Title: The Last Lumenian
Author: S G Blaise
Publisher: Lilac Grove Entertainment LLC
Genre: Fantasy fiction, Adventure
First Publication: 2020
Language: English
Book Summary: The Last Lumenian by S G Blaise
She is a rebel. Lilla is fighting for the refugees’s freedom from oppression. The king, her father, lost touch with reality ever since Lilla’s mother died. Now everyone else is paying the price.
The arrival of Callum, a powerful Teryn general, complicates Lilla’s life. His presence leads to conflicted feelings and friction with Arrov, a handsome pilot and fellow rebel.
Her life is not what she imagined it to be. Not by far. Meddling gods, love interests and sudden magical abilities have no room in Lilla’s world, but that has become her new reality. No matter how hard she pushes them away, it’s too late. They all seek to control her anyway.
Now the Era War between two ruling archgods forces Lilla to act: accept who she really is magic and all; find true love; fulfill her destiny by defeating the Archgod of Chaos and Destruction before He finds her. The Last Lumenian.
Book Review: The Last Lumenian by S G Blaise
Gifts come in many different forms and those with hidden talents are overlooked and devalued. More often than not quiet people are forgotten about and are ill-considered in all walks of existence. Lilla’s father never saw what she could become. Power is important, though sometimes having none teaches one a greater lesson: nothing is worth having unless it has been earned. As such Lilla will earn herself.
Lilla is a 19 year old rebel daughter of Ma’ha Niall aka King Niall, the king of Uhna. Her mother, Eilish, a Lumenian, died when she was 5 years old and her father marries a much younger woman. And then starts her struggle and the story. She grows up feeling rejected. Lilla finds solace only in her best friend Glenna, a servant, and Arrov, a handsome pilot and fellow rebel. I already liked her for her quiet good sense and determination. As she begins forging her own path, she clinches my sympathy and desire for her to succeed. It’s here that we begin to see that there is more to her than we have suspected. She was going to be her own woman. And this is a book about her finding the most ultimate form of freedom. Knowing that she will become the symbol of her people’s strength and universally loved only intensifies my feelings for her as she fulfil her destiny by defeating the Archgod of Chaos and Destruction.
Lilla is a compelling, multi-faceted heroine and her version of the hero’s journey was very refreshing. This is no farmchild’s rags-to-riches tale – Lilla is already a princess, and also sort of a social outcast and rebel. In some ways this is a tale about finding your way in the face of prescribed roles and your past unfairly restricting your options, and showing that you belong. The book expands some universal and social ideas: the road of an outcast hero, searching for love in a loveless life, feminist actions, vengeance and forgiveness. So many more.
The two male leads in the book, Prince Arrov and General Callum a’ruun, are amazing. Arrov is 26-yr-old stunningly handsome pilot, from the planet A’ice where winter rules most of the time. General Callum a’ruun is a 25-yr-old Teryn general, handsome-in-a-rough way who projects an air of authority.
The Last Lumenian offers a huge story, a story that spans Seven Galaxies and includes many heroes and gods. And despite the huge number of characters here, none of it felt forced: it all slotted perfectly into Lilla’s life. So much happens in this fairly short book. Battles fought, heroes are pulled through time, and kingdoms rise and fall.
S G Blaise writes with deliberate, sonorous prose, capable of rising to intense emotional peaks, yet with simple language that is just delicious to read. There are quiet, beautifully written portions, and there are also pieces of intense action where things get heated and the story comes to a crux. There’s a battle in the middle of the book, and it’s magnificently written and emotional – the words just roar. The Last Lumenian by S G Blaise is a lovely and thoughtful fantasy story, with magic, danger and adventure, plus a little dash of romance.
