emotion, “use your godsdamned flute on me like that again, I won’t stop at just killing you. I’ll take Manpasikjeok from your dead body and I’ll crush it underfoot. I’ll set your throne on fire and then burn your entire realm to the ground. Do you understand me?”

🐍

“I find that the possibility that my dance partner may stab me to death at any moment adds a certain thrill that simply cannot be replicated by those who are not determined to stab me to death.”

🐍

It is a lustful, sinful hunger in his gaze, mirroring the same desire that hums in my own chest. His stare does not flicker as he drinks me in. 

No. No. Before my mind can catch up to my body, my jikdo is in my hands, the blade pointed unwaveringly at Rui’s throat. 

A soft laugh curls through the air. “Lina,” he purrs. “I thought that perhaps we were having a moment.” 

“We weren’t,” I hiss.

 🐍

“Who did this?” Rui is bent over my body, shielding it from the world, anything and everything that could harm me. His voice is a furious growl. “Who did this to you?”

🐍

Rui’s head is still tilted, and in these moments, I note that he resembles a cruel fox—sly, cunning, and utterly predatory.

🐍

He tastes of dark winter nights whipped with icy winds and yet feels like fire and flame against my skin.

💕👌