The Last Keeper by J V Hilliard

Title: The Last Keeper

Author: J V Hilliard

Publisher: Dragon Moon Press

Series: The Warminster Series Book 1

Genre: Fantasy, Adventure

First Publication: 2021

Language: English

Book Summary: The Last Keeper by J V Hilliard

A young boy’s prophetic visions.

Blind at birth, Daemus Alaric is blessed with the gift of prophetic Sight. Now, as a Keeper of the Forbidden, he must use his powers of the Sight to foil the plans of a fallen Keeper, Graytorris the Mad.

An elven Princess with a horrifying secret.

Princess Addilyn Elspeth travels from Eldwal, the magically hidden home of the Vermilion elves, to begin her life as a diplomat to the human capital of Castleshire. During her journey, she stumbles upon a mystical creature foretelling ill tidings.

A terrifying force of evil.

Daemus’ recurring nightmare vision threatens to catapult him into a terrifying struggle that will leave the fate of the Keepers—and the realm—hanging in the balance. Daemus and Princess Addilyn must set out to face the menace that threatens their very existence.

Will the entire realm fall to its knees?

The Last Keeper is the first book in The Warminster Series. With gripping, epic action and heart-pounding adventure, you’ll love this new adventure series.

Book Review: The Last Keeper by J V Hilliard

There are many great fantasy books out there; some have a compelling story to tell supplemented with great characters; some have awesome magic and epic battle scenes, and some come with an interesting world that was richly imagined and detailed. J V Hilliard’s The Last Keeper is a huge opening act to The Warminster Series which took every single one of these elements of a good fantasy story and elevated the art of storytelling to a different league. It is an empathetic tale of courage, compassion, loyalty and honour, and one which thoroughly epitomises the fantasy world building.

The Last Keeper by J V Hilliard brings together Daemus, Sir Ritter Valkeneer and Princess Addilyn Elspeth, who have never met before, to fight against the fallen Keeper, Graytorris the mad. Daemus Alaric was born blind and receives the gift of Sight from an unknown visitor. Nevertheless, when these prophetic visions manifest into real events, he leaves his home to become a Keeper of the Forbidden, a fabled order of powerful arcanists who serve the leaders of Warminster. A recurring nightmare interrupts Daemus’ ideal life. His Sight reveals a fallen Keeper known as Graytorris the Mad and his past discretion. In his visions, Daemus sees Graytorris plotting vengeance against the Cathedral of the Watchful Eye. With the return of the fallen Keeper, the realm is on the brink of chaos which will determine the fate of the Keepers and the future of Warminster.

From Eldwal, the magically hidden home of her Vermilion elves, Princess Addilyn Elspeth travels to Castleshire to begin a new life as a diplomat. During her travels, she comes across a herd of tetrine, a dark unicorn-like creature who foretells ill tidings, forcing her to abandon her plans and listen to the Tetrine. Anselm Helenius, a great cryptid hunter, guides Addilyn in the right direction with his knowledge of the Tetrine. Now her mission is to convince King Godwin and Queen Amice of Thronehelm that they must assist them when disaster strikes and a coup against the rightful rulers leads to war.

Sir Ritter of Valkeneer is a trollborn knight, who has ability to interact with his falcon, Storm. It is one of the powers he inherited from his elven side. Using Storm’s eyes and ears, he can see, hear, and command the bird to watch, fly, and attack. He aids Addilyn on the way to Castleshire, after which the two begin to share growing feelings for each other. However, people in her community are against the upper echelon of society interacting with trollborn. Addilyn discovers that in order to maintain a friendship that has already begun to grow between herself and Ritter, she must look past the traditions and prejudices of her people. It is not by coincidence that both Addilyn’s and Ritter’s trials and tribulations, as seemingly different as it were, shared a common themes of honour, love and hope.

The Last Keeper is a strong tale with a well fleshed out world and multidimensional characters that are easy to care about. The hallmark of J V Hilliard’s brilliance truly lies in his ability to craft great stories that are invariably and thematically appropriate to the world in which it takes place. Seen mostly from the perspectives of Daemus, Sir Ritter and Princess Addilyn, all in different positions in life and different realms of the world most of the time, it was hard to initially see how they are all connected. But with each twists and turns more of the pieces line up and the intricacies of the plot, the characters, the magic system and the world come into focus.

For a book this size, The Last Keeper was quite a breeze to read and finish. The narrative flowed well with beautiful prose that does not distract the reader from being fully immersed into the story and world-building. While the pacing was a little slow with such substantive character development, the narration was so deftly handled that the pages just kept turning – right until you reach the end wishing desperately for the sequel. Speaking of the ending, finale of this book will leave you breathless; from the sheer heroism and valour on display, the cinematic visuals painted in your mind’s eye of the battle sequence, and the emotional impact and revelations that you just did not see coming. Highly recommended.