I received an ARC copy of Paula Lafferty‘s The Once and Future Queen from Between the Chapters Book Club.
22-year-old Vera is at a waiting tables, grieving her previous relationship, and jogging aimlessly each morning as if toward an uncertain future. Then an odd man shows up at her workplace, insisting that she was once the legendary Queen Guinevere of Camelot, and that her lost memories hold the key to changing both the past and the present. Somehow, it all feels like the direction she’s been looking for. But when she asks the mysterious man to tell her more about Lancelot, Arthur, and a faithless queen, he can only say that much of what she’s heard about Camelot is wrong. The truth, he claims, is something she must see for herself.
After jumping through a portal in Glastonbury’s historic center, Vera is not prepared for what she finds. Magic is everywhere, but a curse on the kingdom means it dwindles every day. She has no idea how to perform a queen’s duties. Her fast friendship with Lancelot sets gossip flowing, and the stranger she must call “husband” often refuses to meet her eye. Arthur is a cold, forbidding, and, while angry to her face, keeps leaving secret tokens of tenderness in her chambers. Worst of all, Vera’s memories—and the answers locked within them—show no signs of returning. If Vera is truly destined to save Camelot, she’ll have to trust her instincts. And her king will have to trust her . . .
The Once and Future Queen is basically a time-traveling isekai or portal fantasy where a modern-day Guinevere leaps back to Camelot, Arthur, Merlin, and all the knights of the to-be round table. It has a lot going for it. Guinevere has a good heart and a genuine desire to right past wrongs. Arthur is every bit as noble as would be expected. Lancelot is rogueish and charming. Merlin is mysterious, Camelot itself hopeful in its infancy, if still smarting from the war.
I liked a lot of the characters. Lancelot and Gawain, especially. But I also hoped for something less YA/NA and therefore more interesting. A lot of the book is just slice-of-life stuff. Characters play and eat, sleep and travel. I was, frankly, bored for a lot of it. Plus, I found that Guinevere simply wasn’t very important in the grand scheme of things. She didn’t actually do much that had any significant effect and wasn’t even necessary to the eventual solution to the magic problem.
The cliffhanger does have me curious what might happen next and how it all might work out. But the boredom left me not invested enough to rush right out to see if there is a book two yet.
Other Reviews:
Bossy Bookworm: The Once and Future Queen
The dragons, however, though essential to the world and story, are given surprisingly little page time. You don’t see a lot of them in the grand scheme of things, which I was sad about. But they serve their purpose well. Also, there were times I wished Radke had given the reader a bit more depth on certain things. Summer didn’t push for answers, so he doesn’t get them. Which means the reader doesn’t either.