Standalone
Type of Fantasy: Low
Synopsis
When a letter from her uncle Henrik arrives on Bryn Roth’s eighteenth birthday, summoning her back to Bastian, Bryn is eager to prove herself and finally take her place in her long-lost family.
Henrik has plans for Bryn, but she must win everyone’s trust if she wants to hold any power in the delicate architecture of the family. It doesn’t take long for her to see that the Roths are entangled in shadows. Despite their growing influence in upscale Bastian, their hands are still in the kind of dirty business that got Bryn’s parents killed years ago. With a forbidden romance to contend with and dangerous work ahead, the cost of being accepted into the Roths may be more than Bryn can pay.
My Thoughts
It was so fun to jump back into the world of Fable and Namesake by Adrienne Young. You don’t have to have read either of those books to understand and enjoy The Last Legacy, which is a good thing, because I read Fable and Namesake so long ago that I didn’t remember many of the characters! One name was familiar, but other than that, they were all new.
This actually isn’t a very fast-paced or fantastical book, so I’m surprised that I enjoyed it as much as I did. In fact, there aren’t any fantastical elements in it except that the story takes place in a completely made-up world. But from the other books I’ve read by Young, this is just her writing style, and I still enjoyed the book.
I liked Bryn. She has spunk, smarts, and doesn’t just automatically fall into her Uncle’s corrupt world. I was a bit surprised by some of her naivete/her own surprise from her Uncle’s actions because she had grown up hearing stories about him from her Aunt. I figured she would have understood more what kind of man he was.
And then, of course, there’s a forbidden romance with a man who’s mysterious and dashing and potentially dangerous. I loved getting to know this character (name not used to avoid spoilers!) through Bryn’s eyes and being proved wrong about him along with her. There wasn’t much surprising about the relationship or the book in general; it followed the path I expected.
But the language is so beautiful, the characters so real and mysterious, that those elements were enough to keep me reading. I had to know how and if Bryn would fit into this treacherous world and if the romance between her and mystery man would survive.
The Last Legacy was a decadent treat best eaten slowly. It would suit you if you’ve loved Young’s work before or if you’re in the mood for a slower story about mystery, family, and a hint of love.
Trigger Warnings: Sex scene and some language
