Early Book Review: The Last Slayer by Nadia Lee

The Last Slayerby Nadia Lee is an urban fantasy novel released on December 26 2011. The main character is Ashera del Cid, a talented hunter of demons that struggles to destroy as many incubi and succubae as she can. She works for with her foster family, and accepts her less than stunning good looks and life without blood relations in stride, especially since her foster family has treated her so well. When she is placed on dangerous duty, she kills a dragon in self defense and thinks that she has angered the dragonlords and set them to hunt her. Little does she know that they have been looking to kill her since the day she was born. Ashera's has one potential champion is Ramiel, a supernatural that defies category until he reveals it to her. However, intentions and motivations are in question and Ashera doubts just about everything she is told, including the identity of her mother and her bloodline. Ramiel always seems to be hiding something, which make trust and moving forward towards her future even harder of Ashera.

The Last Slayer is a good urban fantasy novel, which begins a new series. I did feel a little tossed into the world, like I should have known more about hunters, slayers, dragonlords, and the general landscape of the world already. Perhaps I missed a related book or series along the way. However, I was not completely lost and found my way into the world fairly easily. Ashera starts out as a champion hunter, a loner that wants to do her job in such a way that eliminates the risk of others getting hurt. I liked this, and her take charge attitude. However, she becomes a lot softer and more passive as the conflicts arose and Ramiel took charge. It worked with in the story, but I wanted to see more of Ashera kicking butt and less about the time she took bathing and picking out clothes.

The story was good, and if I see the next book in the series I might pick it up however I will not be hunting it down or anxiously awaiting its arrival. I finished the book less invested in the characters than I was in the first few chapters, which is a shame since I liked Ashera and the set up for her foster sister Valerie and foster father Jack, both of whom I would like to see more about.