The Last Phi Hunter

Salinee Goldenberg

Pub date: April 9th, 2024
Genre: Dark fantasy, Romance

SYNOPSIS:
Ambitious Phi Hunter and perpetual lone wolf, Ex, finds his road to glory interrupted when a heavily pregnant runaway enlists his help to escape through the ghost-infested forest…

Ex, the youngest member of the Phi Hunters Order, has spent his life slaying the ghosts and demons of Suyoram Kingdom. While he takes great pride in his mystical trade, collecting dwindling bounties and peddling butchered spirit organs lacks the glory he craves. He’s determined to hunt down Shar-Ala, a demon of nightmares, of madness – who has eluded even Ex’s masters.

In a provincial village along the way, Arinya, a charming muay-boran champion, manages to save Ex from a brutal ass-kicking, despite being nine months pregnant. In return, she asks him to escort her through the dangerous, spirit-filled forest, where ghosts salivate over the scent of the unborn.

Feeling responsible for Arinya’s safety, Ex vows to help her return home. But as more of Arinya’s secrets emerge, and the elusive demon nears, Ex must face dangers from both men and monsters, or lose not only the respect and sanctuary of his guild, but also the woman he’s trying not to fall in love with.

The Last Phi Hunter is a mythic dark fantasy, equal parts smart, exhilarating, and delightfully fun.

REVIEW:

It’s funny; as I was telling my husband about this book and how much I was really enjoying the immersive read, I got curious about the author. I couldn’t help but chuckle as I read her bio because my enjoyment of this book just got an “aha” moment. Come to find out she worked with two of my all-time favorite video games – Fallout and Skyrim. I would totally play a game with her world as the base and it would be vivid, dark, and full of the creatures (and people) of nightmares. Some of my favorite aspects of the book was the Everpresent, how it changed Ex’s appearance and the long history of the Phi hunters that is old & obscure even to their oldest members.

I had a grand time reading Ex’s story and enjoyed the hero of the story not being infallible, a little awkward with people but totally at home in the forest and with animals, and often at the tail end of Arinya’s jests. I would have enjoyed learning more about Arinya from her own POV and a dual POV would have been interesting. The romantic aspect in the book added to the book for once, rather than being a distraction or detracting from world/character building. I wasn’t sure initially how I would feel about Arinya being pregnant in the book because it’s definitely not one of my favorites. In this case, it proved to bring more to the story than I anticipated and in a positive way for the story. I had a lot of fun looking up the Phi that I was unfamiliar with or had seen but didn’t know the name of. Narissa and the Hound were my favorite side characters and I enjoyed learning more about them towards the close of the book. Speaking of the close of the book, I did eventually come to terms with how the fight with the true demon Shar-Ala ended and it had an unexpected twist.

This book reminded me of The Witcher series by Andrzej Sapkowski and if you enjoyed that series (or the show) then I highly recommend giving this book a go. I would like to thank Angry Robot Books for the opportunity to read this stunning Thai fantasy and I can only hope that there is more where this came from. The close of the book could also provide a sequel and if that comes to fruition I would definitely read it. Achievement unlocked for Salinee for this fantastic fantasy debut.