I’ve known about Rosell for some time, but never actually read anything of his, despite backing the first two books of this series on kickstarter. Now that this is part of the SPFBO-9, I knew I had to make sure I read it, and if I knew how amazing he was as a writer and storyteller beforehand, I would have definitely read this, The Legend of Talseries and The Runewar Saga immediately. Rosell paints a wonderful world full of beauty and adventure. As he brushed in the details, I couldn’t help but be mesmerized by how magical and real it felt, as if I was watching Félix Ortiz himself, who did the cover and extra artwork, bringing it to life on canvas. The cover and interior art is part of the reason I backed the Kickstarter in the first place. But now that I’ve read this incredible story about one of the best heroines in fantasy, I have to say that Rosell is vastly underrated and should be talked about way more often in fantasy circles, and maybe he will be after entering The Last Ranger into the SPFBO this year. 

I love stuff that has a real historical feel to it in a fantasy setting, and The Last Ranger does a great job of that. The setting feels like early colonial America in Colorado, that assumption is based on the beautiful artwork and cover, as well as the fact that the author lives there. After doing some quick research I discovered there were many tribes that inhabited the Rocky Mountains, so I’m not exactly sure what tribe gave him inspiration, or if it was just the beautiful Rocky Mountain scenery itself. Whatever it was, it inspired an epic fantasy tale of resilience and redemption for an indigenous heroine who can wield a bow better than Hawkeyethat overcomes the odds of her tribe being slaughtered. The story only gets better with the friendships, the magic and the journey they make through the Titan Wilds. Dealing with corruption, titanous spirit beasts, shapeshifters and sorcery, The Last Ranger is one hell of a start to an exciting new world! I also need to mention that there is a part near the end that floored me with laughter because it’s one of those goofy lines that I would say to someone. 

The characters were all great, even the main antagonist made me hate him every time I just saw his name pop up. But Rosell did such a fantastic job with the main character of Leiyn, that this felt like such a breeze to read. From the get go, she was a great character and the development as the story went on as she discovered more about herself and her past was handled with great precision and care. The secondary characters were great as well, I really enjoyed Isla and Batu’s parts more than any of the other secondary characters. They were major pieces to Leiyn’s transformation throughout the story and without them, it may not have been as great.

The only issue that I really had with all of this had to do with the audio, but with that said, the narration by Imogen Church was pretty amazing. She did such a great job of getting into the characters and the story to a point where it felt like she loved it herself. Now with that issue, Imogen’s narration was a bit slow for my taste, and my taste is listening at 1.0 speed. I had to kick it up a tad to 1.25 to get a better experience, and because all it needed was a kick up, I didn’t find it as an actual issue or something to dock it for. The speed could lead to some feeling like the story drags a bit, so if you’re reading this, just kick it up a tad and the experience is still there and it still feels like it’s going at a normal speed!