I know I'm not the only one with a distressingly large amount of books on my tbr pile. But sometimes a book catches your eye, and it has a pretty cover or the protagonist has a cool name and you think, sorry tbr, but why not. These spur of the moment books often turn out to be just ok, sometimes less than ok, sometimes more. And sometimes, just sometimes mind you- it wouldn't be one of the most special things about being an avid read if it happened all the time- but sometimes the book you never saw coming turns out to be one of the best books you've read in your life.
So I guess you could say I enjoyed The Last Sun.
So, Atlantis. No, come back, don't be turned off! The worldbuilding is one of the best parts of this book (I'm going to say that about every part of this book by the end of this review, I can see it now). So, Atlantis. Or rather, New Atlantis. The under the sea version is no more, and the Atlantians who outlived the city have built a new one in America, existing as kind of a new city-state in the world. They also built their new city by buying and magically transporting old and unwanted buildings from all over the world, which means that this book is peppered with delightful little history of architecture lessons that I never got tired of.
New Atlantis is governed by ruling houses, and it took me an embarrassingly long time to realise they all reflect tarot cards. Yes I know the series is called the Tarot Sequence. Shut up. Or hero, Rune, is the last scion of the Sun Throne. His father and house were wiped out by persons unknown when he was a teenager, and so while he's technically a scion and heir to his house he also has to take odd jobs to make ends meet. Rune is the best. He's funny and just the right amount of self-depreciating and being inside his head was a blast. This book does this thing where an unfamiliar term or concept will be introduced and then Rune will kind of pause the narrative and take the reader aside and explain it. Which, written down like that sounds info-dumpy and boring, but Rune's voice is so engaging that I didn't care at all. And it was kind of a new feeling too; if I was confused by something I didn't have to try and figure it out from context clues, I knew I just hang to hang tight for a minute and Rune would catch me up. I appreciated it his consideration for my mental energy levels.
Rune has this bodyguard/magically bonded companion named Brand, and did you know that magically-bonded-companion is one of my favourite tropes? (Actually, it's almost creepy how this book pretty much went down the list of my favourite tropes and ticked them all off... Right down to character and possible love interest must take shelter but, wait, what's this? only one bed???!!???) And only scions can cast magic, so non-scion Brand has to rely and guns and super-cool bodyguard senses to keep Rune safe. He is delightfully competent and fun to watch in action. Plus, such bromance.
Speaking of scion magic, such a cool system. Scions can only cast spells by charging sigils, which are rare items mapped to their owners. And Rune of course has only a ragtag little collection of sigils so he must get creative with their use. This book has so many epic battles, each one a mix of magic and non-magic weaponry, and they never got boring or repetitive. The rules of the magic system are laid out well, and the power-creep over the course of the book feels natural. If epic bad-arse moments are you thing then please, step this way.
I feel like I've barely even scratched the surface of all the things I loved about this book. Characters? Amazing. Worldbuilding? Legit some of the best I've read. I'm not talking Sanderson attention to detail, but just so much cool and well thought out stuff. Prose? Every sentence made me happy. Plot? Gripping. The main story wraps up, but I will say this is clearly book one of hopefully twenty-seven, so there are loose ends. Another thing I must mention is that there is sexual violence in Rune's past, and while it doesn't happen on-page there are some pretty confronting flashback moments. I was ok with this, and found it to be handled well, but I know some people choose to avoid this in their reading. Also, I honestly didn't notice it while reading, but realised after I was done that there's a slight lack of female characters which again, doesn't bother me, but I know it's a concern for others.
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Popular Highlights in this book
A normal job went like this: I went somewhere I shouldn’t, I tried not to get caught, and if I did, Brand shot someone in the head. It was a good day when the corpse had pizza money.Highlighted by 164 Kindle readers- “Matthias, this isn’t an eighties sitcom. I can’t casually accept an orphan into my house for comic relief.”Highlighted by 161 Kindle readers
- “You saved me,” Matthias said to me from behind Brand. I couldn’t quite identify the expression that lit up his face, but it wasn’t nearly as comfortable as plain gratitude. “You saved my life.” “If we get you killed your first week, people will make fun of us,” I said.Highlighted by 129 Kindle readers
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Reviews with images
Great Fast-Paced LGBT+ Urban Fantasy Novel
This book has all the trappings of a great modern, urban fantasy complete with mystery, action, and a city based on the tarot deck. The action in this book is pretty continuous in a way that keeps the reader on their toes. It's pretty much one thing after another, it's very fast paced. The magic system was also really interesting and it felt well thought out. I like that Edwards didn't really make the scions or the Arcana overpowered, they are limited because they require sigils to store and properly yield their magic. It really allowed for tension in battles, because the magic wielder was always limited to how ever many full sigils they had in their possession. It's important to have a way to cap the power that characters have, overpowered protagonists or villains (though Rurik was pushing it) are just kind of annoying to read about.The world-building was done very well, it was really cool to see something that was, by all means, familiar but displayed in such an inventive way. The place in the story, New Atlantis, exists in the modern United States where Nantucket (I think) used to be. The Atlanteans took this area over following a war and they more or less coexist with normal humans. The upperclass people in this society are the Arcana, each house (with an actual arcana figurehead) represents a different card from the major arcana in the tarot deck. Many of them are very old and very powerful and they have their own place in the society. Our protagonist is the last of his house, he survived his court being overthrown, though not without a few awful memories. I liked Rune, he was a good character. He's been through a lot, but he's clearly a survivor and he's ultimately good. Though he is also very reckless and impulsive. The other characters felt kind of flat, except for maybe Max. They were kind of caricatures of themselves, like Addam was just kind of a good guy who does good things and has dad energy (considering that he is a scion of justice, you'd think he'd be more apt for revenge than he is). Brand was just a rough, extremely loyal body-guard type, we got a bit of softness from him but I don't really know anything about him. There were bits and pieces sprinkled throughout, but not as much as I'd have liked. The Tower was kind of just a scary guy.There was a lot of history mentioned in passing that I wish we had gotten to know more about. Things about Rune and the history of Atlantis itself, apparently we aren't supposed to like the Hanged Man but I'm not really sure why. The background/exposition could've just been done better. This is the kind of book that will mention things in passing constantly and either A. never elaborate on it or B. make the reader wait until almost the end of the book to understand what the problem is. The second one isn't that bad, and rather par for the course, but I really don't like ending a book and still not knowing the answers to some of my questions. I suppose I prefer series that kind of handle things one book at a time. Also, I kind of think that the opening sequence could've been taken out and it really wouldn't have mattered much. I know that it taught the reader about raids and also gave us Max, but it didn't feel totally necessary. I still don't quite understand the mechanics of the raids. I'm glad we have Max, but he kind of felt inconsequential in this book. I know that the next book is largely about him, so why not introduce him towards the end of the book?In all, I don't think that most of my complaints are big things, I really enjoyed the book. The fast-paced nature of the book kept my attention and I've become attached to Rune (and also Addam, Brand, Quinn, and Max). Though, I must say that I hope Brand can curb the excessive amount of cursing in the next book. I don't care at all if people or characters cuss, not at all. When I say it now, I'm really just saying that it's so excessive. It gets on my nerves because it's not really a character trait, and it's just repetitive. Repetition like that annoys me so quickly.
