So This Is Ever After

A queer high fantasy with characters I loved from the beginning, though I will be honest - sometimes I wanted to scream at them to TALK IT OUT instead of being angsty and playing games. But the plot and characters drew me in and kept me there. Im excited to read more of Lukens books in the future, especially if they are anything like this.

It's probably more of a 3.5 though.

I was immediately taken by the premise of this story and the cover was cute too. It felt interesting to see what the story would be when the prophecy has been fulfilled and the evil king is dead but our hero isn't prepared to be the new king. But I ended up having mixed feelings for this one.

The humor is what you notice first once you start reading this book. The tone is sardonic and witty and hilarious and I couldn't stop giggling most of the times. Arek, our hero, is really clueless initially about how to be king because he never planned for it. But he is smart (also self deprecating) and quickly starts delegating tasks to his friends who are most suitable for them. He is mostly dense in terms of feelings but is kind and brave and just overall a very nice guy trying to do good. He is ably supported by his friends who all together make for a great found family.

But based on the premise, I was also expecting a bit more romance. Because we only get the POV of Arek, we can clearly see his pining and feel like shaking him for his stupid wooing ideas. But we have to decipher from between the lines if his best friend Matt reciprocates his feelings and while I think I felt it sometimes, I could also see why Arek would be so clueless. There is just too much pining and no communication for two people who have been friends since childhood and I can't say I liked the experience. I can usually appreciate a slow burn but I guess this was just way too slow for me.

Thankfully, the funnier elements of the writing and the camaraderie between the gang make up for some of the draggy pining romantic elements. If you don't go in looking for a love story (especially not the getting together sooner part), this is pretty enjoyable. The theme of what does happen once the chosen one fulfills their prophecy is tackled with quite a bit of thoughtfulness but couched in humor and it was very easy to finish this book in a single sitting and a few hours.

This book is set after the adventure is over, the bad guy defeated and you can now relax and enjoy your life. Or something like that. It's an interesting concept and I enjoyed reading this, but I just couldn't connect to the story or the characters as much as I'd hoped to. I wasn't really involved with the story and it was pretty clear from the beginning what this story is going to be about and how it's going to end. I think I would prefer it if there's more adventure, if this wasn't just the happily ever after defeating the bad guy, since without it, it reads a lot like a romance book and I just don't enjoy those as much as fantasy, for instance.

3.75 ★
this was cute, though a bit teenage-y for me. i'm quite disappointed this didn't have anything to do with the arthurian legend, but i enjoyed the world building nonetheless! it has a lot of dnd vibes especially at the beginning and then it flows away from adventures and action and is more focused on the characters, which really isn't a problem for me. i think the only problem i have with this is that it seems a bit childish/teen-ish, i really thought the writing would be a bit more mature, but it was still fine

So This Is Ever After is a great sequel to a book that does not exist.

Perfectly serviceable fun is the tale of Arek, Matt, and a rag tag group of cardboard cutouts with varying surface-level complexities yet seldom any real depth. The book begins at the end but not at the end of any good fantasy novel, it starts at the end of a generic fairytale where the Vile One is slain by a teenage chosen one.
The whole plot rests on the worst trope imaginable: miscommunication. I think we can all get over even the tropes we dislike when they are done well, in a believable way. Not the case here what-so-ever. The hoops the plots jumps through just to allow itself to transpire is laughable. From the first few chapters you know the entire ending.

There is a book missing. A whole book of this group of rag tag adventurers that go together to defeat the villain. Essentially, this book is missing Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. We know nothing of these characters and we learn very little of them. This needed to cut out 100 pages of nonsense and replace it with 150 pages of the actual adventure. There are realistically no stakes.
The idea of exploring what happens after the death of the villain is sound and in fantasy seldom tackled. Issues arise when there is no actual difficulty to establishing a new monarchy and regime of King Arek who is bound to the throne by way of happenstance.
‘So This Is Ever After' is what happens after the disasterous ending of the ‘Game of Thrones' TV show! Everything just works...somehow. A person in charge of the money can be a peasant, they definitely have experience. Good that the Big Bad filled the castle with gold else there would be stakes outside of Arek's curse.

The plot hinges on Arek being bound to the throne of Ere. He has to find a spouse by his eighteenth birthday else he pulls Marty McFly and vanishes away. This makes no sense at all for several reasons that sadly reside in the Kingdom of Spoilers.
It could also be circumvented very easily.

“Dear [character], for the sake of political alliance and my own survival, I shall marry you. Although expect no love from me. Thank you.

at all

Chickpea

So This Is Ever After

love

DNF - PG 31

Why?

I've been having a problem lately with this not actually being what they are advertised as. This book is a very good example of this happening to me.

The best way for me to describe what I didn't think it was going to be was ‘loaded up with contemporary humor'. Humor is, to start with, super subjective. The ‘funny' in this book was annoying to me.

“You know what they say about assuming things. It makes an ass out of you and me.”

Or, where I quit:

“What the fuck is happening?” I yelled as I careened out of sleep to the sound of someone pounding on the door. I scrambled out of bed, tripping as my feet tangled in the sheets. It would be comical if I were the only one flailing, but my friends were just as harried.“Oh shit, they're after us!”“Who?”“I don't know!”“Where's my harp?”“Where's my sword?”

If this is the kind of stuff that tickles your funny bone, yay! For me, it doesn't work at all in a written medium and could only perhaps work in a visual medium.

Add that to the fact that we were introduced to all the main characters in almost a line-up in the first half-dozen pages so I'm having a terrible time keeping them straight beyond ‘bard,' ‘paladin,' ‘thief,' and ‘...warrior?' (Oh, and ‘love interest' because our MC already wants to announce his undying love.)

And... look, I love fan fiction. I do. But I read a review on this book that likens it to fan fiction and... I agree and not in a complementary way. I like fan fiction because I find it comforting: you know the characters, the main plot points of the original work and, being honest, I love the tags letting me know what I'm in for and how certain things are shorthand for what you can expect. (Like ‘Kate is her own warning' and you know what that's going to deal with.).

This book feels like fan fiction of a story that we're already supposed to know and about people we're already supposed to know and care about. (With chatty, contemporary speak in a fantasy story - which is something I cannot abide anyway.)

I do still want to read more by the author because while In Deeper Waters didn't turn out great for me, it did show me that they can write (even minor, secondary) characters I care about and a book that isn't all ‘look at me, I'm being FUNNY'. Yeah.