I had really high hopes when requesting this book, unfortunately, it did work out for me.
What worked about this book: I loved how Ramillia fights to keep her humanity even after the many horrible and tragic things that happen to her. She has a defined set of morals which she does not cross until the very end. There were scenes in this book that hooked me and pulled me through.
What didn't work: There are a slew of trigger warnings that should not be taken lightly when engaging with The Last Immortal. Knowing that they were coming helped me to prepare for what I was reading. Beyond these, there are parts of the story that were very confusing. The main character, Ramillia is from the Victorian era, telling her story in modern times. Each section of the book opens with an introduction, modern day reflection and then goes back. This combination was jarring to me and I would have preferred an introduction and then timeline leading from the start to finish of the section. Ramillia also refers to "how it was back then" when I had thought that the action was back then. Also, there are a lot of characters within Ramillia all who are introduced and mentioned but don't play large parts. Her inner beings/personas were confusing.
Overall, I loved the premise. I just wish that the writing would have been clearer and not jumped around so much.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for an advance reading copy in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

I was so incredibly excited for this book but unfortunately it was .. underwhelming. Beautiful writing, poor character development.

I requested this book thinking it might be a contender for our book box but sadly could not make it past the trigger warnings.

Thank you NetGalley and BHC for the ARC of The Last Immortal for an honest review.

I finished the book yesterday, but still struggling to find the words to make a review. I will post an updated one when the book comes out and I can post spoilers

First and foremost, make sure you read the trigger warnings. It is most definitely a very dark goth-horror themed books.
I don’t have any trigger warnings so I skipped past reading them and was even shocked by some of the things that took place.
That being said, with a lot of the trigger warnings, they are briefly mentioned most of the time or kind of glossed over. Even the few smut scenes were like a 1 out of 5 rating. It was mentioned, but the author doesn’t go into detail.

The way the book reads is like you’re reading Ramilias (FMC) diary. On multiple occasions the author will start the chapter with the main climax, and then go back in time to tell you what happened. I was very confused at first but you kind of get the hang of it.

I liked the idea of a new way to be an immortal by this genetic mutation that could be passed on by family.
I wish there was more of an explanation of what exactly an Incola and a carrier is and how they came about.
Also, “Riding” a carrier also gave me the ick.

Another thing I had a hard part with is the fact that you can’t really relate to any of the characters.
You have these immortal beings with no good traits that you’re rooting for.
You have Ramilia who is finding out she’s a monster and learning about how she becomes that way and you can’t relate to her either.
I did like that even though it was the Victorian period, she became a woman of her own standards and takes matters into her own hands to get what she wants.
Just.. so much death, and for what exactly? Especially since they next generation pops up more incolas and carriers.

All in all, it is a dark, goth horror book so I expected nothing less than crazy and obscure.
I did finish it, but it was a very hard read.

I couldn't finish this book. I really enjoyed the first ten percent but after that it lost my interest completely. I got up to 25% I just don't think this one was for me, I couldn't get behind the new direction it was going and the characters. Thank you for providing me with an advance copy.

First I would like to thank Net Galley and BHC Press for an advanced reader's copy.

The first thing you should know about this book is that there is a lot of dark content. Please check the trigger warnings if you feel the need to. It is a dark gothic horror book. There is a lot of body-horror and sexual and emotional abuse.

Positives:
- This book was dark as advertised! I loved the shock I felt at every turn.
- The main character felt very relatable and it was easy to sympathize.
- The premise felt new. I don't feel like I've read this book a million times before.

Negatives:
- This book felt like it was meant to be a trilogy and was smashed together into one book. There were many moments where in-depth descriptions were repeated as if I hadn't read it less than 100 pages ago. This made the book feel much longer than it was and caused it to drag a bit.
- The ending felt a bit anti-climactic. Without giving anything away, this book was so full of action and big reveals the ending felt a little out of the blue. Maybe if there was more alluding to this ending earlier in the book it would have felt more satisfying.
- The author also decided to put a little jump ahead in time at the beginning of each "part" that I felt gave away huge events that I wish had been left as a surprise. Could have done without those.
- The main character is supposed to be a centuries-old being recounting the events of her life, but she sounds more like a teenage girl throughout the whole book.

Overall I enjoyed my experience reading this book. It met expectations and deserves at least 3 stars. I think if the book had cut down on a few of the repetitive descriptions and had maybe aged the narrator a bit this could have been a 4 star book.

Before I get into the review this book does contain a lot of dark themes, which are accurately described in the trigger warnings at the beginning of the book so please make sure to check those out before you read!

I overall did enjoy this book! It contained some really strong writings but at times I felt like we repeating information we had previously learned a few chapters back and that happened a few times throughout the book. I like that it was split into 3 parts, but considering the book was less than 600 pages it felt like I was reading an 800+ page book at time. I think it would've benefitted from splitting the book into two.

The "magic" system was really unique and I haven't read anything similar to this which is refreshing. I use the term magic loosely because the MC says herself its not magic they use. The FMC was more of an anti-hero because in no way was she a good person. Yes she did try to stop the main evil but she was also evil in herself which I thought was interesting. The world that was built was very thorough and I enjoyed reading and learning about the world and how it worked. I liked how it was written in a style where the FMC was recounting the past and wrote a journal. And how she did not conform to societies standards at the time. She grew a lot from relying on her husband to being someone who can stand on her own without a mans help. Which was refreshing and she became a power house in her own right.

This book isn't for everyone. It is very dark, very graphic, the triggers are definitely would be triggering to some. Which in my opinion is great, that means you are doing what you want to do with a dark fantasy novel. I've read my fair share of dark fantasy/dark romance books & this one one like no other. At time it was slow but it was worth it. I think to better help those that have triggers, make the trigger list longer.
Thank you for this arc!

I feel bad about giving this book such a low rating. I don't think it deserves three stars but I don't think it wholly deserves to be shut down as a two star read either. Maybe I'm too nice? Maybe I need to re-evaluate my rating system? Regardless, I've rated this book 2.5 but rounded down to 2 stars for Goodreads.

The reason I decided to round down is because, for me, the negatives outweighed the positives. The main negative was the pacing. I felt like there was too much packed into one book. For example, I thought the book ended at the end of Part 1 before realising there were two more parts to the book and then I felt exhausted. Each part began with a flash-forward which was interesting for Part 1 and got me excited about the book; but this felt jarring and spoiler-ish for Part 2 and almost made me DNF at Part Three. However, I obviously didn't care to much as I didn't DNF the book. That’s mainly because there were parts I found interesting and enjoyed in the moment.

Personally, I think Part 1 is where the real story was. This is mainly because of Hester as well as the toxic and abusive dynamic between Ramillia and Julian, and the topics surrounding childhood trauma. I would have loved to see these areas explored with more depth and nuance. Instead, these areas were sped over to make room for the other two-thirds of the book.

Also, I know a lot of ARC readers went into this story blind. I'm thankful that I got a copy with the trigger warnings at the front. I do caution anyone interested in this book to look at those and take care when reading, particularly survivors of CSA. While I wouldn’t call these dark themes ‘enjoyable’, their existence in the narrative did not impact my review.

For transparency, I DNFd at 60%.

I find that a lot of dark fantasy is dark for darkness' sake. I know the child SA is commonly talked about this this novel, but it's simply one of those things that makes you wonder why such a thing would be written in a novel that doesn't require the details of it, when things like the "why" behind a LOT of things, making this incredibly difficult to follow a lot of the time.

There was also way too much going on in terms of occult types and not a single character was likable. For how long this novel is, and how jam-packed with prose it is, not much can be discovered about its purpose, as it simply seems to be horrific for horror's sake.

Thank you to BHC Press and NetGalley for providing an ARC.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for the eARC in exchange for a honest review…This book is set in the Victorian era and has huge gothic and horror over and undertones. This story follows Lady Ramillia through her immortal life that has been anything but easy and pleasant. This book has had issues due to leaving out the laundry list of trigger warnings which are now present….

I did not hate the book nor did I love it. The author does an incredible job of providing a very deep and rich environment but I felt like the overall book and plot were lacking. I will say that I never knew where the book was going. I had a difficult time staying engaged throughout the story. If you enjoy dark, disturbing novels than this is a read for you.

This book was dark. The author describes this book as not for the faint of heart, and she is correct. My only critique is that more detailed trigger warnings should be placed in the front of the book to warn readers. While I enjoy dark fiction, and not many triggers bother me, not everyone is like that.

Overall, I really enjoyed the last immortal. There were parts that were confusing, but I think that was the authors purpose. The narrator is also confused and does not know who to believe. She has been abused and manipulated by everyone in her life. The reader is in the dark just like Ramillia. Who is she? What is she? Is she evil? I don't want to spoil anything, but I had so many questions and theories about this book, and the author kept me guessing.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for an ARC of The Last Immortal.

Too much telling instead of showing and the time just seems to jump around without making it known. I love horror novels and this being a gothic story featuring immortality sounded right up my alley but sadly it lacked the execution. I was just bored and didn’t like the writing style so decided to DNF.

After reading other reviews, I’d end up DNFing eventually, or powering through but rating it low on social media/goodreads/amazon. I enjoy horror novels and dark, morally questionable characters but the stuff that is mentioned in other reviews makes it sound like trauma porn for the sake of shocking the reader rather than any sort of character/plot development. I’m fully aware the synopsis says not for the faint of heart but it seems the story is even more extreme than the synopsis suggests.

Do not ignore the trigger warnings and I never would have requested this on Netgalley had I known the CWs and how carelessly they would be handled.

The pacing to me felt very off. Additionally, I feel as though the author was not sure exactly which genre she wanted to go with while writing this. Seems like a lot of “shock value” elements were added just for the sake of it. I was not really invested in the characters at all.

*** Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this arc in exchange for an honest review. ***

Based off the description The Last Immortal seemed right up my alley. A rich Gothic horror with a splash of the fantastical. I was very unprepared for what I'd actually reading.

My copy did have a small list of trigger warnings at the beginning but after finishing this book I can say they there ABSOLUTELY needs to a edit to include more trigger warnings. The ones currently listed do not do justice to just how dark and intense some of the content in this book is. Had I been aware of some of said content I would have passed on requesting this arc.

I do appreciate the authors attention to historical details and how well that information helps the reader really picture the stage in which the story is set. At times it does kind of muddle the pacing of the book and it's easy to get lost in the information.

I think my biggest issue with this book was just how hard it was to connect with Ramillia and to really develop any kind of attachment to her as a character. I feel like the intention was to really drive home just how much what is happening impacts her but it's almost too detached to the point the execution just falls flat.

Due to an undisclosed content warning that I found out about in reviews, I will not be finishing this book. Even with what I did read I could not recommend this to my audience. I did the think the synopsis made it sound good and the cover is pretty but this will not be one for me based on that content warning.

The last immortal is a dark fantasy book that unifies the Carriers trilogy into one book.

The story opens with Ramillia in an insane asylum. Doctors tell her she is there because she killed her family in a fit of rage, which she continues to have and of which she remembers nothing. She lives imprisoned and mistreated, but everything changes with the appearance of a benefactor, Sir Julian Lawrence, whom she marries through an arranged marriage. But appearances can be deceiving and Ramillia must pay a price to get out of the asylum.

This is a story of redemption, but also of what power can do to a person. Ramillia is a woman who goes through all the facets that a woman can go through in her life and leaves taboos aside. She breaks with what was expected at the time and overcomes countless obstacles.

It's a story that fascinated me and managed to get me out of a pseudo slump. Ramillia fits perfectly into what an anti-hero is. It's impossible not to become emotionally attached to her and the characters around her. She is a character who starts from the bottom, to rise and fall many times, corrupting herself along the way. At the beginning we read her as completely innocent and hopeful about life, but as the story progresses, she becomes more and more fractured, becoming a very ruthless woman.

It has a very good representation of post-traumatic stress disease, although, given the time in which it occurs, we are never given the name of the diagnosis.

It is a raw and real story, in which it is evident that nothing is black and white. Ramillia loves and hates in equal parts, sometimes even the same person. She seeks to understand what is behind the actions of each person around her.

If you are fans of Jay Kristoff's Nevernight or Empire of the vampire like I am, you will surely enjoy this book. It is a dark and disturbing book at times, but, according to my tastes, it is very much worth it.

Reviewed both on Goodreads and Instagram.

I never saw any trigger warnings before I started this. There should be A LOT of warnings. I am not going to finish this book.

Unfortunately, The Last Immortal was nothing at all like I was expecting and I got around 20-30% into the book before I had to DNF it, despite how much I love dark and creepy stories–this was one I just could not fathom completing.

Whilst I was not bothered in the slightest by the triggers (and believe me there are many including but not limited to; rape/sexual assault both as a child and an adult, incest, abuse, abortion etc), it was the complex and sometimes overbearing plotline and characters that prevented me from continuing and fully enjoying this novel.

What baffled me the most was the sheer lack of emotional response or actual sense of character within the main female protagonist, Lady Ramillia Winmoore! As someone who has experienced abuse amongst other tramua that Ramillia suffers, she shows an extremely concerning lack of concern regarding what she has been through. She appears to have no emotional response to being told about her trauma or when she looks back at her past (as this is written as a memoir with Ramillia now being over two centuries old) and this is not what a trauma victim would act like, even with the memory issues. It is also very frightening how easily she trusts the people around her, especially the main male protagonist. Someone who has clearly been abused by men all her life would not immediately meet her betrothed and think very lustful thoughts about them, as Ramilla does in this novel.

And the other issue I have with the book is the sheer amount of information being thrown at you, most of it being useless historical and societal context of which the reader does not really need to know. If the author had focused more on explaining the plot and the powers that Ramilla has (which I still did not fully understand even after re-reading), I would have liked this book a bit better but sadly, this one was not a winner for me.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review.

I recieved a free copy of this book from NetGalley, thank you to them and publisher.

The Last Immortal is a meandering, Victorian, gothic, horror, written as a memoir - someone taking us through their past, chronologically as they experienced it.

The author clearly did a lot of research about the time. But it sometimes feels shoehorned in as the main character takes time out of the story to explain how things were different compared to more contemporary times.

This is a book with a lot of dark and disturbing subject matter, however, there were scenes added that didn't didn't seem to serve the plot. Our main character seems to feel little, and doesn't seem to have many emotional responses. I found myself unable to determine her motivations or develop any attachment.

There is very little development of the other characters. It is difficult to tell if it's because they are meant to be hollow, or if it's because that's how the main character views them, or if they were simply an afterthought.

I think that there are people who will enjoy this, but it was not for me. It is a slow mover and gives you barely any clue as to what the plot of the book actually is until you're more than 20% in. The supernatural elements are very interesting and feel fresh and original.

If you want a challenging horror read that makes you work for it, this is the book for you