Review: The Everlasting
- tatedecaro
- 1 minute ago
- 2 min read
3/5 stars
The Everlasting, by Alix Harrow (2025)
If you like the Arthurian legend then you'll either love this, because it's an homage, or you'll hate this, because it's derivative.
The Everlasting is a time travel fantasy novel. Owen Mallory is a historian living in the nation of Dominion. His field of study is the legend of Una Everlasting, the Lady Knight (or the Red Knight), whose valiant stories of conquest in the name of the Queen form the very bedrock of the nation. As legend has it, Una pulled a magical sword, that no one else could budge, from the trunk of a tree (sounds familiar, yeah?), became Queen Yvanne's champion, and eventually sacrificed herself for the good of Dominion. As with any legend from long ago, the facts have been lost to time. What part of Una's story is true, and what is myth?
When Owen received a book in the mail that appears to be a long-lost book telling Una's story from a first-hand observer, he is thrilled. He begins to translate it immediately, but a few days later, the book disappears. In it's place is a notecard with an address; the address for Chancellor Vivien, the head of the Department of War. Upon visiting her, he learns that the book is a device for time travel, and he is sent back to Una's time to chronicle the events of her life.
What follows is a back-and-forth in time that reminded me of the Netflix show Russian Doll - living the same timeframe over and over, at first to document, and eventually with the intent to revise things in a way that may change the course of history. Also like Russian Doll, the characters remember very little of the previous visits the first few times - more like fuzzy dreams - but begin to remember more and more as the visits reoccur. I wouldn't say the time travel aspect was particularly well developed, but it's still enjoyable if you ignore the paradoxes that make it impossible. Just enjoy the ride!
I think, in the end, I fall a little more towards feeling like the story is derivative, but I still enjoyed the story for the ways it is distinct from the Arthurian myth. What I disliked was when the similarities were too on-the-nose, because it felt unimaginative and lazy. For example:
Cavalon - Camelot
Owen Mallory - Thomas Malory, who wrote Le Morte d'Arthur
Ancel - Lancelot
Queen Yvanne, Chancellor Vivian - Queen Guinevere, Elaine of Astolat (Lady of Shalott)
Una, Lady Knight - Combination of Arthur and Joan of Arc
The sword in the tree - The sword in the stone
UP NEXT: An Academy for Liars, by Alexis Henderson
