My review: The Everlasting, by Alix E. Harrow

Another last-minute review of a book I read months ago. Another attempt to put my thoughts in order before voting. Every evidence of procrastination and incomplete work is another chance to grow?

Anyway, I really enjoyed this book. It does fall heavily into the “war is war” category of books that give me some kind of feelings about war, without being about war.

Probably I should be a better scholar of the Arthurian canon. I don’t know how heavily this leans on the Pendragon sort of narrative – but it is certainly in conversation with that lore.

I am always really surprised to find time travel that I enjoy. Usually time travel is dumb or boring. This occasionally veered into the boring lane (not the story, just the use of time travel) because they brought aspirin back to a medieval era and there was even a chunk of time that was completely elided over by “every few months we would jump again and we did this for years.” Nonetheless, the framing and use of it was quite enjoyable.

I love the queerness of this book. I argue that the two main love interests, who present as a cis-het couple, are reasonably read as queer – they are both othered, and embrace cross-gender traits, and fight for a love they’re not supposed to have. Plus, of course, their individual bisexual backstories.

I like a story that builds a mythos (see above about Arthur, or I suppose more properly Merlin). I like swords and sorcery and they have guns so it is not purely fantasy, I guess? Though the time-travel is (spoilers) powered by dragon magic rather than science. I dunno, I’m fine with my genres blending, and I’ll read whatever interests me, but probably there is room for discourse about how fantasy-heavy the Hugos have become. I’m not the expert, or even well-read enough to have a strong opinion… but I am developing an opinion. Regardless, this book is good and you should read it!