The Last Sun - Book Review

So, after a week or two of putting off this review, I’m finally sitting down and getting to work on it. Without further ado, here’s my thoughts on K. D. Edwards’s first book, The Last Sun.

The Last Sun is the first (and currently only) book in The Tarot Sequence, and is a work of Urban Fantasy that feels vaguely like The Dresden Files, one of my favorite fantasy series of all time. The premise of the novel is actually somewhat unique; the magical city of Atlantis has been destroyed in something called “The Atlantean World War” (turns out that it takes more than a flood to destroy the city), and so the residents (who, I should mention, do not regard themselves as entirely human), decide to rebuild the city in Nantucket. Yes, you read that right. The Atlantans decided that Nantucket was the perfect place to rebuild their lost city, apparently thinking that the Quakers wouldn’t have a problem with it.

In any case, the novel is told from the perspective of Rune Saint John, who is the last surviving member of the Atlantean Sun Court - one of several important houses in Atlantean society. The rest of John’s house was killed in a brutal massacre when John was only a teenager — one that he just barely survived with the help of his companion, Brand, who his more or less a bodyguard magically bonded to John.

John, now a young man, works for the mysterious Lord Tower, a fellow Atlantean. Tower sends John of on a quest to locate a fellow missing Atlantean — Addam, the son of a very powerful Atlantean named Lady Justice. And as he progresses along the quest, he begins to discover clues about the massacre that befell his family.

In my experience, most people are attracted to fantasy because of the world-building, and I’m gonna be honest; it’s a little rough here. The world building that Addams does engage in is very unique and interesting, but it takes way too long to get going. I was a quarter of a way through the novel before I realized that it was set in the 21st century and that it wasn’t some sort of alternate-history novel. Once you get through the first half of the novel, it does start to get genuinely interesting. But it’s still a remarkably slow burn. Now, this lack of world-building wouldn’t be a problem if the characters were interesting, but they really aren’t; Rune Saint John seems to switch character archetypes at random; one minute, he’s a damaged, roguish, anti-hero, the next he’s just a winy rich kid. Few of the other characters really stand out either — with one or two notable exceptions, they’re flat and boring. Even worse, the characters change (becoming either nicer or meaner people) to suit the plot that Edwards crafts, making for very unconvincing character arcs. I do want to mention that there’s one character (Quinn) who I thought was very well written, but he has a frustratingly small amount of screen time.

I also think there’s too much cursing in the dialogue. Now, I’m not some stuffy old fart who insists that all writing should be g-rated and polite. I don’t have a problem reading curse words in my books. However, I do have a problem when it seems like the author is just trying to see how many times they can get away with saying “fuck” — which is what I feel Edwards is doing.

I also couldn't help but compare this to my favorite work of Urban Fantasy, The Dresden Files. To be sure, there are several similarities; Both John and Harry Dresden are rougish anti-heroes who get paid to solve mysteries, and love helping people. Both are orphans with a tragic backstory. But The Last Sun lacks the humor and wit that made The Dresden Files so good, and shares one of its signature flaws - namely, that a lot of people want to have sex with the main character for no particular reason. However, in the case of The Last Sun, all of those people are men. Now, perhaps Edwards should be applauded for featuring a gay protagonist, but good representation does not make up for bad writing, and Rune Saint John is simply not an interesting character.

Now, I know I’m being fairly negative here, but I don’t mean to say that the novel is trash. There’s some redeeming characteristics to the world-building once it finally gets going. Additionally, Edwards does build up a sense of intrigue, and by the end, I was genuinely curious to see where the next novel would take the series. I wanted to see how John would solve the mystery of his family's destruction. I wanted to learn more about the Atlantean World War, and all the other unique aspects of Edwards's world. But I'm not sure that I'm interested enough to consider buying the second book.

Another issue here is the pricing; the Last Sun is $17.00, which is a pretty steep price for a paperback. And quite frankly, I have much better — and cheaper — novels that I could be reading. So here’s my final ruling; The Last Sun has some redeeming characteristics, and one or two decently written characters. But on the whole, it’s a pretty boring book. And while it’s not completely terrible, it’s not really that good either. There are simply much better things you could be reading. If you’re really desperate for a new book to read and don’t mind spending the extra money, then go ahead and buy it. But otherwise, I’d stay away.

2/5 Stars