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4.7 AVERAGE
4.7 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
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:
Complicated
4.5 stars… the beginning was a little slow for me and a little…not confusing but close, if that makes sense. But about 20% in I was hooked and needed to know what was happening.
Time travel, a female knight, a love everlasting, betrayal, fairy tales—it was everything you could want in a novel to get lost in!
Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the arc
Time travel, a female knight, a love everlasting, betrayal, fairy tales—it was everything you could want in a novel to get lost in!
Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the arc
adventurous
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
oh my god
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Thanks to Tor and NetGalley for the preview. All opinions are my own.
I regret reading this book. Because I will never live in a world where I can read it for the first time ever again. And no book that I ever read from now until I die will ever be this book. I am wrecked, cast adrift, buried forever at the foot of the yew tree that will never resurrect me.
Look, I cried a lot. I basically started crying around 30% in and barely stopped. Then I sobbed for 10 minutes straight once I'd finished. If you think Harrow wrecked you in 30 pages with Six Deaths of the Saint, just wait until you give her 320 pages with which to work her devilry. I will never recover.
So, yeah, there's a lady knight, and a scholar, and a time-loop, and someone pulling all the strings. But this book is about love, and stories, and who tells those stories and WHY they tell them and who they serve. It's a timless and timely story. It had me in a chokehold from the first page and didn't let go even once I was done.
And of course I want you to read it, so you can be like me...starving beneath the yew tree for a story I'll never get again.
"I saw a throne teetering atop a stack of bones. An appetite, unslaked. A nation obsessed with a past that had never existed."
I regret reading this book. Because I will never live in a world where I can read it for the first time ever again. And no book that I ever read from now until I die will ever be this book. I am wrecked, cast adrift, buried forever at the foot of the yew tree that will never resurrect me.
Look, I cried a lot. I basically started crying around 30% in and barely stopped. Then I sobbed for 10 minutes straight once I'd finished. If you think Harrow wrecked you in 30 pages with Six Deaths of the Saint, just wait until you give her 320 pages with which to work her devilry. I will never recover.
So, yeah, there's a lady knight, and a scholar, and a time-loop, and someone pulling all the strings. But this book is about love, and stories, and who tells those stories and WHY they tell them and who they serve. It's a timless and timely story. It had me in a chokehold from the first page and didn't let go even once I was done.
And of course I want you to read it, so you can be like me...starving beneath the yew tree for a story I'll never get again.
"I saw a throne teetering atop a stack of bones. An appetite, unslaked. A nation obsessed with a past that had never existed."
adventurous
dark
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
⭐️4.5⭐️
𝑊ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢'𝑑 𝑘𝑛𝑒𝑙𝑡 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑜𝑑𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑒 ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑡 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡, 𝑎𝑠 𝑖𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑎 𝑤𝑒𝑎𝑝𝑜𝑛, 𝑙'𝑑 𝑚𝑎𝑑𝑒 𝑎𝑛 𝑜𝑎𝑡ℎ 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑦 𝑜𝑤𝑛: 𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑜 𝑤𝑖𝑒𝑙𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑜𝑛𝑒.
This story is a fantasy time-traveling romance that intertwines the legend of Sir Una Everlasting, a lady-knight who built a nation, with the story of Owen Mallory, a historian sent back in time to ensure her legend unfolds as it was intended, even if it means reliving her tragic fate.
Wow. This story blew me away. It’s an emotional story that is upfront about the level of tragedy that is set to happen, but honestly, nothing could really prepare you for the emotion throughout these pages. I found myself crying through a lot of this story. Alix’s writing is absolutely beautiful. I highlighted so many passages, and I am running out to the store to pick up more of her work immediately.
This book explores so many amazing themes: what true sacrifice is and what it really means to be a hero, unconditional love and loyalty, and the power a story has to reshape history and legacy. I also loved how the story was told; it was unique and really gave it that extra fable feel!
It’s ripe with lore and fantasy elements, but keeps the reader grounded in a modern world. The time traveling elements are very well done, but I did find myself getting a bit confused in keeping the rules of the timelines straight.
Overall, I loved this book. I couldn’t put it down, and I loved the main characters. I was just complaining the other day that we need more real lady-knights in books! If you are looking for an emotional fantasy read that will take you through time and change the way you view history, please put this book on your radar!
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group/Tor Books for the eArc of this book in exchange for an honest review!
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow
Release date: October 28, 2025
I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own.
--
The Everlasting is a slower-paced but compelling story within a story that ties in history, fantasy, and ultimately had me stopping to consider the hard-hitting motifs and themes. This is a story that challenges the reader’s conventional thoughts relating to propaganda, the stories we’ve been told, and the history behind… history.
This isn’t only an elaborate story, the puzzlingly fun time-loop element had my mind turning over and over wondering how many times different versions of this story has played out, what the ‘truth’ is, and so much more. It also has some of the most unique POV I’ve encountered in a novel in that it shifted often and it impacted the story in a hugely positive way.
If you’re a mood reader, pick this up when you’re in the mood for something unhurried that you want to ponder long after closing the book. I can’t think of anything else to compare it to, but I found it worth the read.
“You know that history is mostly happenstance. Accidents piled on top of mistakes, a series of dice rolled in dim rooms by careless hands. It is not a lesson, until we learn it. It is not a story, until we tell it. And every story serves someone.”
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Overall, this is probably a better book than I'm giving it credit for. But I struggled to buy in to the central romance due to the lack of chemistry between the characters and poor pacing for the first two sections of the book. The emotional stakes of the book depend on the reader's investment in these two, so in the end I couldn't bring myself to care about what happens next enough. With that being said, I know many people will love this book because of the romantic premise and creative plot, and I'm excited for them.
A beautiful all encompassing fairytale about a shy shaky scholar, a legendary lady knight, and an everlasting yew tree that transcends every obstacle in every single lifetime. Always.
That is the bare minimum summary. Worded so simply but does not even begin to scratch the surface on the layers of heart-wrenching prose and dynamics that this soul-crushing story entails. I am truly speechless. Like a blank book.
This is, and I do not say this lightly, one of the most beautiful love stories I have ever had the honor of reading. Once the story really takes off and you start to understand the way that it is going to go, there are still so many twists and turns that leave you breathless with tears in your eyes. I don’t want to say anymore because I hope readers get to also go in blind and let this story take you away.
This is one of those books that you read once and think about for the rest of your life. There were so many quotes that I highlighted that have me reeling and tossing over in my brain thinking about the parallels to the climate we currently live in. It is truly such a privilege to be alive at the same time as Alix E. Harrow and to get to read this beautiful work of art. It feels like a dream. I don’t feel worthy reading this book with my mortal eye balls.
Fans of Divine Rivals, The Secret Life of Addie LaRue and The Song of Achilles would absolutely adore the everliving soul out of this book.
It was nothing but the greatest honor of my life to get to read this book and I cherished every single word. Thank you to Alix E. Harrow, Tor Publishing Group and NetGalley for this eARC. I will absolutely cry forever.
That is the bare minimum summary. Worded so simply but does not even begin to scratch the surface on the layers of heart-wrenching prose and dynamics that this soul-crushing story entails. I am truly speechless. Like a blank book.
This is, and I do not say this lightly, one of the most beautiful love stories I have ever had the honor of reading. Once the story really takes off and you start to understand the way that it is going to go, there are still so many twists and turns that leave you breathless with tears in your eyes. I don’t want to say anymore because I hope readers get to also go in blind and let this story take you away.
This is one of those books that you read once and think about for the rest of your life. There were so many quotes that I highlighted that have me reeling and tossing over in my brain thinking about the parallels to the climate we currently live in. It is truly such a privilege to be alive at the same time as Alix E. Harrow and to get to read this beautiful work of art. It feels like a dream. I don’t feel worthy reading this book with my mortal eye balls.
Fans of Divine Rivals, The Secret Life of Addie LaRue and The Song of Achilles would absolutely adore the everliving soul out of this book.
It was nothing but the greatest honor of my life to get to read this book and I cherished every single word. Thank you to Alix E. Harrow, Tor Publishing Group and NetGalley for this eARC. I will absolutely cry forever.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated