This one was a little hard for me to get into initially. The persistent mentions of the pandemic were one reason: while this is an urban fantasy series, I don’t feel like the story of this type requires this much grounding in reality. Moreover, New Atlantis is such a separate location. While it has humans living alongside magic beings, it’s pretty disconnected from the rest of the world, and its residents have wards, healing spells, rejuvenation technologies, and the ability to use infectious diseases to fuel magic. It just doesn’t make sense they would be affected by the pandemic the same way we were, so it took me out of the story a bit early on. There was also a bit of a disjointed sense to the start. There was the plot with the attack on the rejuvenation clinic and something big and dangerous brewing that Rune was being excluded from, there was the build-up to Rune’s coronation, and for the first few chapters, those felt like separate plots that were distracting from each other.

However, pretty soon the two storylines coalesced into one absolutely glorious, higher-stakes-than-ever whole, and I couldn’t tear myself away from the book. It was an absolutely wild, exciting, and heartbreaking ride. I’m in awe of how well all the time-travel weirdness was executed: just enough of a mindfuck to keep me from getting too confused, with the foreshadowing and reveals balanced just right. So many small plot threads from all over the previous books got continued, all the characters got amazing development, there were scenes that had me outright sobbing as well as banter that had me laughing out loud. 

I very much appreciate how diverse the series is becoming. The author is very much making up for the earlier absence of interesting female characters. And just honestly, all the new and returning members have so much depth, just like all the continuously developing relationships between them! I’m just so in love with everyone in this book, and with how intricately the character arcs and the plot challenges are balanced. It was awesome to get immersed into the Arcana politics, to get to know more about Ciaran, to realize that somewhere along the way I’ve become a fan of Lord Tower (insert a spring of incoherent mega-spoilerific emotions here, because that one plot point, how am I supposed to even live with it, please undo it, arghhhh). Rune, Bran, and Addam continue to be the sunshine of my existence, whether it’s all three of them on the page together or any two of them.

Certain reveals from the past still have me shaking, and so do certain hits at what’s to come in the future. It’s so hard to talk about this book without spoilers, tbh! This entire series is so going on my list of the 2024 best reads. From what I know, the author is still in the process of writing book 4, and I’m wishing him all sorts of success and zero writing block, because I can’t wait. Meanwhile, I guess I’ll go buy the first book from the side series about the younger generation.

I had to put the book down a couple of times to take a breath, but in the best way. I'm obsessed with the way Edwards writes relationships (of all kinds) and the set up for more to come is *chef's kiss*

This is book 3 of 9 (planned) so we got some threads tied off, but mostly seeing how introduced plot threads will eventually connect in the macro plot. 

Quinn and Addam continue to be my favourite characters. I loved the character development we get for the entire found family, and especially between Addam, Rune, and Brand - watching them figure out how to keep the kids safe and happy/thriving was nice. 

I would say that despite the long list of CW given by the author, this is the least graphic of the series so far. While traumatic things have been focused on each of the books, the level of discription has shifted so that it was less of a viserally unpleasant reading experience.

There was an event at the end that I'm hoping gets reversed in later books. There was also a very warm and cozy event in the epilogue that helped me feel better despite the other thing. 

So far, I'm really liking this series and I'm excited to see where the rest goes.

There is an instance of misgendering - a character has recently changed their pronouns and their aunt uses the old pronoun when discussing them, and has to correct herself.

CW from author: Drugs and alcohol: depictions of narcotic side-effects, underage and non-consenual usage; Trauma and gore: PTSD / panic attacks, depictions of past events, (forced) flashbacks, torture, (suicide) bombings, child violence, blood, body horror, torn limbs, impalement, mind control; Mentions of: SA, animal death, character death, cannibalism, eye gore, COVID-19, suicide

The Hourglass Throne 5/5 

 

This book was a culmination of information finally coming into fruition, whilst still leaving plenty of unanswered questions for the upcoming books to explore. Because this is book 3, it’s very hard to review without spoiling parts of the previous books, so I’m going to keep it vague. 

 

I am always enamored with KD Edwards ability to write sincere and meaningful interactions between all of the characters. Everyone is distinct, and the relationships they build feel real. KD also manages to take grim dark themes and balance them out perfectly with humor and soft scenes. I have never read a book that executes this as well as The Tarot Sequence. If the scales were tipped even a little, I honestly don’t think I’d be able to read the story, because there are parts that are brutal and painful. But KD has managed to make a book (who’s CWs alone would typically be a Big Nope from me) become what will probably be my favorite series of the year. 
 
 As a reader, KD has officially become one of my insta-buy authors. As a writer, I can not begin to express how much I look up to him and his writing. The words “masterful in his craft” come to mind. 
 
 I’m definitely rereading (and annotating) the other two books. I’ll keep y’all posted on that journey. Under the spoiler text, I will detail the content warnings for this book. If you do not want to know the specifics, please don't click on it. CW includes sexual assault, PTSD, death, misgendering.

pg. 53: a character misgenders another character. This is not meant maliciously, and is corrected immediately. pg. 235: Rune recalls his assault, specifically using the word r*pe. pg. 260: Rune tells Addam about some of the specifics of his assault. These are all details we, as the reader, learned in book 1. Beginning at pg. 235 until ~ pg. 390, Rune and Addam are caught in a time loop and sent back to the day the Sun Court was attacked. While they don't actually see what happened to Past!Rune, they know it is happening in the neighboring building. It's still very unsettling and Rune has some PTSD reactions.

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