MY ⭐️ RATING: 4.25/5
Format: Kindle eBook & Physical Book
BOOK DESCRIPTION
A painted mage. An unfaithful queen. A stolen sthrone. Three lords in disguise. Escaping Atalantyx’s destruction, Prince Othrun has forged alliances with Eltnish kings: former enemy Hert and King Wely, who has promised Othrun a kingdom of his own.
When Wely’s realm was stolen by Wely’s wife, a powerful mage, and Wely’s brother, a feared warlord, Othrun hatched a daring plan to restore the rightful king. The bold scheme involved Othrun entering Lynchun in disguise, risking his life and the life of those with him, to topple the usurpers. But for Othrun’s plot to succeed, he must entrust his Atalanteans into the uncertain hands of Hert-on the cusp of confronting his own political challenges to kingship, while tasked with protecting Othrun’s followers-even as Wely, a captive where he should be king, gambles both crown and the head upon which it sat on Othrun’s survival.
Othrun’s abilities, faith, and trust in his mysterious guardian spirit are soon to be tested. The mage Lysi continues to entangle herself in Othrun’s affairs, tempting him, challenging his beliefs, and threatening to bring his plans to ruin. But Othrun, Lord of the Last of the Atalanteans, does not intend to fail. He will be a king. Or die trying. Othrun will go to battle, and he will triumph against the odds. If not, all will be burned to ashes, consumed in the fires of his ambition.
And so, the ancient war banner of Atalantean kings will fly. One last time. A kingdom has fallen. A legend will rise.
MY REVIEW
I absolutely loved the first book in this series, A Drowned Kingdom, which will be making my top 15 list this year, but for as great as it was, P.L. took his skills to another level with The Last of the Atalanteans by going even deeper into this world with Othrun still as the single point of view. Othrun has become a more likeable character and Stuart does a great job of showing the view of Othrun opening up to the world being more than what he was taught. Although I do love Othrun, Centi had to be one of the better charcaters because of his redemption style of arc.
Like A Drowned Kingdom, the violence is pretty minimal, but when there is action, it is absolute carnage and it’s pretty incredible with the attention to even the smallest of details that make it even more dramatic. The magical element of the mages is still a bit simplistic and only shows up very little, as well as the Anchali which I was really hoping to get more out of in this book. The good thing is that this is going to be a 7 book series, so there is plenty of time to get more of the Anchali.
“If you’re going to start a revolution, make sure the power in charge is unstable and unpopular first. It sounds like it’s both.”
Stuart does a wondrous job of painting the world in beautiful strokes. If you’re old enough to remember The Joy of Painting PBS tv show starring Bob Ross, Stuart’s writing reminds me of how Bob Ross painted, each stroke was meaningful and helped bring the picture to life. As I stated in my review of book 1, Stuart uses his wealth of knowledge with a major in English/medieval lit and a minor in history to tell a story that continues to feel like it is real historical events. I just love the way Stuart writes, he has an incredible way of making you invested from the first sentence, it’s rich, vivid and meticulous.
With that said, I really think I would’ve liked this more if I had waited for the audio and read it the same way I did with book 1, with Whispersync. This is mainly due to the fact that I felt a little overwhelmed at times due to his detailed meticulousness of his writing style. Though I love it, it was somewhat daunting to see paragraph’s that extended an entire page and more of his detailedness which gave me few stopping points. At one point, I came across 2 paragraphs that filled 4 pages and that really kinda hurt my reading process.
This is still a fantastic story regardless of the last paragraph. It actually reminds me a bit of The Last Kingdom show, though I can’t attest to the accuracy of that statement to the Cornwell novels since I’ve yet to read them. I can’t wait to see what happens with Othrun and the Anib!
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