A review by lezreadalot
Lord of the Last Heartbeat by May Peterson

4.0

My heart had been pounding inside my grave for years, sounding the last heartbeat, and Mio alone had heard it.

3.5 stars. This was a lovely story, and a lovely romance. It was super unique in terms of the fantasy of the world, and the magic systems in it, and the different paranormal and fantastical creatures. Just the like, vibes of the setting were incredible. There was a really great Renaissance feeling to the world ,and it was just unlike anything I've ever read in fantasy before. It was so creative, and it was wonderful to read about a world that was comfortably similar to a lot of established fantasy norms, but also singularly lush and expressive and unique.

I do have a lot of critiques and most of them boil down to the world-building, and the way that it was transmitted to the reader. I spent a lot of time while reading this book a little confused or unsure of what I was reading in terms of how the magic systems worked. Not all of the concepts were explained to the reader in a way that I found easy to parse, and even when they were explained, I just found that I remained a little lost. I never like when books do a lot of info dumping, but also in this case I think the story would have benefited a lot if things were just explained a bit more? Or maybe just explained a bit better? I don't know. I really can't tell if the blame for this is at my feet, if I'm just a bit thick or I wasn't paying enough attention to the things I was being told, or if the book just didn't do a great job of explaining things. Either the information was very dense, or I myself felt really dense. I finished this book maybe an hour ago, and if you asked me to take a closed-book quiz on, idk, how immortals/moon-souls are created, the logic behind ghosts in this world, how the Verge works, or any of Mio's magic in the latter half of this book, I would be fucked.

So this could have turned out to be a very lacklustre reading experience, but two things mainly kept pushing me on to read and ultimately left me enjoying the story a lot more than you might expect from my nitpicks. The first was the writing. Peterson has a lovely style that really gelled well with the world that she created. It was intricate where it needed to be but also very simple, and just really lovely to read. I reread several lines immediately upon reading them; sometimes before I just didn't understand, but often because the writing was just gorgeous. 

The second, of course, was the romance. It was completely swoon-worthy.  I fell hard and fast for both of these characters. Their stories were heartrending, but the joy that they found in each other was just amazing, and lifted my spirits so much I can't even explain it. Mio is incredible, and the story of him coming to terms with his mother's abuse and really trying to break away from it got me right in the heart. And I really love the concept of Rhodry as a character. He has all of this guilt weighing him down, but still he is such a sweetheart and a force of light and humour. I really love loyalty in characters, and characters who fight for one another tooth and nail. That was both of these MCs for one another, and I loved it so much. The romance perhaps moved a liiiiiittle bit fast but it still wasn't unbelievable in any way. It fit perfectly with the setting and the vibes. It was just really moving and sweet at all times. You know a romance is good when it makes you put your Kindle down and cover your face in your hands and just scream a little bit.  

And I have to say, even though I spent a lot of time confused, I devoured this. It had a slow start, and I stepped away from it at times to read other things, but once it hit its stride, I flew through this book. I finished it in two sittings today.

I think that perhaps rereading this might do me some good and it might help me parse a little bit more of the world-building. I definitely want to appreciate it more than I did. But just as a fantasy love story, this is tops. Definitely recommend it.  

“I guess I’m not much of a savior. But you deserved for someone to try.”