Last Dragon Standing: Heartstrikers, Book 5

And so the journey ends.I love Heartstrikers series. It’s a gem. Huge scale and epic events are pictured in a clever way and shown through eyes of relatable characters. I like most dragons pictured in the book. Even Bethesda. Yes. Even her.Brohomir (aka Bob) is one of my favorite characters ever. He is a genius and he has a plan. He might win a game of chess with Lord Vetinari guys and no one does this. I always considered the series to be about Bob and his machinations and *Last Dragon Standing* was supposed to reveal all of Bob’s plans and schemes. It did.We learn more about Bob and his relationship to his Pigeon consort who may be the most powerful entity on this plane. We’re shown his plan in all its beauty and finesse. But the thing is plans never work out. Each plan has faults. People (and dragons) get emotional and things get complicated. Add doomsday to the mix and you’ll easily see there’s no easy way out for everyone.Happily, there’s Julius. Nice Dragon who was able to transform Dragon society in a significant way.Will he save the day once again?Check for yourself.There’s a lot to like about this book. Rachel Aaron’s imagination is rich, vivid and her plotting skills are praiseworthy. I love the way she introduces her characters and paints them through their actions and relations. Some of ideas and resolutions were literally mind-blowing (creative, imaginative, intelligent). Characters arcs come to an end.And yet, I’m not truly satisfied with this book. There are few issues. One is strictly personal. I dislike big-scale and epic battles and prefer my Armageddons to be more low-key. That’s the reason why for me there’s only one Matrix movie. In my world Matrix 2 and 3 never happened. The same is true for Pirates of the Caribbean. I’m simply bored with huge armies fighting. Sadly, the same was true for the final battle in Last Dragon Standing. Probably every single dragon appears to fight Leviathan alongside people and ghost armies.The pacing felt off in many places. Julius was ultra-preachy. Yes, I know he’s a gentle soul and I should like him more but I simply don’t. I love Bob and Amelia, though, and there’s a fair share of them in the book to keep me happy.Interactions between Merlins were done very well and were one of the highlights of the book.As a spoil-party, I think it’s the weakest book in the series. It does everything right but most of it relies on readers emotional connection to characters built in previous books. A reader hoping for a closure is willing to suffer a bit and go through endless moralizing, Julius continually blushing and pacing issues.On the other hand, I can’t say I’m disappointed with the book when I look at it as the series ending. I think the ending was in line with everything that happened before. It wasn’t shocking but it was good. Epilogue made me smile and I’ll be the first in line to read new trilogy set in the world. Yes. You heard well – Rachel Aaron is working on a trilogy set twenty years after the events of LDS. And that’s an excellent news that made my day.In the end, I would say it’s a three-star book that’ll get four stars from me for wrapping up nicely arcs of one of my favorite series ever.

There’s a lot to like about this one - many mysteries are resolved, there are wonderful characters: Julius above all, as the anti-dragon dragon, with everyone learning to respect—even if not understand or love him, Ghost/The Endless Wind, the Spirit of the DFZ, Amelia, Svena and Myron, et al . . . one thing I really like about Aaron’s writing is that her characters tend to be real people of all sorts—so some of them are truly obnoxious and/or unpleasantly arrogant, but also redeemable, and Aaron makes them work for it. Like real people, however, once the crisis is over, they’re back to be their usual selves.There are the Heart of the World and the Sea of Magic, both fascinating places which sound like they should be beautifully scribed on a medieval map. And a very satisfying plot which surges along, only to send you off in an adrenaline rollercoaster finish.Looking for to the next books!

As the last in a five book series, I would not suggest coming into Last Dragon Standing unfamiliar with the preceding books. Although Last Dragon Standing didn’t entirely live up to my expectations, the Heartstriker series remains one of my favorite urban fantasy series out there. If you haven’t read it, I would strongly suggest reading the first book in the series, Nice Dragons Finish Last. Also, forewarning, there’s no way this review can avoid spoilers for the previous parties.At the end of the last book, Marci, Julius and assorted friends and allies were gathered in the DMZ as magic floods into the world and a Nameless End begins to devour our entire reality. Julius is trusting that Bob has a plan… but then they find out, it’s a really bad plan. Is it worth risking all possible futures for one not so great future? Or should they gamble against all the odds for a world where they and everyone else survive the Nameless End?I already mentioned that Last Dragon Standing didn’t entirely live up to my expectations, but to be fair, my expectations were pretty darn high. This series has been so amazing so far! Last Dragon Standing had a lot to live up to. Unfortunately, the beginning of the book felt like a let down. It’s just so slow! The entire beginning is everyone sitting in the DMZ, figuring out what’s going on, and trying to figure out a plan to get themselves out of it. Once they started actually fighting the Nameless End, things sped up, but it felt like it took forever to get to that point.Last Dragon Standing does give us a greater insight into Bob. He’s always operated on an entirely different scale than all the characters, and it’s clear why he hasn’t gotten much POV space. This entire series has been following his grand plan, and knowing it would ruin so much of the tension. But his plan is at an end, and all is revealed. We finally get Bob’s perspective. It’s been easy to be frustrated with him the last few books, but with his POV revealed, I did sympathize with him.As always with this series, I love the characters so much. Marci continues to grow and shine as a Merlin. Julius continues to empathize, to reach out to others, and to do what he thinks is right. And the supporting cast is wonderful too! Amelia is charming as ever, and I so want Chelsie to get her happy ever after.Although I found the pacing a bit uneven, I was ultimately happy with where this series ended. I’m also sad it’s over! However, Rachel Aaron says she is planning a new series in this same world. Even if it has all different characters (and man, I’d miss these characters), I find this world so creative and fun. And thankfully, I can always reread this series!

Yes. The only question to be answered here is "Is this a worthy ending to a fantastic series?" and the answer is yes. I was worried; the gathering darkness (and weirdness) of the penultimate book led me to wonder if the series was just going to unravel at the end (a not unknown phenomenon), but Rachel Aaron has delivered a highly enjoyable and very satisfying finale to a fantastic (in several senses) series.So, read this book, if you like fantastic future worlds with dragons and magic wedded to technology ... but only after reading the rest of the series. It won't make much sense otherwise. After reading the rest of the series, I can promise witty and sometimes wise writing, characters you want to get to know, who change and develop in satisfying and broadly believable directions, genuinely funny moments, and a very satisfying plot, which answer the innumerable questions raised by the earlier books while still delivering real surprises.I do hope she produces some spin off stories, though. Justin's encounter with his father, maybe?

I really wanted the finalie to blow me away. However despite it being a fun read I felt the first three books were really the peak.Negatives:1. Like book four this one had too much needless dialogue that didn’t progress the story2. I felt Julius still acts more like a teenage than a 25 year old.Positives:1. I did think Marci was very well written however. In fact she is probably the best/main character and Julius is more of her support character rather than equal protagonist2. The ending does wrap up all lose ends. That’s a nice touch. Rather than leaving the reader guessingAll in all a decent read but not something I would recommend considering the countless amount of other books in this genre out there.

I am a huge fan of this series, especially the first three books, but struggled to finish this and found myself skimming large sections.It's hard to pin it down to precisely why. A big part of it was a lack of dragons being suitably draconic, over exposure (it takes characters a long time to realise things that were blindingly obvious to the reader), suspect motivation, and too much Julius. Unfortunately by this point he's turned into a one trick pony and is far less engaging than he read in previous books.I really did want to like it, but it just didn't work for me.

I went into this, and subsequently came out of this, with those feelings you have at the end of any great series. Those being excitement to see how it all ends and sorrow because its over and you don't want it to end.All of that said, I don't think I can say too much more without spoilers so let's just say, for anyone wondering if they should start this (or in fact, this series), that I came for Julius and Marci but I stayed for Bob!Fantastic book from start to end. I love the world, magic system and characters and would happily keep reading stories from this universe for years to come!

At last Rachel Aaron has come to the finale of her Dragon series. All ends were tied up and most dragons lived happily after a thrilling fight at the end. One unanswered question - would Marci and Julius ever be able to have children (or little dragons?) An excellent series.