Once & Future

Cory McCarthy · A. R. Capetta

Mar 2019 · Hachette Audio · Narrated by Lauren Fortgang

About this audiobook

King Arthur as you've never seen her! This bold, sizzling YA novel reimagines the Once and Future King as a teenage girl determined to save the universe from an evil curse.
My name is Ari Helix. I have a magic sword, a cranky wizard, and a revolution to start.
I've been chased my whole life. As a fugitive refugee in the territory controlled by the tyrannical Mercer corporation, I've always had to hide who I am. Until I found Excalibur. Now I'm done hiding.
When Ari crash-lands on Old Earth and pulls a magic sword from its ancient resting place, she is revealed to be the newest reincarnation of King Arthur. Then she meets Merlin, who has aged backward over the centuries into a teenager, and together they must break the curse that keeps Arthur coming back. Their quest? Defeat the cruel, oppressive government and bring peace and equality to all humankind. No pressure.
"All hail this worthier-than-ever, fresh, and affirming reincarnation of the legendary king and her round table of knights which dazzles with heroic flair, humor, and suspense." -- Kirkus, Starred Review

Ratings and reviews

4.5 stars — Dudes!! This one surprised me in the BEST ways! I was sucked in from the beginning, and it was just so different and fun for a retelling! As usual I forgot to finish this review, so it’ll be a bit choppy… First things first, the narrator was fantastic! Ms. Fortgang’s voices were consistent, her emotion was amazing, she just gave a great interpretation. I felt anguish, excitement, hilarity…just EVERYTHING! The representation in this one was awesome. It was just so normal, you know…like it should be. There were lesbian and gay characters, non-binary representation, asexual representation. And it just was. In fact, Merlin came from the past, and they all looked at him weird when he stumbled. It was kind of awesome. I’ve never read about a non-binary character that played a central enough role that we really got to see the pronouns play out, so that was kind of cool. And besides LGBTQIA representation, there was also a lot of racial representation. Not enough to make a big deal about it, but Ari was likely middle eastern, I got the impression that Lamb and Val were black, and I might have missed others. Ari and Merlin were our two main protagonists, which was kind of fun b/c usually when it’s 2 main POV, it’s the couple in a relationship. This provided the reader with two entirely different perspectives on what was going on. And they were both eminently likable! All the characters were easy to like, but definitely not perfect. They all had their quirks, their drawbacks, their missteps, but they all had great hearts. I laughed, I cried, I was anxious. My heart hurt for most of the characters at one point or another. We could see growth in so many of them. I don’t know what all to say, other than it was a really fun listen that got to me! And Mercer was an evil that was easy to hate…which is funny, b/c they are something we see present even right now. It reminded me of Wall-E and the Big n Large company. It was easy to see how if things keep going unchecked, we could end up at a future similar to this. Sometimes it felt a bit preachy/heavy-handed, but since I’m worried about monopolies, it wasn’t too much for me. I’ve already put the second audiobook on hold at the library. I liked that it wasn’t a cliffhanger necessarily, but that it set up where the next book will be going.

It was different than all the other King Author Boxs This is a must read I enjoyed this book for all the differences that it has it's still added to the story I cannot wait to read the 2nd book Give this book a chance you will not regret it

About the author

Cory McCarthy (they/he) and A. R. Capetta (all pronouns) are the acclaimed bestselling authors of books for young people. Highlights include: the coauthored Once & Future, an ALA Rainbow List selection and finalist for the New England Book Award; A. R.’s queer genre titles Echo After Echo, The Lost Coast, and The Brilliant Death duology; Cory’s cinematic novels Breaking Sky, Now a Major Motion Picture, and You Were Here. The coauthors met while earning MFAs at Vermont College of Fine Arts, and soon after fell in love. During the release party for Once & Future at their local indie bookstore, they became engaged and were married shortly thereafter. They are riotously happy.