The Last Namsara (Iskari #1) by Kristen Ciccarelli
“May Death send his worst! Cold to freeze the love in my heart. Fire to burn my memories to ash. Wind to force me through his gate. And time to wear my loyalty away.”
Asha is the Iskari. The death bringer who slays dragons to atone for breaking the law and telling the Old Stories. One final dragon could mean her freedom and forgiveness from the people she brought destruction to. However, she must learn to not be the Iskari as she learns the truth about her own story.
The Story
Dragons That’s enough to draw me in. The story is about a girl who has been told all her life that she is basically evil and is revered for being the king’s daughter but held at arms length. She is doing everything she can to remedy her actions and find the grace of her people. What she ends up finding is that everything she believed would be turned upside down and the stories that she had been banned of speaking hold more truth than she ever imagined.
This was an incredibly easy read. The chapters were short and the pacing kept the book from lagging. The only reason why I dropped a few stars was because there were just a few things, that bothered me. I just wish the background of the story was a little more forthcoming. Like what was the importance of the stories being told? – not the effects of them, but why was she drawn to it in the first place? And why was Jarek (one of the antagonists) sooooo obsessed with her. There was just a little bit more room for some depth to the book.
The World Building
Where this book sets itself apart from the rest was the culture within it. Here is a world that story telling can draw a dragon near and give it power for it’s flames. But story telling is forbidden for it gives them the power for destruction. I love how the story telling is sort of wrapped up into a religion, but not blatantly so. It gives the religious feeling because it tells the stories of the beginning, but lacks the religious feeling due to its absence of worship.
The Characters
Asha and Torwin have this slow burning bond. I love how fierce the women are in these books. They may be tamed by a marriage, but yet they are still a force to be reckoned with. I love that by the end of the book you fully understand the relationship that Asha and Torwin have developed and it is just too sweet. Readers beware, there are a lot of hand/wrist/shoulder grabbing to make people look them in the eye…you know, to really know how someone feels when they are talking to each other.
The Soundtrack
Anna of the North – Sway
