Vampire Weekend by Mike Chen review

Read Caitlin's review of The Hourglass Throne
Buy The Eidolon HERE

OFFICIAL AUTHOR BIO: K.D. lives and writes in North Carolina, but has spent time in Massachusetts, Maine, Colorado, New Hampshire, Montana, and Washington. (Common theme until NC: Snow. So, so much snow.)

Mercifully short careers in food service, interactive television, corporate banking, retail management, and bariatric furniture has led to a much less short career in Higher Education.

FORMAT/INFO: The Eidolon will be self-published on February 28th, 2023. It is 217 pages split over 12 chapters, a prologue and an epilogue. It is told in third person from Max, Quinn, and Anna's POVs. It is available in ebook and audiobook formats.

OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: Quinn and Max may have been taken prisoner by Lady Jade, but it's all part of Quinn's plan. Quinn's gift of prophecy has told him this is the only way to get Rune the information he needs to defeat Lady Jade. But prophecy can't see everything, and this task is still full of dangers as Quinn, Max, and Anna work to stay alive in the weird and creepy underground domain of the Eidolon. 

The Eidolon is a fun little adventure for those already well-versed in the Tarot Sequence universe. That's an important distinction to make as this book is being marked as the first book in a new series, Magnus Academy. While the primary books of the Tarot Sequence focus on Rune and his journey, Magnus Academy focuses on the younger members of his cohort: Quinn, Max, and Anna. This is not however, a good on-boarding point to the Tarot Sequence, as this novella presupposes you're already familiar with the universe. This is very much a companion novel to the main books, not an adventure that stands on its own, especially given that this plotline in particular was originally intended for book 3, The Hourglass Throne, but was cut due to page count limits. All of that is to say, if you aren't already reading the Tarot Sequence, don't start here. 

If you ARE a Tarot Sequence fan, then you're in for a bite-sized treat, full of mystery, explosive magics, and weird creatures. There are POV chapters from each of our three heroes that offer some crucial insights to these characters we've only seen from the outside before. I particularly enjoyed the chapters written from Quinn's point of view, as it was fascinating experiencing what it's like to constantly be experiencing different timelines and knowing that leaving an umbrella at a bus stop could change the course of someone's life. Max is constantly comparing himself to Rune, while Anna, freshly coming into a level of power that dwarfs many adult's, has a bit of an Elle Wood "What, like it's hard?" flare when it comes to difficult magic workings. 

CONCLUSION: The Eidolon is a great companion read to The Hourglass Throne. That said, it's a bit of a weird read that essentially has to be read as a companion piece, as it is one piece of a bigger puzzle, and its weight can't really be appreciated on its own. Do I wish the publisher of The Hourglass Throne had let this be part of the original book? Yes. But at least we get to still experience this particular storyline, and even get one or two surprise revelations along the way. (One of which had me shouting "I KNEW IT."). I am certainly looking forward to more adventures from Max, Quinn, and Anna, and seeing how this novella bridges the main series with the other novels set in this universe.

OFFICIAL AUTHOR INFORMATION: 

Stacey McEwan is a school teacher by day and fantasy writer by night. A book influencer on multiple platforms, she began writing the bestselling Ledge after book lovers of the internet begged her to share her story ideas. Stacey lives on the Gold Coast, Australia with her husband, two children and one questionable dog. When Stacey isn’t writing, teaching, or making ridiculous tiktoks, you’ll find her playing with her children, reading, annoying her husband, or possibly all three at once. Find Stacey on TikTok and Instagram: @stacebookspace.

OFFICIAL AUTHOR BIO: Richard was born in North Yorkshire and spent most of his early life on Royal Air Force bases in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. He studied law at the University of Manchester, and spent the following ten years as a litigator.

Between 2015 and 2018, Richard self-published "The Art of War Trilogy", a sequence of epic space opera novels, as well as a prequel ("Hadan's Reach") and two spinoff mil-sci-fi novellas ("VIPER One", and "VIPER One: Countervalue", the latter co-authored with George Lockett).

Richard's debut fantasy "Empire of the Wolf" trilogy recently sold to Orbit Books, with the first instalment coming out in February 2022.

Richard currently lives and writes in Sydney, Australia.

 
Official Author Website