“Anna counted five separate restaurants owned by this Howard Johnson. They looked very old – something from the years before she was born. Rune would probably know. He was always talking about the 1980s and 1990s as if they were the first decades of human existence.”
― K.D. Edwards, The Eidolon“He’s alive!” Quinn cried. “Right? Max right? Right?” Now he turned, desperate.
“He’s alive and well and burning a path toward you,” Max whispered. He turned his gaze on Cornelius. Sometimes there were no other words that summed up a situation better than a low, fierce, “Fuck you.”
―
The Eidolon is the fourth book in the Tarot Sequence trilogy by K.D. Edwards. Per Edwards, at the time of publication, he had a limit on how long his third book, The Hourglass Throne, could be. So he had to cut out most of the plot of Max and Quinn. He then turned this discarded storyline into its own book.
Even though this book is named as first in a series (Magnus Academy #1), it is tied so closely to The Tarot Sequence that it will make little-to-no-sense if read on its own. However, it is still a lovely and important supplement to the original trilogy.
Without going into spoilers, Max, Quinn, and Anna get up to some stuff separate from their brothers. They take the lessons Rune, Addam, and Brand have taught them and use these skills to stay alive long enough to get back to their family and thwart the bad guy in the process.
Out of all of the books, this one falls firmly into the YA category. There is still plenty of language and violence, but this book sticks to the shallow end of the pool, referring to sex or sexual escapades instead of discussing them openly. To be more clear, sex, prostitution and slavery are referenced for the sake of continuity, but they are not part of this storyline.
I am always happy to read more about Max and Quinn. Their friendship is solid even though they bicker. They are super protective of one another, openly emulating the partnership between Rune and Brand. We get a little bit more about Anna, but the friendship between the boys is the beating heart of this story.
I read someone refer to this as book 3.5 in the series. You do not need to read this book to understand The Hourglass Throne, but you will need to read it before picking up the upcoming release of The Misfit caravan.
I’m giving this three stars because, although it is a fun story, there are no gut-punch reveals or extreme character growth like there are in the first three books.
I saved this book for my kickoff review of CBR 16. Let’s go Cannonballers!