THE EIDOLON by K.D. Edwards – Review

I received this book for free from the Publicist in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

The Eidolon by K.D. Edwards
Series: Magnus Academy #1
Published by Self Published on February 28 2023
Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Pages: 212
Format: eARC
Source: Publicist
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The nitty-gritty: A short novel featuring Max, Quinn and Anna, The Eidolon was a fun adventure in the midst of K.D. Edwards’ epic fantasy.

The Eidolon is a pretty unique piece of writing that I enjoyed a lot, although I found it frustrating at times as well. First of all, the story takes place in the universe of Keith’s Tarot Sequence, and if you haven’t started that series, you will probably be lost reading this. Based on the author’s Foreward, The Eidolon was originally part of The Hourglass Throne, book three in the series. And because The Hourglass Throne was published during the Covid material shortages, the publisher had to place a strict page count on the final book. This resulted in Edwards cutting over two hundred pages of material, which ended up as The Eidolon. Luckily, the stars aligned and The Eidolon was able to be published, both in e-book format and as a limited edition hardcover from Rainbow Crate (which I purchased!). 

The story is told mostly from Quinn and Max’s points of view. During Rune’s coronation party, Quinn—who can foresee the future—sense his timeline ending, and he has the horrible suspicion that he’s going to die. When he spots a suspicious woman in a green dress at the party, he knows she’s somehow connected to what’s going to happen, and so he decides to confront her in order to keep his friends safe. Max ends up going along with Quinn, which is how they wind up in the Eidolon, a subterranean “city” made up of a jumble of old buildings. Lady Jade, the woman in the green dress, has joined forces with a group of homeless kids calling themselves the Revelry, and she’s using them for nefarious purposes. It’s up to Quinn and Max to warn Rune and the others before it’s too late.

In The Eidolon, we get a focused story revolving around some of the younger characters, and I loved getting to know them better. The setting was really cool as well. I loved the Eidolon, which was created using a magic called translocation, where buildings and other structures all over the world are “translocated” to New Atlantis. The plot really picks up when Anna joins Quinn and Max, and if you’ve read the series you’ll know that Anna is going to be very powerful when she grows up. Occasionally the characters mention what’s going on outside of the Eidolon with Rune, Brand and the others, and I know this was done to solidify the connection between the two books, but I actually preferred the parts of the story that focused solely on their underground adventures.

And yes, their adventures are fun and exciting, but as a standalone piece of fiction, I’m not sure how well this worked. I read The Hourglass Throne nine months ago, long enough to forget many of the plot points. The author does supply a timeline, slotting the chapters of The Eidolon into when they take place during The Hourglass Throne, but you would have to remember the play-by-play of that book in order to make sense of it. I consider myself a big K.D. Edwards fan, but there are WAY bigger fans out there who can recite each event in all the books and short stories from memory. I suspect The Eidolon was meant for those fans specifically.

Edwards includes a lovely map of New Atlantis, and this is the first time I’ve seen one so it was extremely helpful. He also has a handy glossary at the end describing the characters for the entire series, as well as a list of places and other interesting story elements. Overall, I’m very glad to have read The Eidolon, and it only makes me more excited for the next book!

Big thanks to the publicist for providing a review copy.