The Last Sun by KD Edwards [Kop’s Review]

(Hi, it’s been a while, but I’ll do my best.)

So it’s been months, and I finally finished a book! The Last Sun by KD Edwards is the first in his Tarot Sequence series, and what a way to get out of a reading slump!

background

Atlantis is real. Well, Atlantis was real. It was destroyed, but the Atlanteans moved into our world. Here, they built New Atlantis by teleporting in some of our old, abandoned buildings and re-purposing them. It isn’t uncommon to see a variety of magical creatures walking around. The descriptions of, say, a Minotaur and werewolf casually strolling down the street made the book feel really immersive. But what we care about for now are the Arcana and their courts.

There are courts ruled by Arcana. These are the upper-class Atlanteans. They possess highly powerful magic. And they don’t always get along. The Sun court was raided years ago, and now we follow the heir to the throne, Rune Saint John. While we don’t visit every single court in detail, we at least get brief glimpses or mentions of many of them. This really opened up the world. It was great to think that there might be courts that even the other Arcana don’t know much about.

characters & plot

Rune Saint John is very much a man who does things his own way, sometimes even at the dismay of his Companion, Brand. He can be stubborn to a fault, but he means well. During a raid on the Lovers court (to wipe them out due to bad behavior, to put things lightly), he follows their Arcana Lady Lovers into a secret room. Brand strongly urges him not to. Long story short, Rune agrees to deliver a package for Lady Lovers in trade for a sigil — an item that a magic user can fill with a spell for later use. It turns out that “package” is her grandson Matthias, to be delivered to his 21st birthday. He’s 17.

From there, things sort of spiral. Rune gets a job from another Arcana, the Tower, to find and potentially rescue his godson Addam. However, he soon learns of a nefarious plan that Addam was the victim of.

The characters and plot really helped make the book. From the way they behave alone to their relationships with each other, it was a delight to read about them. My favorites were probably the relationships involving Rune. I found it fascinating to see him interact with the different characters.

overall/misc thoughts

The pacing was excellently done. When it needed to be quick, it was. When we needed a breather, we got fantastic little slice of life moments — from Addam flirting with Rune, to the Tower somehow knowing everything already. (Or at least not outright showing he didn’t know.)

What makes this book special is how it handles very serious topics while still managing to be engaging and fun. There are hints of the old Atlantean dialect that pop up, and they just give depth to the world. Add the characters and plot and LGBT+ elements, and you’ve got yourself a recipe for success.

The Last Sun is a wonderful book filled with many twists and turns that left me satisfied yet wanting more.