Once and Future by Amy Rose Capetta and Cori McCarthy. Once and Future series #1. Unabridged downloadable e-audiobook, ~10 hours, 55 minutes. Read by Lauren Fortang. LBYR/ Hachette Audio, March, 2019. 9781549178863. (Review of e-audiobook borrowed from public library.)
Teen Tuesday features Once and Future by Amy Rose Capetta and Cori McCarthy. Regular readers of this blog might know that I'm a fan of King Arthur retellings. The legend gets a gender-bending, sci-fi twist here and it's utterly delightful! Ari Helix is on the run from the Mercer Corporation, which literally controls the galaxy. Planet Earth has been abandoned, Ari's planet has been destroyed and her parents murdered. She has been raised by two adoptive mothers and adored Kay, her adoptive older brother.
The two are eluding capture when they crash-land on Earth. Ari finds a sword embedded in a stone, yanks it out and discovers that she is the forty-second incarnation of King Arthur. This awakens Merlin, Arthur's mentor and wizard. He has been aging backward and is now a teen-age boy.
The pace is whiplash fast, the humor is high and surprises abound. I had no idea what to expect going into this. I hadn't read a review. I just knew it was a King Arthur retelling. This book sizzles and that cliffhanger ending left me needing the next installment ASAP! The good thing about coming to a series later is not having to wait for the sequel. Sword in the Stars is in my Libby queue. I cannot wait.
Once and Future is not quite middle school fare. Mature teens who are into King Arthur, science fiction and/ or lgbtq literature where the sexuality of characters is not the issue will go gaga over this adventure. Once and Future was my final book of 2020. What a way to end a reading year. Highly recommended!
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