School Library Journal Review
Gr 9 Up-An interstellar science fiction/fantasy adventure story that offers readers a futuristic plot-driven King Arthur retelling. Ari Helix is a fugitive refugee who is on the run in Mercer controlled territory and crashlands on Old Earth. She is thrust out of hiding when she pulls the Sword Excalibur out of its old resting place in a willow tree and becomes the 42nd reincarnation of King Arthur. Ari teams up with a diverse cast of friends, including the backwards-aging teenage Merlin the Wizard and Queen Guinevere, as well as her stepbrother Kay and her adoptive mothers. Together they start a revolution to free the galaxy from the evil Mercer corporation's tyrannical rule. This epic space adventure features a teen character who must complete all three stages of a cycle: train Arthur, defeat the greatest evil in the universe, and unite all of mankind, in order to break the curse that brings the Arthur legend alive throughout time. A stimulating retelling that is adapted from T.H. White's The Once and Future King. Recommended to fans of Avalon High by Meg Cabot and Damar by Robin McKinley. VERDICT Capetta and McCarthy take the British legend and lore of King Arthur in a retelling that is a must-have for young adult collections.-Angelina Bair, Willoughby-Eastlake Public Library, OH © Copyright 2019. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Set in the future, this inclusive, refreshing take on the Arthurian mythos by Capetta (The Brilliant Death) and McCarthy (Now a Major Motion Picture) stars an impulsive teen female incarnation of Arthur who faces a heartless intergalactic commercial monopoly. While escaping the Mercer Company's flagship, Ketchan-born Ari, 17, and Kay, her adoptive elder brother, crash on Old Earth, where Ari draws an ancient sword from a tree. With that act, she awakens backward-aging Merlin-now a teen-from his crystal cave and gives him his 42nd chance to vanquish Morgana and mentor Arthur's efforts to unite humanity. Ari takes little interest in the Arthurian cycle until it collides with her personal quest to rescue her imprisoned mothers from Mercer. On Lionel, a medieval recreation planet and sole holdout against the corporation, others, including Queen Gwen, join the team, leading to a political betrothal that turns into something much more. This and other nonlethal stratagems and romances among people of various gender identities and ethnicities drive the plot, alongside desperate battle scenes and a well-rounded round table. A marvelous mythology remix for teens who enjoy action-packed speculative fiction and genderqueer romance. Ages 13-up. Agents: (for Capetta) Sara Crowe, Pippin Properties; (for McCarthy) Sarah Davies, Greenhouse Literary. (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.