Sophie Kim

Last of the Talons

After the destruction of her entire Talon gang, eighteen-year-old Shin Lina—the Reaper of Sunpo—is forced to become a living, breathing weapon for the kingdom’s most-feared crime lord. All that keeps her from turning on her ruthless master is the life of her beloved little sister hanging in the balance. But the order to steal a priceless tapestry from a Dokkaebi temple incites not only the wrath of a legendary immortal, but the beginning of an unwinnable game…

Suddenly Lina finds herself in the dreamlike realm of the Dokkaebi, her fate in the hands of its cruel and captivating emperor. But she can win her life—if she kills him first.

Now a terrible game of life and death has begun, and even Lina's swift, precise blade is no match for the magnetic Haneul Rui. Lina will have to use every weapon in her arsenal if she wants to outplay this cunning king and save her sister...all before the final grain of sand leaks out of the hourglass.

Because one way or another, she'll take Rui's heart.

Even if it means giving up her own.

fc ♡

 I glance to where Rui lies limp on the ground, one bloodied hand stretched out toward me even as his eyes remain closed.  

Something inside me shatters at the sight of how he reaches for me, even in his oblivion.

"Our first dinner together,” he murmurs, and I remember my red lips, my sultry smiles. “I had not been able to feel that way in near a century.”

 “I tried to kill you,” I whisper, leaning into his touch.  

Rui smiles, wry and a little hesitant. The look is so unsure, so soft, that I find myself choosing the first option. 

 A low noise of surprise rumbles deep in his throat, but then he is kissing me, his hands running down the length of my back. But his lips are gentle, too gentle, as if afraid he might break me. It isn’t gentleness that I want now, despite my frail state, and a noise of irritation escapes my throat. “Kiss me,” I snap, pulling away, “like you mean it.” 

"You’ve invited me to your bed, little thief. One does wonder what comes next.” He looks at me through his lashes, his voice suddenly hoarse. “So kiss me or kill me, Shin Lina. You’ll find that I’ll enjoy either equally.” 

He turns away, but he does not get far.  My hand shoots out from underneath the sheets, grabbing his.  His eyes widen in slight confusion and humor. “Yes?” 

“Stay.” The word tumbles from my mouth, clumsy and uncertain. “Stay with me.”

“Please,” I whisper before I can stop myself. His hand is icy against the heat of mine, and I tug him closer to the bed. He allows it. “Just for a few moments.” 

 It’s clear that he is at war with himself. 

For a few long moments, he doesn’t move. Until— “As you wish,” he murmurs, and then he is sliding into bed next to me.

I rest my head on his shoulder and a hand on his chest, curling toward him, unable to resist the pull between us. I feel him tense underneath me in surprise, but then a hand is resting on the small of my back, and his lips are curling into a slight smile. But then the light in them dims, and he takes a shuddering breath. 

Rui scowls, even as his voice warms. “Mother hens, all of you. Truly. Very well. But I want her”—he glances at me—“to be given an equal amount of security.” The way his voice softens as he looks at me heats my cheeks. Chan grimaces, and I narrow my eyes at him as Rui continues.

"And I will see that my ally is protected. Am I understood?” His words are now frigid, as unyielding as a winter storm. It is the voice of a king. He pins down Chan with a violent glower. “I said, am I understood?”

"I hope for you to find peace within your lifetime. Not the peace of death,” he clarifies a bit sadly, “but the peace of the living.” 

Rui, disheveled and pale as he dips a small cloth into a bucket of ice water and places it on my forehead with a tenderness I didn’t know he possessed.

His hands find one of mine, cupping it, embracing it as though it is a baby bird fallen from its nest. “Do what you must,” he whispers. 

"LINA.”  My name wrenches from his lips in a singular, horrible gasp

“Kang!” His voice is thunderous, booming through the palace with enough force that the entire structure seems to shake under his command. “Lina. Lina. Stay here, little thief; you must stay here—”

“Who did this?” Rui is bent over my body, shielding it from the world, anything and everything that could harm me. His voice is a furious growl. “Who did this to you?”

“So bloodthirsty,” he murmurs, pressing a kiss on the underside of my jaw. My eyes flutter shut as he plants another onto the column of my throat. “Don’t you ever grow bored of daydreaming about killing me?”

 “No,” I reply as my skin burns in the wake of his lips. He laughs against me, and I shiver.

Before my mind can catch up to my body, my jikdo is in my hands, the blade pointed unwaveringly at Rui’s throat.  

A soft laugh curls through the air. “Lina,” he purrs. “I thought that perhaps we were having a moment.” 

“It’s beautiful,” I mutter reluctantly. 

 “Yes,” Rui agrees quietly. “It is.” There is a soft cadence in his voice that prompts me to glance at the emperor—who, to my surprise, is looking at me in a way he has not looked at me before

It is almost unfair how handsome he is, I think sourly. It’s an unfortunate distraction.

 “Do you like what you see?” Rui murmurs as we turn the corner into the plaza. He casts me a wry look of amusement, hot and probing

I force myself to turn back to the Piper, my eyes bright with challenge.  His lips twitch. “Because I do.”  

 “I do,” he purrs, “like what I see

when I finally open my eyes again, Haneul Rui is kneeling over me with an expression of icy concern. 

he places a cold hand on my burning forehead. I jerk away from his touch, but not before concern replaces confusion on the emperor’s face. “You’re hotter than a campfire,” he murmurs.

“Because it’s more than a scrape.” I swallow hard as he reaches out his hand, his fingers brushing against the cut. I flinch at the sting, and his hand falls back to his side. “You’re hurt.”

“I don’t suppose you’ll tell me where you contracted a cold and a cut.” 

"I expected no less.” I can feel Rui’s eyes narrow at my back. “Although I am dreadfully curious.” 

“Poor you,” I croon sweetly, turning to face him.  

“Was it a member of my court?” Suddenly, his gaze sears with Dokkaebi fire. “I ordered for you to remain untouched.”

Rui sighs as I sneeze. “Come with me, Lina.” Gently, he takes my arm and leads me out of the plaza. The desire to lurch from his grip is not as prominent as it once was. The thought is not comforting.  I half close my eyes and imagine breaking all the bones in his hand until they are nothing but splinters. Ah. That’s better.  

 “You always look as content as a cat while plotting my untimely demise,” the Piper murmurs

“You’re sick.” His eyes move to the wound on my cheek and darken. “And injured. Where did you get that?” 

Rui simply looks amused. “As you say, little thief.” He rises smoothly and—to my shock—places the crown of flowers upon my head

“There’s no need to be jealous,” he murmurs, and I swallow hard as he leans closer to me, his lips grazing my ear. “I didn’t dance with any of them.”

 “Well,” he replies, brushing aside an overhead branch as we ride, “I find that the possibility that my dance partner may stab me to death at any moment adds a certain thrill that simply cannot be replicated by those who are not determined to stab me to death.” 

Rui chuckles. “How incredibly unfortunate.” He arches a brow down at me as I glare upward. “I suppose that you’ll have to ride with me.” The emperor extends a hand down

I feel, rather than see, Rui rise from his throne. Would you save me the last dance? he asked. 

 But now, I am one step ahead in our game. I can afford a little recklessness. 

 Tossing Rui a wicked look, I drain my champagne and slip through the doors just as the emperor parts his lips to call for me. 

"Destroy me, then,” the emperor says, holding my gaze as we swirl through the sea of colors. “Pierce my heart with one thousand daggers. Let the kingdom shine golden with my blood. You’ll find that I will enjoy it.” 

"You called me a son of a bitch in front of my entire court,” he hisses back from the corner of his mouth, barely audible

I've read a few YA fantasy recently and this by far was the one I enjoyed the most.  I think every book you read should leave you having felt that you learned something.  I 've always been a mythology lover and love learning about all the similarities between myths the world over and this book gave me a grounding in Korean Mythology.

Who knew that Korean myths would merge seamlessly with the story of the Pied Piper!  Having been to Hamelin, I know pretty much all the version of the tale and this story really gave it a new spin.

Lina is mourning the loss of her own gang the Talons, dealing with separation from her baby sister and having to carry out heists for the kingpin who killed her gang.  She is a trained assassin and now she's been sent to steal an ancient relic.  But when she dismantles it she earns the wrath of the Emperor of the Dokkaebi. 

Lina is soon whisked to another realm and given the take of killing the Emperor - by the Emperor himself.  If not he kills her.  And if he does that who will save her baby sister?

I loved learning about the myths and different gods in the Korean pantheon.  Lina is a determined FMC and one who has to overcome an unwelcome and ill-timed attraction.  There is Hate/Love, enemies to lovers, a serious age gap, power shifting dynamics and a rebellion!  There is a lot in this book and I would heartily enjoy continue reading this adventure.

Nicola Sarah Brooks

I've read a few YA fantasy recently and this by far was the one I enjoyed the most.  I think every book you read should leave you having felt that you learned something.  I 've always been a mythology lover and love learning about all the similarities between myths the world over and this book gave me a grounding in Korean Mythology.

Who knew that Korean myths would merge seamlessly with the story of the Pied Piper!  Having been to Hamelin, I know pretty much all the version of the tale and this story really gave it a new spin.

Lina is mourning the loss of her own gang the Talons, dealing with separation from her baby sister and having to carry out heists for the kingpin who killed her gang.  She is a trained assassin and now she's been sent to steal an ancient relic.  But when she dismantles it she earns the wrath of the Emperor of the Dokkaebi. 

Lina is soon whisked to another realm and given the take of killing the Emperor - by the Emperor himself.  If not he kills her.  And if he does that who will save her baby sister?

I loved learning about the myths and different gods in the Korean pantheon.  Lina is a determined FMC and one who has to overcome an unwelcome and ill-timed attraction.  There is Hate/Love, enemies to lovers, a serious age gap, power shifting dynamics and a rebellion!  There is a lot in this book and I would heartily enjoy continue reading this adventure.

Amanda

Conceptually interesting, but in execution far less exciting. The book is fine but mostly reads like something the author intended for the screen and not the page. The opening scene is very dry and poorly told. When I imagined it as the opening scene of a movie, it was excellent, but that's not what I want in a book. I want that excellence to come through on the page.

The story is pretty typical. The world building and mythology is interesting, but not interesting enough to carry the shortcomings of the story. The author seems to struggle between wanting us to believe that her main characters are simultaneously badass killers with no remorse AND somehow also kind, soft-hearted creatures who wouldn't be like this if they didn't have to be. It feels wishy-washy. Lean into the villainy of your characters who are bent on revenge. I have a very hard time believing that this female lead would have survived the mean streets long enough to become the greatest assassin the city had ever seen.

This is another story that suffers from the back and forth storytelling method. It would have been served well by a prologue and the odd flashback dream here and there, but full chapters devoted to telling the story of her past were entirely unnecessary and killed what little momentum the story had going for it.

I found nothing likeable, unique, believable or romantic about the romance in the book. I in no way believe that these two characters would find each other interesting enough to risk it all for each other.

Ultimately, I won't recommend this book to others, but I also wouldn't ever warn people off it either. Rating is more like a 2.5 than a full 3 🌟

I appreciate Netgalley and the publishers for providing me with this ARC.

Rebecca Raven

The Last of the Talons is a debut book by Sophie Kim and the first in a YA fantasy series. Based on Korean mythology this novel follows Shin Lina, a teenage assassin under thumb of a ruthless gang. When she's forced to steal a tapestry that brings to a Dokkeabi - immortal beings born of the Gods - shes's whisked away by Haneul Rui - the Emperor of the Dokkeabi. 


The Emperor offers her a cruel game: kill him and she goes free. With her sister's life hanging in the balance Lina must find it within herself to kill the unkillable even as her heart begins to waver. 


Ya'll all I needed to hear about this book was Korean mythology and enemies to lovers and I knew I would love it. And the 400+ pages of this novel did not disappoint. 


First off, the imagery in this novel is amazing. I was able to perfectly visualize everything that was happening and feel comfortable with the setting. The tone in this book is also used very well. It was very easy for me to feel with Lina was thinking and experience the events of the novel through her eyes. 


I absolutely loved the fact that Lina is a down-to-earth and likeable character. So often it's easy to not really like a main character, to have nothing in common with them, to not be able to sympathize with them. Lina was the opposite for me. It was very easy for me to get rooted into her story. I loved her fiery personality. She reminds me of those characters that you see in anime or TV shows where they're always trying to physically fight someone, animatedly flailing their hands in the air but someone else is holding them back. 


Okay, we have to talk about the Dokkeabi Emperor, Haneul Rui for a minute. Without giving much away in terms of spoilers, I love him. Lina would probably call him a "conniving bastard" or probably something worse. But I love him all the same. His wit and attitude melted my heart and yep - sign me right up to take Lina's place. 


I had a hard time putting this book down anytime that I picked it up. There was always something happening that made me want to keep reading whether it was learning about Lina's mysterious past, disrespecting a statue, or throw pastries off a building. 


The ending of this novel was *chef's kiss*. Other than just being an amazing, action-packed climax of an ending in general, I think the novel comes really full circle wrapping up some loose ends while leaving some open for future books. 


I'd recommend the Last of the Talons to anyone who wants to read about a teenage assassin (I mean come on, who doesn't?) spitefully attempting to kill an immortal and fighting her own heart along the way. 


Rating: 5/5 stars 

Release Date: September 27, 2022


I want to thank Netgalley and Entangled Publishing for an arc of this book. All opinions in this novel are my own.

Last of the Talons

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