The Last Namsara (Iskari Series, book 1)
By Kristen Ciccarelli
In the beginning, there was the Namsara: the child of sky and spirit, who carried love and laughter wherever he went. But where there is light, there must be darkness—and so there was also the Iskari. The child of blood and moonlight. The destroyer. The death-bringer.
These are the legends that Asha, daughter of the king of Firgaard, has grown up learning in hushed whispers, drawn to the forbidden figures of the past. But it isn’t until she becomes the fiercest, most feared dragon slayer in the land that she takes on the role of the next Iskari—a lonely destiny that leaves her feeling more like a weapon than a girl.
Asha conquers each dragon and brings its head to the king, but no kill can free her from the shackles that await at home: her betrothal to the cruel commandant, a man who holds the truth about her nature in his palm. When she’s offered the chance to gain her freedom in exchange for the life of the most powerful dragon in Firgaard, she finds that there may be more truth to the ancient stories than she ever could have expected. With the help of a secret friend—a slave boy from her betrothed’s household—Asha must shed the layers of her Iskari bondage and open her heart to love, light, and a truth that has been kept from her.
This book starts of with a scene that is forbidden within the kingdom. Asha the main character is telling old stories to the dragons, this is to entice them near her so she can can kill them. She is away from the rest of her team because she does not want them to know she can no longer kill a dragon without telling it a story.
But by speaking the old stories to the dragons it makes them stronger and the person telling them weaker. When a dragon becomes stronger they are able to breathe fire once again.
This is how Asha got the scar on her face and down her body she was hurt by the first dragons fire. But once again she ends up getting burnt and someone turns up asking that she go see her father straight away.
Asha is then enticed by her fathers offer to not marry the man she hates. So she tries her best. But the thing is a lot of things seem to be getting in her way and stopping her from doing the task she really wants to do.
Throughout this book there is forbidden romance and quite a few historic myths with the dragons and her people.
While reading this book I enjoyed reading about the present life and then the past told through one of the old stories. There was a great amount of detail for the scenes and characters. You felt connected to the whole book and I really wish that we hadn't had to wait a year for the second book: The Caged Queen.
This book felt perfect, there was quite a bit of action, forbidden love, brotherly love and hierarchy.
Throughout the book there is a few twists which you start to make sense towards the end. You also discover who the enemies are and who the friends are.
I'd 100% recommend this book to anyone that likes twists, forbidden love and families.
This is my second time reading it, my rating and opinion of the book has increased and it has went higher up my recommended list. I'm not sure why it's actually changed if I'm being honest. I just feel like I can relate more to the characters now and appreciate the situations they all get in. I also really enjoy the forbidden love now and know what happens to them in the future.
Another thing that I really enjoyed about the old stories being separate from the chapters was that it allowed you to put time frame stamps on them and also understand the meaning of something happening to the main character, so I thought they really fitted in with the story and made them come alive.
Favourite Characters: Torwin
Read: 25/09/18 - 30/09/18
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