The Last Sun by K.D. Edwards

Quote of the Book

“As long as I’d known—and known of—Ciaran, he had profited in the service of secrets, selling them to those in need. He had a host of innate mind-fuck powers that aided his business, not the least of which was a touch of true seeing.

 Saying I was eager to know why Quinn had sent me Ciaran’s way was a grim and curious understatement, like wondering if your microwave was hot enough to cook your cat, or whether a pair of scissors was sharp enough to cut off your finger.”

Blurb

Rune Saint John, last child of the fallen Sun Court, is hired to search for Lady Judgment’s missing son, Addam, on New Atlantis, the island city where the Atlanteans moved after ordinary humans destroyed their original home.

With his companion and bodyguard, Brand, he questions Addam’s relatives and business contacts through the highest ranks of the nobles of New Atlantis. But as they investigate, they uncover more than a missing man: a legendary creature connected to the secret of the massacre of Rune’s Court.

In looking for Addam, can Rune find the truth behind his family’s death and the torments of his past?

Personal notes

Spur of the moment choice.

Jen’s Review

This was such an enjoyable read, I blew through it very quickly – my notes are ridiculously unhelpful consisting of things along the lines of “these guys are hilarious” and “fun as hell” and nothing at all to make writing this review any easier. So, expect a lot of fawning and not much substance.

Rune is the last surviving heir to the court of the Sun Throne. He could have so easily been the typical damaged lead character that I see often in UF. You know the one that are in every third book or so – sarcastic, promiscuous, and pushes away everyone who cares, or tries to care.
Rune was a nice change, though we do still get “sarcastic” (I wouldn’t have had Rune any other way), we also get likeable, caring, and loyal, along with this wonderful close friendship between him and Brand.

Brand – Rune’s lifelong friend, protector, and bonded companion (my notes of Brand were along the lines of seems grumpy and cusses a lot… he’s awesome). I loved the obvious caring between these two leads, and that there was protectiveness there but also freedom given to Rune to have a boyfriend without guilt or any of that sort of drama.

Matthis (Max) – a promise to a powerful Scion that ended up a babysitting job for life. I loved Max, he felt like a teenager who had some of his own baggage to deal with and I particularly loved the tough love moment between him and Rune later in the book.

Addam – the son of an Arcana and potentially great boyfriend. Rune and Brand are hired to find him after he goes missing.  I loved the very open, respectful, and gentle way he treated Rune, and even Brand. He was never dismissive of the companion bond they shared.

This world is full and built while moving at a breakneck pace. Surprisingly it’s not too overwhelming or difficult to understand. It does take a bit to adjust to the speed though.

The powerful families are based on the Tarot deck (which I know next to nothing about outside of recognizing a couple of card names) so I can’t tell you if the card meaning has any correlation to the family names and how they behave or not.

There are the usual mix of monsters – from the undead to fairies.

Some parts of the city were formed when Atlantean moved to Nantucket. The archeological sites and old buildings that they transferred are full of history and lingering bad psychic energies. The older sites around the city have become somewhat warped and can be quite dangerous.

Other than those ‘bad energies’ that can manifest, other magics are combinations of sigil use, where the wearer has to “fill” them, and/or some magics are inherited/born with types.

I did love the magic and especially the way the sigils could be used for everything from healing, defense and battle magic, to cosmetically enhancing how people see you.

I also like how having to replenish the sigils at sanctums or through meditation, helps keep the user from being too overpowered, while still letting them do fun cool stuff in the battle. Others can have an advantage over our heroes easily just by having more of the right sigils; so we actually worry about the restrictions that only having a few sigils going into battle against a more powerful foe imposes on them and whether they get used too soon leaving our hero, essentially bare.

The mystery is pretty straight forward kidnapping – our boys rescue and then try to find the answers to the who, what, and why’s about it before things get worse. It’s probably the only weak spot of the story but really, I didn’t care because the rest was so damned fun.

While everything important to this book is tied up, there are lots of hints to draw a person back to the next book to see how the mysteries surrounding Rune and company play out. But honestly, I’m not needing much in the way of enticements to come back, consider me firmly on the bandwagon.

TW – past rape.