The Last Kingdom

By: Steve Berry

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Length: 14 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's summary

From celebrated New York Times bestselling author, Steve Berry, comes the latest Cotton Malone adventure, in which the discovery of a lost historical document challenges the global might of the United States.

King Ludwig II of Bavaria was an enigmatic figure who was deposed in 1886, mysteriously drowning three days later. Eccentric to the point of madness, history tells us that in the years before he died Ludwig engaged in a worldwide search for a new kingdom, one separate, apart, and in lieu of Bavaria. A place he could retreat into and rule as he wished. But a question remains: did he succeed?

Enter Cotton Malone. After many months, Malone’s protégé, Luke Daniels, has managed to infiltrate a renegade group intent on winning Bavarian independence from Germany. Daniels has also managed to gain the trust of the prince of Bavaria, a frustrated second son intent on eliminating his brother, the duke, and restoring the Wittelsbach monarchy, only now with him as king. Everything hinges on a 19th century deed which proves that Ludwig’s long-rumored search bore fruit—legal title to lands that Germany, China, and the United States all now want, only for vastly different reasons.

In a race across Bavaria for clues hidden in Ludwig’s three fairytale castles—Neuschwanstein, Linderhof and Herrenchiemsee—Malone and Daniels battle an ever-growing list of deadly adversaries, all intent on finding the last kingdom.

©2023 Steve Berry (P)2023 Grand Central Publishing

Critic reviews

"A fascinating listen for fans of Bavarian history and the landscapes and castles of Germany."—AudioFile

Very enjoying and gripping story...

Having spent time in the area, it was like being there again. I could taste the beer and hear the cheer of everyone in the hall.

The narrator was articulate and unobtrusive in their delivery...made you very comfortable and was easy to play the “movie” in my head as I listen to Scott Brick voicing the narrative.

As for the story, it was intricate without banging you on the head with an overabundance of detail/history. I do wish the books would focus more on Cotton’s perspective the bouncing about from every man jack in the story.

Berry Good

I caught the History Matters reference before the end of this book- it made me smile! I savored this one with numerous Mai Tais!

Learned a lot

I liked the subject matter but too much information, had to stop and backup several times to keep all the characters straight.

Narration distracting, plot drags

Narration overly-dramatic (including character’s ordering of waffles) to the point of negating any drama. Storyline not as good as others I’ve read by this author - seems to drag on and on, and on.

Good, but not Great🤷🏾‍♀️

I'm glad that the history lesson at the end of each chapter stopped. The story was quite intricate and bounced around between different timelines too much, making it difficult to follow at times. Although I found it to be a good listen overall, I did find myself drifting off during certain parts of the book without missing any important plot points. Perhaps these were the parts that didn't contribute much to the story. Regardless, I think this marks the end of the Cotton series and that the author will now focus on the character of Luke.

Complicated

A bit too complicated for an audiobook. Good for reading. Entertaining and the performance is extremely good.

Great Read

For those that like fictional history. Really good story. For those that like a story and history alike.

Another great cotton Malone story

Love seeing some new characters and hope they make appearances in later books as well.

Also great to see some honest rolling if the US’s actions during the overthrowing of Hawaii’s royal family instead of totally washing over it. Made for a fascinating story point

Ok But Not Berry’s Best

I just read a review complaining there were too many characters and I agree. And the plot was pretty convoluted. The story is based on an an interesting, albeit far fetched, premise and it’s set in some cool Bavarian locations, but the excess of key players makes the whole production seem unfocused. I’m not a big fan of the audio performer, whom I find too smarmy in general, and as some other reviewers have noted, the accents here were not convincing - indeed, the narration was distracting. To sum up, I liked the novel well enough but not as much as most by this author.

Nailed it again.

Huge fan of Steve Barry’s writing and read all the Cotton series. This was was a wonderful read. I enjoyed it much like all of his other writings blending history and facts with fiction to make a unique “what if” narrative