M’s Comments (group member since Jan 29, 2022)

M’s comments from the The Tarot Sequence 2022 Readalong group.

Siavahda wrote: "I think it's been heavily implied that an Aspect is...very much a reflection of the person whose Aspect it is. Which I personally take to mean that Addam's Aspect literally being a white knight...does, in fact, mean that he is a literal white knight."

I am 100% on board with this. I think KD just has me freaked out after his cryptic answer this weekend about how the first three books are about Rune's secrets from the reader and the second three books are about secrets being kept from Rune.

I AM NOT OKAY.

I just need to throw this out there because it’s been making me nervous since I originally finished the series (this far), and The Sunken Mall re-read made me nervous again:

We all agree that Addam is basically a good guy, right? No one’s afraid that he’s too good to be true and actually going to turn out to be… not… good…

Right?

Talk me down from my paranoia, please.

Siavahda wrote: "Honestly I feel bad for fans of the series who don't know about Sunken Mall (and the other novellas). The conversation Addam and Rune have about how their relationship started feels important."

I had forgotten that this conversation took place and I was so glad to see it here. It's so important, both for Addam to have recognized his early missteps in their relationship and for Rune to trust that Addam understands his scars.

Also the conversation at the end with the Lord Sun elemental feels incredibly important as a setup for The Hanged Man. I also feel so sad for people who do not know this novella exists!

F wrote: "M wrote: "I get it. And I think your interpretation is how it’s meant to be read.

That said, even though 20 years is objectively time enough to have “gotten over” trauma, Rune clearly hasn’t. He ..."

Point taken! We've just been through several chapters with various scenes that demonstrate just how oblivious Addam can be about lots of things. He has gotten by his whole life on his charm, and I think he's so used to it working for him that he doesn't quite know how to turn it off. He's certainly not being willfully insensitive to Rune's situation; it seems more likely that he just doesn't know how to respond to trauma of that magnitude, so he just carries on with what's always worked for him in the past.

I get it. And I think your interpretation is how it’s meant to be read.

That said, even though 20 years is objectively time enough to have “gotten over” trauma, Rune clearly hasn’t. He still can’t even talk to Brand about it. Not only that, but he’s literally just been forced to re-live it hours earlier. I know Rune consents to everything that happens in this chapter (and the explicit consent is why I agree with you that we’re meant to read these scenes as being okay), but I do wonder about what kind of headspace he’s in at this moment, and whether or not he is actually capable of fully consenting to anything given his inability to deal with the trauma he’s experienced.

I have to admit that I struggled to like Addam through these chapters. I know that his forwardness is completely on-character for him, but knowing bits and pieces about Rune’s trauma made it hard to find Addam’s repeated overtures endearing. Even knowing how things have panned out so far, I still cringed a bit through these chapters this time around. I’m glad things have mostly worked out okay, but… *sigh* Poor Rune.

That said, hello most favoritest quote from this book!

I think people make themselves beautiful. I think everything on our outside is a line sketch, and whatever’s on the inside blows those lines into three dimensions.

Hot damn what a beautiful line.

I appreciate Addam so much more this time around within the context of the second book and shorts. But I still really want to know how a guy as solid as Addam came out of the Justice family. Did he get all dad’s genes or…? Same question for Quinn. These two are a far cry from mom’s, “I won’t meddle, but I’ll vengeance.”

Which leads to another question: do either Addam or Quinn have a legitimate shot at the Crusader Throne? Is the concept of Justice changing with the new generation so that it is focused on intention as much as action?

And finally, I’m intrigued by Justice’s apparent lack of… justice… over the unsanctioned raid on the Sun Court. Which raises, again, the question of how many strings Lord Tower is pulling, given his ties to the Justice scions.

Hi everyone!

I'm Meagan (she/her) and I honestly can't remember what made me pick up The Last Sun, but I read it in December of 2021 and was hooked. I made it through The Hanged Man and the shorts in a matter of days and then had a serious book hangover that I'm still nursing tbh. I love books that feature Tarot and am also a sucker for the "platonic soulmates" and "found family" tropes, so The Tarot Sequence is pretty much everything I could ever hope for in a series.

One thing that has been a pleasant discovery in my relatively short tenure as a fan of these books is the amazing community built around the author and this series. I love how deeply people care about these books and characters, and I love how genuine KD is in his interactions with fans. It's so rare to see an author so involved in fandom, and a fandom that so vehemently supports its author. I spent a lot of time in a relatively toxic fandom several years ago, and I've been really hesitant to engage in fandoms since. But the Tarot Cycle fandom just seems so lovely that I thought I'd dip my toe back in the water for this, my first-ever read-along.

A little more about me: I am a mom of two kids, an unapologetic introvert, and a sucker for well-written fiction. A [totally legitimate] online quiz recently told me that the best "escape" for my Meyers-Briggs type was "reading fiction," and despite the questionable source, I honestly couldn't agree more. Reading has been a necessary escape from reality for me for these past two years, especially, and I am so glad the hobby has led me to discover amazing works that I never would have found if I wasn't religiously trolling Goodreads, Bookstagram, and BookTok in an attempt to block out the outside world for a while.

I'm excited to be in this group and experience The Tarot Sequence for the second time with a group of diehard fans.

Hannah wrote: "Also, one of my favorite character introductions of all time: "Isn't it time for us to meet yet?""

LOVE this. I obviously had no idea what was happening the first time I read the book but this time I was so happy because I knew we were about to meet Quinn.

Meghan wrote: "S2) He discovered at least some of the perpetrators, but for some reason hasn't moved against them yet.
Seems most likely, given the Hanged Man situation. We don't know enough about the factions and alliances between the courts. We don't know that much about the older generation of Moral Certainties. There is a great deal of counter balancing between the courts, especially since the Human/Atlantean war."

I agree that The Tower knows more than he's letting on. I'm by no means a Tarot expert, but in readings the Tower card usually indicates a time of uncomfortable but necessary change. Given the (character) Tower's reluctance to directly involve himself in nearly anything, my read is that he is pulling strings and withholding information to effect massive future change.

Rune's no dummy, so I suspect he's aware that he's being manipulated (not necessarily malevolently so). He either trusts The Tower enough to let it play out, or he and Brand are doing their own due diligence, covertly. Or... poor Rune is still so traumatized that he can't even think about what happened to him, let alone who knows what about who was behind it. :-(

I’m listening to this on Audible this time around and I just want to take a second to appreciate Josh Hurley’s narration. He completely nails Rune’s “earnest sarcasm” vibe. I can just tell this is going to be a fun ride.