K. D. Edwards

Well damn, I feel like I just finished a good season of Buffy. I haven't read much fantasy since I was a kid, basically because this book has all the qualities I want, but rarely find, in grownup fantasy: an unflagging story, characters about a mile deep, a nifty fantasy/reality-hybrid world, magic that follows interesting and well-defined rules...and honestly it's tough finding a fantasy novel with a plural of those traits. So it's refreshingly clear that K.D. Edwards doesn't take the show more reader's interest, or suspension of disbelief, for granted. He builds New Atlantis frame-by-frame rather than slopping an almanac's worth of worldbuilding and character history on you at the start. Details are explained only as needed, or often a bit after the fact, letting you concentrate on the characters first and the magical whositwhatsits second. And the pacing feels television-like, in the best way. The plot doesn't take breaks, but the characters' layers unfold at the same, slow pace that it takes to get to know anyone in real life. Because of that restraint on the author's part, I didn't know quite what to make of this book at the start. I gave it a chance and stuck around and now the characters have grown on me like barnacles. I've got no doubt Rune and the Sun squad will be as dear to me as the Scooby gang by the end of this series. If they aren't already. show less

Oftentimes I avoid sci-fi and fantasy fiction because I find the world building to be awkward and dull. As far as I’m concerned, there’s nothing worse than front-loading your novel with loads of exhaustive exposition for the purpose of establishing the back-story. And don’t even get me started on glossaries. No thanks.

K.D. Edwards dispenses with that nonsense and drops the reader right into a rapidly moving plot, smack dab in the middle of this unique world of families and kingdoms show more based on the Major and Minor Arcana of the Tarot with basically no explanation of who, what, where or why. Confused already? Don’t worry – you’ll catch up. I’ll admit, at first I was skeptical. Particularly when we’re introduced to our heroes, Rune and Brand, two bantering buddies (or possibly more?) right out of a Joss Whedon-penned escapade. I was so not in the mood for yet more snappy dialogue lifted straight out of an Avengers/Firefly script.

Happily, I judged too quickly and too harshly. Like their universe and back-story, the characters are slowly revealed over the course of the book and they definitely grew on me – to the point that I was actually chuckling over their witty back-and-forth and disturbed when I learned the deep psychic wounds their glibness hides. (I guess that can also serve as my trigger warning)

Rune is the only survivor of the fallen Sun Court and Brand is his longtime companion/bodyguard. Like Holmes and Watson, they share digs with their trusty housekeeper Queenie. After reluctantly being placed in charge of the flirty teenage son of Lady Lovers, Rune is hired by the mighty Lord Tower to investigate the kidnapping of the son of Lady Justice, the matriarch of yet another Major Arcana family. The investigation leads this little band of mercenaries into quite a few adventures - from nail-biting scrapes to epic battles – all entertaining, suspenseful and surprisingly cinematic. There’s also a bit of very hot (and somewhat explicit) gay sex with the tease of the possibility of romance in future installments.

While there are flaws, they’re mostly quibbles. The author is obviously a fan of all the same things I am, which isn’t necessarily a good thing, because it was too easy for me to spot his influences. For example, Quinn, a wide-eyed and loquacious seer who knows every possible outcome to any situation, is way too similar to a character in Men in Black III. And the snarky repartee between the lead characters, while mostly entertaining, is a trend in genre fiction [and film] that’s starting to overstay its welcome. And while I loved the idea of New Atlantis (the section of Nantucket where these characters live in a polyglot of historical buildings imported from all over the globe) I had a hard time getting a real picture of it in my mind based on the information provided. If you are at all familiar with Nantucket, you’ll know what I mean. But again, quibbles.

Basically, I loved this book more than I expected to and am eagerly anticipating future installments in the series. show less

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98 points, 5 stars!
Warning: Flashbacks to Rape
Alert: You will be consumed with an unceasing need to read the next book immediately upon finishing The Last Sun.

Quote:

"The thing you must never forget about Atlantean culture is that we don't coddle our victims. Victims are quarantined and cast out, their defeat viewed as a genetic defect."

Review:
The Last Sun is an amazing, infinitely quotable, incredibly engaging, depth-filled show more urban fantasy that I am incredibly thankful for having read. Thanks to all my friends who wouldn't stop talking about it because I'm not certain I would have read it otherwise. This is actually a very difficult book for me to describe because there is so much nuance to everything. This was just so well written and so absolutely full of life.

The main character, Rune Saint John, is a smartass and I love him to pieces. He hasn't had an easy life, and I want everything good and wholesome to come to him. He and his Companion, Brand, are two of the biggest smartasses to ever smartass and I love it. Their snark and friendship is the best there ever is. They struggle a bit, they don't live a comfy life, and it wasn't always this way but they have learned to adapt. Rune is the heir to the Sun Throne before it was mysteriously destroyed one evening and the perpetrators remain unknown. Thrones are run by Arcana which "are the closest things to gods on this planet". Rune isn't yet an Arcana, he is more of a baby Arcana. But he was part of a powerful, functioning house before the destruction of it when he was a teenager. So expect some serious power coming from Rune. He has survived, even if it damaged him in some severe ways.

The characters are the best. Every single one of them. Rune and Brand are the best friends ever and Brand is hyper-focused on the safety and happiness of Rune. Quinn is mine. Full stop. You can't have him. He can see the future, threads of possible futures, and he doesn't fit in properly. And he's mine. Stay away. Max is given oven to Rune to look after (due to a comical series of events), and he is my broken little boy who has to learn the world isn't out to hurt him. He has found his family in everyone here. This cast is amazing and I love them all.

And don't even get me started on the romance. Holy shit, I'm in love. I can't wait to see more of it. I don't want to spoil it too much, because it comes about quite later in the book than I typically talk about. But if I don't get more of this romance soon, I may riot. It It is utterly perfect. It may happen a bit quickly, but the buildup was still amazing and the outcome was amazing and everything about it was amazing.

The world is not the kindest thing: the strong live, the weak perish. But it feels so rich and nuanced. It is jam packed with random things that just make it feel like a world. There are people in charge, the courts, the arcana. and they aren't always the best people. Some really aren't great, indeed. And Rune works Lord Tower as a problem solver, sometimes. The worldbuilding in The Last Sun most reminds me of the worldbuilding in Kate Daniels - both include little bits of things that make a collective whole. Areas that are just not safe and no one ventures there unless they have a death wish or they are desperate. Buildings with stories attached to them. Things like that. It just makes everything feel so whole.

The world itself had a war, and it hasn't fully recovered. The Atlanteans tried to stay hidden, but eventually the humans found out they existed. Things kind of went poorly. The island of Atlantis was lost, and they moved to New Atlantis, on the island of Nantucket. The world had to take some time to adapt to the changes, and some Atlanteans move slowly. And humans don't really understand how to keep safe in their world. So it is a world in flux, filled with danger, and our main character is the one who gets sent out to deal with it. Perfect.

The story (and backstory) just had me completely sucked in from the very first chapter. Rune has been tasked to look for Addam, the godson of his boss Lord Tower, who is missing. Most aren't convinced that he is even missing, such as his family and business partners. Yet when searching in Addam's office, Rune knows he hasn't just gone wandering again. Something dark was in Addam's office, something that keeps attacking Rune. And it turns out to be something huge.

I loved The Last Sun. I'm sad that I didn't read it sooner. However this does mean that my wait for book two is less. I loved the entire experience reading it. I loved it so much I read it twice before I even wrote this review. I cannot get enough of the characters or the world. And I have so many Ideas about what is going to happen in the future of the series. I can't wait! show less

I know this is the end to the first trilogy in this nine book series but I still have so many questions and absolutely no chill to wait for them.

I'm not getting into spoilers but I am heartbroken about how things unfolded the night the Sun Throne fell and I don't think I'll get over that any time soon.

Brand and Rune (and now Addam) are the heart of this story and it's so nice seeing these nerds couldn't care for a goldfish at the beginning of the first book to now be seen as parents of show more whole entire children.

I'm eagerly waiting for news of the next book in this series. show less