The Everlasting : A Detailed Review without Spoilers!

The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow is one of the most beautiful standalone fantasy novels I’ve read so far.

At First Sight: Reviewing The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow

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The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow

Book Review

Dedicated scholar Owen Mallory just got back from the war and receives a mysterious old book in the mail. He realizes it’s a real first-hand account of Sir Una Everlasting, the legendary female knight from over 1,000 years ago. The book is very old, very real, and very convincing until suddenly the pages go blank…

The Everlasting is the story of Owen Mallory traveling in time loops to meet Sir Una Everlasting, a lady knight, and help make sure she lives up to the hype she is known for in Owen’s own time period. What Owen didn’t plan on was that he must write and re-write Sir Una’s story until he gets it right, or that he would fall in love Sir Una time and time again.

The Everlasting was full of shocking moments I didn’t see coming, the smallest detail later revealing what is really going on as the story progressed and and then regressed through time. It is a story with star-crossed lovers, looping time travel, and plays heavy with gender role reversal. At times I felt this story was a lot like a “choose your own adventure” only to wonder if there really was a “choice” at all? The answer: there is always a choice and perhaps you really can go back in time to fix things, but after the fix has been made, the future may not have the same outcome you intended. The Everlasting was at times heavy with grief and best intentions that did not fare well in the end. Don’t get me wrong, this story was sad but did have a wonderful happy ending.

The Everlasting also reaffirmed that every decision is an inflection point and the direction of choice does affect the future and even fate, perhaps, more greatly than anticipated.

I was left with the question:

If you could go back in time for a do-over to make sure your story is told exactly how you want it to be, would the control be worth it, even at the expense of what it would truly cost you?

I also want to take time to point out some of the beautiful artwork that graces The Everlasting’s pages done by the incredibly talented Alice Cao (@alicecaoillustration). Chef’s kiss.