Once & Future

by Amy Rose Capetta & Cori McCarthy

I picked this up because King Arthur gets reincarnated as a woman. And having read it, that is indeed enough reason. Arthur and Gwen being both women this time is enough to make this book worth reading. But then there's also a future where there's five mentioned generally accepted categories of gender and Merlin gets told off for assuming a they is a he and immediately apologises all embarrassed. Merlin is a gay guy who currently looks like a teenager, because ageing backwards. The knights have a pretty diverse range of characteristics. And if running around fighting with swords and cybernetic horses and spaceships sounds like fun to you, it is fun.

I was only a bit frustrated because the setup didn't seem like the kind of thing Arthur could just turn up and fix. Evil corporate empire strip mining Earth and holding people's water supplies hostage until they sign up to buy more things vs small band of plucky heroes with magic and Excalibur. Terrible odds. Really dark dark bits, many deaths, plague and poison and all sorts. ( Read more... )

So I liked it and will buy the next book.