Monday, November 16, 2020

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Sword in the Stars by A. R. Capetta and Cory McCarthy

 




Sword in the Stars is the sequel to A.R. Capetta and Cory McCarty's "Once and Future" - and the conclusion of this duology, which features a genderflipped queer scifi take on the King Arthur Mythos.  I really enjoyed the first novel - it wasn't truly a great novel, but it was a lot of fun with how self aware it was, with takes on Arthur (Ari, a lesbian woman of color fighting against an galaxy-spanning evil corporation) and Merlin (a gay man who ages backwards and is now a young man) that felt somehow fresh despite the old mythos used, and a plot that mostly worked from beginning to end.  I say mostly, because the book sort of felt like it threw a cliffhanger together out of nowhere that didn't really work, which annoyed me.  

But the cliffhanger leads into this book, Sword in the Stars, which concludes this series, and it's everything again I enjoyed about the first book, only with a shift into the classical Arthur timeline.  And yet, it stays self-aware, deals with themes like whitewashing and straight-washing the past, and above all remains really damn fun, with strong characters and plotting that would frequently make me smile.  Again, nothing about this is really that strong to make me consider this some kind of must-read, but it's still incredibly enjoyable and well worth any young adult reader's time - or even adult looking for some fun.  

Spoilers for Once & Future are inevitable below:

---------------------------------------------------Plot Summary--------------------------------------------------------
Merlin meant to send Ari and her friends, the reincarnations of Arthur and others in Arthur's story, back to just before King Arthur got the Chalice - aka the Holy Grail - in order to save the future.  But something goes wrong, and Merlin and his friends wind up in different places and arrive at different times in Camelot, right before Arthur's "18th" birthday.  Even worse, not only can Merlin for some reason not remember what happened in this time - even though an older-in-body version of himself is right there - but the team finds themselves fitting directly into the Arthurian legends - Gwen being the real Gweneviere, etc.  

Arthur's time isn't quite as White as the stories suggested, but it does assume a level of heteronormativity that makes the team uncomfortable.  But that's just a small part of the problem: after all, Gwen is pregnant, they seem to be changing history, and while they're doing it - in the future, the evil Mercer Corporation is regrouping for a new reign of terror.  And then there are the magic users who seem determined to destroy them, not least of all Merlin's old self.  

And then there's Nin, the Lady of the Lake, who seems to be taking a delightful glee in the whole situation, and who threatens to cause this arc of the cycle to end in the same tragedy as did the very first......
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Sword in the Stars is like its predecessor in that it shifts its point of view from time to time between Merlin and Ari, the duology's protagonists, but this book really focuses upon Merlin for the most part.  This is not to say Ari has little to do, but despite having parts told from her own point of view, she doesn't quite feel much more special than the rest of the gang, particularly Gwen, Lam, and Val.  A good part of it is that Ari's plot development happened LAST book, so there really isn't much conflict and growth needed here (That's all for Merlin).  Yet Ari and the gang still remain really fun, especially as they try to keep history in order in the most fun ways possible, and with dialogue that always feels true yet is often hilarious.  

And while Merlin's character development here is great (more on that in a second), for me much of the fun of this book is how it continues to subvert the Arthur Mythos despite moving into the time of the actual King Arthur - who is a major character here.  I worried going in that we'd be dealing with a plot featuring PoC, women and queer characters having to hide their identities and struggling to do that....but for the most part that isn't really a thing here: after all, in real history people back then weren't actually all white as later stories tried to suggest.  And while the women/NBs/Queer members of the cast do need to hide who they are at first, other queer people also exist in the setting in the closet, and the cast makes an effort to try and change things on the side.  It's an honestly more realistic version of this time period, and it's done really well - and provides an excellent setting for the story to transition to (and that's before we get into Arthur, the Enchantresses of Avalon, etc.).

But again, Merlin is the center of this story, as he comes to realize the importance of his own humanity and the family he's discovered in Ari and her friends.  Confronted with his older self, as well as the potentially sinister Lady of the Lake, Merlin is at first comedically run ragged by the rest of the cast as they try and fit the story in the most bonkers of ways, but later the story gives him a full arc that results in the book's conclusion.  And how that works - in addition with the arc of the antagonist - is done really well, hitting some serious themes while at the same time never becoming too dark or chilly, even as some real dark things happens.  

It's a character arc - to go along with Ari and the rest - that results in a plot that takes a number of interesting turns, and is a lot of fun - and is very very quotable - throughout.  And this time, with this being the back half of a duology, it concludes with a genuine ending, which is very satisfying.

In short, I'm pretty happy I tried out this duology, and will again be looking out for more by this duo, given this result.  

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