The Last Dragon King started so strong. I was hooked from the beginning and really thought I was going to love this book. As the story progressed, I fell out of love with the characters. None of the characters had backbones or just generally basic standards. Massive plot twists or dramatic events were quickly passed over. I don’t think I’ve experienced a situation where I loved the characters and the premise of the book just to end up hating all the characters and their lack of character development. Severely disappointed with the progression of the book. Overall 2 ⭐️

Thank you to SOURCEBOOKS Bloom Books and the author for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This book is a page turner for sure! Finished this book in two days. Various elements of the book reminded me of Game of Thrones, ACOTAR, From Blood and Ash, and The Selection, all of which I enjoy. It was so close to a five star. Having a fantasy book with a low page count (for much of the genre) immediately caught my attention. More was needed. The author had to do a lot of TELLING instead of SHOWING. I would have liked more showing in regards to the relationship between Arwen and Joslyn, specifically, because having Arwen say they were close took me off guard, even with the "three weeks later" disclaimer. Why did the spell covering Arwen's magic wear off when it did? Was it because she had just turned 18? Maybe I missed that, but more in regards to why the magic spell wore off when it did. My biggest pet peeve was that the word "grin" was used too much. What else could the author use to convey mischief or humor? Truly though--I enjoyed this book and will continue on with the series and will read more by the author.

if only I was younger and on the right…

3.2/ 5.0 This story is not bad. I like the plot and the way magic is manifested in this world. I intend to read all 4 books because for all the shortcomings, it’s not bad. It’s just meant for a far younger audience than I am part of. It also is written for a more conservative audience.

The characters are not complex or deeply developed. There feels like so much more importance to the FL (Arwen) and like she should be more mature, but she is 17. She is literally a child, and not a child in some fantasy world that’s has dragons and fae, but a child in our modern world that’s play acting. The emotional swings, the doubt and disbelief, the drama is all attuned to a teenager, not to someone even in their mid 20s, and certainly not to what a person growing up as a peasant in a semi-medieval world would exhibit. The ML (Drae) is equally devoid of any real, lasting permanence in a reader’s mind.

There is no smut in this, it is not fairy-corn in the least and actually portrays sex and childbirth as being unpleasant to downright excruciating, respectively. As a mother of two successful and two unsuccessful births, I feel the trauma surrounding the ML is not addressed in the story at all. It is something that happened to him and he just moves on for duty, and I get there’s a time limit for the plot, but it is glossed over hurriedly. The author seems to want to keep this in the YA instead of letting it be NA, so again we are dealing with a very young person. There are many individuals out there that have dealt with loss like this at an early age (teens to 20s) and there is a missed opportunity by this author to really write about that trauma and ways of getting through it. I have reviewed books before that use this type of writing device, trauma as petty dramatics instead of true growth in a character, and it alway leaves a bad aftertaste, so to speak.

I am surprised that the human queen has all these people that can invent great weapons and such, but no one defects ever, or no spies steal this technology to invent counter measures in the magic kingdoms? Again, I am older than the intended audience, so my level of skepticism is higher, but in our reality with all the intensity that people are going through, I wonder if the shortcomings in this book are a result of the author’s naïveté or intentional ignorance. The battle scenes and military strategies are so juvenile they are nearly elementary, and the author seems to have done little to no research on writing war scenes. That tracks with the book being for a younger, conservative audience.

Like I said, I will read the next books because I am interested in the plot. Do not expect rave reviews, but most likely more of the same. There are 4 men these books follow, so I imagine the formula will emerge quickly.

Until Next Time,
MC

Thank you to Netgalley, Leia Stone, and Bloom for giving me an eARC of The Last Dragon King in exchange for my honest review.

The concept of this book is so interesting to me. Arwen believes she is a quarter dragon at best, so when the Roya Sniffers identify her as having enough magic to carry the Dragon King's heir, she is shocked. Arwen finds herself alongside 100 other women who were pulled from their homes to see if they would be chosen to be Queen. But this is not the selection, the Queen is simply chosen based on her power.

Arwen is a powerful heroine. She is not afraid to stand up for what she believes in and fight for what she thinks is right. She will not let herself settle and does not care about being Queen. My one qualm with Arwen and the book as a whole is that I wish is was longer. The relationship felt rushed and while I could see the connection between the two, I wished there were 50-100 more pages that just developed it a little more. It all just felt rushed. But do not get me wrong, I did still really enjoy this book and essentially read it in one sitting. Will I be reading book two? Absolutely. There is a lot of potential with this series and I cannot wait to see where Stone takes it.

"I promise I will not let you fall."

I was so intrigued by the premise of this book, and I could NOT put it down! I read it in only a handful of hours and enjoyed every minute. It is perfect for upper YA teens, though there is a bit of spice.

This book reminded me a lot of The Selection and Trial of the Sun Queen. The Dragon King is running out of time and is looking for a new wife to produce an heir. Arwen, the FMC, has no magic to her knowledge, and is just struggling to provide for her mother and sister. As the blurb for this book already states, Arwen will be one of the chosen to compete for the king's hand.

Though I ATE this book up, there were some flaws - mainly, it is too short and underdeveloped. I would love to have seen more competition between the women, more battle scenes, and more angsty build up between the two main characters. Still, I loved it and look forward to reading the other books in the series.

Such a fun start to this romantasy series! Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really hate pick me girls. "Look at me! I'm not like other girls. I like hunting and not wearing dresses because people look dumb with them! I don't want to be queen, I'm just an ordinary girl." I'm starting to think that romantasy is not for me.

Thank you to netgalley and SOURCEBOOKS bloom books for the opportunity to read this eARC in exchange for a honest review..

Love the cover, loved the map even more! Every good fantasy book needs a map, it's such a great tool to help the reader picture the world.

I was instantly hooked within the first chapter, the writing flowed very well and with the descriptions of the characters and their world I easily pictured everything. The on page chemistry between Drae and Arwen even at the first meeting in the forest made know I was in for a good read. I really appreciated that Arwen was a strong independent woman who never let anyone push her around. It was also nice to see a male character who wasn't so full of himself that he couldn't apologize for his mistakes and never tried forcing his will onto everyone else through fear. I would definitely recommend this book to everyone who needs a fast paced, engaging read.

I have one large complaint and it was that the book was much to short, I need 600+ pages within this world, I'll be very anxiously awaiting the next book!

I had a lot of problems with this book, but ultimately, it came down to the writing and marketing of this book. The Last Dragon King is marketed in some locations as YA and other places as just Fantasy Romance. When I picked this book up, I was expecting a New Adult Fantasy, especially with the subject matter mentioned in the synopsis. Once I realized it wasn't, I was still willing to give it a go as a YA book. That in and of itself did not play a role in my reviewing of this book. I am judging this book in comparison to other YA Fantasy Books.

The Last Dragon King is written at or below a YA reading level. It all felt very superficial and lacked depth. For example, "I said something horrible to someone I liked, and now I felt like crap." This lack of emotional depth did a disservice to the topics of infant death and losing a spouse. In addition, so many things took me out of this book, such as the naming of places and animals: cougarin? bearin?? That's just lazy writing. If you can't develop unique animal names, keep them the same.

It very much played into the rut of "I'm not like other girls" with the energy of 'other girls like dresses, and I wear pants,' and 'I'm so skinny, but I love to eat, and I can just eat so much cake without gaining any weight.' This attempted to make the character relatable, but it felt so superficial.

Finally, the FMC came across as a girls girl and nonjudgmental, and then out of left field, I got hit with this quote: "This* was an incredibly intimate thing shared between two people. Something I couldn't imagine doing down at the tavern for one night like some of the girls did" *referring to sex. This made me lose all respect for the main character and reeked of purity culture and virginity culture, which is a damaging social construct that reeks of misogyny.

Overall, this book was hard to read. The book's overarching plot had a lot of potential, but making it YA while also trying to tackle more mature subject matter was a mistake, and the laziness of the writing made it completely unenjoyable.

I enjoyed a female character who can fend for herself. She has to hunt for her family to survive but ends up with a different destiny. It was fairly predictable with a female character who is “not like other girls, plain without any magic” and ends up having lot of magic and now marrying the king.

Lovely world building. I love this introduction into the world of Avalier. I found Arwen to be a really relatable character and really felt for her when she discovered her heritage. But im excited to see the other kings and their interactions with each other as well as the women who bring them to their knees.

This is a re-read for me, and surprisingly enjoyed it more than the first time after reading all four books.
There is lots of fighting/action, dragons, and love. This also starts the storyline of the Nightfall Queen and the other realms.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC of this book in exchance for a review!

Y'all, this was...not good. I don't know where to begin.

First off, content warning for infant death and miscarriage, because that's what the entire book is basically about.

The plot centers around The Dragon King's search for a wife, because his last wife just died during childbirth, and has also had 4 miscarriages. He needs a magical womb that is strong enough to carry a child of his, because he needs an heir. So he goes village to village to find magically rich women of childbearing age so they can essentially compete for a chance to birth his children, bachelor style. Because his magic is fading, and will only come back if he has an heir--it's never explained how that makes sense to anyone. Because it sure doesn't track for me.

Enter our FMC, Arwen, who is a "pick-me" and sooo not like other girls because she haaatess dresses and hunts. But she also wants to fall in love and get married and have kids--but not like all of the other girls in the village because she's <i> special </i> and <i> different </>. The first about 25% of the book makes sure to remind you how pure she is, how until the tent she has never even kissed a boy (she's 18), and how important it is to be pure for marriage. Which is then constantly brought up for the rest of the book.

She's not likable. Drae is not likeable--he barely exists despite the book being ABOUT him. Two importantish characters randomly die, and I felt nothing, because there is no character development for anyone. No chance for us to connect with them or anything. Just there when convenient, then poof-gone!

The wedding night scene is just...gross and terribly poorly written. Arwen is just magically good at everything despite not having any training. The plot of the war/the battles should be the focus, but it's definitely secondary to the idea of purity culture/marriage/being a womb. There are no villains because no one is developed--we're told this other queen is bad, no one can kill her, and then 150 pages later we're in battle with her and Arwen is saving the day. Again, with no training.

It was a fast read, and I read it in 2 days because I just wanted to be done with it. The writing is pretty accessible, but the plot is bad, the character development is bad, and the constant purity culture superiority is gross. This book is absolutely something I would have written when I was an eleven-year-old Catholic girl who wanted to write a fantasy novel. I can't even offer anything constructive as to how this could be tweaked or redeemed in the future because the entire premise of this is just...not good.

This was my first book by this author but it won’t be my last! This story sucked me in from the first page and I finished it in one setting. I loved the FMC and how she was not the typical girly girl. I also enjoyed the different relationships the FMC made along the way. This book did touch on some sensitive topics but the author appreciated them beautifully. If you want a faced paced, slow burn, action packed read this is the book for you!

I want to thank Leia Stone,Bloom Books and netgalley for this ARC. This is my honest opinion.

I read this book so fast!
I'm a big fan of the author and I've never been disappointed by his series, and once again I'm not, even though I prefer series to standalone.

how to sum up this book? A bit of magic, a bit of dragons, a bit of royalty, a bit of romance, a bit of action, a tragic story and you get "The last dragon king".

enter this new universe and discover a story of sacrifice and responsibility, mixed with romance at first sight (for one of the protagonists).

I'm sad to leave these characters so soon, and I hope to see them again in the sequel to this standalone series in the same universe.

The Last Dragon King was an engaging fantasy romance with plenty of action, court intrigue, and mysterious magic.

Arwen is a young woman from a small village who supports her widowed mother and younger sister. One day, soldiers from Jade City arrive in her town requiring all young women who possess magic to return to Jade City to enter into a competition to win the hand the Dragon King. But Arwen's mother tells her before she is taken away that she is actually her adopted mother, and that her real mother requested before she died that she be hidden from the royal family because the magic she possesses can get her killed. So must travel to the capital to compete, while avoiding the king's attentions, This becomes the biggest challenge of all as they are both drawn to one another right from the start.

I was drawn to this story from the intriguing description. However, while there may be an audience for this book, I was not it. While the overall plot seemed interesting, and the pacing was good for a standalone fantasy book, balancing both the action and romance while moving the plot along, there were many elements of the story that I did not enjoy. The main characters ages were 18 and 21, yet the overall tone of the writing skewed particularly younger. There were some "modern" terms and phrasing that were somewhat jarring and took me out of the fantasy entirely, Additionally, there was a "purity" element to the story, and the sense that marriage and sex are only to produce children, that was not fully disclosed and is not something I support.

While I enjoyed that this is a standalone book in an interconnected fantasy series, which is what drew me initially to the book, I will likely not continue with this series as I am not the intended audience. I do think this book has a place for a younger audience perhaps, or for those who have more conservative views on relationships and sexuality. Unfortunately, I do not fall in that demographic.

I want to thank NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS Bloom Books for the electronic advanced reader copy of this book.

I wasn't a big fan of the very saccharine romance and the 'not like other girls' attitude of the FMC. It's just not my cup of tea in heroine romance stories. Thank you!

I loooooves this. I didn’t realize going in that it was YA, but honestly, I didn’t mind one bit. The love story between Arwen and Drae was EVERYTHING. I loved her stupid mouth. I loved that not everything happened the way I expected… without giving any spoilers. And, towards the end, I was even happier it didn’t go as expected. Drae has found his way into my heart. I can’t wait to read the next book, even though I know it won’t center on this couple. Thank you Leia for bringing them into the world for everyone else to know, too!

I received an advanced reader's copy of The Last Dragon King by Leia Stone from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Overall, I enjoyed this novel and it made for a quick, easy read. The main characters - Arwen and Dragon King Drae - were an interesting match but they worked as a couple. Their banter was entertaining, they had decent chemistry, and they were pretty cute together. This novel was well written, the action moved swiftly, and the plot was engaging. It was rather rushed at the end, but overall a solid read.

The Last Dragon King by L. Stone, published by Sourcebooks is the first book in the Kings of Avalier Series.
The introduction to a whole new world.
I really enjoyed this story, the strong heroine who's already through a lot. She's a fighter.
I like the world building and set up.
Dragons, I love dragons in all forms and colors.
The story started out strong, at the end it became a bit rushed. Did the author lost interest??
All in all an ok story, 4 stars.

The Last Dragon King by Leia Stone is the first book in The Kings of Avalier fantasy series.
 
The heroine Arwen lives in a small mountain town and after her father’s death, she becomes the provider for her mother and little sister. She is a fierce and strong woman, and she reminded me a bit of Feyre from Acotar.
 
In this world there are several paranormal creatures and this one focuses mainly on dragons and the king of them is Drae Valdren. And in order to maintain power, he desperately needs an air and therefore launched a nationwide search for a new wife. This occurs a bit like in The Selection and was very entertaining and of course Arwen gets into the inner selection. Drae is also dealing with grief, and I liked how he showed his emotions during the story.
 
The plot is very fast paced, and action packed, and I practically flew through this book. The world building is very simple and therefore this book is definitely great if you want a quick romantasy read or you’re new to the genre. However, for me this story had so much potential, and a lot of plot points were just glossed over and could have been more detailed. Some things happened too fast like Awren being able to fly within a few minutes and sometimes things conveniently happened in the exact moment to favor the protagonists. Also, the thing I most anticipated finally happened, but it was only shown in a handful of pages at the end which didn’t satisfy me. Sometimes there are also jumps and that keeps Awren and Drae‘s relationship very superficial. Ultimately, I wish this story would have been extended into a duet or series.
 
If you’re looking for a fun and quick romantasy story, definitely check out The Last Dragon King. And I’m intrigued by the other books in this series. 3,5 stars.
 
(ARC kindly provided in exchange for a review.)