Last Heir of the North

Scions of the Black Lotus, Book 5

By: J.C. Kang

Narrated by: Natalie Naudus

Length: 4 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's Summary

The mysterious ringleader of a deep-rooted conspiracy threatens peace and stability in the realm, and only the memories of a dead woman can unearth him. Before her death at Jie's hands, Lilian left clues to her many secrets. Among them is the identity of a rebellion's leader.

©2019 Dragonstone Press, LLC (P)2019 Dragonstone Press, LLC

Great story with plenty of action & intrigue

This book was fascinating. It revealed more of Lilian’s story, filling out some of the motivation and details behind her betrayal of the Black Lotus Clan. At the beginning of the series your sympathy and allegiance were totally with the Clan, but as the story progresses you understand her decisions more and feel more and more sympathy for Lilian and the hand that she has been dealt. This book is told in a series of well executed flash backs that are slowly unraveling various plots and linking the past to the present very well. The bigger mysteries in this complex tale are just beginning to unravel and the twists and red herrings will keep you guessing. The narrator does a great job of bringing the story to life, portraying the emotions, and delineates the past from the present well. The action, intrigue, plots, character and world development in this story is excellent. I can not wait to see this story’s outcome in the book.

Lilian's Story

I want to begin this review by saying that Natalie Naudus is a fantastic narrator and really brings the Floating World and particularly the Black Lotus Clan members to life in this saga.

This book goes deeper into Lilian's backstory. In fact, I didn't really care for her in the first book but found myself liking more as I understood her better. She got dealt a really bad hand. Her status should have afforded her much better. And she was forced to keep impossible secrets - even from her closest friends. The story was told in a series of flashbacks; in fact, most of the actual story was the flashbacks, since Jia and company were pretty much hunkered down in the same place trying to figure out the mystery of the explosives that were discovered at the end of the previous book, as well as Jia's obsession with finding out why Lillian did what she did. The flashbacks were a bit difficult to follow in the beginning, but as the story progressed, they became more clear.

We still don't know if Lilian was right to betray the clan, and yet, her motivations are starting to come to the surface. And that seems to be the purpose of this entire series - What made Lilian do it? Why was she the way she was? And who was she really? One more book to go. Who knows what we'll find there.

I received a free copy of the audiobook from the author and have reviewed it willingly.

Life

I'm enjoying this series! The adventures and life lessons! You feel like you are in the story! Narrator was good!

Mystery and Action

Last Heir of the North is the fifth novella in the Scions of Black Lotus Series. This story has mystery and action. We learn more about the characters. Natalie Naudus is a great narrator, and she did a great job with the narration. Looking forward to listen to the next book in the Series, Last Bloom of the Jade Lotus. #AudiobookUnleashed

best one yet

mystery and intrigue, action packed. this book makes me want read the next one and find out what's going on!

I recieved this book in exchange for a review

Powerful, intense, and brilliant.

Here we find a really deep dive into the past with numerous brilliantly executed flashbacks that answer so, so many questions!

As before, Natalie Naudus provides a fantastic audio performance complete with fantastic voices, near-perfect vocal inflections, and excellent shifts in tempo throughout.

For the first time in this series, this book has a very different structure to the others.

I would go so far as to say more than half the book takes place in flashbacks that show the history of (primarily) Jie, Little One, and (at long last) Lilian, through an ingenious method that I'm still in the process of wrapping my mind around.

And I have to say, there is so much more to Lilian than I ever guessed and I absolutely love it! There are so many reasons for everything she did, and the way all this came about is absolutely brilliant.

There is so much that we've clearly been building up to all this time that finally comes out in the open in this book. So many questions are answered, and so many assumptions flipped right on their heads!

Yet even still, the greater overarching mystery still is not fully out in the open and the twists and reversals kept me guessing all the way to the end.

And speaking of the ending, both the flashback climax and the one in the present came off brilliantly in ways that tie things off quite nicely.

I cannot wait for the final book in this series!

Fantastic!

In this fifth installment of the Scions of the Black Lotus we get answers to Lilian's betrayal in the first novella. I loved the way the story is split between past and present.

The narrator, once again, did a fantastic job.

excellent addition

this book gives more insight into Lilian and her motives past and "present". Another excellent book in this series. Worth reading and/or listening to.

Complex, exciting, and fast-paced!

Last Heir of the North is the 5th part of JC Kang's Scions of the Black Lotus, and the plot is thickening, to say the least.

Here, Jie and the rest are basically trying to figure out what is going on and who is behind it all. Added to this is unravelling Lilian's past and what made her betray the clan. It is all coming together, and you can literally see how this is about to come to a conclusion of epic proportions.

Last Heir of the North is a complex, multi-layered story, but also exciting and fast-paced.
There is some minor smut that was tastefully done. I'll admit, the many jumps between past and present had me a tad confused at times, but I quickly got over myself. It was, in fact, expertly done and a great way to show Lilian's past.

Now, onto the last part! I can't wait!

A complex weaving of events and superbly written

This is the 5th novella in JC Kang's Legends of Tivara novellas and is up there with the 1st novella in terms of quality, story, and characters.

I've listened to them all so far (the narrator has done a fantastic job), and books 2-4 were good, but never reached the lofty heights of book 1. The events taking place just seemed a bit like side quests, despite the fact that they were necessary in adding vital bits of information into the larger mystery and plot being explored within the novellas. Book 5 brings all the events of books 1-4 together in a very satisfying way.

The narrative is split between past and present, which gives us some nice insight into the villain of book 1, and the driving force behind all the events in all the books. JC Kang weaves a complex tale with this one, but handles it superbly. And there's still 1 novella left. I can't wait to experience the thrilling conclusion.

4 stars and well earned.