Charlotte Kersten

Year published:  2019

Category:  Urban fantasy

Representation: m/m main couple

Summary:  The last member of a murdered House tries to protect his ward from forced marriage to a monster while uncovering clues to his own tortured past. The Tarot Sequence imagines a modern-day Atlantis off the coast of Massachusetts, governed by powerful Courts based on the traditional Tarot deck. Rune Saint John, last child of the fallen Sun Throne, is backed into a fight of high court magic and political appetites in a desperate bid to protect his ward, Max, from a forced marital alliance with the Hanged Man. Rune’s resistance will take him to the island’s dankest corners, including a red light district made of moored ghost ships; a surreal skyscraper farm; and the floor of the ruling Convocation, where a gathering of Arcana will change Rune’s life forever.

My Thoughts: I did not have a super great time reading The Last Sun, but I am delighted to say that I thought The Hanged Man was way more enjoyable. I can’t say if it was just a difference in my mood while reading or if there were actual changes in the quality of the books, but I found the plot much more engaging, and the humor and banter landed a lot better for me after rarely landing in the first book. Rune and Brand’s abrasiveness was entertaining and endearing instead of just being grating and annoying, and their “forged in the fires of battle” bond and “constantly fucking ready to GO” energy worked a lot better for me, too. There is definitely more depth to their relationship, which is explored very well in scenes like their fight in the red light district. I also think Edwards does a great job of writing about kids and Rune and Brand’s relationships with kids, where they don’t really know what they’re doing but will do whatever they can to support and protect them. The “found family” aspects feel stronger here, too.

It also helps that the central plot was a lot more engaging to me this time around – there are real emotional stakes that I did not feel were present in the first book, as well as an exploration of grooming and abuse that mirrors Rune’s past and current struggles. On that note, another big positive for me is that Rune’s trauma feels a lot more present this time around, from its effect on all of his relationships to his guilt over the suffering experienced by members of his family’s court after their fall.

Returning to the plot for a moment, there are a number of other things that I really enjoyed. There are some very cool “setpieces” like the haunted warship Declaration and the Hanged Man’s skyscraper greenhouse with its different atmospheric levels. The portion of the story where Rune and friends explore the magical flashbacks on the Declaration was where I really got sucked in, and I found it to be visceral and powerful. I also love a story where things gradually get better for the main characters and they experience what I call “vindication catharsis,” where people finally believe them and come together to support them after a long time of them being doubted or being underdogs. Given this predilection, I loved the entire last quarter of the book where Rune lays out all of his evidence against the Hanged Man before the Convocation of other rulers and claims his father’s throne and they believe and support him in response.

I don’t have a whole lot of cons this time. The one thing that really stands out is the strangely cruel treatment of a character named Sherman who is a teenage sex worker and addict after having been groomed and abused by the Hanged Man. Rune and Brand specifically call him a bad person and use his addiction to threaten, manipulate and get what they want from him. For a series with the central theme of protecting and loving traumatized kids (and given that Rune and Brand aren’t exactly paragons of legal and forthright behavior themselves) it just seems really bizarrely inconsistent to be so awful about Sherman because of his dysfunction and bad choices as a result of what happened to him. Beyond that, however, this was a really fun read and I am looking forward to getting caught up with the series soon.