With so many books out there, sometimes you have to make a choice. To my dismay, I had to DNF after 50%.  

I always try my hardest not to DNF a book, but I couldn’t get in this one, no matter how hard I tried.

It’s unfortunate since the premise caught my attention and I was excited to have been chosen for this ARC. First, the red thread of fate magic is something unique I haven’t seen before and I couldn’t wait to see how it would pan out. Unfortunately, it was secondary in the book. There’s a boy who can see the red threads of fate and that was it. Second, he’s tasked to find the last living dragon. He does so a bit too easily, and afterward, the other plot twists were too predictable for me. I could see all of them coming.

I can’t help but wonder if it’s because of pacing issues that it doesn't go deeper into the story. I usually like fast-paced books, but in this instance, the fast pacing meant we glossed over everything. We didn’t have the chance to go into it so much, meaning I didn’t feel invested.  

My lack of investment might also be related to the fact that I didn’t connect with any character. Before I dwell on the specifics, I want to mention that it's only my opinion. Since I know a lot of characters in books are derived from the author or someone they know, I want to make sure I don’t offend anyone with what I’m about to say.  

The MMC, Sai, felt flat to me. He doesn’t have a lot of personality traits except for his misplaced overconfidence in his abilities. In the half I have read, he put himself in danger and was saved by someone else four times. It doesn’t show a lot of skills. And even though he knows that about himself, he doesn’t try to be more careful or to learn some survival skills and he still feels pretty good about himself afterwards. Even more so, his Fated one insinuates many times that they have already met, but he never picks up on it. Then again, she isn't any better as she keeps referring to it before dismissing it and refusing to answer Sai's questions. If it was an attempt to raise suspense, it only raised my annoyance with the character.

That being said, the love interest, Jyn, Sai’s Fated one, isn’t much more developed. We only see her through the eyes of Sai, the MMC, so except for being the most beautiful girl in the world, we don’t know much else about her. It's still enough for Sai to fall in love with her. Granted, they're soulmates, but it still felt like instant love to me.
 
All of these could have been redeemed if the writing had been amazing. Unfortunately, it wasn’t. It wasn’t bad either, it just wasn’t good enough to overpower the other flaws. The same thing can be said about the world-building. Since it takes place in China, pretty much as is, there isn’t really any world-building per se. Plus, if you don’t know about China, you might feel lost, just as I did. It’s explained so quickly that knowing it beforehand is necessary. Or having a map of China in hand. 

All in all, this wasn’t a bad book; it just wasn’t enough to keep me invested. If I had been able to keep reading, some of the flaws might have been less significant; I would've learned more about Jyn, Sai might have grown out of his overconfidence and, maybe the plot twists are better as we go along. That’s why I really tried to keep reading as much as I could.

♾️✨

🐉 DRAGONS
🐉 Chinese mythology
🐉 Reverse grumpy/sunshine (He is sunshine and she is grumpy)
🐉 MC’s magic makes him see soulmates through threads
🐉 >25yo characters
🐉 Fated mates
🐉 Beautiful romance

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this arc!
I was completely blown away by this story. I love Chinese mythology more than any other mythologies out there and combined with this author’s writing? Pure perfection. This started as a 4✨ but quickly turned into a 5✨ read.
The characters, the world building, the enchanting tale, the prose… the last time I felt this passionately about a book was back in February.
The soulmates threads was such a beautiful thing to read about. The romance was to die for. I cried a few times. This was an incredibly well written tale and I highly recommend it. I’m jealous of everyone who gets to read this for the first time 🥺

I have a feeling TikTok will go crazy about this book and it’ll be rightfully so. This book has made its way to my favourite ever reads.
I will definitely buy this beautiful book when it comes out and hope Owlcrate picks it up for special edition 🥹

I loved how well thoughtout this book was, the mythology was amazing and it fit the story line perfectly.
This was one of my most anticipated books this year and it truly lived up to everything I thought it would!

"I'm whole and complete and home."

Thank you to NetGalley, Katrina Kwan, and Simon & Schuster Canada for the E-ARC!

The Last Dragon of the East was one of my most anticipated books of 2024, so when I got the notice telling me I got approved for the E-ARC, I was overjoyed! I'm so happy to say that this book was incredible and somehow so much more than I thought it was.

I'm going to be very careful in this review, as I don't want to spoil anything. I think one of the greatest things about this story is the mystery of it. I loved discovering the world and it's magic and myths with Sai. The author did an amazing job of giving the reader information little by little, allowing the reader to get glimpses of what was happening, without ever needing to info-dump. It felt like the story was unraveling around me, and every time I discovered something new, I was enthralled.

I loved the character voices used as well, and how different everyone was. We have Sai, our main character who runs a teahouse, who speaks very eloquently, with a charm and charisma that doesn't usually work in his favour. We have a character from the South who has an accent and is brash, and isn't afraid to speak their mind. We have another (who I won't give a name to), who is secretive and enticing. Even every side character was very unique and I loved finding out more about them.

Without saying much, the romance in this book was so perfectly done. You were able to feel Sai's emotions so well throughout the entire story. The author does such a good job with it, and I won't say more, you'll just have to see for yourself.

I can't wait for this book to come out, so more people can experience it (and so I can have it for my shelf)! I'm really so grateful that I had the chance to read it early.

Sai has a gift of seeing the red threads of fate between soulmates. His mom purchases a pair of dragon scales that actually cure. He is forced by the emperor to search for the dragon and he finally sees his own thread.

I love the chinese mythology. It is fascinating. The plot is interesting. The characters are great. Truly enjoy it.

Thanks to the publisher for the arc.