Review Detail

Ellinore the Brave is the best quester in the kingdom, having constantly beat out her rival Princet Aven on various quests. She wants to retire and live a quiet life, weighed down by having lied about her conquests. Her plans are shattered when her brother Zig bets his heart to a duo of mages. Joined by a ragtag group, she must find and retrieve the horn of a mythical beast before time runs out. THE LAST BEST QUEST EVER is a cozy YA romantasy that follows Ellinore and her group as they adventure to save Zig’s life.

Ellinore is a fantastic character and the band of misfits that join her make the story fantastic. Each character feels three-dimensional, especially Ellinore, Zig, and Aven. They all play different parts in the story, but none of them feels unimportant. The story wouldn’t feel as fun as it does if the party had been missing a character. The bonds between these characters, both new and pre-existing, ties them together in a messy chaotic little party that somehow manages to keep pushing forward despite the odds.

F.T. Lukens does a fantastic job at weaving a world together. You can feel the energy of the many worlds that Lukens creates, and this book is no different. The world feels fun and lived in, but it also feels constantly dangerous. There are different ranks of beings and, while I didn’t understand all of it, enough information is given to help you glean the hierarchy system that they are under.

There is a constant urgency in this book because of the stated time limit. It’s a limit that is stated very clearly towards the beginning of the book and it underlies the entire narrative, driving the cast of characters forward even when they are faced with seemingly insurmountable tasks. I really liked that the time limit was said so plainly because that urgency really did amplify the story in my eyes. It made every decision, every day, feel heavy.

I’m also a pretty big fan of the plot. Parts of it were predictable, but others weren’t and I was left pleasantly surprised by how certain things turned out. I don’t want to spoil things for readers, so I’m staying vague on this part.

The romance between Ellinore and Aven was cute. It wasn’t the main thing that drew me into the story, but it definitely was a factor. I loved Princet Aven from the second we met them, so I was already on board with the relationship. Getting to see it develop, both in good and bad ways, was fantastic. I wish this book had been dual-POV so that I could’ve spent more time with Aven during this book.

I would also be very remiss if I didn’t mention the LGBT rep in this book. It’s basically everywhere and in such a simple way. The world Lukens has created seems to be very friendly to LGBT identities, even having the term Princet as a gender-neutral form of Prince/Princess. The casual existence of the LGBT characters is fantastic!

THE LAST BEST QUEST EVER is a cozy romantasy that always manages to feel dangerous at the same time. Never tipping too far out of the cozy vibes, the novel delivers a fun story with fantastic characters and great bonds.