Rating: 4 love-is-a-battlefield stars!

Last of the Talons is the debut novel, and first book in the Talon’s series, by Sophie Kim and I absolutely adored it! The MCs were perfect, the Korean mythology was super interesting, and the writing was very descriptive and pretty.

I went back and forth so much on if this was a 4-star or 4.5-star read for me, but ultimately, the little things that could have been better added up, earning this 4 stars.

Given the unfinished business of this story, I really hope the sequel is not too far out!

What I liked about the book:
1. I love books based on mythology! When done well, they always seems to just have an extra “it” factor for me, and the worldbuilding is usually dynamite!

Although I am not familiar with the Gods and stories mentioned in this book (other than the Pied Piper, of course), I found all of the minor and major stories that played out super interesting!

2. The main characters were phenomenal!

Shin Lina was the epitome of an underdog who was forced to become a badass. She was a victim of circumstance who was left no choice but to create this incredible persona of the Reaper of Sunpo in order to keep herself and her little sister safe. The fact that she was this deadly assassin to the world, but this loving sister/de facto parent to her sister, showed how complex of a character she was.

At times, she reminded me of a lot of Quentin Tarantino’s badass females, specifically from the Kill Bill franchise. She reminded me of Gogo Yubari because she could be sadistic and arrogant, she thought of killing her enemies in a slow, painful manner and she thought she could survive any fight. She reminded me of O-Ren Ishii because of her well-renowned assassin status and her drive for revenge. Finally, she reminded me of Beatrix Kiddo because of her ability to survive and her trainings with the Talons being similar to Kiddo’s trainings with Pai Mei. I found all of these qualities to make total sense given Lina’s background and the “character flaws” made her even better in my eyes.

I also loved how the author wrote about the dark, slithering thoughts she had in her quietest moments. It was totally relatable and made you feel so sorry for this tortured, angry woman.

Haneul Rui, aka the Pied Piper, was exactly what I wanted in the emperor and Lina’s enemy-to-lover, cat vs. mouse opponent! He was mysterious, sultry, and a total risktaker. I loved watching him completely change his tune (no pun intended) when it came to Lina and how he made her fall for him. He is definitely one of those guys that produced an eerie calmness over me, frequently having sent delicious shivers and goosebumps through me.

Similar to Lina, he could be sadistic and arrogant, as well as mysterious to the point of annoyance. He best start telling us his secrets in the next one, or he’s going to start losing my favor…just kidding, boo, I love you.

3. I loved how Lina saved Rui! I honestly thought, with her basically being out of commission towards the end of the book, we were going to have Rui saving her and I was deeply upset by this. I thought it was stupid that she wasn’t going to get a say in the final fight when she had proven herself as this total boss the whole story, but luckily, Sophie Kim didn’t do us dirty!

What could have been better:
1. I felt like the mystery around SA (Rui’s former lover) was not lived up to with the couple paragraphs explanation at the very end. I was expecting much more from how much mystery was put around this and it just fell flat.

2. I really didn’t see the point of any of Rui’s counselors other than Kang. Hana offered nothing in character or in story development, and Chan wasn’t much better. With so many side characters already, I didn’t really see their value.

3. Format wise, one criticism I had was that things written as notes between characters were not clearly formatted as such, i.e. no punctuation or italicizing to make it truly feel like a note. This was confusing at times as you didn’t know it was a note from one character to another versus an internal thought until you reached the end, causing you to have to reread it.

Special thank you to NetGalley, Entangled Publishing, and Sophie Kim for the opportunity to read this book for free. I am voluntarily leaving my honest review. Make sure you add this one to your TBR and check it out on release day, September 27!

This was such a fun read I was hooked from the first read I loved the plot the main characters everything about it will definitely recommend and purchase my own copy when it releases.

Last of the Talons was an enjoyable book from start to finish. When told that this was an enemies-to-lovers book, I immediately wanted to read it. Once I got started, I couldn’t put it down.

A big thank you to Entangled Publishing and Netgalley for the ARC! I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

After two "meh" reads back to back, I was very excited to read this own voices debut by Sophie Kim. Korean mythology? A badass assassin and a cat and mouse game with a god-like immortal? Sign me up!

This book had an interesting enough premise, but the execution was weak. The main character is apparently the world's best assassin, despite only training 3-4 years under the tutelage of an old man and a pack of teenagers. Sure, okay. She's gritty, sarcastic, bitter, and jaded after a rough life. Her dubious occupation as world's best thief and assassin eventually draws the ire of an immortal, mythical emperor.

So this emperor is the most gorgeous and cruel being our main character has ever encountered. They live to hate and antagonize the other, and so, of course, the author intends for them to inexplicably fall in love. There is nothing in their relationship that this sudden love believably stems from (lust, I could understand), as both are lacking in significant character development (maybe that will be improved upon in the next book).

Aside from the romance falling completely flat, the book is riddled with continuity errors and messy world building. A horse is constantly referred to as both a stallion and a mare, a character declares that party-goers "dance until sunrise" when the kingdom is devoid of a sun, and the moonlight of a dozen or so moons is what lights the kingdom (moonlight is the light of the sun reflecting off of the moon, but sure).

There is a ridiculous amount of swearing. I'm no prude when it comes to eff-bombs, but the gratuitous amount of language reminds me of a child learning a bad word and then proudly trying to insert it into every sentence. Repetitive phrasing comes into play as the main character "vividly imagines" killing someone, digs their nails into their palms, or makes a crude gesture. It comes off as sloppy writing.

This book needs another solid round of editing and some polishing, which is still possible, as we're about two months from it's publish date. I wish the author best of luck.

4.5 stars

When I first started reading Last of the Talons, I had a feeling that this was going to be a book that I loved. And I did. I really enjoyed reading this and I finished most of the book in a day. Sophie Kim created an immersive world and her descriptions of many of the locations in the book desperately made me want to visit them.

I found Lina to be such a cool character; she was a badass assassin with the perfect amount of snark. Her concern for her younger sister Eunbi really shone through the story. The Dokkaebi Emperor, Haneul Rui, was also quite interesting and I honestly may or may not have a tiny crush on him. I can’t forget to mention that Lina and Rui’s banter is top-notch and so freaking enjoyable.

While the pacing was a little bit slow in the first few chapters, it wasn’t unbearably slow and picked up when Lina was taken to the Dokkaebi realm. There were a few plot lines that I was a little confused by because I felt that they were left unresolved but turns out this is just book 1 so I am guessing they’ll be resolved in book 2.

All in all, Last of the Talons is a fun YA fantasy inspired by Korean myth and culture, with great writing and characters that are fleshed out really well. I enjoyed reading this a lot and cannot wait to read book 2 when it comes out.

The Last of the Talons review

I received an Arc form exalted publishing on netgallery

I love this book. it was a fascinating mix of Korean mythology and pied piper story. the physicality of the writing took me deeply into the story in a sensory way.
the characters are so great. really believable and physical. I hope there will be a few sequels!!

The main character came through in a way that I really connected to emotionally so I was rooting for her!! the Emperor also, her rival in a way, was just so beautiful and I was transported by the descriptions of the spirit realm of the Dokkaebi

a great read, highly recommended

Initial Thoughts
I was super excited to receive an advanced copy of this book. The premise sounded so interesting and I love a good revenge plot.

Some Things I Liked
Grumpy / Sunshine trope. I have developed a new appreciation for this trope but I feel like I want it in every book I read. It was really well done here.
Upper YA. The themes in this book were definitely darker than what you'd find in YA books so I'd qualify this one as Upper YA for sure. But, I enjoyed that. I thought it was fitting for the rest of the plot.
Enemies to Lovers romance. I always love this but it was super well done here. I read another review that put it really well. To summarize, they said "this is the way the Darkling / Alina relationship should have felt". Rui is definitely categorized as the villain initially but the reader learns to love him much sooner than Lina does. I loved their dynamic.
Rich world building and mythological concepts used in a unique way.

Series Value
I could see this being a stand alone with an open ended ending but I'd love it if there were more books. I feel like there's more story to tell here and I'd love to know more about this world.

Final Thoughts
I'm pretty sure this was a debut and what a debut it was! I will definitely keep reading this if it becomes a series and I'd like to read more of Sophie Kim's writing. Lina and Rui are enemies to lovers goals and I can't wait to read more about them.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

4.5
This book was a fantastic debut novel and hit so many marks for me. Let me start by saying there have been a lot of Asian mythology retellings recently and the more popular YA ones have all read really young which was a struggle for me. But this one, Last of the Talons had the perfect tone and pacing of a YA.

Based on Korean mythology, the story follows Lina our female main character. Lina is not a simple girl, she is the last of the Talons and is an assassin for the Blackbirds, killing and stealing for their notoriously evil leader. Forced into her situation by stealing a sacred tapestry as ordered by the Blackbirds, the story takes use from the human realm to the Dokkaebi (Korean goblin) realm where Lina makes a deal with the Dokkaebi emperor to try and kill him within 14 days if she want to free herself (and in turn save her sister in the human realm).

Things I loved:
- The enemies to lovers / royal court trope - the interactions between Rui and Lina was so entertaining!
- Lina as the MC, she was strong willed and determined to do anything to keep her last surviving family (her younger sister) safe from bloodshed - (however the flashbacks of what happened and the guilt felt a little repetitive which was where the 0.5 stars got lost.)
- Whilst the plot was predictable, it was such a fun read with no slow parts (apart from the first few chapters).
- The mystery and magic of the Dokkaebi realm and learning about how it came to be.

I cant wait for the next book and find out more.
If you liked Daughter of the moon Goddess and The Girl who fell beneath the sea then you will like this one!

Korean mythology grafted onto a skeleton of YA cliches and pointlessness, Last of the Talons is a disappointing read with frustratingly little to recommend it. Shin Lina is an assassin forced to work for a rival gang under threat of harm to her sister (safely distant from the narrative, the better to remain a plot object and not a character) who steals and destroys a tapestry belonging to the Dokkaebi Emperor, Haneul Rui. As punishment, Lina has fourteen days to kill Rui, despite her formulaic attraction to him and the Beauty and the Beast vibe author Sophie Kim arranges. The usual post-Hunger Games plot points arrive on cue - tons of food, beautiful clothes, the supremely talented fighter who enchants everyone she meets without evidence of a personality. Why does Rui want Lina to kill him? "I can't tell you (until the next book)". Much bragging about her murder skills while Lina only attempts to strike Rui twice, both basically on the spur of the moment, and repeated invocations of the pairs attractiveness while ignoring the truly fucked dynamic that extends to young teen Lina's sexual relationship with both an older assassin and Rui, who claims to be the functional equivalent of 20.

I love mythology and retelling. Especially ones from different cultures so I can compare and learn new things. This book helped me do that. Few dull points and lots of action I couldn't put this down.

🐍 ARC Review: Last of the Talons 🗡

✨5/5✨

Very minor spoilers below, if any.

One of the worst things about being an ARC reviewer is having no one to scream to. I want everyone to go add this to their to-be-read because of how good is a book this is. I've been in a book slump and Last of the Talons brought me right out with it's beautiful story and realistic characters.

Lina is such a complicated character and it makes SENSE. A huge pet peeve of mine is when characters who have been traumatized get through it without any repercussions. That's not Lina. She has a lot of scars, physically and mentally. It's what made me connect so strongly with her.

Rui, swoon. I was sold pretty much immediately. The second his character appeared I knew I was in deep with another book boyfriend. Rui stole right to the top of my favorites list. I really liked Rui because I couldn't predict his motivation and when it's explained, it makes sense why he's in so much pain. So much pain he bargains his life away so easily. He reminds me of Rhys in the best of ways.

The spice was there and I was here for it. I think it's acceptable for teens but definitely more in depth than most YA.

Finally, and arguably, my favorite part of the book is the mythology. The author has an opening note about how she never saw herself as a MC in books because of the lack of Korean representation. And her passion for this shows in the book. Rich with culture and language, the Pied Piper was a new myth that I LOVED learning about.

I'm hoping there's a book two so we can see about Lina's "special" development and see her revenge ARC. I'm so interested to see her "villan" come out and play.

Thank you Entangled Teen and Sophie Kim for the opportunity to read this ARC. My opinion is my own and is given freely.

Thank you to NetGalley and Entangled Publishing for providing me with and ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Sadly, this book wasn't really my cup of tea which is weird considering it contains literally all my favorite tropes. My conclusion is that it lacked good execution.

The main problem I had with this book is that it was so hard to get through the first part. Not only was it boring but it also dragged on forever and if I struggle so much that early into the book I will consider dnf'ing it. The worldbuilding, while great in my opinion was too excessive. I gave this book a chance though and it did approve a little but not enough for me to wish to read it ever again.

Next, the characters. Shin Lina is our main character and she is supposed to be a ruthless assassin, only I didn't buy that even for a second. I truly hated this character because she bored me to death. There were just so many things about her that didn't make sense and were inconsistent and that made me so angry. She was also a gang member but we only ever learn about only four members of the said gang and that's just ridiculous.
The other characters weren't any better to be honest. They all fell flat for me.

The romance couldn't fix my enjoyment of this book since I already disliked both main characters and didn't feel any chemistry between them, but maybe it's just me. I really looked forward to this book and it pains me immensely that it didn't really live up to my expectations where it mattered.

What I liked about this books though is the last 10% of it and the action that unfolds. That improved my opinion of everything. The elements of Korean mythology were also interesting and it was a unique approach to a retelling.

Although, this turned out to be just average for me I would recommend everyone who enjoys the enemies-to-lovers and knife to throat tropes to give this book a try and see for themselves if it's something they're gonna enjoy and love.

I am so glad that I was able to read this book as an arc through NetGalley. This book absolutely blew me away. I expected to like it but it exceeded my expectations. The setting was great and I loved the mythology mixed in there. This is definitely a great read for fantasy lovers.

Lina was my absolute favorite. I loved seeing her work her way through her grief and her will to push forward for her sister. I enjoyed her witty banter with Rui. She was an absolute pleasure as a female lead. I also enjoyed seeing pieces of her past. I do wish the transitions were a bit better. I was confused at first until I got used to the flashbacks.

I liked Rui a lot too. He tried to have this cocky persona and maybe that was real, but he never gave me an icky feeling towards the female lead like some male leads do in other enemies to lovers books. I liked seeing how he handled his own grief in a different way from Lina and how they moved to understand each other.

I enjoyed the plot. The idea of this emperor feeling so much pain that he proposes a game with an assassin to kill him was very interesting. I do kind of wish Lina was able to take more action in the game even though there was more going on. It didn't feel too high stakes for me despite her wanting to get back to save her sister.

Overall, I am definitely purchasing a copy for my shelf and definitely recommend it for fantasy lovers and for those that like the enemies-to-lovers trope. I am already super excited to read the next book when it eventually comes out and any other titles by this author.

This review is scheduled to go live on 9/1/22 on my blog, Goodreads, Amazon, and TikTok

A fast, easy and engaging read in the vein of young adult fantasy. Although not a particular stand-out, and the plotting and characterisations could have done with more polishing, it's a solid enough debut.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read this ARC. I would rate this as a 3.5/5.
The Last of the Talons has a good hook. I was interested in the protagonist right away, and intrigued by the idea of an assassin who also happened to have a severe leg injury. That weakness in particular stood out, and how she had to overcome pain in order to pull off her heist. Where I am disappointed is that she really felt flat to me. Lina is supposed to be the best assassin in the kingdom and a very good thrift. Yet, she’s been starving and working for the rival gang whom she hates? Why is she not stealing food or weapons? Why has she been basically a murder slave for a year instead of slipping away to rescue her sister, something she plans to do instead of save her evil gang boss at one point?
There are a lot of issues like this that bothered me while reading. More development of her skills or entrapment may have helped, or perhaps she shouldn’t be the best assassin or their, which would make the bargain of needing to kill the Emperor a higher stakes issue.
With that in mind, Lina’s characterization left more to be desired. She is clearly supposed to be a Strong Female Character but she doesn’t seem dynamic enough to keep my interest. The other female characters also have a very one-dimensional fate as well: the twins are the seductive temptress trope, the rival female gang leader femme fatale (also sleeping with the gang boss), and Hana is haughty and aloof. A bit more time developing their personalities (and the men’s) would have made this story so much better.
I was excited to read a Korean Fantasy, but what I got was just another Fae King and his court that is lightly repackaged. It doesn’t feel particularly special, but it could be.
A minor annoyance for me was that Ruis’s horse was described as a stallion twice, but also a mare with feminine pronouns. I felt irrationally crazy over this, I’ll admit.
I think the major ideas of this book are really good and with a little more characterization and world building it would be so much better.

i loved this book. i enjoyed myself the entire time.

everything that was promised in marketing — enemies to lovers, knife to throat, who did this to you, etc— happened and it hits me so much i might have slightly went insane.

lina and rui gave me judecardan vibes if judecardan ever learned how to communicate. it's them and it's a reason why i fell for them.

aside from the romance, the family aspect of the book made me tear up a bunch of times. i can write a novel how beautiful and heartbreaking the dynamics are.

however, the book is far from perfect. lina made so many mistakes that did not make sense. it is as if it was done to push the plot, taking me out from the book.

excluding that, i love the story and i cannot wait for the sequel

This YA fantasy from author Sophie Kim was an action-packed adventure!

Last of the Talons is the story of Lina, an assassin sent to murder an emperor to protect her sister. Lina is a seemingly fearless bad-ass who is grounded by her love and loyalty to her family. I enjoyed reading about her trials, and Rui was such an amazing counterbalance to Lina, I loved them together!

Also the whole realm of the Dokkaebi was so unique, I really liked how it was fleshed out.

I really enjoyed this YA fantasy!

I saw this book first in one instagram account which talk about YA books. But, for me this book feels like a MG book...
Okay,
first thing first, I am really in love with the book cover. What a stunning illustration!!!
To be honest, I am not a person who hooked with korean culture, and, this book makes me falling in love with korean myth. I really love Lina character, I love her development. But, somehow, I can guess the twist.
Afterall, Last of The Talons is such a good book. I think I'm gonna preorder mine. (I MEAN LOOK AT THE COVER!!)

I’d like to thank Entangled Publishing, LLC and NetGalley for giving me an e-arc. I am giving this review voluntarily as well as honestly.

Last of the Talons had me absolutely hooked. I was constantly wondering what would happen next and I had to force myself to put it down. When I wasn’t reading it, I would be thinking about all the possibilities of how things would turn out. I read this book at any moment I could spare, there was times where I was reading it on my thirty minute lunch break.

The main character, Shin Lina, is an absolute boss. She’s strong, both mentally and physically. She’s a character I found myself constantly rooting for, no matter the situation she was in. Despite her strong personality, she’s not so strong that she doesn’t have weaknesses. Oh boy, she has them, but it was interesting to watch her overcome them and struggle with herself.

For the all things that I had predicted, there was double amount of twists I didn’t see coming. Sophie Kim did an an amazing job at surprising me and the fact that the things that happened wasn’t out of the realm of possibility. The storyline and lore really interested me. I’m not very familiar with Korean mythology, but this book makes me want to read up on it.

I highly recommend this book if you’re into fantasy and strong female leads. The romance in this book isn’t the main focus, but it definitely isn’t lacking. I’m not going to spoil anything, but the romance interest, I absolutely love him. I’m so excited to see what’s coming next with the next book in this series.

I was so super excited to have been approved for this book. The cover is gorgeous, and the blurb really drew me in. While it wasn’t a horrible read, I’m not sure I’ll read it again; it needs just a little more structuring of the plot!