Thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the ARC. It hasn’t affected the content of my review.
This was an interesting debut. Not perfect, 3.5 stars, but I enjoyed myself!
Before I talk about the book itself, regarding the audio, I wish I had done the hard copy instead. The narrator wasn’t bad necessarily, but he didn’t bring anything to the narrative, either. It was a pretty meh listening experience, and I’m pretty sure he negatively affected my enjoyment of the book, so keep that in mind as I continue the review.
The Last Phi Hunter is an adult fantasy debut that is set in a world based on Thai folklore and religion (Buddhist themes are prevalent). Our main character is Ex, a Phi (Thai demon) hunter, who is currently on a mission to hunt and kill a True Demon (a soul that is so entrenched in evil that it cannot be reborn to a better life) named Shar-Ala when his life is sidetracked by a heavily pregnant muay-thai fighter who needs his help. Well, first she saves him from being beaten to a pulp, then she asks him for his help. She needs someone to escort her to the witch that lives next to the lake, the same witch that Ex is on his way to see in order to sell her goods collected during his hunts.
From there, the plot goes lots of other places, and I was surprised several times by the pacing and some reveals that I’ve seen other books do in different places, and a couple of things that I’ve never seen in fantasy before! This is most likely because I’ve never read anything by a Thai author that features Thai folklore, customs, or mythology. I’m not sure actually that I’ve ever read anything by an author that has Thai ancestry at all (although, I probably have). So there’s a possibility that’s why this felt so fresh. It could also just be that the author has a great imagination. I’m sort of in the dark as to which it is, but either way I liked it.
I would recommend this one, but not necessarily the audio. I’m interested to see what this author does in the future.
[3.5 stars, rounding up bc it was a debut]