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A review by stefhyena
Once & Future by Cory McCarthy, A.R. Capetta
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
I mean queer Arthurian space opera!!! I was totally up for that. I liked the beginning and middle despite there being too much obligatory pairing up romance. I don't mind some but this is like over half the book is about that and it simultaneously reifies the "teenagers and young adults are bundles of hormones" AND tries to say that what happens at those ages is meaningful relationships. Like pick one! Their both irritating cliches but they are also contradictory but this book tries to have both.
Then also all the emotions are big emotions, they can never be calm about anything, they always have to be melodramatic. I liked that the "big bad" was capitalism but the silliest part was on p325 where there's a suggestion that if you cut down the leader (in this case the Administrator) then the big bad scatters. That sort of individualism is the soul of capitalism but it's also not true. There is always some scheming other faction quite happy that you did that for them (and ok like 2 chapters later after yet another emotion laden sex scene) the big bad does indeed come back in a slightly different form...which would be less silly without the bit on p325.
I get that the authors want to manipulate the reader's hopes to make the twists more emotional but it becomes a farce when it's all unalleviated big emotion (also that nonsensical). Also it was disappointing that these otherwise queer characters have never heard of polyamory to the point where what could have been some manageable jealousy turned into a BIG DRAMA that added little if anything. And it wasn't completely true to the Arthurian legends either.
Ok so there was a lot of other nonsense. Some of it sort of worked, like you want anachronisms in the future so you make a theme park. It sort of works. I did briefly wonder if it was a Diana Wynn Jones Easter Egg (respect if it was) and I KNOW I saw some Star Wars in one section and...I can't remember what else but there were some things that were repurposed from great works but it's fun because they did it slightly differently.
I liked the 2 mums (moms I think they spelled it) and I would have liked to have seen more of them. I would have liked Jordan to be filled out more too and not be such a background character (I liked her more than some of the foregrounded characters). I kept forgetting that Ari was a girl but maybe that's just me (and my generation, and the fact I have met boys called Ari).
We did need an Arthurian lesbian space opera so props to the authors for making that.
I don't like things ending on a cliffhanger though. If you write a good enough tale I will still keep reading even without the cliffhanger which is unsatisfying at the end of a book...in this case. I don't know. I will see how I go.
Then also all the emotions are big emotions, they can never be calm about anything, they always have to be melodramatic. I liked that the "big bad" was capitalism but the silliest part was on p325 where there's a suggestion that if you cut down the leader (in this case the Administrator) then the big bad scatters. That sort of individualism is the soul of capitalism but it's also not true. There is always some scheming other faction quite happy that you did that for them (and ok like 2 chapters later after yet another emotion laden sex scene) the big bad does indeed come back in a slightly different form...which would be less silly without the bit on p325.
I get that the authors want to manipulate the reader's hopes to make the twists more emotional but it becomes a farce when it's all unalleviated big emotion (also that nonsensical). Also it was disappointing that these otherwise queer characters have never heard of polyamory to the point where what could have been some manageable jealousy turned into a BIG DRAMA that added little if anything. And it wasn't completely true to the Arthurian legends either.
Ok so there was a lot of other nonsense. Some of it sort of worked, like you want anachronisms in the future so you make a theme park. It sort of works. I did briefly wonder if it was a Diana Wynn Jones Easter Egg (respect if it was) and I KNOW I saw some Star Wars in one section and...I can't remember what else but there were some things that were repurposed from great works but it's fun because they did it slightly differently.
I liked the 2 mums (moms I think they spelled it) and I would have liked to have seen more of them. I would have liked Jordan to be filled out more too and not be such a background character (I liked her more than some of the foregrounded characters). I kept forgetting that Ari was a girl but maybe that's just me (and my generation, and the fact I have met boys called Ari).
We did need an Arthurian lesbian space opera so props to the authors for making that.
I don't like things ending on a cliffhanger though. If you write a good enough tale I will still keep reading even without the cliffhanger which is unsatisfying at the end of a book...in this case. I don't know. I will see how I go.