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The Last Wayfinder
There are no chains for criminals on Abashi Island, only endless ice.
Born into prison, Kira has only known the arctic wasteland where the worst criminals are sent to be forgotten—including her mother. When a brutal Imperial Inspector sentences her family to death, she unleashes a forbidden magic that comes with a devastating cost: her sister is cursed, transformed into a monster.
Desperate for a cure, she strikes a deal with Captain Ren, a notorious monster hunter whose icy exterior matches the unforgiving landscape. He’s everything Kira despises—rigid, lawful, dangerous—and unfortunately, necessary for survival.
As the two forge an uneasy alliance, Kira discovers the chilling truth about her imprisonment and that more is at stake than her sister’s soul. Now, Kira must risk treason and master her ancestors’ wayfinding magic before she loses her sister—and the beautiful world she’s only begun to discover.
Born into prison, Kira has only known the arctic wasteland where the worst criminals are sent to be forgotten—including her mother. When a brutal Imperial Inspector sentences her family to death, she unleashes a forbidden magic that comes with a devastating cost: her sister is cursed, transformed into a monster.
Desperate for a cure, she strikes a deal with Captain Ren, a notorious monster hunter whose icy exterior matches the unforgiving landscape. He’s everything Kira despises—rigid, lawful, dangerous—and unfortunately, necessary for survival.
As the two forge an uneasy alliance, Kira discovers the chilling truth about her imprisonment and that more is at stake than her sister’s soul. Now, Kira must risk treason and master her ancestors’ wayfinding magic before she loses her sister—and the beautiful world she’s only begun to discover.
334 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2026
2 people are currently reading
414 people want to read
About the author
Ellen McGinty
4 books196 followersEllen McGinty is an author and editor of Young Adult fantasy and historical fiction. She lives in the Tokyo metropolis with her husband, three boys, and a hypoallergenic cat. When not writing or editing, you can find her exploring the wilds of Japan with an abundance of espresso and the occasional kimono.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
December 2, 2025
As in Saints and Monsters, Ellen's storytelling is a beautiful blend of fantasy and a historical vibe which makes it feel incredibly realistic. Her characters grab my heart and their trials and growth is a beautiful and tumultous journey. Parts of this book wrecked me. Parts healed me. Highly recommend!
October 29, 2025
I love Ellen’s stories! This one was so unique but it also had Ellen’s classic style. There were a few characters from the last book, but it doesn’t have to be read together, though the story is fuller if it is.
If you love fantasy, enemies to lovers, and Japanese culture, these books are perfect!
If you love fantasy, enemies to lovers, and Japanese culture, these books are perfect!
September 17, 2025
The Last Wayfinder is simply fantastic. Ellen McGinty has a gift for crafting not only immersive worlds, but also incredibly relatable chatacters whose flaws and cracks afford plenty of space for Light to shine through. The main character, Kira, was one of my favorite new-to-me literary characters of the year.
This story made me laugh and cry on more than one occasion, and I’m already eager to reread it. While I already adored McGinty’s Saints and Monsters, The Last Wayfinder solidified McGinty as an auto-buy author for me from here on out. Highly recommend this book!
This story made me laugh and cry on more than one occasion, and I’m already eager to reread it. While I already adored McGinty’s Saints and Monsters, The Last Wayfinder solidified McGinty as an auto-buy author for me from here on out. Highly recommend this book!
January 3, 2026
This book started slower with a rambling adventure of a first half and a very exciting and driven second half. I enjoyed the themes of strong hope in the face of adversity, and I liked the way magic worked, both as gifts and as curses. The connections to Saints and Monsters characters made me feel more invested, and it was far more connected than I expected! I especially liked Rin- his character arc was so perfect and he is the most endearing here! I wish I felt more connected during the first half of the book, but I overall leave this book glad to have read it and hopeful for a sequel ☺️
January 31, 2026
I have thoughts... I have a lot of thoughts...
This book starts out so good, like, the kind of book that would have me up until 3am reading because I just couldn't put it down. The writing is excellent, the world full of depth, and the characters so very beautifully human. I'm talking about 11 chapters of some of the best literary work I've encountered among indie published books.
Then, halfway through chapter 11, enter Captain Renjiro. My dudes, this man didn't kill the vibes, he MURDERED them!
The story goes from a riveting prison escape to some generic enemies-to-lovers cringe fest. Our girl Kira is suddenly reduced to a cut-and-paste fiery female lead who spends the next six chapters hating Ren but simultaneously swooning over his every move, while tall-dark-and-dreamy proves himself a walking red flag of hypocrisy and arrogance and thoroughly lacking in basic skills of communication and reason. Their chemistry from there can be summed up into "He's hot".
I'm going to sum up the next six chapters for you here: Ren doesn’t tell Kira anything useful except that he fully intends to kill her sister and send her back to prison. Kira tells him she's looking for an apothecary to cure her sister. Ren is also looking for said apothecary. Ren drops vague hints that the cure might not be all it seems and that the apothecary might be a bad guy but never actually gives her a concrete explanation about anything despite having a day-long train ride with nothing else to do but talk. Ren uses Kira to find apothecary. Ren tries to kill apothecary. Ren feels shocked, angry, and betrayed when Kira stops him from killing apothecary and agrees to help the apothecary inorder to gain the cure to save her sister, you know, like she said she was going to.
Things start to get good again in chapter 18 when Kira finally ditches Ren. He shows up again and continues to be a self-righteous prick, but it's much more tolerable from here out. In Chapter 22, they finally have the conversation they should have had on the train back in Chapter 12, and Ren proves he is as thoroughly untrustworthy as Kira thought he was. Honestly, the book is pretty good from here on out, but that slog of nonsense in the middle just killed my energy for the story.
Normally, when a book irritates me like this, I don't give it a long review like this because I deem it not worth anymore time than it has already stolen from me, but today I feel like ranting, so let's get into a couple nitpicky things that really bugged me as well:
. Quote: "There are no chains (in Abashi Prison), only vast sheets of ice and the promise of a slow, agonizing death if we try to escape."
It literally takes them less than a day to cross the ice and find shelter, and about 2 more days to reach the city. They wouldn't even have died of dehydration in that time, much less hunger.
. "You're not the kind of person who runs. You're weak." - Ren speaking to the girl who survived 18 years in an ice prison with brutal guards, lived off boiled bone soup, and the only one to actually succeed in escaping the prison. This isn't the last time he is demeaning towards her either. He has a lot of red flags. He blames her, insults her, and constantly imposes his will on her even going as far as to drug her inorder to make her rest because he know best and he's always right and he can break the law when his interests are at stake, but nobody else can.
I'mma show myself out now.
This book starts out so good, like, the kind of book that would have me up until 3am reading because I just couldn't put it down. The writing is excellent, the world full of depth, and the characters so very beautifully human. I'm talking about 11 chapters of some of the best literary work I've encountered among indie published books.
Then, halfway through chapter 11, enter Captain Renjiro. My dudes, this man didn't kill the vibes, he MURDERED them!
The story goes from a riveting prison escape to some generic enemies-to-lovers cringe fest. Our girl Kira is suddenly reduced to a cut-and-paste fiery female lead who spends the next six chapters hating Ren but simultaneously swooning over his every move, while tall-dark-and-dreamy proves himself a walking red flag of hypocrisy and arrogance and thoroughly lacking in basic skills of communication and reason. Their chemistry from there can be summed up into "He's hot".
I'm going to sum up the next six chapters for you here: Ren doesn’t tell Kira anything useful except that he fully intends to kill her sister and send her back to prison. Kira tells him she's looking for an apothecary to cure her sister. Ren is also looking for said apothecary. Ren drops vague hints that the cure might not be all it seems and that the apothecary might be a bad guy but never actually gives her a concrete explanation about anything despite having a day-long train ride with nothing else to do but talk. Ren uses Kira to find apothecary. Ren tries to kill apothecary. Ren feels shocked, angry, and betrayed when Kira stops him from killing apothecary and agrees to help the apothecary inorder to gain the cure to save her sister, you know, like she said she was going to.
Things start to get good again in chapter 18 when Kira finally ditches Ren. He shows up again and continues to be a self-righteous prick, but it's much more tolerable from here out. In Chapter 22, they finally have the conversation they should have had on the train back in Chapter 12, and Ren proves he is as thoroughly untrustworthy as Kira thought he was. Honestly, the book is pretty good from here on out, but that slog of nonsense in the middle just killed my energy for the story.
Normally, when a book irritates me like this, I don't give it a long review like this because I deem it not worth anymore time than it has already stolen from me, but today I feel like ranting, so let's get into a couple nitpicky things that really bugged me as well:
. Quote: "There are no chains (in Abashi Prison), only vast sheets of ice and the promise of a slow, agonizing death if we try to escape."
It literally takes them less than a day to cross the ice and find shelter, and about 2 more days to reach the city. They wouldn't even have died of dehydration in that time, much less hunger.
. "You're not the kind of person who runs. You're weak." - Ren speaking to the girl who survived 18 years in an ice prison with brutal guards, lived off boiled bone soup, and the only one to actually succeed in escaping the prison. This isn't the last time he is demeaning towards her either. He has a lot of red flags. He blames her, insults her, and constantly imposes his will on her even going as far as to drug her inorder to make her rest because he know best and he's always right and he can break the law when his interests are at stake, but nobody else can.
I'mma show myself out now.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 9, 2026
Solid 4.5 stars! A true YA fantasy ✨
This book felt like Studio Ghibli & Kpop Demon Hunters did a dark frozen crossover in historical Japan and I LOVED it!
Kira is a courageous & principled heroine, Renjiro a handsome & morally conflicted monster hunter. She is fleeing prison with her sister & he has a bounty to collect for her capture.
Will they stay slaves to the fates the empire has bound them in, or find a path that leads to freedom?
Spice • None
Language • None
Considerations • Death by fire, loss of limbs, human trafficking
Positives • Loyalty & principle over fear, dignity even in suffering, love as the supreme ethic, trusting the path will unfold as you move forward with confidence to take the first step
This book felt like Studio Ghibli & Kpop Demon Hunters did a dark frozen crossover in historical Japan and I LOVED it!
Kira is a courageous & principled heroine, Renjiro a handsome & morally conflicted monster hunter. She is fleeing prison with her sister & he has a bounty to collect for her capture.
Will they stay slaves to the fates the empire has bound them in, or find a path that leads to freedom?
Spice • None
Language • None
Considerations • Death by fire, loss of limbs, human trafficking
Positives • Loyalty & principle over fear, dignity even in suffering, love as the supreme ethic, trusting the path will unfold as you move forward with confidence to take the first step
October 8, 2025
The Last Wayfinder is yet another incredible story by Ellen McGinty!
Darkness and curses have abounded in Kira's life for years--ever since she was born into a prison for reasons unknown. Yet when an accident curses her sister, Kira enters a fight for hope and light like she never has before.
McGinty has woven sisterly love, hope, and courage into this story while the characters face seemingly impossible odds, and as a reader, it leaves me breathless. It's a wonderful reminder that darkness is not the end, but that we can push forward to find light once again. I highly recommend this story to lovers of fantasy!
Darkness and curses have abounded in Kira's life for years--ever since she was born into a prison for reasons unknown. Yet when an accident curses her sister, Kira enters a fight for hope and light like she never has before.
McGinty has woven sisterly love, hope, and courage into this story while the characters face seemingly impossible odds, and as a reader, it leaves me breathless. It's a wonderful reminder that darkness is not the end, but that we can push forward to find light once again. I highly recommend this story to lovers of fantasy!
January 14, 2026
This was my first story by this author and it was fantastic! I really enjoy fantasies that have some real world cultural ties or backgrounds. I loved the Japanese vibes and the historical notes at the end.
This story's focus was more on the sisterly bond than on the romance, but I think that it made the story sweeter. The romance part was more subtle than most fantasies that have a romance subplot in it, and the trope feels "enemies to more" rather than "enemies to lovers". These elements made it a better story in my humble opinion, and a story I would let my 14.5 year old daughter read.
This story's focus was more on the sisterly bond than on the romance, but I think that it made the story sweeter. The romance part was more subtle than most fantasies that have a romance subplot in it, and the trope feels "enemies to more" rather than "enemies to lovers". These elements made it a better story in my humble opinion, and a story I would let my 14.5 year old daughter read.
January 30, 2026
The Last Way finder was a gripping read. The prologue immediately pulled me in to this icy dark world that searches for hope. I love the banter, the world building and smooth prose. The actions scenes were intense and the finale had some epic twists. The slow burn romance is well-done, and there is a brutal scene that just tears your heart out! A must read for any fantasy lovers especially those who enjoy a Japan inspired world. Looking forward to the next book!
August 21, 2025
This is a story that took me a looong time to write. It started as a Les Misérables retelling and then morphed into an arctic fantasy adventure with a touch of romance. If you've ever felt like life is full of impossible paths, dark forests, and hungry bears, then this story is here to say there is always a way forward 🖤
Kickstarter goes live September 2nd, 2025
General release 2026
Kickstarter goes live September 2nd, 2025
General release 2026
January 3, 2026
This book is a beautiful masterpiece. I fell in love with Saints and Monsters first, and only fell deeper in love with The Last Wayfinder. Be prepared to laugh, cry, despair, yet find hope. Ren & Kira’s story is sure to delight any reader.
Notes:
Non-graphic violence
No swearing (made up words to fit the fantasy world)
No spice
Murder
Loss of parents (murder)
Hunted
Fighting ring
Notes:
Non-graphic violence
No swearing (made up words to fit the fantasy world)
No spice
Murder
Loss of parents (murder)
Hunted
Fighting ring
January 10, 2026
This book was SO good! I loved the world she created. I found the characters engaging and the storyline kept me interested. There is a love interest and it’s a true, sweet, clean romance. I think this is my favorite book I’ve read in months the last several months. I am looking forward to the next book.
January 24, 2026
I adored this book!!! The writing was beautiful, the pacing nonstop, the characters interesting and worth rooting for, and the world magically and unique. A truly original premise and story, this book is perfect for fan of fantasy!
January 30, 2026
Ancient Japan 🇯🇵
Dragons 🐉
YA No spice Fantasy
Fast paced
So many beautiful quotes ✨
Dragons 🐉
YA No spice Fantasy
Fast paced
So many beautiful quotes ✨
November 18, 2025
"Hope was far off. But just because a thing is far off doesn't make it insignificant. Even the pinpricks of stars are large raging fires."
Once again, Ellen's writing captured me from the first page! Of course she wrote another beautiful, poignant fantasy that left me wanting to linger in the world for as long as possible. I am such a fan of her lovely writing!! The heart of her stories is always so impactful and WOW did this one get me 😭 I loved that this was a little bit darker than Saints and Monsters and was so moved by the characters' intense fight to keep hoping and keep caring.
I feel like I can never say enough about how much I enjoy the worldbuilding in these books! When I finished Saints, the Wayfinders were the #1 thing I wanted more of, so I was really excited that we got to jump into a Wayfinder / Anuir story here! Their powers and belief system are so cool. (Serena, I adore you 😭🫶🏻)
I devoured the tie-ins to Saints and Monsters in this!!! You don't have to have read that one to enjoy or understand The Last Wayfinder, but it does feel very satisfying to recognize the little references to past events and characters. I am confident that reading this book first and going back to read Saints would feel the same way!
If you're a fantasy fan at all, you need to pick this one up! It's vivid and visceral, and it will linger with you once you leave it. I can't wait to read it in its final form!
Once again, Ellen's writing captured me from the first page! Of course she wrote another beautiful, poignant fantasy that left me wanting to linger in the world for as long as possible. I am such a fan of her lovely writing!! The heart of her stories is always so impactful and WOW did this one get me 😭 I loved that this was a little bit darker than Saints and Monsters and was so moved by the characters' intense fight to keep hoping and keep caring.
I feel like I can never say enough about how much I enjoy the worldbuilding in these books! When I finished Saints, the Wayfinders were the #1 thing I wanted more of, so I was really excited that we got to jump into a Wayfinder / Anuir story here! Their powers and belief system are so cool. (Serena, I adore you 😭🫶🏻)
I devoured the tie-ins to Saints and Monsters in this!!! You don't have to have read that one to enjoy or understand The Last Wayfinder, but it does feel very satisfying to recognize the little references to past events and characters. I am confident that reading this book first and going back to read Saints would feel the same way!
If you're a fantasy fan at all, you need to pick this one up! It's vivid and visceral, and it will linger with you once you leave it. I can't wait to read it in its final form!
February 8, 2026
This story was truly a joy to read! I loved the characters deeply, and the world was so incredibly immersive - I felt like I was living and breathing alongside the characters. Ellen has such a beautiful writing style that captured my attention from the first page and had me mulling over the story for weeks after. If you’re on the fence, read it - you won’t regret it.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews