Synopsis
Betrayed. Hunted. Left for dead. But not even death itself can keep the last ranger from vengeance.
Leiyn “Firebrand” is no stranger to a fight. A brash ranger of the Titan Wilds, she takes up her bow to ward against the colossal spirit creatures known as titans, ever a threat to the colonies she has sworn to protect.
But no amount of skill can guard against treachery.
When tragedy strikes the rangers’ lodge, Leiyn vows to avenge the fallen. But if she is to succeed, she must embrace a power within her she has long denied.
Power to move mountains and rivers.
Power over life and death.
She did not choose this path, but Leiyn knows her duty. For if she fails, the legacy of the rangers dies with her—and all the Titan Wilds will fall into shadow.
Review
Welcome to my review of The Last Ranger by J.D.L Rosell, book one of the Ranger of The Titan Wilds series! Before we begin, I need to get one thing off my chest…
LOOK AT THAT COVER ART BY FELIX ORTIZ! LOOK AT IT! HERE IT IS IN BANNER FORM:
NOW HERE IT IS AGAIN WITHOUT THE COVER TEXT!
ISN’T IT PRETTY???!!!
Anyway, now that I got that off my chest, The Last Ranger by J.D.L Rosell, author of the Legend of Tal and The Runewar Saga amongst many other great books, is a new series set on the continent of the Veiled Lands, a place that’s not unlike a mixture of the American colonies during the Spanish conquest. These lands are wild, untamed, full of mystery & nature still untapped. We have creatures, big, small, and some potentially spiritual, that inhabit these lands, alongside the native people, known as the Gast, and the colonisers – who, if you imagine as the Spanish Conquistadors, you’ll get the idea. Of course, whilst this series is set in a fictional land, it does emulate a period of time in our own history, namely Europe (particularly the Spanish) conquering and ultimately colonising the Southern Americas, particularly the earlier period of this era, roughly 1500-1600’s. I find this time in human history fascinating, as tumultuous and, frankly, often appalling as it is, however, it is still interesting. The setting for this series does a great job of tackling the issues of these times, including the treatment of the Native people, the surrounding nature, and the greed of the powerful. Whilst these are all background themes, Rosell works these in deftly to the characterisations of our protagonist (more on her shortly) and those that she interacts with. It creates a believable world (ultimately, the main focus of this story is Leiyn), with a depth that’s more than just set dressing.
Now, onto the main aim of this book, and our main focus as readers. We follow Leiyn, a young Ranger who patrols the Titan Wilds, a massive forest that covers a large portion of the Veiled Lands. When betrayal strikes the Ranger’s Lodge, a place she has called home for many years, she goes on a quest of revenge, to track down those that have wronged her – and then promptly stick them full of arrows! Leiyn is a brilliant character, and the opening few chapters are great at showcasing Rosell’s ability to create vivid characters to live in his world. She is a fully trained Ranger, with all the skills & knowledge to survive out in the wild, however she is young. She is passionate, loyal, frustratingly stubborn at times, prone to acting first then thinking about it later. I really liked following her, and Rosell stays firmly in her head throughout the roughly 460 page runtime. I will say, she did start to grate on me at about the 80% mark when she began to be constantly abrasive with the team she ended up with, and I do wish she hadn’t been a little less self-absorbed, considering those around her had also been through equally shitty times. But I’ll let her off once the ending event happened, she was cool again!
The side characters are also very human, three dimensional and believable. Annoyingly, I feel like if I name any of them it would be minor spoilers (due to what happens at the beginning), so trust me, some of these characters you’ll understand very quickly why Leiyn would die for them. Rosell’s prose and writing is both easy to get into but also contains moments of beauty, which reflects the beauty of the land scarred by invasive forces. This book is also packed with heart pounding action. I constantly felt like our characters were in actual danger, which makes these moments even more sweat inducing.
Overall, this is a fantastic start to a wonderful series. I was immediately gripped by the plot, draw in by the mystery and wild beauty of the world, but ultimately stayed for the cast of characters that felt real. An awesome adventure!
I want to thank Josiah for sending me the first books currently out in the Ranger of the Titan Wilds series as part of a giveaway he ran earlier this year. Sorry it’s taken so long to shout out about this book!
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