The Eidolon (and "The Separation," I guess)

[lunasariel]

I am now officially up to date with the Tarot Sequence! :D

The Eidolon, by K.D. Edwards

Apparently this was a whole subplot that had to be excised from The Hourglass Throne for length reasons, and KDE used the opportunity to expand it into a whole-ass novella. In some ways, this really shows - it doesn't stand on its own or anything like, and it did have a certain Lower Decks Episode feel - but overall it feels more cohesive than the mishmash I was expecting.

Getting Max, Quinn, and Anna POVs was... about what I thought they would be, tbh. It's now abundantly clear that KDE's approach to multiple narrators is, ascyanshadow would say, Rune In A Slightly Different Hat. There are some vague attempts at differentiating them further (for example, a lot less "fuck"s than Rune's narration would have), but tbh I'm finding that I actually like his writing better when he doesn't try super hard to give every character a distinct narrative voice. Max is clearly trying to imitate Brand and/or Rune super hard in-universe, and that actually works out pretty well - he's very up front about asking himself WWRD (What Would Rune Do) or WWBS (Who Would Brand Stab), which was adorable. Anna, too, is clearly trying to imitate both Rune "I Will Light You On Fire" Saint John and Brandon "I Will Cut You" Saint John; again, the effect here is oddly adorable.

With Quinn, on the other hand, KDE was clearly trying his heart out to get into the headspace of someone who sees the world radically differently from most people. Some of his more ~mystical~ bits came across as a bit forced, but by and large I thought his narration was good, if not particularly impressive. For example, I did like the opening, where he wandered around the city with his cart of Useful Items, making sure that there would be change in the phone booth for the guy who needed to make an anonymous call, there would be an umbrella to keep the woman dry while she gathered up the courage to go to the women's shelter across the street, etc. But overall, I think KDE is trying harder than he needs to to make Quinn ~unique~, when I'm perfectly happy with Rune In A Slightly More Cloud Cuckoolander Hat.

Speaking of Quinn! KDE does seem to be running into the Professor X problem, wherein a character has awesome mental powers of some sort that handily solve most challenges, and then the writer has to go through increasingly convoluted contortions to keep that character from just...solving everything. They tend to get kidnapped and/or knocked out a lot. Quinn has now been both, with a bonus temporary de-powering. I certainly hope it won't be permanent, since a) that doesn't seem to be how KDE rolls, and b) that would be sad. It'll be interesting to see how KDE handles this going forward, tho, since Quinn can't keep getting knocked out/kidnapped/alchemically de-powered every time a problem arises. I actually thought that The Hanged Man, which was overall my least favorite of the three, did a great job of this, between Quinn being able to see things pretty far in advance but not interpret them correctly (ex. "icicle screams") and him deliberately withholding information because the future he saw was unpleasant but necessary.

I also really liked Quinn's friendship with Max, and the Terrible Teens shenanigans in general. I didn't realize how deeply the "boys vs. girls is the default narrative" mindset had been ingrained in me until I realized that something was pinging me as weird about two older teen boys forming a Power Trio with a younger teen/tween girl, but, huh. I guess it's just that, when I was growing up, that was *the* narrative - there was even a whole series that was about Just That! (Heh, while looking it up, the Hatfields vs. McCoys parallel jumped out at me; I totally missed that when I was like eight. XD) So it does strike me as a liiiiiiittle unrealistic, based on my own experience, but I do like that we don't have to sit through the "leave us alone, squirt"/"but I can help!!!" back and forth before things really get going. I like how they very clearly trust each other and rely on each other, even in a fight; they have each other's backs both literally and metaphorically. But similar to how I'm Significantly More Invested in the Rune&Brand part of the Addam/Rune&Brand triumvirate, Quinn&Max is definitely my favorite of this particular triumvirate. I was deeply cuted out as far back as The Last Sun, when Quinn more or less flung himself bodily at Max, much to Max's ??????. Like with Rune&Brand, I don't read Max&Quinn as shippy, but I could very easily be persuaded to do so - I know Quinn being ace is now canon, but KDE seems clued in to queer theory enough to realize that asexual =/= aromantic, so they could still date. But I'm also delighted with them as Heterosexual Ace And Whatever Max Is Life Partners; they've definitely got a scaled-down version of the intense "you're my boy" bond that Rune and Brand have. Like, Quinn isn't at all above using his creepy I Know How You Will Die powers to get Max out of a jam, and Max going absolutely feral on the guard who was trying to put his hands on Quinn was *chef's kiss*, as the kids these days say.

The villains were even more cartoonishly EEEEEEEEVIL than in The Hourglass Throne, where there was more space to give them some nuance, or at least give them something to do aside from rubbing their hands together and gloating. And boy howdy, was there a *lot* of gloating going on here, particularly of the "wouldn't it be deliciously ironic if I gave very broad hints as to my Evil Plan so you can go to your deaths with the knowledge that could have saved your friends BUT WILL NEVER HAVE THE CHANCE TO DELIVER IT AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Anyway, I must go enact my various plots and schemes; feel free to wander around in the company of my least loyal henchperson" variety. Like, we're talking dangerously un-genre savvy here; I'm actually kind of disappointed that none of the Terrible Teens are nerdy enough to point her at the Evil Overlord List.

Lady Jade/Time was far and away the worst offender, obviously. I actually didn't mind the Evil Overlord Overlady business, because by this point my expectation for KDE villains is "makes Magneto from the 90s X-Men cartoon look subtle," and boy did she meet that one. But Cornelius, too, ranked unexpectedly high on the Villain-O-Meter. He wasn't any more subtle than Lady Time, and frankly I'm not 100% sure how the Terrible Teens came to the conclusion that he had been the one behind the Agonies (aside from him being a) skilled in alchemy and b) generally unpleasant), but I admit it was a comfort to know that Brand would be killing him (Cornelius) with his (Brand's) feet shortly.

Finally, KDE managed to pack an awful lot of Portentousness into one novella, even with the team prophet temporarily de-powered. There were two Revelations, or at least Strong Intimations, and may I just say: I fucking CALLED IT on both of them!!

First, we now have confirmation that Queenie is more than she seems, and has been aiding the gang and altering their memories to make them forget her involvement, make them think of her as their benign and subfusc housekeeper, and to make them ignore her in general. It's also virtually confirmed that she's the Empress - she says "The name was always a bit on-the-nose," has a "subtle but rich accent" that I assume is old Atlantean, is the same person who brought Quinn out of his coma, and apparently the Fool once took "old vows" to her. So, yeah, I called in my The Hourglass Throne review, and now I'm double-calling it - Queenie is the Empress, and the Empress is the person who has been speaking to Rune (and apparently others) at pivotal moments.

Second, the Ultimate Big Bad (or at least the Big Bad for the next arc) is also virtually confirmed to be the Anchorite, the head of the Star Court and Rune's maternal grandfather. Well, it is explicitly confirmed that a big conflict with the Anchorite is coming, although the Star Court itself isn't mentioned. Nor do we know what "crimes against Atlantis" the Anchorite was imprisoned for, or when, for that matter. (Oooh, for double Portentousness, maybe they had to do with the death of the Emperor/the Empress' madness!) I'm still predicting that the Anchorite was the one behind the fall of the Sun Court/Rune's assault, either on his own recognizance or as a catspaw for another, secret Big Bad even more shadowy and creepy. I kinda want to say that the "crimes against Atlantis" involved the death of Rune's mother, and the bone toothpick that the Anchorite mysteriously sent him as a coronation gift was made from one of her bones, but I kinda feel like, if said crimes had occurred so recently, they would have been mentioned as common knowledge by now. I'm still hanging onto the "the bone toothpick comes from Mama Sun" thought, though. It's not a virtual certainty like Certain Other Things are, but it's at least not wholly improbable.

Continuity-wise, I held off posting this review because I wanted to pair it with my review of "The Separation," the last of the free stories on KDE's website, but it's all of four pages long, and the plot is thus: a tutor tries to separate toddler!Rune and toddler!Brand, and gets whacked on the ankle by Brand, glowed angrily at by Rune, and yelled at by Lord Sun for his troubles. It's cute, but there's not exactly a lot to unpack. XD


But hey, since I did hold off, I've had time to dive into the fandom a bit, and I have fic recs! Only a couple so far, but as predicted, this is a fandom that lends itself *very* well to fanstuff.

You and Me, You and Me, You and Me, by Z_Aggro: one snapshot of Rune&Brand per year, from birth to age 20. Some are cloying (the cookie heist thing), some are heartbreaking (Rune after his own assault vs. Rune after Brand's whipping), and some are actually pretty goddamn adorable (their superhero game!!!). We also got some good insights into Brand's character - apparently he's a sci-fi nerd/Trekkie, or at least he was before the fall of the Sun Court! His favorite color is yellow for totally not-Rune-related reasons! Mayan taught him to play the guitar as post-Sun Court therapy! Anyway, this was sweet and incisive, with spot-on characterization and some great moments.

The Past Rewinds, by TheWriterWhoNeverWrites: Addam takes a hit meant for Rune, and temporarily loses the last ~15 years of his memory; implied to take place about 2/3 through The Hourglass Throne. I really want to see this idea explored more, because what we got is excellent. The surface stuff is mainly funny, fluffy, casefic/slice-of-life stuff (Addam immediately hits on Brand the mysterious hot Companion who apparently saved him, for example, and comes to some...interesting conclusions about what's up with his hand), but the undercurrents are all actually kinda heartbreaking. It's clear that Lady Jade, who launched the spell in the first place, meant to incapacitate Rune by sending him back to the time immediately after his assault, which would have been Very Bad, and Addam is heartbreakingly happy to see Quinn, who he last saw as a tiny baby, already deeply beloved but with very low chances of survival, as a happy, healthy (minus some nosebleeds and the occasional training-induced bruise), and thriving teenager. Again, great characterization, and leaning in an OT3 direction that I'm entirely happy with. :D