Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

The Last Sun by K.D. Edwards

9 reviews

starlitpage's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.5

I started out not liking this book for being too edgy for my personal taste, and finished up disliking it because of the lack of conclusion. From the beginning I felt like I was starting in the middle of something and missing context, and I didn't get satisfactory answers by reading on. There was even a prophecy--I love a good prophecy--that only about 1/3 of it happens in the story. There's an interesting story in this world and this premise, but I'm not convinced it's the one I just read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Sexual content, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug use, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Blood, and Murder

Minor: Alcohol and Classism

barometz's review

I keep trying and I just don't like urban fantasy. I feel like this book and pretty much all other UF I've read simultaneously have too much going on and not enough.

The scene that was the final nail in the coffin for me was a good example, I think.

The main character and his bodyguard were at a bar with the kid they're supposed to be taking care of, looking for information. They all order drinks when they walk in. MC wanders off to find the person who supposedly has the information, gets it, everyone's ready to leave. But then we realize the kid is in the corner on a drug trip because the bartender mixed something into his drink. The bartender's reasoning is that the kid is from the (legitimately awful) magic family that got destroyed at the beginning of the book, and fuck those people--except that the bartender also seems to understand that this child was a victim of that family.

There's no reason for him to do it, and the entire scene does nothing but slow the book down; I don't get what we're doing here and I don't really enjoy the opportunity for the bodyguard to commit a little more gratuitous violence (nor do I think it's funny or cute to slip drugs to an abuse victim without their consent!!). Besides these kinds of moments that don't seem to do anything to move the plot, there aren't a lot of spaces to digest what is important, so the entire thing is difficult for me to follow.

There's so much going on that nothing in particular seems important, which seems to be a constant theme with the entire UF genre.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Classism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Child abuse

anna_brawn's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Sexual assault, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, and Alcohol

Minor: Slavery, Trafficking, Death of parent, and Colonisation

abelh's review

adventurous dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

remimicha's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug use, Eating disorder, Vomit, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

jjjreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Fatphobia, Gore, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment

Minor: Cursing, Drug use, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Self harm, Slavery, Excrement, Antisemitism, Cultural appropriation, and Alcohol

foxgloveinspace's review

adventurous dark emotional funny sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Body shaming, Eating disorder, and Fatphobia

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

littlesmaug's review

adventurous dark emotional funny tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

 Upon reread... this is still a five star book. Always has been, always will be. After reading my publisher-provided ARC of The Hourglass Throne, I knew I needed to do a reread of the first two books.

To celebrate four months until the release of THT, I have posted a full review of The Last Sun! It can be found here: https://littlesmaug.wordpress.com/2022/01/17/review-the-last-sun-by-k-d-edwards-reread/

AN EXCERPT:

Throughout my reread of this book, I found myself delighted often by the familiarity of the world. I think something important about the series as a whole is that it takes pieces of history and incorporates it in the magical mythology of the world Edwards creates. There are moments that are almost history lessons and we see how the fantastical Atlantis could have influenced them. The books incorporate familiar mythology as well.

Rereading the book reminded me of the exact moments I fell in love with each character. Rune’s love of coffee. Brand’s incessant snark. Addam’s gentle compassion. Quinn’s instant love of our protagonist. Max’s softness. The Tower’s dad vibes. I could go on and on.

All-in-all, The Last Sun remains one of my favorite books of all time. I would recommend it to anyone interested in modern/urban fantasy. This series is full of political intrigue, a highly unique magical system (with nods to D&D), mystical realism, and highly developed characters. If you’re looking for a series with the following representation, this one is for you: nonbinary representation (later books/side content), queer-accepting society, a MLM main romance, found family, asexual representation, polyamory. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape

Moderate: Drug use and Alcohol

booksthatburn's review

THE LAST SUN was all wrong for me. I like witty banter and political machinations, but it felt like the interactions were constantly being explained. I made it halfway through and never felt like the protagonists were actually in any danger. There’s a tragic backstory that’s just hinted at so far, and a bodyguarding mission where they’ve just left their charge at home while they take care of other plot stuff. For all Rune talks about his lack of power, it hasn’t actually inconvenienced him or kept him from getting something done. When the seer told him to take a set of actions, he followed the advice and then everything was fine.

The tension doesn’t feel tense and I don’t like the characters enough to care whether they succeed. It’s a shame because I loved the initial problem that Mathias presents, I just wish the story was doing more with him.

It definitely doesn’t help that a bunch of the worldbuilding is themed around the Tarot, a topic with which I’m only passably familiar. If you’d like a fast-paced fantasy story with magic and guns in New Atlantis that’s themed around Tarot, give this a try. It’s just not my thing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Ableism, Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Fatphobia, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, and Vomit

Minor: Child abuse, Slavery, Trafficking, and Death of parent