Rating: /10

Synopsis

Ambitious Phi Hunter and perpetual lone wolf, Ex, finds his road to glory interrupted when a heavily pregnant runaway enlists his help to escape through the ghost-infected forest…

Ex, the youngest member of the Phi Hunters Order, has spent his life slaying the ghosts and demons of Suyoram Kingdom. While he takes great pride in his mystical trade, collecting dwindling bounties and peddling butchered spirit organs lacks the glory he craves. He’s determined to hunt down Shar-Ala, a demon of nightmares, of madness – who has eluded even Ex’s masters.

In a provincial village along the way, Arinya, a charming muay-boran champion, saves him from an ass-kicking, despite being nine months pregnant. In return, she asks him to escort her through the dangerous, spirit-filled forest, where ghosts salivate over the scent of the unborn.

But as more of Arinya’s secrets emerge, and the elusive demon nears, Ex must face dangers from both men and monsters, or lose not only the respect of the Phi Hunters, but the Hunters themselves, along with the woman he’s trying not to fall in love with.

Quick Review

The Last PHI Hunter is a fun monster-hunting tale, with a forbidden romance, and an absolutely stunning Thai-inspired fantasy setting. 

Full Review

Initially, The Last PHI Hunter by Salinee Goldenberg feels like a Southeast Asian take on a monster hunter story. The longer I read it, the more I appreciated the nuances around that tale, despite some cracks in the façade. There is a lot to love here, but I think this novel may be a bit divisive for the way it tackles some of these characters.

Our main character, the titular hunter, is Ex. He’s not technically the last phi hunter, just the last one who has joined this order—who have fallen out of favor with most people. Ex is still young, and eager to prove himself by hunting the true demon Shar-Ala, often embarrassing himself by boasting about how he’s pursuing the creature. It’s that boastfulness, his at times short temper, and the way Ex stumbles over his own words that makes him both so well-written and irritating. At first, I found him annoying, though I’m pretty sure that was the author’s point.

Ex is a skilled hunter. When we meet him, he is slaying a phi—a malevolent spirit lingering in the world. At first, this part of the story is pretty simple: Ex hunts phi and demons, slays them, and moves on to the next hunt. Over time, however, he’s presented with increasingly dangerous foes and increasingly complex problems. To avoid too many spoilers, I’ll just say that he eventually encounters a creature who tests him in ways other than combat, and that part of the story became more important than I expected. It was also one of my favorite parts of the story.

As he travels through the Kingdom of Suyoram, Ex soon encounters Arinya, a woman who is pregnant and tied to the royal family. He agrees to help her when she asks him to escort her, and the two grow increasingly close. I don’t think that I would call this story romantasy, but their romance is a major part of the plot—more than I think the synopsis lets on.

Ex and Arinya’s romance is, at first, a fun bit of forbidden love. However, I soon found it a bit irritating and sometimes strange. For example, while she is pregnant, Arinya is described as fighting off several men. While not impossible, it just seems a bit much considering how she is supposed to be close to giving birth at that point. There is another scene where she attempts to take her relationship with Ex to the next level and everything about it feels out of place and awkward. I think that may have been somewhat the point—it was the wrong time for them—but that doesn’t change the way I was left irritated with them both. I was invested in their relationship, but I felt like every time I started to enjoy it, something pulled me out of the moment.

I have a lot of small gripes with this book, many stemming from the characters and the decisions they make. But at the end of the day I adored this Thai-inspired setting (which as Anthony pointed out in his review, does not require any prior knowledge of Thai culture or mythology, though it may make you want to learn more). There is also a storyline which forces Ex to see the world in shades of grey—not just black and white—which I thought added something delightful to the story. I think some readers might call a few fight scenes “too short” but I appreciated the quick violence of them. They felt more real for it, not the typical drawn-out fantasy battle where the main characters somehow stay fighting long after they should have fallen. I was a bit surprised by who the final villain turned out to be, but I wound up finding them more interesting (and sinister) than the one I’d expected.

I recommend The Last PHI Hunter. It didn’t completely land for me, but this book did so many things that I loved, I’m happy to look past those minor gripes. Now that I’ve finished it, I can’t help but appreciate how much I enjoyed the story, especially the finalé, and the wonderful setting Goldenberg created for it.

I listened to the audiobook, narrated by David Lee Huynh, who did an excellent job with this story. He really brought Ex, the characters around him, and the spirits to life here.

Also, thanks to the publisher Angry Robot for gifting me a paperback of The Last PHI Hunter. I apologize for letting it sit on my shelf for two years before I read it… And that I had to get a copy of the audiobook to finally dig in. I love the shelf trophy—this book is absolutely gorgeous—but the TBR is heavy.