I received an earc of this book, all opinions are my own.

Not for me. At all. So, here’s my thoughts.

What I liked:
The cover was awesome. Loved that. I also thought the overall synopsis had promise and was interesting. The ideas were great.

What I didn’t like:
The execution of those ideas. There was a SEVERE lack of dialogue. So much description. Even though there was a lot of that, the worldbuilding wasn’t really there and I never felt immersed.

The main character was so immature. She was a bit whiny and I felt like the fact that she smoked and that was an issue throughout the book (talked about in lots of scenes) was like a child playing grown up. Put her up against immortals and she became even more young/childlike. Which resulted in the romance really not working.

There was also a lack of positive or healthy relationships. No good friendships or romance chemistry. The best relationships were done in flashbacks that were confusing me as to why they were needed. It took up A LOT of the book and served very few purposes other than to make me wish for different characters/romance in the present.

Overall, it was a good storyline but extremely bad execution.

Last of the Talons is perfect for those who enjoy middle grade adventure books. Perfect for anyone who enjoys enemies to lovers !!

Ohhh boy this book was good. Like, real, real good in ways I did not expect it to be. Packed with adventure, beautiful world building, and some of the most human characters I've read in a long while, this book is a brilliant read.

While the kick off of this novel was a little slow going, by about 30% I was absolutely hooked. The way in which Lina's story unfolds is unique, with flashbacks showing her past in such a unique and well-utilized way. Sometimes backtracking can be a little odious to the plot, but Kim wove Lina's past in so beautifully, it was peak storytelling. As far as the characters go, I think Kim did an incredible job writing diverse, emotional people who you cannot help but sympathize with and love. Lina was such an interesting character whose flaws and past make her intriguing. Rui was of the same kind, someone with layers you cannot wait to unwrap and see what you're going to get next. And the ending set up a next book beautifully, in a way that made this plot feel wrapped up, but the next story is definitely one I cannot wait to read.

I honestly don't have any complaints about this book, outside of the fact that multiple times a female horse is referred to as a stallion instead of a mare. That is my singular complaint on this book.

Highly recommend, cannot say it enough!

Thank you to NetGalley and Entangled Teen for granting me an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I really enjoyed reading this book! Especially considering that it is a debut novel... I say this with complete candor, I was really impressed. I binged it in (mostly) one sitting.

Two things first drew me to it: first, the cover (is it not beautiful?), and second, the Korean aspect. I'm Korean American myself, and for the most part, I found the integration of Korean mythology and phrases smooth. However, I fear that many will find some of the words jarring and perhaps like total nonsense. Korean is not exactly the most legible when romanized. I think the Korean words used can at times benefit from additional English description.

I liked the characters, especially the protagonist. Lina feels realistic to me. Intrinsically, she is a girl struggling to survive, weighed down by grief, responsibility, and--- this I found particularly intriguing--- addiction. The way these three are tied are really well done and definitely poked at my own emotions. I liked Rui, too. Really, I don't think there's much to dislike about him. He's just equally understanding as he is fun!

I definitely have my own reservations. It felt a bit strange that Rui was so understanding of her or forward in spending time with her from the start. As a king, I couldn't help but think that he had better things to do. I also understand that he wanted to give her full reign of assassination, but when he found out she had gone to the river to get the berries, he should've stepped in. At that point it endangered his whole court. I also find it strange the Lina really did believe that the rebellion was only 3 people... was she not part of a gang herself, fully knowledgeable of what it takes?

Despite my criticisms, I did like the book. I would give it 3.5/5 stars. I applaud Sophie Kim for writing a rich, beautiful world and an engrossing journey! I look forward to anything more she will write in the future

It's been a long time since I stayed up till 2 AM to finish a book, but you bet I did for The Last of the Talons by Sophie Kim.

I'm OBSSESSED. THIS is how you do enemies to lovers. THIS is how you write morally gray characters. THIS is everything I needed and more.

I'm not sure what I loved more: the witty banter, strong female MC, portrayal of coping with immense grief and trauma, action and adventure, Korean mythology and lore, steamy romantic tension, touch-her-and-I'll-kill-you love interest, beautiful worldbuilding, or heartbreaking backstory...

It's not without its small flaws of pacing, suddenly convenient magic, or harping a few things into the ground; but nevertheless, I could not put this book down.

This seriously has it all, and I'm hooked. It's not even out yet, but I'm already very patiently awaiting the next book so I can dive back into the world of the Dokkaebi.

Thank you to Entangled Publishing and NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC of this book! I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Last of the Talons was absolutely amazing from beginning to end. I loved the Korean mythology and how Lina was a tenacious fighter who did everything she could to protect her younger sister from harm. I liked how each chapter featured snippets of what happened that resulted in Lina being the last of the Talons and how she was forced to work for the enemy. Rui and Lina's relationship was also another highlight to the story, and I loved the underlying theme of revenge. Thank you NetGalley for an ARC, I cannot wait to read the sequel.

***Received an advance copy via NetGalley and the publisher for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This well crafted story, “Last of the Talons”, by first time author Sophie Kim was a pleasure to read. Offering a peek of another lands myths and beliefs blended with action, guilt, loss, revenge, and a dash of romance.
The strong female heroine, Shin Lina finds herself adopted into the Talon gang when she and her baby sister were tragically orphaned then turned out of their home when she is fourteen. She manages to get her little sister to a school in the mountains and away from the life in the city while she trains as a skilled assassin for her gang, becoming the Reaper of Sunpo.
Tragedy strikes again four years later when she is forced to work for a brutal master of the rival gang who destroyed her gang. She must steal a jeweled tapestry from a temple to protect her sister’s life, only to come to the attention of a vengeful immortal and be whisked to his realm.
She will need to bargain with her life and survive no matter what she needs to do to win back her freedom to return to her realm before her time in either realm runs out. Of course while trying to win her freedom and survive she will need to keep reminding herself not to fall for her fascinating captor.

I recommend this story if you like action, plots within plots, a little romance, and a telling of myths.

YIKES.

I was really excited to read this book and within the first few chapters I saw the downfall was imminent. I love books that have more dialogue than not. And it took 5 chapters for any major dialogue to actually start occurring. This became a theme throughout that made me start passing over paragraphs of incongruous information.

With an enemies to lovers romance I was hoping to latch on to, I was let down here as well. Lina continually came off as immature while Rui was really into her, but without a good basis for the attraction? These two did not connect well, but apparently he wanted to kiss her from the moment he saw her and I don’t believe it for a second.

The relationships (platonic and not) weren’t here either. I wanted to see Lina have one friend, a true bond, someone for her to move forward with and nobody became that person for her. The side characters were one dimensional and only placed in to further the plot occasionally.

There’s other issues I had with some of the sub-plots and OH, YES. The flashback chapters?! Were always out of nowhere and had no merit into the current timeline. Instead of showing us Lina’s character as the book progressed, random flashbacks were thrown in to show that she used to have a found family? IT DID NOT WORK.

Anyways, I’m frustrated with this book clearly. High hopes were dashed and I won’t be continuing the series.

Overall audience notes:
- YA Fantasy Romance
- Language: some strong
- Romance: make-outs & an implied night together
- Violence: high
- Trigger/Content Warnings: loss of friends, murder, kidnapping, poisoning, near drowning and other near death experiences, weapons violence

LAST OF THE TALONS is a lush and enchanting YA fantasy. Lina is known as the Reaper of Sunpo, a title bestowed upon her as the assassin of the Talons, a gang in Sunpo. After a terrible night for which she feels responsible, her gang was destroyed and she was captured by the Blackbloods from whom she is forced to work under threat of her little sister's life. After being forced to steal and destroy a tapestry from a Dokkaebi temple, she incurs the wrath of the Dokkaebi emperor, the Pied Piper.

When she is captured and taken into the Dokkaebi realm, she is offered a chance to save her own life - she must kill the Pied Piper within 14 days or her life is forfeit. If she dies, her little sister will be too, at the hands of the Blackbloods. As she spends time with Pied Piper, Lina will find herself in the middle of rebellion as well caught between her task and her heart.

What I loved: This is a lush fantasy with plenty of atmosphere and world-building. The mythology and folklore around Sunpo and the Dokkaebi was fascinating, and we learn some of it through stories and information passed during the story. This larger context was so important to building and understanding humanity, the Dokkaebi, and their shared history.

Lina is a really compelling character. She is dealing with grief, angst, and a broken heart from the loss of the Talons and the ways in which her life has changed and is challenged. Her life has been revolving around self-recrimination, hate, and a fierce need to protect her sister for so long. As she experiences the Dokkaebi realm and gets to know Rui, she begins to find other purposes, and her changing perspectives challenge her in new ways. Her character growth throughout the story really endears her to the reader, as she begins to take account and control over her life and her plans. This also lends itself to a strong romance, and I loved the dark and angsty build of it all, caught in a cat-and-mouse game with rules that neither seems to fully understand - an incendiary relationship building into an inferno.

Rui is also a fascinating character, and his story is building as he tells it to Lina. There is still a lot that we as the reader do not yet know, and I am curious to understand more of the separation between the worlds and the sacrifices made that have led to his role as the Piper. Although the reader gets tidbits, more story is clearly forthcoming, and I am so excited to see that this will a series, so we can learn more in the future.

The main plot is riveting with themes of family, loss/guilt, survival, the power of the heart, the importance of self-determination, what really makes a monster, trust, and healing. The lush world-building and setting of Sunpo, the Dokkaebi realm, as well as another realm which we glimpse later, create a really strong and potent story that will consume the reader. The pace is really perfect, balancing between the background, present, and action/adventure so well. This is a book that hooks the reader from the start and keeps them turning pages until the end.

Fans of dark, angsty romance reads with a fascinating plot and world will definitely need to pick this one up. Although it is part of a series, the major plots of this first book are wrapped up, so there is not a huge cliffhanger. I really appreciated this as it is a very satisfying conclusion to the first book, and I cannot wait to see where these characters and world will go and what will happen next.

Final verdict: With lush world-building and compelling characters, LAST OF THE TALONS is an unforgettable YA fantasy with elements of adventure, romance, and mystery that are sure to thrill readers. Highly recommend for fans of THE SHADOWS BETWEEN US, RAYBEARER, DANCE OF THIEVES, and TO KILL A KINGDOM.

Please note that I received an eARC. All opinions are my own.

4,5/5

Thank you NetGalley and Entangled Publishing for an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review

As a person who’s not familiar with the original mythology, I very much appreciated the author’s note at the beginning of the book, as Sophie Kim tells the reader, this story has creative spins in many aspects and is not intended to be a Korean mythology guide of any sorts. With that being said, you can still tell that the author cares deeply about it and did the necessary research on the topics.
Last of the Talons is an epic fantasy retelling of the Pied Piper tale that tackles Korean mythology, missing gods, dokkaebi, other realms and more. It is action packed, deals with grief and has an actual enemies to lovers romance.
After seeing herself stuck in Gyeulcheon, the dokkaebi realm, for stealing a precious tapestry Lina makes a deal with Rui who gives her fourteen days to kill him, an immortal emperor, if she is to return to Sunpo with the boss who she hates but works with in order to keep her little sister safe.
Lina is a badass, you can feel it from the beginning and it is confirmed as the story progress and you also dive into her past when she was part of the Talons gang. She is determined to kill Rui, even with him being immortal and sometimes trying to distract her from her goal with diners by the moonlight, dances at balls, horse rides to his favorite places in Gyeulcheon and more.
You are literally thorn between rooting between her finally killing him and wishing they kissed already.
As it happens with many fantasy books the end was a little rushed, but I enjoyed it all the same. It did set up many possibilities for the story to continue. It is a great debut, Sophie Kim’s writing flows amazingly and left me looking forward to read more from her.

I was a little put off by the cover. I felt like it looked like a middle grade book. Just a personal opinion probably steming from my dislike of the colors yellow and green together, but this book was soo good. It completely took me by surprise. The MC was fierce and loyal to her sister and clan in a way that is truly admirable. The story line vaguely reminds me of The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea but with way more action and in depth story line. I am defiant getting a copy for my book shelf when it releases

A really great read!
Female assassin and a God. I'm new to Korean Mythology but it was perfectly weaved into an enjoyable plot. Can't wait for the next book in this series!

A retelling of the Pied Piper with Korean Mythology and a swoon worthy enemies-to-lovers romance? I was sold! After a somewhat bumpy beginning, the story slowly unfold as I was spellbound: absolutly gorgeous worldbuilding, super cool magical powers and a tension loaded romance where the main characters can´t decide if they want to kill or kiss each other. I really enjoyed the korean mythology elements like the Dokkaebi emperor! The writing style was very unique and a perfect balance of easy to understand and picturesque. All in all I really enjoyed reading this book and I can´t wat to read more from the author. What an amazing debut novel!

Check out the aesthetic video I made for this book on TikTok & Instagram @katherinebichler. Here are the links ⬇️

TikTok

Instagram Reel

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5/5 STARS

Great debut book! This is a YA fantasy retelling of the Pied Piper fairytale with a Korean mythology twist.

Lina is a trained assassin, the last remaining of her group, The Talons. When she is assigned to steal an ancient object, danger unfolds and it is more than she bargained for.

This reminded me of Six Crimson Cranes with an assassin spin. The world building and enemies to lovers trope had me hooked! There were twist and turns and I couldn’t put it down.

I can’t wait until the sequel! 🐉🀄️🏯🗡

Thank you Entangled Teen for an advance reader copy! 💚

This book was such a fun read! I was in a reading slump and this book really got me out of it. I flew through this book in one afternoon and I am so sad it is over. I will be looking out for this author in the future and will be recommending this book to all of my family and friends.

Known as the Reaper,Shin Lina, an assassin, is the last of the Talons. Death threats to her only sister, Eunbi, is the only reason Shin Lina is a puppet to the murderous Blackblood clan.

When a mission to steal a tapestry from the Temple of Ruin evokes the wrath of the gods, Shina is on a time mission to retrieve the kidnapped leader of the Blackblood clan or her sister’s life will be forfeited.

The task to kill the emperor is no easy feat. Will Shin accomplish her goal or will she recognize there is more to what it seems in this elusive realm of Gyeulcheon.

The Last of the Talon is a Korean fantasy folklore spin-off.
I love being immerse in the world of Gyeulcheon and the cunningness of the Dokkaebi emperor. I visualize how hot the emperor is based on korean beauty and boy is he smoking!

This is Sophie Kim first novel so props to her in incorporating her heritage and culture. I love diving into new stories from around the world. However the writing style leaves room for improvement. There is a lag in the storyline that makes the narrative quite stagnant in some parts. I hope as Kim progresses in writing this trilogy that it will only get better as she finesses her craft.

This review contains spoilers!

i'm obsessed!
i was in love with Ead from The Priory of the Orange tree, and I am in love with Shin Lina. Female assassins you have my heart.
honestly though, can we discuss how /strong/ she is!! [SPOILER] she manages to walk back to the palace and climb over a wall all while a sword is embedded in her stomach?? and then later at the end of the book she is so brave, Rui is all but defeated, she with her human strenghts is about to face the enemy that he couldn't defeat (and she wins ofc).
I have to say I was a bit confused at first when she kind of turned into that snake-like monster, which distracted a bit from the scene, but other than that no issues :)
i told my collegue this book reminded me a bit of the priory of the orange tree, which is a big compliment for us ^^. we also looked at getting copies for our store but it seems our supplier doesn't carry this book :(

thanks to netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this arc, definitely one of the most interesting books i've read this year, in an inspiring new universe

This was such a fun read. Last of the Talons focuses on Shin Lina, an eighteen year old assassin. She finds herself being challenged to kill Rui, the Dokkaebi emperor. She has lost everyone but her sister, so with her life at stake she takes on the challenge. The only hitch is that Dokkaebi are beings with supernatural abilities that have the tendency to be tricksters. So it's no easy feat. There's action from the get go and a great enemy to lovers romance with banter and knife to throat scenes. Something I loved about Shin Lina was that she didn't back down, even if her enemy was attractive with silver eyes and earrings.

Inspired by Korean mythology this is the first book in a planned trilogy. I enjoyed my time with it and was satisfied enough with the ending that I won't be continuing on.

‘Last of the talons’ is a romance, pied piper retelling rooted in Korean mythology. In order to save her sister, an assassin must kill the emporer…. but falls for him instead.

This was a great read, and a fantastic debut novel. The characterization of every character is so strong and vivid, the MC in particular I adored - a strong, independent girl who undergoes the most interesting journey; both literally and emotionally.

Though I did enjoy the read greatly, there was definite weaker areas in the first portion of the book. Initially, the first person narration became particularly difficult to follow - you were unable to distinguish where she was or how she got there on multiple occasions. This definitely improved as the book went on, but it’s certainly a criticism to note for the first part of the book.

Thank you to netgalley for the arc!

Wow, did I speed through this book! I don't want to spoil anything related to the plot here, because I think this is a book that should be read somewhat blind -- ie the way I read it -- but the gist is this: our MC has been trained as an assassin since birth, and due to her skills and life circumstances, she's got no choice but to try and kill the dangerous Emperor that she (inevitably) winds up having feelings for.

This was a super fun read! It's pretty fast paced IMO, and I considered the twists more compelling than usual in a YA fantasy novel. I love a good worldbuild, and the author treats us to a very cool set-up, and TBH, I can see myself reading this again when I'm able to get a physical copy.

I'll be keeping my eye on Sophie Kim's upcoming releases after this, for sure.