Stories are as important to nations as their laws, populations, resources, and traditions. They give us ideas. They give us a way to think about our pasts. In Owen Mallory’s Dominion, the setting of Alix E. Harrow’s beautiful new book The Everlasting, stories give citizens something to fight for. But, what if everyone got the stories about Dominion’s founding wrong?
Owen is a scholar, a former soldier. Ever since he was a child, he loved the stories of Sir Una Everlasting, one of the founding heros of the Dominion. It’s no surprise that Owen leaps at the opportunity to perhaps finally uncover Una’s full story. He believes that he’s discovered a complete version of the life of Sir Una Everlasting. Until he’s summoned by the Chancellor, Owen has no idea that translating and publishing this new version of the stories would be anything more than an academic exercise. The Chancellor has her own story that she wants to tell. Because the Dominion is in turmoil after decades of war, unemployment, and want, she believes that everyone needs something to rally around again: Sir Una Everlasting. And then something very, very strange happens. A quick act of violence sends Owen into the very story he is expected to translate. It’s impossible, but Owen is about to meet a hero who died centuries before he was born.
This novel is crammed with bookish catnip for me. In addition to its emphasis on the power of story (I am a firm devotee of narrative), this book contains an unexpectedly beautiful but sorrowful love story. I am a sucker for a love story between characters who should never have met, who are complete opposites, who nonetheless discover that they are soul mates. When that love story is further complicated by questions about duty and potential betrayal, I am all in.
The Everlasting is one of those books that I have a hard time writing about because I fell so deeply in love with it. It’s also got a complicated plot that involves magic and time travel, with chapters that repeat events but with differences that send the plot in new directions. Because I enjoyed this book so much, I just want to grab other readers and holler at them to just trust me and read The Everlasting. Because of the plot complexities, I can really only offer a summary of the book’s premise and hope to entice readers with a few details. So, fellow readers, please just trust me and pick up a copy! I’ve already suggested this book for my library and pre-ordered my own copy.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, for review consideration.