Last of the Talons
Ratings4
Average rating4.3
15
Ratings4
Average rating4.3
“Last of the Talons is a stunning blend of dark romance and Korean mythology. Sophie Kim writes enemies to lovers with heart-pounding intensity, blurring the line between love and hate. Bloodthirsty, addictive, and searingly romantic.” —Axie Oh, New York Times bestselling author of The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea After the destruction of her entire Talon gang, eighteen-year-old Shin Lina—the Reaper of Sunpo—is forced to become a living, breathing weapon for the kingdom’s most-feared crime lord. All that keeps her from turning on her ruthless master is the life of her beloved little sister hanging in the balance. But the order to steal a priceless tapestry from a Dokkaebi temple incites not only the wrath of a legendary immortal, but the beginning of an unwinnable game... Suddenly Lina finds herself in the dreamlike realm of the Dokkaebi, her fate in the hands of its cruel and captivating emperor. But she can win her life—if she kills him first. Now a terrible game of life and death has begun, and even Lina's swift, precise blade is no match for the magnetic Haneul Rui. Lina will have to use every weapon in her arsenal if she wants to outplay this cunning king and save her sister...all before the final grain of sand leaks out of the hourglass. Because one way or another, she'll take Rui's heart. Even if it means giving up her own.
Featured Series
4 primary booksTalon is a 5-book series with 5 primary works first released in 2013 with contributions by Sophie Kim and Julie Kagawa.
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thank you netgalley for the digital arc!
this was such a wonderful and culturally rich story! i adored the descriptions of nature, lore and food. it was kind of a rocky beginning (the flashbacks confused me sometimes and took me out of it a bit), but the longer you read the more you want to know what happens. it was also great to see a story like this where the assassin doesn't give up after a single try, and that ultimately made their relation more authentic and believable.
this was a great debut novel and i am definitely going to be picking up the sequel when it comes out!
I think this year either I really like the first book of the series (this book, The Stardust Thief, The Girl from the Well) or I dislike it/dnf it (Lightlark, The School for Good and Evil). Luckily, this definitely wasn't the case with this book. I went in expecting an interesting plot and characters. What I got was something much more. A fascinating, intriguing plot, rich world-building, and compelling characters.
I liked that it had a bit of a retelling and I really liked that the book was inspired by Korean mythology. I liked that I had to look up what different terms meant (or that I sometimes didn't have to because context clues were enough). Though I had an audio copy so I looked at others' reviews for the spelling first. Next time I'll definitely read a physical/ebook version so I know how to say and spell the words (because I'm not familiar with them).
Lina, being the main character, was well-written and lively, and fun to follow. She loves her sister, Eunbi, so much that she's literally willing to try to kill a Dokkaebi Emperor – a powerful spirit in Korean mythology. When she speaks of her sister, it's of love and affection and you can understand her reason for doing all this. You want her to complete the task because it means she'll see her sister again. There's a bit of chronic pain representation in the book because Lina's left leg is damaged from a (knife) injury, and I'm guessing nerve damage too, by the sound of it. The pain she felt when she landed wrong or fell and hurt her leg – I felt that all throughout – in fact I think my legs were also reading the book and wanted to join in.
At first I thought it was another immortal falls for the 17-20 girl (Lina's 18 or 19) book – but turns out that Dokkaebi age much slower than humans – so he's technically twenty, and also centuries old
