A review by breazy_reader_724
The Last Protector by Andrew Taylor

4.0

As with the prior volumes in the series, I enjoyed being part of the Lovett and Marwood world. These protagonists, a strong-willed and capable woman trying to escape her own history and make a life for herself, and a man who has served as an agent of several aristocratic factions in 1660's England, are both basically very decent people. In this book, there was another interesting plot, and a solid backstory with good character development. Having said that, I was disappointed a little that we didn't see more of (spoiler alert) Stephen, who joined the cast since the preceding story "The King's Evil." Aside from a little involvement early on, he was relegated to an afterthought. Perhaps this will be rectified in subsequent stories. I also didn't like the way Master Hakesby was portrayed in this story, as his behavior was uncharacteristically foolhardy- perhaps they author intended to convey that he had begun suffering from some type of dementia, but he seemed like a different character from the prior books. Finally, the mysterious Ferrus- I really don't know what to say about this poor soul, but there was something flat and one-dimensional about the character as well- he basically existed only to serve a part of the plot. I did like the involvement of the Duke of Buckingham, as his character was fleshed out a bit. The working women characters in the story felt somewhat cliche as well, but were not as unimaginatively portrayed as I've seen in some stories. These minor complaints aside, I am looking forward to see what will happen next- as I read all 4 of the published books in this series during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, I have to appreciate the comfort and escape they provided during this time. I eagerly look forward to the end of the COVID-19 plague, and the next chapter in the series.