Read the full review with representation information and trigger warnings on my blog.

Shadow, a magically empowered super-soldier, is captured by the sister of the Saint she once killed, Scarlet, and brought to her palace. There, she must navigate court treachery, fighting against her evil father, and hiding the truth of her past from Scarlet.

I really enjoyed The Last Soldier of Nava, although it was a bit difficult to get into due to having a somewhat confusing and slow start. Sticking with it paid off, though, and I started really enjoying the read about 40% of the way through.

Suh created an intricate world with beautiful, poetic descriptions of the settings and of the characters’ emotions. The worldbuilding was interesting, although Shadow, our main character, doesn’t fully know what’s going on at first despite having lived in it for a long time, so in a way she’s a reader surrogate.

There’s a lot of court intrigue in this one, with one of the important characters being the prince, who has little support in his life and who Shadow initially is closer with than she is with Scarlet, the love interest. It almost seemed like it was going to be a love triangle between those three, but that didn’t end up being how the book panned out.

The Last Soldier of Nava reminded me of Shadow and Bone in a way, with how Shadow has powers over darkness, Scarlet has powers over light, and they demonstrate the fusion of their powers to courtesans and otherwise important people during a scene about a third of the way through the book. A stag is also important (obviously, look at the cover). It’s pretty different than Shadow and Bone and less focused on the romance, though. As long as you don’t go into the book mainly expecting romance (it’s more of a romantic sub-plot, and it’s a slower burn than a lot of people seem to like in their enemies-to-lovers romances), you shouldn’t be disappointed.

There are also a lot of messages about the environment in The Last Soldier of Nava. Scarlet, the love interest, is functionally a vegetarian, although the palace she lives in does not accommodate this well. If you’re disturbed by animal cruelty, it may not be the best book for you to read, as there’s a section where animal cruelty is graphically depicted. The messages that the book sends are important, though.

The Last Soldier of Nava is out now from Magpie. Thank you to Netgalley, Yejin Suh and Harper 360 for the ARC. All opinions are my own.