The Hanged Man took me back into the world of New Atlantis (my review of The Last Sun can be found here), a world populated with fantastic characters, intriguing politics and all manner and type of myths and monsters.  I love this world and the Hanged Man was a brilliant instalment.  Fast paced, packed with drama and action, it succeeded in making me love these characters even more, which is something I didn’t think was possible (as I was already smitten).

A quick spoiler warning. If you haven’t read the first book (The Last Sun) then you might want to stop reading this review as there may be spoilers contained within.  Also, I would advise you to read the first instalment and not to just dive in at The Hanged Man.

I love what the author has created.  New Atlantis is an absolutely fascinating world ruled by the Arcana, individuals who inspired the similarly named major arcana cards from a pack of tarot.  Magic is stored in sigils and can be released when needed and refueled and each of the Arcana have an ‘aspect’ that they can display at will – although caution is advised.  The main character, Rune, is the heir to the Sun Court. His court was destroyed many years ago and Rune himself was subjected to a terrible ordeal.  He is still trying to get to the bottom of what truly prompted the raid on his family and that plays into the plot as the story progresses.

Once again Edwards has created a fast paced and engrossing story.  Rune is determined to protect his new ward Max from an unsavoury and dangerous marriage alliance with the Hanged Man.  The whole agreement was settled upon prior to Rune’s involvement and there are established protocols that must be followed and that could be life threatening not only to Max but to Rune and those he loves.  Brand, Rune’s bonded companion and protector comes up with a solution to try and find a sneaky way to take a look at the Hanged Man’s undertakings which involves taking on a missing child investigation.  As it happens the child in question belongs to a family that used to be part of the Sun Court before it’s downfall.  Things quickly spiral out of control and time is of the essence if Rune is to help those he has sworn to protect.

This instalment is dark.  The Hanged Man is, well, let’s just say he’s not a nice chap.  And that’s a great under exaggeration – he’s absolutely heinous to be honest.  You really wouldn’t want to be part of his court and a marriage with him would best be avoided at all costs.  He seems to have had a number of such arrangements in the past and very few of those he marries remain visible for long.

The plot, the writing and the world building are all wonderful but the absolute, without doubt, winning element of these stories, for me, is the characters.  There is such a depth of feeling and not just to Rune and Brand.  You feel genuine fear for them when they enter the fray and that is the sure sign of successful writing in my opinion.  I want to experience a range of feelings when I’m reading and Edwards certainly makes that desire a reality. Which isn’t to underplay the strength of the other elements at play.  This is an exciting world, a well thought out plot and it’s written with panache and flair but the characters are an emotive power-punch.  I love them and more than that I love the way this second instalment has added more layers and more characters, not to mention showing us some of the strengths of the other Arcana.  I adored Death and her ghostly steeds.

I highly recommend this series to lovers of urban fantasy.  It’s incredibly creative, the world is fascinating, I mean – the Green Docks – what a moment of sheer brilliance to create this place full of seedy goings-on and then to also pack it full of ships from the past, ships that went missing in mysterious circumstances.

It’s no secret that I love this style of fantasy but, I don’t think I’m overplaying this series or allowing my own personal bias to sway me.  This is the real deal and I only hope that the author has plenty more adventures in the pipeline, certainly the structure and addition of new characters show lots of promise for that to become a reality.  Treat yourself and jump on board with this exciting series.

I love it and sincerely thank the publisher for a review copy.  The above is my own opinion.

5 out of 5 stars