The Last One: A GMA Book Club Pick

This book starts off slowly and is a very slow slow burn so if you are looking for that this book is for you. The narrator is completely unreliable which makes reading incredibly interesting but challenging at times.Overall the author is an artist and weaves an intriguing tale of destruction and fate. I am excited to read the next one. Read content and trigger warnings.

Loving the thriller/dark undertones throughout the whole book, great first work from Rachel as her first fantasy book! Also love an unreliable MC, you learn with her as she has to jump hurdles and it makes a riveting story!Lots of plot twists and ends on a cliffhanger 😭

This book was fast paced, but kind of all over the place. I felt the FMC was too ready to pop off any time she got angry and then she put blame on everyone else. She also disregarded Sybil's advice IMO. I feel like Jaden had BIG secrets, but he was more likable. I also am not really sure how he fell for her aside from physical attraction. Also, I feel like Syrill's character was not used to the full extent. Like it could have been way more emotional and had a bigger impact. Olivia was annoying. And then st the end it's like we've been on this long journey, but I need to wrap up this book so here's everything all at once.

I hate to give this book such a low score because I truly wanted to enjoy it. As a female writer of sci-fi/fantasy, I was especially excited to support this author's work. The book was beautifully designed, and the synopsis was intriguing. I was ready!Then, one of the very first lines—"I woke up and chose violence"—pulled me out of the world before I ever had a chance to settle in. Modern slang in a fantasy world is quite disruptive.Still, I decided to push that aside and keep going. For a moment, I was engaged despite the excessive exposition and dialogue. It was different; it was unique. I thought perhaps the author was intentionally writing a narrative more like a script. I liked Olivia—she felt fun—and Kai seemed pretty spicy. I thought maybe I could like her too.But then the quality just fell off a cliff, and I cannot for the life of me understand how a publisher and editor released this book in this state. It feels like an early draft. It has potential, but it needs a lot of work. The book should be half its size, but the author gives us the dialogue for literally everything.The main character was very inconsistent, so I never felt like I truly got to know her. She came across like a horny teenager who cared more about sex than about figuring out who she was and what her purpose might be. Nothing really made sense, and she never asked the right questions—the ones readers were asking—which made me wonder if she just was not very smart. She also gave her trust away far too easily for someone in her position. No one seemed to know anything, so you never felt like you were moving toward any real revelations. And when information was revealed, the timing often made no sense.It was also frustrating to piece together major plot points long before the main character even seemed aware of them. And why did we spend approximately seven chapters watching her heal and drink tea? The story felt very disconnected—overly long, and it became boring very fast.Eventually, I had to stop reading because I was getting genuinely angry. As a result, I cannot speak to how it ended, and I may never have the patience to find out.It did not feel like the author was a bad writer; rather, it felt like she was new to the genre and unclear on how to approach it. It also seemed like she struggled when writing scenes with more than two characters present. Perhaps the powers that be did not want to hurt her feelings by correcting her. Regardless, publishing this book as-is was a disservice to the author. It clearly needed several more rounds of deep editing and structural work before being released into the world.

I'm a new convert to these beautiful special edition books and have already begun a very nice collection. They look GORGEOUS on a fancy bookshelf. I may never even read this hardcover, as I usually prefer my Kindle, but I am super happy to have these eye-catching and elegant objects on a shelf. The colorful covers with foil touches, the painted edges, the designs inside... wonderful!