Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Bestseller Harrow (Starling House) evokes the romance, magic, and tragedy of Arthurian legend in this breathtaking chivalric fantasy. Owen Mallory has always loved tales of Sir Una Everlasting, the mythic knight who helped Yvanne, the first queen of Dominion, gain her throne. A scholar at heart, Owen devotes himself after returning home from war to researching Una Everlasting and the history of the Middle Dominion. The Death of Una Everlasting is a book so rare that most serious scholars believe it doesn't even exist--until it shows up on Owen's desk one day, delivered with no return address. Desperate to keep the tome to himself, Owen brings it home and begins to translate it, only to have it stolen a few days later. Left in its place is a note card with an address, the search for which sends Owen back in time to the Middle Dominion, where he meets Una herself. As Owen leads Una to the grail and the events he knows will bring about her death, he finds it increasingly difficult to see her as a mythic hero, instead coming to know her as a fully rounded human. Told in alternating first and second person, Owen's and Una's timelines twine around each other as the past impacts the present impacts the past--and behind it all is a mysterious guiding hand. This impressively constructed plot keeps the pages flying on the way to a stunning finale. Harrow remains at the top of her game. (Oct.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
How are legends created? By the stories told throughout the ages. Una Everlasting pulled a sword from a yew tree and became the greatest knight in history--her fate wonderful and tragic and remembered. Historian Owen Mallory knows Una's legacy is vital to the world, and he has studied and absorbed as much of her story as has been written. Then one day he awakens beneath the yew tree, a millennium in the past, with Una Everlasting standing before him, but she is not the brave, illustrious knight that he knows from the books. Together, Owen and Una learn that her story is more out of her hands than realized; time and time again, they try to change the story that has been written. In a tale of love and loss never ending, can they truly rewrite history? The novel alternates between Owen's and Una's perspectives, heightening both the tension and heartache throughout. VERDICT Harrow (Starling House) once again skillfully writes a story of love, loss, and choosing one's own path, no matter what anyone else says (or writes). Her epic worldbuilding balances the intimate lives of remarkable characters to create another immersive novel.--Kristi Chadwick
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A patriotic historian in the grand nation of Dominion is sent back in time to make sure that events play out the way they're supposed to in Harrow's ambitious fantasy. As a historian, Prof. Owen Mallory's area of focus--or, more accurately, obsession--is Una Everlasting, the legendary knight who bravely served Queen Yvanne and helped her form the great nation of Dominion. While working on a manuscript he hopes will get him a fellowship, Mallory receives an old book in the mail. As he translates it from an older version of Dominion's language, he comes to suspect that it's a firsthand accounting of Una Everlasting's death, which, if real, would be an enormously significant finding. Before he can figure out if the book is genuine or who sent it to him, Mallory is summoned to the office of Dominion's Minister of War, the imposing Vivian Rolfe, who reveals that she sent the book as a test to see if he'd sell it or if he'd respect and protect it. Satisfied with Mallory's dedication to Una Everlasting (and therefore to Dominion itself), Rolfe asks Mallory a simple question: "Are you the man who will save [Dominion]?" When Mallory answers yes, Rolfe stabs her letter opener through his hand, and as he bleeds onto the book's pages, he's sent back in time to Dominion's ancient past, where he comes face to face with the real Una Everlasting. Mallory realizes that the book is a magical object that can send anyone anywhere in time when they give it their blood. He also realizes that Rolfe doesn't want him to translate a book about Una Everlasting--she wants him to write it himself. Harrow has set up a complex and deeply compelling world in Dominion, where Mallory's devotion to his country is complicated by his fixation on the myth of Una--and his growing love for Una as a human being. Una is beautifully drawn as a real person struggling to live up to the weight of becoming a legend, and Rolfe is a great villain; with each appearance, her knavery becomes so much more fascinating and devious that readers will turn the pages just to see what she'll do next. An epic time-travel fantasy about how stories from the past can shape our future. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
