Reviews

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

snowreo's review against another edition

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5.0

any time i pick up a book that starts with “james patterson presents” i know it’s about to be bomb as HELL.

i impulsively picked up this book at my local barnes n nobles because i had just finished merlin and my heart was yearning to go back to camelot. i also have been wanting to get more into a sci-fi. so obviously this was the perfect choice! i was weary as i think the beginning of this book starts really fast and may be hard to latch onto but im so glad i kept going. because i can say this is certainly one of my favorite reads of year.

the representation! an arab wlw mc, a gay mc, a wlw love interest, a black nonbinary side character missing a hand, a black gay character, an ace side character. it was lovely seeing the legend of king arthur just a little more diverse. and on another note with the characters, their banter was amazing. the dialogue and the jokes flowed really naturally and didn’t feel forced. plus, found family for the win. it was also really easy to see their motivations and their backstories, and to understand who they were.

i love how themes of capitalism and consumption, imperialism, gender and sexual identity, and climate change were introduced and adapted to fit the universe. it was an excellent piece of world building

the one thing i had a hard time with is gwen’s characterization. don’t get me wrong, i don’t dislike her. i also understand why being vulnerable and sharing her last is hard for her. but it just didn’t make sense to me that she would willingly offer all of her life story to kay, who she had only been intimate with out of grief and the sake of conceiving a child, and not ari, the woman she claimed to be in love with and whom she is married to.

also not that this is a bad thing but just a note when [redacted] died i felt my heart crush into a million little pieces. my boy
all in all it’s a lovely book and i cannot wait to pick up the sequel

schizoconference's review against another edition

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3.0

better in the second book

book_dragon_xx's review against another edition

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adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted medium-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

odurant8's review against another edition

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3.0

This was tedious. I can’t believe there will be a sequel.

roseday's review against another edition

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2.0

Not a very good book. It was as if the author just put a bunch of things together and it did not go well. I read this for a book club and we spent 20 minutes talking about if there was a relationship between a 40 year old and a 14 year old. Not one of us liked it and talking about it only made it worse. The whole book is very poorly planed and very little made sense

mellomorissa's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense 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? Yes

4.0

gsas's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny mysterious reflective 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

4.75

gann's review against another edition

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moved slower than I wanted 

miss_majuu's review against another edition

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4.0

Yes the pacing is all over the place and yes a lot of things were way too rushed for my personal taste.
Buuuut it's a sci-fi, gender bent King Arthur retelling with awesome representation. That's just so much of the stuff that's right up my alley that I gladly looked past all my issues. Also it perfectly made me sad with all of the melodramatic aspects of the Arthurian legend. Just give Merlin a hug, okay!?

lbarsk's review against another edition

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4.0

Aw this was SO fun! I love this take on the King Arthur myth, and I appreciated one of its overarching themes — breaking painful patterns of behavior and trying new things. Looking forward to the sequel in 2020!