I finished reading "The Last Lion of Karkov" by Dale Griffin, and I'm still trying to process my thoughts about this book. While it has some interesting elements, I couldn't shake the feeling that it fell short of its full potential.

The premise of the story - twins fighting to save their world and country - is compelling, and I loved the Slavic-inspired fantasy setting. The world-building has some unique elements, but I felt like I was missing a deeper understanding of the history and politics of this world. The magical elements were also somewhat lacking, with most of the magical activity happening towards the end of the book.

The main characters, Natalia and Jillian, were initially portrayed as strong warriors, but as the story progressed, they began to feel more like spoiled teenagers. Their actions and motivations often felt juvenile and immature, which made it hard for me to take them seriously. The supporting characters were more hit-or-miss, with some being enjoyable and others feeling flat.

One of the highlights of the book was the battle scenes, which were well-described and immersive. The concept of the Lion's power and role in the world was also intriguing, even if it didn't fully come together for me.

Overall, I wouldn't broadly recommend "The Last Lion of Karkov" without some reservations. If you're looking for a unique fantasy setting and are willing to overlook some pacing issues, you might enjoy this book. However, if you're looking for a more developed story with complex characters and a rich history, you might want to look elsewhere.

The concept and story telling were so well done in this novel! I enjoyed every aspect of the journey, although I did find it hard to connect to the characters at times.

Book Summary:

Twins Natalia and Jillian were born for battle. It's not a figure of speech either – Karkov needs fighters, and this is the world they've always known. Jillian, being the firstborn, is the heir apparent. In contrast, Natalia is more diplomatic – perfect for a different form of battling.

Unfortunately, all the planning in the world can't change how the world sees these twins. They were born in a male-dominated world, a world that only ever wants to see these women in certain ways. They must find a way to break that.

My Review:

The Last Lion of Karkov is an interesting fantasy tale set in a world that does and doesn't feel like this one. I hope I phrased that well. It's not urban fantasy but is sometimes almost like a historical fantasy.

This is a Slavic-inspired fantasy tale, and overall, I loved the premise. Twins fighting to save their world and country? Yes, please! It was a bit slower than I had expected/hoped.

In truth, I wish that there had been a lot more magic in this world. Most of the magical elements came toward the book's end, which disappointed this reader. On the bright side, it is a standalone novel, so it's a low-investment read for those looking for something different!

Highlights:
Slavic Inspired Fantasy
Twins
Magical World

This is a compelling story involving twin daughters Jillian and Natalia. Their father is a King feared and known as The Lion. The King not having a son as an heir has his daughters trained to be warriors. However, Jillian is the strongest one for battle and Natalia the more sensitive one for marriage to a Prince. After returning from a battle there is conflict between the three. The father sends the twins off to marry but under strict orders. Natalia goes west to Verseine and Jillian to Lucenze. They leave home to start a life elsewhere but is it what they want.

There are turn of events that weave into different directions thus making this book interesting. There is action, deception, and a bit of romance too.

This is an adventure that will definitely have you on the edge of your seat not knowing what to expect next.

Thank you BooksForward for this ARC.

Darn! I really wanted to like this book more than I did!

The premise sounded awesome, but it was loooong and sloooow for quite a bit of it! I kept putting it down and reminding myself to pick it back up.

The characters were meh, the world building was meh and seemed to borrow a lot from Slavic countries/Eastern Europe.

Thank you to NetGalley, Books Fluent, & the author, but I really could not find the energy to keep going with this one.

Another story of sisters with an intriguing synopsis but this one just didn't keep me wanting to read for various reasons. I unfortunately DNF'ed this book but someone out there will enjoy it more than I did.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was more than I bargained for and sort of more than I expected. I did almost DNF this book a few times because it was long, and the pacing was slow. However, there was enough intrigue to keep me coming back.

With that said, the plot was interesting, and it was nice to see the sisterly bond between Jillian and Natalia. The story was more political than romantic, which is fine. However, there was so much going on (even in this slow-paced story) that this probably should have been two books.

The pacing of the book’s second half was much better than the first half. I did enjoy the character growth of some of them, and I did enjoy the romance. The writing was fine, but the world-building fell a little short for me.

This debut was promising, but it would have benefitted from being a duology or series.

It’s been a couple of weeks since I finished this book but I’m still finding it hard to compose my thoughts. Overall, this was a solid read. I feel like what didn’t work for me might work well for others. I really loved the premise of the book. I thought it was unique and had a lot of potential. However, the execution was lacking for me. The main characters, Natalia and Jillian, were initially portrayed as strong warriors. Though as the story started to progress they began to read much younger and very spoiled for their age. I thought I could look past it but it really grated on my nerves. Their actions and reasoning for their actions felt so juvenile for so much of the book that when they finally seemed like they were maturing, it felt like too little too late.

The world building was definitely lacking as well. I wanted more history of how this world came to be as well as why the ruling system was the way that it was. We got little tidbits here or there but nothing that convinced me that the actions of the Lion were necessary.

I did enjoy some of the concepts that were presented. I liked the descriptions of the battle scenes. I like a few of the side characters.

Overall, I wouldn’t broadly recommend this one. I think it definitely has an audience that would enjoy this world.

I have a lot to say about this, so buckle up kids, it's going to be a long ride.

First off, the publication date. When the publishers emailed me about this book, the email said the publication date would be the 28th of March (I double checked, it does say that), and so I put it in my notes where I write down every publication date for every arc I receive so I know by when I have to read them.

It's definitely on me for not checking what NetGalley said about the date before downloading the book though, and for that I apologise. This review should've been up two weeks ago, but better late than never right?

Now that that's out of the way, I'd like to talk about names. What kind of names you ask? Let's start with the title, specifically the word "Karkov". When I saw it, it immediately reminded me of Kharkiv, but more the alternate spelling (Kharkov) so I had a feeling the world would be Slavic inspired.

Lo and behold, I was right.

Now imagine my surprise (and delight) when I opened the book, finished the prologue and got to the first part to see "Prvi dio" written inside. Prvi dio means "first part", but spelled like people from Croatia (or Bosnia, Montenegro) would spell it rather than how we would in Serbia. Still, I thought this was promising and read on.

And then I saw words from my language (and Croatian, Bosnian, Montenegrin, gotta cover all my bases) being used as character names - this is where The Last Lion of Karkov started becoming funny to me, and I'll explain why in a second. I'll also explain what the names mean, for anyone who isn't from ex-Yugoslavia and/or doesn't speak a Slavic language.

- Stolar (table maker, used for a character who's a builder so it kind of makes sense, but this is a profession, not a name, although if you didn't know someone's name you could call them by their profession "stolar", so I'll allow it, it gets funnier though)
- Ratnik (literal meaning is warrior, but it sounds weird, this is not a name someone would give their kid because it's not a name)
- Bitka (battle, by far the most ridiculous one, if ratnik is something no one would name their kid THIS is something no one would name their kid x 20)
- Odani (his name had an "i" added, but the characters do say the actual word for loyalty which is odan, and I would've preferred it if his name stayed odan because "odani" is plural and it means "they are loyal")
- Pješak (it means either pedestrian or infantryman, I'm inclined to say the latter because in Serbian we spell it without a "j" and it only means pedestrian as the word for infantryman is different, but I believe in Croatian they use the same word for both meanings. Now my problem with this name is that it's also an occupation, someone asks this character what his name is and he says "my name is infantryman"??? How is that not hilarious, I ask you?)
- Sokol (this one was explained in the book, it does mean falcon and it's the most forgivable one on the list, because it's a title and not an actual name, but if it was a nickname or code name too I think it would also be fine)

Other random words that caught my attention:

- Habar, this is also mentioned as a name and I don't know if it was meant to be like that or if it was missing an "r" (Hrabar), because it was mentioned alongside Ratnik and Bitka, and if it did have a missing "r" then it would mean "brave" and be on theme with the other names.

- "Ja sam", this was also explained, it does mean "I am", but the scene these words appeared in was extremely funny to me. I know it was meant to be cool, I get what the author was trying to do, but to me, who speaks this language, who uses these words daily...again, funny. It just doesn't fit together and you'll know it when you see it.

Now I'd like to talk about the land of Karkov. We've established that it's at least partially inspired by some Slavic/Balkan countries by the language(s) used, so what really bothered me is that my language is associated with characters who live in a barbaric, brutal, misogynistic land, a land that seems it's 200 years in the past (as one character put it), a land where the ruler goes to war and conquers a rival one, and takes their queen by force in order to produce the next heir.

And I knew that Karkov wasn't sunshine and rainbows based on the blurb, but Slavic people, especially from the Balkan region, we don't get a lot of rep. If we do, it's negative. This book didn't totally manage to escape that stereotype, despite having some Slavic characters who ARE good, like Natalia (even though the Old Lion said her name was foreign, but we give it here so I'm claiming her) and Odani.

I would include Jillian in the good characters but...she's who she is. And her name is Jillian. I still love her though.

And Karkov is so backwards that when one character goes to another kingdom, they are so unaware of some of the most mundane things, like supper??? I get that they didn't know what a parasol was, or fancy dress parts because of the way they were brought up, but supper??? Come on now.

There are other lands in the book, inspired by other parts of Europe, and while they also had characters who were bad, I'd like to point out that none of them had names that weren't names. Even the unimportant characters, like most of the ones on my list (they only show up once or so, apart from Sokol and Odani), in other lands they have actual names.

Was it that hard to give Karkov characters some stupidly mundane Slavic names? I promise something common like Aleksandar would've been better than infantryman (no, I will not let that go).

Knowing that the author travels around Europe as frequently as possible, I'm disappointed. A tiny bit more research next time, please? Even a Slavic name generator might help.

Moving on from...all of that, let's talk about the pacing. This is a slow book, lengthy too, and it shows. It takes a very long time for something of importance to happen, and then it takes another eternity for something else to happen too.

A lot of the first half is spent conversing in circles, with a bit more details added each time. I feel like I sat through the same conversation twenty times, I wish I was exaggerating.

I wasn't bored, but I did find myself putting the book down several times for breaks in between because it took so long for things to get rolling.

Around the halfway point was where I felt the action had truly started. This is an almost 800 page book, which means it took nearly 400 pages to get going...if you feel very patient today (tomorrow, whenever) then by all means, pick this up. But if slower paced books aren't your thing then you might want to skip out on this.

I think the storyline was worth the slowness. I liked the premise, and I really love both sisters, and several other characters too (Odani, Marie, Lorenzo, to name a few).

Jillian was the stronger twin at the start, but Natalia showed she can be strong too. Their sisterly bond was very well done, and I love how they protected each other.

They each have love interests, Jillian's is Odani and Natalia's is Lorenzo, but this does get messed up due to some twists and someone else is added to the mix.

I don't really know what I can say about the romances, I don't feel a super strong way about them, and they're not a huge part of the story (when I count all the pages where nothing happened, I mean). There are some plot points involving them, but I still think this book is more politics than anything else.

I *like* the couples together, but my life wouldn't be impacted if they weren't together and were just friends on a quest, you know?

We also didn't get to know Odani and Lorenzo as well as we did the girls. At least for Lorenzo we know some of his interests outside of Natalia, but for Odani...his whole personality is based on Jillian. Like, if Jillian didn't exist he wouldn't either, which is romantic in one way, sad in another.

The book is split up into twelve parts, but I wouldn't say that there's a really clear distinction between them. For example, even though the next part started it would continue where we left off in the last one. Not for every part, but a few of them.

What I found curious about them, is that the first, second, fourth and fifth were titled in a Balkan language (the last 3 with spelling mistakes, likely fixed in the final version), the rest were in French, except part three which was...in Arabic?

I don't think that's Arabic exactly, the letters are but I don't think it says part three. I'd love it if any Arabic speakers could confirm/deny this. Again, it might be different in the published version and I'd have to take a peek inside to be sure.

They ending was okay, no cliffhanger thankfully. The epilogue did surprise me a bit, because of the characters that Dale Griffin chose to feature in it. There was also a seed planted for a potential sequel, but given all that's happened in this book I don't see what else could happen in the future.

I would be open to a sequel and reading it, I think, if more research goes into it. Because the whole point of this book was about two girls trying to make a change, and then we didn't really get to see that change. We've seen characters talk about it, their potential future, what could be etc, but based on that planted seed I'm not sure how much has actually changed.

Overall I liked this, the characters and the storyline, but it's all the other stuff that's keeping this book from being rated above a 3, plus some icky stuff about the girls' father that I don't feel like talking about now. We're aware that he's not a good man from the start, but it gets so much worse than that.

Anyway, that's about it. I don't want to deter anyone from reading this book if they set their sights on it, just be aware of the issues and that's that.

*Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review*

DNF

I read about 30 pages and just could not get past the tense the characters were written in. Having to read Natalie, Jillian, or the Lion over and over just really distracted from the story and already made it feel like a slog.

I am sure it is a lovely book but I couldn't bring myself to read it with so many other books out there.

**I received an ARC copy from NetGalley and this is my honest review**

This is turning into a slow/long read for me so I'm going to write my thoughts as I read and then rate at the end.

11% Through: Odani is giving Wesley from The Princess Bride vibes IF Wesley was a hulking warrior sworn to protect the next ruler. It's giving the "as you wish" vibes. However, I'm having a hard time engaging with the tone of the story so far. The characters and politics are fleshing out nicely, but it hasn't made me want to dive into reading it yet. It's a pretty lengthy book though at 608 pages, so I'm sticking with it in the hopes it picks up soon.

29% Through: The romantic relationship felt very rushed and while I wanted it to be a thing, something is missing for me. There are a lot of time and place jumps. I wish that we had better descriptions of how much time has passed, instead of just "much time passed" or "throughout the winter."
I'll be honest, the military culture has been well developed. The sets of rules and traditions that control Kakrov are engaging and draw me in. But the characters are a little iffy for me. I struggle with the two MC's because every time so far that they have a chance to show maturity or growth, they act spoiled, naive, or irrational more often than not. Now they hopefully will progress away from that but it stands out more after spending several chapters hearing about how they were raised to rule, to fight, and to dominate. Odani's character at least make's sense to me but we don't see as much of him as I'd like.
I'm struggling to get through this book right now. I am finding that I am often left asking myself "Why are we seeing this? Why did we skip that event?" when reading. When we jump from an almost murder to a character suddenly showing up at a castle, but no in-between to explain the characters reasoning...
And that may be the biggest reason I can't seem to connect with this book. I feel like I am constantly missing out on the characters feelings and reasoning. They act and I'm left distracted trying to figure out why they did that.

The world and the storyline are amazing but I'm feeling so disconnected and worn out by being left questioning everything when trying to enjoy the experience.

49% Through: I feel like we're finally getting somewhere, though I'm not sure if it is because of the introduction of Francis and Lorenzo's POV's or because the story isn't jumping around quite as much. I still feel like this could have been split into at least two books with better development on the first 40% so we felt more involved with the characters. But it's starting to reach the point where I can immerse myself in the world and characters lives.

65% through: The jumping around is much less and we've had some extremely impactful events happen. Still not sure what's really going on tbh. Also the dream sequences in the ARC at least are very difficult to distinguish from reality due to formatting. I wish it was a bit more clear when the character is dreaming through spacing or italics or something.

FINAL THOUGHTS:
Trigger Warnings: r@pe, pedophilia/incest potential (no action taken), gore and violence expected for a fantasy novel with heavy military plotlines, death, pregnancy, blood, animal death, near drowning

Fade to black spice

While the world and military details of this book are excellent, the characters and style fell short for me. I dragged myself through the last 20% of this book after dragging myself through the first 40%.
- A lot happens within the story and the reader has to deal with several unclear time jumps and gaps in the storyline that are vaguely filled in.
- I didn't find any one character particularly likeable to the extent that I felt strong emotion for them. We lose several characters but I wasn't invested enough in them to feel the impact that I should have.
- The magic is there, but not well defined due to formatting in the ARC I received. This may be fixed in the final copy. I'm actually still not 100% sure if it was magic or a coping mechanism.
- Most of Natalia's character development feels like its only in the dreams. There IS character development for both MC's but again I felt disconnected from them. Their emotional state for much of the book isn't depicted and we don't get a lot of internal dialogue except in dreams or the high intensity portions.
- SO MUCH HEAVY DIALOGUE. Especially at the end. I was forcing myself not to gloss over the dialogue. I feel like every character had to monologue at some point.
- This really felt like it should have been a duology with some slower/more detailed character development. Many times I was left asking WHY a character had changed their direction, WHAT was their motivations etc... Many scene switches were abrupt, giving the book a very choppy feeling especially for the first 50%.

- The world was well developed and the political issues/resolutions seemed very realistic. Honestly the political plotline was the best part of this book for me because despite the four kingdoms being similar in many ways, the way that their leaders reacted, and the way their politics made sense and were woven well into the story.
- The villain was well developed, honestly his motivations and reactions made the most sense out of all the characters even if I found them abhorrent.
- Descriptions were well done when needed and gave impact to the story. If you like a writing style that is sparse on descriptions unless they add to the story then this is perfect.

In short, the world and politics drew me in but the characters didn't make me want to stick around. This would be perfect for fans of military fantasy who prefer a heavier focus on the politics and less on the characters.

***ARC received from Books Fluent and NetGalley in exchange for honest review, opinions are all my own. Thank you!***

I wasn’t really sure if I was going to end up liking this book, it takes a really long time for things to get going as there is so much set up in the first half. It felt almost like a duology condensed into a single book but once it gets going I had a hard time putting it down.

Jillian and Natalia are the twin daughters of the Old Lion of Karkov and are the main driving force of the novel. They are twins but very different in their personalities, Jillian the more hot headed older sibling with Natalia being the kinder more compassionate of the two. Yet despite their opposite personalities both are incredibly strong and ruthless. Jillian’s rashness gets her in trouble as in line with her characters but Natalia is not that far away from her sister. I liked both sisters separate but together they really shined. They have a strong bond and rely heavily on each other but as the story goes on they must learn to stand independent of their sister as their paths take them in different directions. Particularly Natalia who must grow from the childlike teen into a strong leader to rival her sister.

There are quite a few secondary characters in the book and while most are met they do feel different enough to stand on their own. I liked Francis growth the best, he goes from spoiled Prince to learning what it means to be a leader and the sacrifices that it takes to lead people that will truly follow you.

The love story is sweet as both women find partners that can challenge and support them. They find the men that they need yet are willing to sacrifice that love to protect the love they have for each other.

The writing is okay, at times it felt a little disjointed and difficult to follow. That may have been the way the ecopy I had because it felt like scenes would shift in the middle of a paragraph while others had well defined transitions. I also wished we had gotten to see more of Karkov, it felt like Natalia would get to explore that and see how she could change things but it felt like a thread that didn’t go anywhere. I did like how it dealt with the trauma that Natalia had to deal with making it difficult to follow what was real and what was an illusion just as she struggled with it.

I do think that if this book had been fleshed out into a duology it would have allowed for more exploration of the cities and which would have made the world building a lot strong. Honestly, I only had a good understand of one cities layout but would have preferred to learn more about Karkov since that is where a majority of the first half of the book was set in.

This was a good debut novel with a slow start but once it got going it was hard to put down and I couldn’t wait to figure out what happened next.

Really did not expect to live this book as much as I did!

The book is about two twin sisters, Jillian and Natalia, daughters if the old tyrannical Lion ruler of Karkov who raises them to be warriors.

Jillian becomes the next Lion (ruler/overlord) and Natalia married to form an alliance. Their father's only goal is for the girls to produce a male heir.

Everything seems to go okay until their father's past comes back to haunt the girls.

The book is full of twists and turns, romance and the overwhelming theme of females seeking freedom from the dominance of male oppression.

Loved the story with such strong female role models.

Highly recommend.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for granting me a copy of this book in return for my honest opinions. All opinions expressed are my own

This story is one of love and grief and perseverance and victory. There will be emotional highs and lows and it is worth every moment.

This book is about twin girls who have been raised to rule a country that has never been ruled by a woman. The country is a conquering world power, so the girls learn to fight and strategize war from a very young age. Jillian is the sister who is destined to rule the country of Karkov. She is fierce and cunning and will do whatever she must to protect her sister. Natalia is the quieter one, but is strong in her own way. She has been raised to be married to a man from another country to make Karkov even stronger. She will conquer the world with her kindness and love.

The sisters love for each other is one that every person hopes to have with their siblings. They would give up their lives for each other and do anything in their power to make each other happy. When Jillian goes through a deep depression and her father has given up on her, Natalia is right there with her, bringing her through it and making them both stronger on the other side.

Jillian and Natalia both fall in love with men throughout the book, and I really enjoyed their separate love stories. Jillian's love interest complements her character by being a fierce warrior but also tends to think through things more than Jillian does. Natalia's love interest is very quiet and a great listener. I fell in love with him with how he handled Natalia going through the worst part of her life and how steadfast he was, because he was her rock.

The beginning of this book reminded me a bit of the Song of the Lioness series, which is one of my favorite series from my childhood. This story is the more grown up version of that series. I look forward to the next one.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC of this book.

Kingdoms, traditions, power plays and war create a strong backdrop for this engaging tale about a pair of twins and their destiny to rule the kingdom.

Karkov has always been ruled by men, but when the current king can't bear to kill off his twin girls and attempt to have a male heir, instead, the upcoming chaos is set. Jillian and Natalia are as different as can be. Jillian, the first born and future heir, is a strong warrior and refuses to let anyone speak against her. Natalia is quiet and kind, and destined to marry. And they love each other fiercely. When Jillian's fate takes an unexpected turn, and she falls in love with a person she cannot, the already divided kingdom is severed. The lands surrounding them have waited for this moment to strengthen their own positions. Now, Jillian and Natalia must find a way to save their father's kingdom and themselves.

I was excited to get lost in this read and enjoyed the plunge. Jillian and Natalia are characters to root for. Their sisterly bond is beyond inspirational, and both have a heart of gold. The world around them is unforgiving and holds extremely high-expectations. Add the constant jeering for power as kingdoms and lands often see, and the two have a huge task on their plates. Especially since their own warrior nation is not 100% in favor of having a female ruler. But it goes beyond this as Jillian and Natalia also learn to discover their own true desires and who they really are...not who they've been brought up to be. So, there's a wonderful coming-of-age involved as well.

The plot is very well laid, holding many twists and turns, tension, and inner conflict. There are wars and emotions, and even romance. It's this rich plot building, which makes this read intriguing. The writing itself is often dialogue driven and moves along at a very good pace. It took me quite awhile to really sink into the style, since it's lighter on descriptions and doesn't build up a rich world on the senses end. I'd almost say it felt choppy or superficial, but that's not it. The writing flows and is solid, just not my usual thing. The characters are endearing, and the scenes are engaging. I do recommend this one to fans of tales with historical flair (although not based in fact) because this one is well done and holds a story, which is hard to forget. I received a DRC and enjoyed this one quite a bit.

In The Last Lion of Karkov, Dale Griffin takes readers on Natalia and Jillian's thrilling adventure as they navigate being the heirs to a long-standing empire. However, becoming heiresses to this empire is not as easy as it may seem. The twins must withstand trying battles to protect their sisterly bond. Dale Griffin does a phenomenal job of fabricating a loyal sister relationship and creating strong female characters that work to protect themselves, their sisterhood, and their country of Karkov. Jillian and Odani are amazing but Natalia is definitely my favorite. She can be sweet and kind and caring but fierce loyal and intimidating at the same time.

This author builds an amazing culture and storyline with so many amazing characters countries royalty and warriors. It also reminds me the shadow and bone series by Leigh Bardugo. Highly recommend if you are fan of tv shows like Game of Thrones or House of the Dragons!