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Inspired by Chinese myths of ancient dragon gods and threads of fate, Katrina Kwan’s dazzling fantasy debut is an adventure perfect for fans of Sue Lynn Tan and Hannah Whitten. At the spry young age of twenty-five, Sai has led a quiet life, keeping the family teahouse up and running—even if that means ignoring the past-due notices—and taking care of his ailing mother. But he has a not-so-secret gift that he’s parlayed into a side career: he was born with the ability see the red threads of fate between soulmates, which lends itself nicely to matchmaking. Sai has thus far been content not to follow his own thread, the only one he’s ever seen that’s gray and fraying. But Sai’s ordinary existence is about to be turned upside-down by a pair of shining dragon scales. When his mother’s doctor sells them to him, claiming them as a miracle cure, Sai is pretty sure he’s being scammed. When the medicine actually works—and the terrifying, ruthless emperor catches wind—Sai is thrust into the search for a dragon long thought extinct that will lead him into the throes of a brewing war and deep into foreign lands, facing down challenges both magical and mortal on an unexpected adventure. And for the very first time, as his own thread of fate begins to move, he may be able to solve the mystery of his Fated One on the other end of the line.
Publication Year: 2024
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"I'm whole and complete and home."
Thank you to NetGalley, Katrina Kwan, and Simon & Schuster Canada for the E-ARC!
The Last Dragon of the East was one of my most anticipated books of 2024, so when I got the notice telling me I got approved for the E-ARC, I was overjoyed! I'm so happy to say that this book was incredible and somehow so much more than I thought it was.
I'm going to be very careful in this review, as I don't want to spoil anything. I think one of the greatest things about this story is the mystery of it. I loved discovering the world and it's magic and myths with Sai. The author did an amazing job of giving the reader information little by little, allowing the reader to get glimpses of what was happening, without ever needing to info-dump. It felt like the story was unraveling around me, and every time I discovered something new, I was enthralled.
I loved the character voices used as well, and how different everyone was. We have Sai, our main character who runs a teahouse, who speaks very eloquently, with a charm and charisma that doesn't usually work in his favour. We have a character from the South who has an accent and is brash, and isn't afraid to speak their mind. We have another (who I won't give a name to), who is secretive and enticing. Even every side character was very unique and I loved finding out more about them.
Without saying much, the romance in this book was so perfectly done. You were able to feel Sai's emotions so well throughout the entire story. The author does such a good job with it, and I won't say more, you'll just have to see for yourself.
I can't wait for this book to come out, so more people can experience it (and so I can have it for my shelf)! I'm really so grateful that I had the chance to read it early.
0I was unfortunately fooled by a pretty cover.
The beginning was just slow and didn't engage me at all. BUT I wanted to know about this dragon, and why Sai had that frayed thread, so I continued. It started to pick up, but it's still not engaging enough for you. One thing I couldn't stand while reading was figuring out the time period in comparison to how our main characters spoke? (I hope this makes sense) It's like the side characters all spoke with what I expected the people of that time (emperor times lol) to speak, but our MCs spoke very modernly??? MIND YOU this wasn't consistent AT ALL. I just couldn't place this story any where in my head while reading.
<spoiler>I finally reached my DNF point when Jyn and Sai were running from the three legged red eyed crows, and the scene to me was just boring :/ like this was supposed to be them running from the emperor, and I was so disinterested in if they lived or died. I'm connecting the dots that Jyn and Sai were lovers in a past life and Sai is just regaining his memory of that time, but IT'S DRAGGING!! And it was starting to annoy me that Jen just wouldn't tell him anything (maybe she couldn't... but I'll never know now). </spoiler>
02024 reads: 255/250
i received an advanced review copy from the publisher via netgalley in exchange for an honest review. this did not affect my rating.
buddy read with ellie!
sai has led a quiet life by keeping the family teahouse up and running and taking care of his mother. he also has a side hustle of matchmaking, as he’s been given the special gift of seeing the red threads of fate that run between soulmates. so far, he’s been content to not follow his own thread, the only one he’s ever seen that’s grey and fraying. but soon, his life is turned upside down, leading to him running from the ruthless emperor and into the arms of a mysterious dragon.
i LOVE books with a fated soulmates aspect and with inspirations from east asian mythology, so i was very excited to dive into this one! i ended up really enjoying this book. i thought it was interesting that the lead was a male, because i honestly don’t read that many male-led books. i really loved this because sai was so down-bad for jyn and we got to witness that firsthand.
overall, this was a lovely book that i’d recommend to fantasy romance fans. i will be adding katrina kwan’s other books to my tbr!
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