Reviews with content warning for Infidelity - Once & Future

Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

Once & Future by Cory McCarthy, A.R. Capetta

12 reviews

ursa_arlo's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

Once & Future truly reads like arthurian gay space communism fanfiction in the best and worst ways. I have to admit: it is poorly written with a lot of plotholes, unnecessary skipping sequences where the characters are unconscious and at first I thought I was making a mistake by not outright DNF'ing it.

However, as I got used to the writing, the story became more entertaining. The characters are at least mildly endearing, their drama and the story absurd, and there's some wonderful one-liners in there that made me crack up.

I can't in good conscience recommend this book (the bad guy is a comically evil capitalist and I don't know how to feel about everyone being horny for each other) but I had a good time reading it.

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iamsammie27's review

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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lastcomment314's review against another edition

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adventurous fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

It was almost so good. I love me a good gay Arthurian fantasy, and this one had a cool twist with being set in space, and some nice found family vibes, but the overall delivery on this one held it back. Stylistically, it wasn't quite my cuppa tea. There were also certain scenes that seemed forced, and the focus on sex and bodily functions was a bit much for my tastes. To summarize discussion with group I read this with, we don't care about Merlin relieving himself in the crystal cave, we care about the quest to overthrow the unjust, tyrannical ~~king~~ company.

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martin27's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

An insanely fun sci-fi adventure is does exactly what it claims to be: a queer female King Arthur in space. For those familiar with the Arthurian legend, it might fall short for you if you go in expecting a retelling that remains faithful to the themes of the original, but if you take it for what it actually is (a pretty standard YA sci-fi plot that uses the legends as set dressing), it’s extremely entertaining. Once & Future is also, unsurprisingly, based very heavily on T.H. White’s The Once and Future King more so than anything else. If you can’t stand White’s work then some of the choices in this book will be very hit or miss for you.

The characters are lovely, though how much they actually have in common with their medieval counterparts varies a lot. One of the plot twists near the end is simply that Merlin was wrong about which role

Jordan

fulfills in the legend, and it was in my opinion the weakest plot point. Some of the characters are very strong (Ari and Merlin, for example), but some of them really fall by the wayside at times. I think having even one more good scene with Jordan as the focus would have improved the character significantly.

The relationships are the highlight of the book in my opinion. The friendship between Merlin and Ari is wonderful and such a joy to read, and the fiery romance between Ari and Gwen is captivating. The slow burn romance between

Merlin and Val

is my favorite part of the book.

The world building isn’t super strong but it is interesting most of the time. The hook for the sequel kind of comes out of nowhere, but it does set up an interesting premise and I definitely will be looking at book two.

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