Review: The Last Slayer by Nadia Lee

Ashera Del Cid is a demon hunter who works with her foster family’s company that defends humans against demon dream attacks. When Ashera deals with a case that quickly turns ugly she comes across the mysterious and seductive Ramiel who claims that he is there to help and guide her because she is no ordinary demon hunter, but is actually a Slayer and the last of of her kind. With her life thrown in disarray, she is drawn into a web of intrigue and warring dragon lord factions because of her mysterious origins which she discovers brings major revelations.

You have to love an opening of a book where the heroine has to drink an energetic drug potion called Sex (which doesn’t taste as delicious as it sounds) to get a boost of preternatural energy to battle demons.   Ashera is a smart and independent heroine who has some great wise-cracking lines and kick ass scenes. Although she is wary to get to close to many people, because of being abandoned as a baby and thrust from foster home to foster home, she is close and loves her foster sister and foster father who are also her co-workers, but she has always felt like an outcast and an outsider.

The romantic subplot was also a real joy to read and I really loved Ramiel who I think was pretty sexy and charismatic and the scenes he shared with Ashera oozed with sexual tension. I especially loved their first love scene which was very sensual and the imagery depicted was imaginative and erotic. I really liked how their relationship progressed in the book which had its fair share of road-bumps and especially how it tied in with the development of Ashera’s character who undergoes a real metamorphosis throughout the book.  I also felt that the romance  evolved naturally with real tension but without any forced angst and I look forward to see how it develops in future books to see how it further develops.

I also really loved Nadia Lee use of mythology which was really vivid and full of rich details. The world she created of dragons and their dragon lords, and other demon beings was very memorable, and it had a dreamy descriptive feel. The different types of dragons such as the wyrms and wyverns in the action scenes was tense and creepy. But I have to say I really  loved the tinker wyrm who plays a butler type role for the Dragon-Lords, and I especially loved Toshi, who was  Ramiel’s servant who gave real splash of humour to the story who was pretty neurotic about his domestic duties for his master.

I wished there was more time spent on Ashera’s feelings towards some of the revelations she uncovers especially the scene that is integral about her mother. And I did feel the pace slowed in the middle of the book whilst the ending was rushed and a bit anti-climatic with the lead up to the big battle, although that final scene felt really epic in scope and filled with high octane action. But nonetheless, it was a fulfilling ending to a highly enjoyable book.

The Last Slayer is an imaginative and action packed Urban Fantasy that I immensely enjoyed with its premise of dream demons and dragon-lords. For a genre that I have been kind of  burned out on the past year or so, it really felt refreshing  from the all the usual vampires, werewolves and witches and tropes that is usually featured in Urban Fantasy. The underlying erotic tone also adds a touch of heat but doesn’t overpower the story or characters but really adds to the book. With  an engaging wise-cracking heroine and a smouldering hero, and epic fantastical tone,  I highly recommend The Last Slayer if you fancy something new.

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