⤷ Author: Katrina Kwan
⤷ Published: October 8th, 2024
⤷ Series or Standalone: standalone
⤷ Genre: YA, fantasy, romance
Rating: ✨4 stars✨
Review Updated: 05/04/2025
The Last Dragon of the East starts off with all the elements needed to get me excited: red threads and special connections, magic, a little matchmaking, and tea! From there, all because of a few magical dragon scales, the plot and Sai’s life change dramatically.
⤷ Synopsis:
Sai’s used to the normal: running his family’s struggling teahouse, caring for his mother, and using his ability to see the red threads of fate between soulmates to earn a little money on the side. He’s used to going to the doctor and giving his mom medicine after medicine, hoping something will finally make her better. When he comes back with a few magical dragon scales, he’s sure they’re fake at first. That is, until they do work –and the ruthless emperor finds out. From there, Sai’s forced into an adventure he doesn’t want: to find an elusive dragon and navigate centuries old legends, past wars, and imminent danger.
⤷ Characters:
The characters are probably the best part of this book! Sai is the endearing, chatty, enthusiastic main character, and Jyn is the grumpiness to Sai’s sunshine, but she’s also strong and loyal and just really cool. The romance between them is a lot of fun, and so are all the cute, sappy quotes in this book! They’ve both been through so much, and yet they still keep loving and fighting for each other. It gives “two of them against the world” vibes and I kind of love it.
The only downside to this is that the side characters aren’t as relevant, since this is definitely a story focused on the MCs. It wasn’t that big a deal for me, but I did think at times that some of the other characters had more potential than they got in the book.
⤷ Plot:
The style of the story changes quite dramatically. In the beginning, it feels like the story is set up to be a magical, cozy read, but then it becomes a tale about Sai and his Fated One, dragons, old legends, evil emperors, and a kind of brash and badass huntress. In short, not at all the cozy read I was expecting! It took me a little while to come to terms with the new direction the plot was taking, one that had a lot more fighting and heavy topics, and it’s not that I didn’t love it, it’s just that I wasn’t expecting it at all.
As the tale progresses, we learn there’s a lot more to Sai than a quiet, unassuming tea shop owner just trying to care for his ailing mother. There’s a lot going on that we don’t know yet, relating to Sai’s backstory, the visions he keeps getting, and the old legends he’s grown up hearing and sharing. It seems like Sai’s discovering the significance of it all just as we are. But, while reading the book, it starts to become a little difficult to reconcile the tea shop owner Sai with everything else that he is. Maybe it’s because as a reader, I only have hunches, ideas, and a slowly uncovering story, whereas Sai has actual visions and dreams :), but he definitely seemed to adjust to everything much quicker than I did, and at times, his sudden familiarity with his past life surprised me.
⤷ Final Thoughts:
🐉🐉🐉🐉 / 5
While some things didn’t work for me, overall, The Last Dragon of the East is an engaging fantasy tale to enjoy, with strong main characters, lots of storytelling, and a beautiful cover!
