The Last Best Quest EverReview posted July 17, 2026.
Simon & Schuster Audio, 2026. 11 hours, 52 minutes.
Review written June 5, 2026, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review
F. T. Lukens' stories are always full of magic and full of fun. This one features 17-year-old Ellinore, who is known in the kingdom as Ellinore the Brave, and has been winning the kingdom's quest competitions since she was thirteen.
It all started when she was twelve and a reckless knight lured a giant magical bear into their village. After Ellinore picked up the knight's fallen sword, the bear fell on her - and luckily for her, impaled itself on the sword. At her next quest, when she was thirteen, she was supposed to get rid of the golden dragon that was plaguing a village. Well, Ellinore befriended the dragon, whose name was Dave, and convinced him to hide out in a different place, only fly at night, and take out his penchant for practical jokes on Ellinore.
Dave gave her a golden scale to take back to the king, and since then, he helped her win further quests - finding ways to make deals and talk reasonably instead of hacking and killing.
But the pressure of the lying was wearing Ellinore down, so after she earned enough bags of gold to move her parents to a nice cottage by the sea, she decided she was going to retire from questing.
But then her twin brother Zig foolishly made a bargain with a couple of mages in a tavern. In exchange for a big bag of gold, Ellinore had to bring them the horn of the Elderbeast. The catch: If she doesn't succeed in sixteen days, the mages will take her brother's heart.
Zig can be annoying, but Ellinore will do anything to keep him alive. So she sets out on a quest to find the Elderbeast's horn. She usually works alone, but this time, she ends up gaining some companions: her brother, who insists on coming along; Aven, the attractive second-best quester in the kingdom; a royal young lady who wants to learn from Ellinore the Brave; and a young bard who has a map that shows the whereabouts of the Elderbeast.
But there are multiple rivals and multiple obstacles, and as the clock is ticking (or rather the candle is burning), Zig gets weaker and weaker. But the trouble with going on a quest with other people is that she can't let them find out she's a fraud.
This book has all the fun things I'm used to from F. T. Lukens' books - magic, adventure, friendship, romance, danger, a refreshingly queer-normative society, and characters I love spending time with. I think there's still a couple of their books I've missed, so I will for sure be looking those up. Their books always leave me smiling.