Arek hadn’t thought much about what would happen after he completed the prophecy that said he was destined to save the Kingdom of Ere from its evil ruler. So now that he’s finally managed to (somewhat clumsily) behead the evil king (turns out magical swords yanked from bogs don’t come pre-sharpened), he and his rag-tag group of quest companions are at a bit of a loss for what to do next.
As a temporary safeguard, Arek’s best friend and mage, Matt, convinces him to assume the throne until the true heir can be rescued from her tower. Except that she’s dead. Now Arek is stuck as king, a role that comes with a magical catch: choose a spouse by your eighteenth birthday, or wither away into nothing.
With his eighteenth birthday only three months away, and only Matt in on the secret, Arek embarks on a desperate bid to find a spouse to save his life—starting with his quest companions. But his attempts at wooing his friends go painfully and hilariously wrong…until he discovers that love might have been in front of him all along.
I love a funny book. It's tough to find one in this age group. Younger kids, yes, can't swing a cat at their bookshelves without hitting one (don't swing cats, you'll end up with a lot of scratches.) Teens are apparently expected to get along with just an occasional sarcastic character. (I love sarcasm, but the height of humor it ain't.) This is slowly changing, though, with new titles such as this one.
This isn't laugh out loud funny, but there is an undercurrent of humor the whole way through. At times the characters almost seem to be aware they're in a novel; there's a conversation about troping and there's quite a long time where the hero tries to use romance conventions like 'Accidentally locked in together' and 'teaching in a physical way' to start relationships.
Due to the nature of the story, it does kind of start in the middle; we get a few flashbacks to bits of the quest and to Arek and Matt's childhood, but nothing major. I would love to see FT go back and tell that story, but the point of this story is what happens after the quest. It takes a while to get to know everyone, but they do all have quite distinct characters and we learn enough about each to keep the story going.
The story is casually diverse; I didn't particularly notice anyone's physical description, but there are romances both serious and casual of all descriptions. Some of the noble families are same sex, and one minor character is known as they the whole time (even before being formally introduced to Arek, which is quite the trick, as he doesn't think of anyone else as they.) None of this is treated as odd. In most other respects the setting is a standard fantasy medieval.
If you've read the blurb, you've probably guessed the ending already, but in this case the point is very much the journey, and this book is absolutely worth the journey. Highly recommended.
So This Is Ever After publishes on the 29th March, 2022 in the US, and on the 26th May, 2022 in the UK, using the same cover as far as I can tell. I received a free copy and am giving an honest review.
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