Booklist: Hawley is a soldier with terrible secrets in his past and a sense of honor despite a tarnished reputation. He has been sent with a company of men to try and find a missing child, but when that company attempts to kill Hawley and are instead killed by an unknown creature of the forest, Hawley seeks the help of Enelda, a wise, no-nonsense old woman whom he soon realizes is a person of legend—one of the famed Vigilants, who can commune with the immortal realm and use magic. Enelda is out of practice and disturbed at finding herself on a journey, but despite a rocky start, she and Hawley work together to survive. Latham (The Red Tower, 2018) uses his incredible world-building skills and all-consuming storytelling style to bring the reader deep into the village of Scarfell, where politics, magic, and corruption collide in a world-shaking explosion, and where Enelda is not the only legend to emerge from the shadows. In a genre where tropes can be overused, Latham is an adept at creating sympathetic characters and reinventing fantasy in a way that will have influence on many books after The Last Vigilant.
May 222025