I read this with middling hopes, as I had wanted to like Once and Future (the first in the duology) a lot more than I actually did. Luckily, I found myself much more absorbed in Sword in the Stars - though it isn't without its issues, I was always keen to pick it up again and re-enter that world. There were some pacing issues, particularly in the second half of the book, and this made it quite tricky to keep track of what was happening at times. The characters, however, remain endearing - I found myself cackling aloud at points. An emotionally satisfying conclusion means that this edged its way towards 3.5 stars for me - it's a sweet book, if sadly not a great one, and it's heart is in the right place.

This duology has done a number of things really well, and those things are particularly difficult to strike a balance with. The representation within this book is incredibly diverse, but perhaps more impressive was the development of relationships, which all feel very real rather than a quintessential cookie-cutter friendship or romance. Unfortunately, something also felt a bit off.

Whilst this is every bit the satisfying conclusion to the story so far, there were some issues with pacing and chaotic story telling which really diluted the quality of that conclusion. The story jumps straight in to a time hop, and this made me feel so lost. I felt as though Sword in the Stars was sort of floating out to sea and I was desperately holding on to it as a life-raft, trying to clamber back on board. Honestly, I had to start again because I thought I'd missed something integral to my understanding. Turns out I hadn't, it just wasn't really explained.

So Ari, Merlin and their perfect band of likeable square pegs and round holes have found themselves travelling back to the time when Arthur was King. This means there are multiple story arcs occurring at once and multiple Merlin's! I liked the concept of Ari hunting down a chalice and trying to save Merlin from his backwards aging dilemma, but the execution felt a bit haphazard. I equally loved that the friendships, romances (and pregnancies) continue to develop unapologetically in this book. The authors have a fantastically brazen approach to dialogue, cultural references and general humour which absolutely shouts from the page; their writing style is nothing short of hilarious and utterly compelling.

Ultimately, despite how much I genuinely enjoy the way these authors build characters and fun into their stories, I couldn't help but spend most of my time with this book feeling lost, grasping for a firmer hold on the plot, so it was a middle of the road book for me.

ARC provided from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a disappointing book for me that had a lot of missed opportunities and was incredibly disjointed in the narrative. It tells the continuing story of Ari, the 42nd reincarnation of King Arthur, as she attempts to retrieve a magical cup from Camelot.

The Positives: The cast of characters is very diverse, which is always great to see.

The Negatives: The plot was just all over the place and it was hard to keep things straight because the action jumps from one thing to the next with little build up or explanation. The characters seem forced in their behaviours and just don't have much authenticity. This could have been a really fun fish-out-of-water scenario with people from the future being transplanted into the Medieval past, but instead, they didn't seem to struggle to adjust at all, which was a massive missed opportunity. The writing was disjointed and hard to follow.

Overall, I really didn't enjoy this book and wouldn't recommend it.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I was so excited when I was approved to get this, as I loved the first book so much and I was not disappointed at all in anyway. This book was amazing, from page to to the end I couldn’t put it down, it was a rollercoaster of fun, emotion, action, me verbally crying out as I read, just brilliant! I loved the focus on Merlin, as it seemed to be he got more focus here than in the first book and I loved this development and of course I love him too so that helps. Ari in this book does seem to be less focused on than Merkin, but she’s definitely a focus for the action. I do love a strong woman ! This book just like the first is wonderful, in fact I think this is even better than the first and I recommend both these books to everyone m guaranteed to make you smile.


Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

I thought that i would enjoy this given it is a retelling of Camelot and the Arthur myth but I just didn't enjoy this. The writing is okay but I just don't care about the characters that much and I would have liked certain plot points to be simplified more instead of being so confusing and unclear of the direction it was taking.

So, there is meta-narrative, and then there is Sword in the Stars. I sorta, kinda knew what I was in for when I started this book. I had torn through Once and Future gleefully, adoring the way that it explored gender and sexuality, history, commercialism, truth, love and anything else that you could want. Truthfully, I had had a few doubts about whether McCarthy and Capetta could top it. I should have trusted them! While managing to keep the beautifully inclusive world a safe space for the reader, they threw enough shenanigans in that I read some parts in shock. I mean, that thing with Gwen! And the whole Merlin thing! And the baby! I mean....just wow.
If you love Arthurian myth you'll fall in love with this book. Even if you don't know the slightest thing about it, you'll still fall in love. 4.5 gleefully queer stars

I'm going to try to keep this as spoiler free as possible, but this is the second (and final book) in this series, so if you haven't read the first - why are you even here?


In Sword in the Stars we're transported to Medieval Camelot. Ari and the knights, and Merlin, obviously, need to retrieve Arthur's chalice and bring it back into the future. I love me some heist stories, so I was hopeful. I got got once again.

While I've noticed some improvement in the overall story telling from the first book, it wasn't enough to warrant a higher rating. The action got more structured, sure, but the time travel aspect was too convoluted and didn't make sense.
Time travel stories are my absolute favourite, so this was a big let down. It's a really difficult thing to get right - there are certain laws that need to be followed. My biggest issue was a certain character appearing in one timeline 3 times and all 3 of them interacting. Now, since there are different ways of viewing time travel, that could be possible and not destroy the universe, but if you want to do that, you set down your laws. Sword in the Stars had none, it just did what it pleased and when it pleased, and well... it did not please me. But it's time to move on.

I thought, since we're in Medieval Camelot, we'd get to see some of it and get a feel for how life was back then. Nope. The world building is minimal, and all we're really told is how terrible those times were because people didn't understand sexuality and assumed your gender. I get it, you're really trying to drive the point accross on every page and in every sentence, and identity is SUPER important, but it's too much. One of the characters even tries to teach those medieval folk about the importance of pronouns etc. All while probably messing up with the future BIG TIME.

Speaking of characters. I honestly liked the story of Nin and how she became the big evil enchantress. Merlin was alright for most of the book. Everyone else stayed as much of a caricature of themselves as possible. What bothered me the most was how Kay was addressed. While reminiscing (though very rarely) about him, everyone treated him like a clown (Kay was annoying, awkward, got drunk and did embarrassing things etc. And not in an endearing way) and Kay from the past was a wannabe villain. What was that about?

I'm going to end this review on two things. Sometimes authors try to convey info by telling the readers, instead of showing, because it's the only way to do it. The main message of this book was identity. The amount of times we were told about it all really made me think the authors think their readers are idiots. It gets to a point where when a new character is introduced, the dialogue goes something like this:
"Introductions?"
"This is Yazmeen, everyone."
"Mostly Yaz. She/Her. I'm a good ole lesbian."
And only a paragraph or two later we find out she's Ari's cousin.
People are so much more than that...
And secondly... the slight shade thrown at Merlin the TV show at the end of the book? Excuse me, but... no. Just no.

Rant over. I tried to be eloquent but the dumb comes out when I'm frustrated. 2/5 stars.

As a general rule I am extremely skeptical of time-travel plots, because they’re usually messy and confusing and generally full of people messing up the timeline because they’re too stupid to follow the rules. This time-travel adventure? Brilliant. They didn’t commit any of the big time-travel crimes, and they were very aware of the fact that they had to stick to the legend. They, uh, didn’t. But they were aware of it, which made me a lot more forgiving. The timelines were also super clear. Which, considering how complicated the timelines are in this book, was really impressive. I knew what was going on at all times, and never felt like it was confusing me. The pacing was nearly perfect too, keeping things moving along but giving characters plenty of time for personal development. I still hate time-travel plots, but I loved this book.

This book is truly chaotic, and if it’s been a while since you read Once & Future, it’s probably worth a re-read first to get yourself up to speed on all the characters and plot, because Sword in the Stars jumps straight back into the action without any hesitation. It starts where Once & Future left off, with Ari and her knights being flung back in time to the original Camelot. Camelot was a hell of a setting, and this book does not flinch away from challenging the mysogyny, racism, homophobia and transphobia of the past, while not being afraid to call out twenty-first century culture alongside it. The call-outs were built into the story, given that most of the character cast are from a time when equal rights are so ingrained that they can’t comprehend a time when fluid and non-binary genders and fluid sexualities weren’t accepted. I also absolutely screamed when they called out the Merlin TV show for queer-baiting. I hope that meta-moment stays in the final cut, honestly, because it was so funny.

The plot is super engaging, but more than anything else it’s the relationships between characters that really makes this book shine. They’re complicated, and Ari and Gwen in particular are dealing with the fall-out of Once & Future, with Gwen’s pregnancy and Kay’s death making a mess of things between them. Val and Merlin are facing separation as Merlin’s backwards-aging is only getting worse, and that’s without throwing old-Merlin and the original Arthur into the mix. The relationships are made… extremely weird and complicated by a few things that happen through the course of the book, and I honestly love it. Overall this book is a really satisfying conclusion to an excellent duology, and it’s so packed full of love and determination and power, with a found-family that will truly do anything for each other and will always get up no matter how hard Mercer knocks them down.