A review by zachzakku
Once & Future by Cory McCarthy, A.R. Capetta

adventurous slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

This book wasn't my cup of tea.
  • It isn't a standalone, and looking at the (physical) book itself, I did not realize that. Even books that are the first in a series (duology/trilogy/whatever) should be able to stand alone, and this one well and truly cannot.
  • The characters don't read like they're 17/18, so this is another YA book that reads younger than it's supposed to. There are also several things that these 17/18-year-olds do that wouldn't be done by 17/18-year olds today, with no in-world explanation; for example, being the queen of an entire planet, or being the queen's aide. I understand this is sort of a conceit of the genre--kids want to read about other kids. But it's another minor detail that bumped me from the story.
  • This is supposed to be set in a distant future (at some point, the 23rd century is mentioned as though it's well in the past), and yet there are many, many cultural present day references, including mentioning Katy Perry by name. Merlin is supposed to be--what, a thousand years old? And yet the majority of his cultural references and his moral compass seem to be fairly contemporary. Which, on the one hand, I completely understand was likely a choice by the writers to make Merlin more relatable/fun for contemporary readers. But on the other hand, it took me out of the world and, for me, weakened any sense of world-building in what was supposed to be a mashup of the distant past and the distant future.
  • Some of the cultural references were groan-worthy. At one point, bewildered by what's going on around him, Merlin asks, "Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?" Why is there a Bohemian Rhapsody reference all of a sudden?
  • I found it hard to suspend my disbelief around the premise of a giant Walmart-esque company (called Mercer) having taken over the entire universe and government. I also couldn't reconcile this premise with the fact that, multiple times, we meet people and entire planets willing to resist Mercer.
  • Awkward night-club dancing.

Last frustration bullet, but major spoiler:
Major character death, meant to motivate the main character to bow to Mercer, even though she has so many other reasons to bow to them already. It didn't track for me that Mercer would believe she needed more motivation, so it simply read as a convenient death for resolving other tangles in the plot.
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