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A review by inesheiwat
Once & Future by Cory McCarthy, A.R. Capetta
2.0
2.5/5
If you aren't a fan of books that read like they haven't been edited at all, then don't read this book.
The story was engaging - it's the only reason why I finished it at all. A sci-fi, space retelling of the King Arthur legend where Arthur, Merlin, Morgana, and the Round Table knights have been reincarnated for the 42nd time and Arthur is a GIRL this time?!? Hell to the fucking yes.
The representation was also pretty great in this book. Almost all the characters fell somewhere on the LGBTQIAA+ spectrum, at least one character went by they/them pronouns (which were respected by ALL other characters), and the main bitch (Ari) is what we would consider of Arab descent (though they called it something different).
HOWEVER, the writing was so bad that I started annotating just to comment on it.
For example, my personal favorite:
"Merlin blushed like a chameleon who had forgotten he was supposed to be blending in. This
was probably how chameleons wound up dead." (pg.96, last line)
There're so many examples like this everywhere, and, at some points, the writing was so bad that I had to reread the line multiple times because I couldn't understand what they're trying to say.
In summary, I thought the story was super interesting (it was the only thing that kept me reading!), but the writing was atrocious. I don't think I'll be continuing the rest of the series as it comes out, unless they get a better editor, or get one in the first place!
Ciao for now!
Bella
If you aren't a fan of books that read like they haven't been edited at all, then don't read this book.
The story was engaging - it's the only reason why I finished it at all. A sci-fi, space retelling of the King Arthur legend where Arthur, Merlin, Morgana, and the Round Table knights have been reincarnated for the 42nd time and Arthur is a GIRL this time?!? Hell to the fucking yes.
The representation was also pretty great in this book. Almost all the characters fell somewhere on the LGBTQIAA+ spectrum, at least one character went by they/them pronouns (which were respected by ALL other characters), and the main bitch (Ari) is what we would consider of Arab descent (though they called it something different).
HOWEVER, the writing was so bad that I started annotating just to comment on it.
For example, my personal favorite:
"Merlin blushed like a chameleon who had forgotten he was supposed to be blending in. This
was probably how chameleons wound up dead." (pg.96, last line)
There're so many examples like this everywhere, and, at some points, the writing was so bad that I had to reread the line multiple times because I couldn't understand what they're trying to say.
In summary, I thought the story was super interesting (it was the only thing that kept me reading!), but the writing was atrocious. I don't think I'll be continuing the rest of the series as it comes out, unless they get a better editor, or get one in the first place!
Ciao for now!
Bella