Charlotte Kersten

So What’s It About?

As Rune Saint John grapples with the challenges of assuming the Sun Throne, a powerful barrier appears around New Atlantis’s famed rejuvenation center. But who could have created such formidable magic . . . what do they want from the immortality clinic . . . and what remains of the dozens trapped inside?

Though Rune and his lifelong bodyguard Brand are tasked with investigating the mysterious barrier, Rune is also busy settling into his new life at court. Claiming his father’s throne has irrevocably thrown him into the precarious world of political deception, and he must secure relationships with newfound allies in time to keep his growing found family safe. His relationship with his lover, Addam Saint Nicholas, raises additional political complications they must navigate. But he and Brand soon discover that the power behind the barrier holds a much more insidious, far-reaching threat to his family, to his people, and to the world.

Now, the rulers of New Atlantis must confront an enemy both new and ancient as the flow of time itself is drawn into the conflict. And as Rune finds himself inexorably drawn back to the fall of his father’s court and his own torture at the hands of masked conspirators, the secrets that he has long guarded will be dragged into the light—changing the Sun Throne, and New Atlantis, forever.

The climax of the first trilogy in the nine-book Tarot Sequence, The Hourglass Throne delivers epic urban fantasy that blends humor, fast-paced action, and political intrigue.

What I Thought

I’m still so glad that I decided to read past the first book in this series, because I’ve enjoyed the rest of them a lot. This is a suitably epic conclusion of the first trilogy in the Tarot Sequence, and nearly every emotional beat landed solidly for me. Above all else, I really loved seeing the growing bond between Addam, Rune, and Brand. Addam always felt like a bit of a boring afterthought in the previous books, and I feel that he is developed much more in this book. In particular, the portion of the book where Rune shares the story of his teenage sexual assault with Addam felt incredibly strong to me, especially learning that Brand was the one who unknowingly let the assailants in but does not remember this now. For the first time, we are able to understand the full burden of the secret Rune has been holding all these years, and for the first time, Rune does not have to carry it alone. It’s the culmination of a lot of the character work that has happened in these books, and it felt quite powerful to me.

There are a LOT of characters in the Misfit Throne now, but I think Edwards does a very good job of balancing each of their stories and making sure that they are well-represented throughout in a way that never feels forced at all. The developing relationships lend themselves to many funny and heartfelt moments that never feel fake or saccharine, which is one of my favorite things about this series. I still think that the author is great at creating fascinating magical setpieces, and the timeloop sections in this book were as interesting as the ship and magical building in the previous books.

Most of my quibbles are pretty negligible. There are some random one-off lines that make me a bit confused about the world-building – we have elves and dwarves now???? The Atlantians cured COVID???? I wish that we had had some kind of closure around Death’s mother and her actions. Finally, I continue to be absolutely perplexed about why Queenie is a character (to call her a character is pretty generous, honestly) in this series. She simply exists to be a perfect servant, and I cannot remember if she’s ever had a line of dialogue about anything other than that. There better be some kind of mind-blowing plot twist about Queenie in the upcoming books!