Rating: 8/10
Let me say first that I came into this book with zero expectations. I saw LGBT+ and fantasy and I was in. I more or less bought this book on a whim and I had no time frame for reading it. I decided to read mostly LGBT+ books in December (for no real reason, it kind of just fell that way) and I added The Last Sun on another whim. I only started reading it because I was kind of in-between books in my current buddy-read and I felt restless. I must say, I had very few qualms with the book and I really enjoyed it. This has to be one of my most surprising reads of 2020. Though it certainly needs some trigger warnings, this book has graphic descriptions of past sexual assault, plenty of graphic violence, and a bit of consensual sexual content (not much, but some). If those things are triggering to you, perhaps this is one to skip.
Summary from Amazon:
"In this debut novel and series starter, the last member of a murdered House searches for a missing nobleman, and uncovers clues about his own tortured past. 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?"
(I don't know why the Amazon description says Lady Judgement, it's actually Lady Justice)
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. Regardless, I've already put the second book in my Amazon cart and I look forward to reading it. The book ended with enough intrigue to make me excited to keep going.