A review by rachratesreads
The Hourglass Throne by K.D. Edwards

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

The Hourglass Throne 5/5 
 
This book was a culmination of information finally coming into fruition, whilst still leaving plenty of unanswered questions for the upcoming books to explore. Because this is book 3, it’s very hard to review without spoiling parts of the previous books, so I’m going to keep it vague. 
 
I am always enamored with KD Edwards ability to write sincere and meaningful interactions between all of the characters. Everyone is distinct, and the relationships they build feel real. KD also manages to take grim dark themes and balance them out perfectly with humor and soft scenes. I have never read a book that executes this as well as The Tarot Sequence. If the scales were tipped even a little, I honestly don’t think I’d be able to read the story, because there are parts that are brutal and painful. But KD has managed to make a book (who’s CWs alone would typically be a Big Nope from me) become what will probably be my favorite series of the year. 
 
 As a reader, KD has officially become one of my insta-buy authors. As a writer, I can not begin to express how much I look up to him and his writing. The words “masterful in his craft” come to mind. 
 
 I’m definitely rereading (and annotating) the other two books. I’ll keep y’all posted on that journey. Under the spoiler text, I will detail the content warnings for this book. If you do not want to know the specifics, please don't click on it. CW includes sexual assault, PTSD, death, misgendering.

pg. 53: a character misgenders another character. This is not meant maliciously, and is corrected immediately. pg. 235: Rune recalls his assault, specifically using the word r*pe. pg. 260: Rune tells Addam about some of the specifics of his assault. These are all details we, as the reader, learned in book 1. Beginning at pg. 235 until ~ pg. 390, Rune and Addam are caught in a time loop and sent back to the day the Sun Court was attacked. While they don't actually see what happened to Past!Rune, they know it is happening in the neighboring building. It's still very unsettling and Rune has some PTSD reactions.
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