The Hanged Man

The Hanged Man (2019) K. D. Edwards (The Tarot Sequence)

Occasionally, it takes time for me to realize how good a book is. Other times, I know it’s good, but don’t realize just how much the story is going to stick with me.

The Atlantean World War was brief. The cost was high. Magically radioactive wastes in the Pacific Northwest and half of Poland; the near-extinction of dragonkind; a viral plague that decimated the Atlantean homeland. A hundred thousand headstones, trillions in damage.

Rune has stuck with me.

First and foremost, I adore the banter between Rune and Brand.

“See. I was checking. Tell me you’re impressed.”

“Not everything you do needs to be stuck on the refrigerator with a fucking magnet.”

Brand strode ahead of his party and glared at my injuries. “You fucking led me to believe you could handle a half dozen men.”

“I lulled them into a false sense of security with my bleeding.”

But even more I love their love for each other, and although they don’t often show it, they aren’t afraid to support each other.

Also, this story has kids and teens and preteens, and their aren’t plot moppets, are identifiable as separate entities, and are written to their ages.

He stood there and swayed, studying us. “Do you wear socks?” he finally asked.

Brand and I looked at each other.

Corbie said, “I wear socks too.” He stuck out a foot to show that he was, indeed, wearing socks.

Having established common ground, he fled. I heard his muffled footsteps punch up an unseen stairway.

Which believe me, doesn’t always happen.

And now (unless I reread the short stories) I must wait impatiently for the next book.

I hate waiting.

Publisher :Pyr
Rating: 8.5/10

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