Reviews - The Everlasting | The StoryGraph

59 reviews for:

The Everlasting

Alix E. Harrow

4.67 AVERAGE

venneh's review

5.0

adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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: Yes

I was already excited for a new Alix Harrow book, and even more excited about it being about lady knights and with the possibility of a time loop, and an expansion of an already fantastic short story. However, this book blew me away in the best kind of way. Not only do we get the complexities of time loops, but we get a meaningful look at the power of stories, what happens as you realize the story you've been fighting for this whole time is in fact a carefully constructed lie, what you choose to fight for, and the power of myth making in building and undoing empires. And at the heart of it, a heartbreaking love story between a historian in love with a lady knight, and the truth of the knight and the woman who falls back in love with him. Pick this up in October and enjoy the ride.

nymphread's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious sad medium-paced

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

I just finished this book and I’m sitting here in stunned disbelief — laughing, somehow — because what the actual hell did I just read? I’m floored. Awed. A little emotionally concussed.

I’ve never read anything by Alix E. Harrow before — not for lack of interest, I just hadn’t gotten to her work yet — so I had no idea what to expect going in.

It started off a bit slow. While I enjoyed the prose and absolutely loved the descriptive writing, I wasn’t completely hooked during the first quarter. I’m sorry I underestimated it, but honestly, I’m also kind of glad I went in blind. Without any frame of reference for her writing, I hadn’t formed any expectations of what this story would be. And let me tell you: I did not see this coming. At all.

This book is folkloric and beautiful, inventive and completely unhinged (in the best way). It’s sad, heartwarming, funny, thoughtful, haunting all at once. I could list twenty more adjectives and still not do it justice.

I’m not even going to touch the plot, because I don’t want to ruin a single moment of the experience for anyone else. I don’t even want to hint at spoilers.

Let me just say: Fucking hell. This book took me on a journey.

And finally: Alix E. Harrow, I’m so sorry. I will now be reading your entire catalogue, and I sincerely regret not doing so sooner.

Thank you to Edelweiss and Tor Publishing for the ARC!

creolelitbelle's review

5.0

emotional mysterious reflective tense 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

Harrow wrote a book that is simultaneously timeless AND timely. Relationships found within of love, family, and camaraderie work no matter the age of civilization as do the everlasting struggle for power. The defining natures of governmental power are still lines that we battle for today as a society, and I strongly suspect current climates at least partly inspired leaders and protesters of Dominion. I feel The Everlasting is a response to the tales of King Arthur's knights but with a gender swapped twist. It plays with the butterfly effect and even the time travel paradox to some extent by limiting the when of characters' time travel. With this story, Harrow ripped out my heart & sewed it back together through the intertwining lives of Una, Owen, and the others who surround them. Having read her short story entitled "The Six Deaths of the Saint," I thought I would be emotionally and mentally prepared for whatever turmoil Una endures, but I incredibly underestimated Harrow's ability to craft three-dimensional characters that I cannot stand to see abruptly yanked around time and time again. Nothing could have prepared me for the ups and downs wrought upon my emotions here or keeping up with the steady changes. Much of the narrative is told in 2nd person, which I found very clever to keep it almost epistolary, but also 3rd person pov in pieces gives it that fairy tale/folk lore feel. Yet again, I've read another book that pushes the point of "people need people" as well as what makes us who we are, if not our memories? Without our memories and pasts, who are we? Another driving force of the novel is understanding who or what determines our fate. Questions Una and Owen must answer to move forward in any timeline.

Huge thanks to Tor and Netgalley for a chance to read this book months early. My favorite author wrote another hit.

Content Warnings