A Review for The Last Day King by Liz Newman

Posted by Melanie
Release Date: July 3rd, 2013

Finished Date: April 9th, 2014
Publishers: Lycaon Press
Genre: Fantasty, Historical 

Source: For Review
Format: eBook
Pages: 199

Buy: Amazon UK / Amazon US / The Book Depo

The most magical figure of royal folklore and legendary British king travels to the future to reunite with the girl he fell in love with.

The Legend Lives On.

In modern day San Francisco, a young girl rescues a boy king from the treacherous waters. The beloved king of lore longs to reunite with his futuristic fascination. After his trusted wizard proposes a mission to save mankind only days before his prophesied death, the king travels with his mystic companions to our time in hopes of embracing his lady love once again, and to save a world which his rule helped create

The Review: The Last Day King blends the past with the present as we delve into a world of legend and bring it into modern times. Even though the synopsis might seem vague, it is pretty much spot on….In the present day, a teen girl – fresh from being dumped at the side of the road in her prom dress - spots a young man drowning and runs to save him. After dragging him free from the water, making sure he is breathing and saving his life – they both share a moment, a connection and a kiss – then he vanishes into thin air, leaving Lilith with a bleeding head and thinking that she must have imagined it all. We meet up with the young man again, in a different time & place and find that years have passed since the meeting but he has never forgotten the beauty of Lilith and although he hasn’t returned to that time again his trusted advisor & wizard friend has and he doesn’t like what he sees because all he can see is the fate of humanity and it is not good. The wizard is determined to save mankind and comes up with a plan involving the young King but things are not right in their town and the King has been challenged and this challenge has a prophecy attached to it and that is the certain death of the King. Determined not to be a coward or to go back on all of his morals and ruin everything he has built, he will be back for the challenge but first he must help save mankind and hopefully capture the heart of Lilith again, even if only for a moment.
I really enjoyed this book, I thought it was fun & exciting with a touch of romance but also had a serious side that was filled with magic, legacy, jealousy, greed and treachery. It won’t stretch your mind to know what legend the book is about, it is one of the most memorable legends ever and I thought that this was a great take on that. I’m not an expert on said legend so I don’t actually know how factual it is but it definitely made for good reading and had all the characters you wish to find from the legend. I liked the idea that the girl and boy from different times met and shared a connection that could very well be fated and for all Lilith was a main character I would say that we don’t see as much of her in the beginning because the King is the focus as we switch from past to present and so forth. I thought the King was an admirable character and I liked what he stood for, I like good values and appreciated that he would stand up for his even if it meant death. The story was told from multiple POVs and for a novella length book – held a lot of information and story. I really like the parts from the past, it had a fantasy feel to it and could happily have read all of the book in that time but what made it different was how the past and future came together. I liked the storyline, there was a lot going on and I enjoyed the magic and mysticism that they believed in, I liked the goal that they all shared and how they went about solving it which brought them to the present. The threat was very underhanded and came from more than one direction which kept me on my toes and there was some great action scenes; be it medieval with sword fights, jousting and sorcery to modern times with car chases, crashes, nature taking revenge and an amazing scene blending the two time periods in an super exciting game of chicken…. And then of course we get our star crossed lovers, torn apart only to be reunited and adding that bit of romance to make the heart pound in a different way…. but will it stay that way? Will Lilith and the King get their happy ever after? The only way to find out….is to read it ;)