The Last Raven by Helen Glynn Jones

I'm actually shocked that the average rating is so low because I feel like this book has a lot in common with romance-heavy new adult fantasy books, and this reminds me a lot of books written by Tracy Wolff and Kate Golden. This is a futuristic AU dystopian set in our world, where vampires have taken over and started using humans as livestock. If the humans are lucky, they're free-range courtesans used for blood in the palaces, but if they're not, they're relegated to "safe zones" where they're forced to provide blood for safety.

***MILD SPOILERS TO FOLLOW***

Our heroine slash narrator is Emelia, the human-born daughter to two royal vampires. Because of her, ahem, condition, she's seen as inferior by a lot of other people in court and she's been kept in relative isolation. But now that she's an adult they're trying to roll her out slowly, and in a controlled way, so she can take on her duties as heir when she comes of age... even though both of her parents will outlive her (which is weird, but okay, why not lol).

Enter Kyle, the love interest: sexy bodyguard vampire who is charged with guarding her body but who also wants to do way more to it than that. He's more than what he seems, but so is Emelia, and when whispers of a rebellion begin circulating, the matter of her safety becomes a particularly thorny issue because the call is coming from inside the house and now she doesn't know who-- or what-- to trust. Everything she knows might be a lie.

The writing style was very breezy and I really liked the beginning, although because of the cover I was thinking this was going to be a high fantasy, so I was surprised that it was more paranormal dystopian. The jumpscare I experienced when I saw "Mercedes" mentioned. I feel like this is a book that is probably geared more to teens, because it gave strong Vampire Academy vibes, and I think all the kissing would have really appealed to my inner romantic back then. There's only one or two sex scenes and they aren't particularly detailed, so I think this would be fine for older teen readers. I also liked how the author tried to address some questions readers might have, such as why Emelia's parents didn't just TURN her.

I do feel like the ending was confusing, especially with regard to perhaps future plot twists and love interests, and that seems to be what people took issue with. Maybe it would help to think of this less as a romance than a romantic fantasy but then I reminded myself that individual books in the series don't have to have an HEA, as long as the last book does. There's something so nostalgically 2012-feeling about this book, that it fits right at home amongst the other YA releases in the dystopian boom canon, and if you love books like that and don't mind a little bit of comforting predictability, you'll love this.

I am definitely interested in reading more books from this author!

3 to 3.5 out of 5 stars