What an amazing sequel to one of my favorite retellings! I fell in love with the characters even more and found myself unable to put the book down ever. Now I will just be patiently waiting for a third book...

3.5 stars
This was an exciting sequel to THE OTHER MERLIN, a King Arthur-inspired YA tale. We travel with our favorite characters to France, who have lots of will-they-won't-they drama and the threats of other kingdoms moving in. I enjoyed this book; it's fast-paced and has a decent amount of action, though I thought it lagged a bit in the middle; I breezed through the first half, and then for the next 20-30% I was a bit bored. There were a lot of perspectives to follow in this book, and all of them were pretty distinct and helped the story move along. Regarding Morgana's perspective, I thought it wasn't *as* necessary for her to get the page time she did, just because she didn't have as much of a role as her chapters lead us to believe (that's vague but I'm avoiding spoilers). If you enjoyed the first book, I think you'll also enjoy this one; it maintains the humor, lovable and diverse cast, and Arthurian tales that the first one had.

This series is a hidden gem. I was afraid that THE FUTURE KING would suffer from Sequel Syndrome — slowly paced, dragging out the plot for no reason except to set up Book Three, creating unnecessary character conflict to destroy any growth from Book One, etc. I worried for nothing; this is super fun and the heart of the book centers the found family. It IS setting up the plot for the final book, but nothing felt forced or unfaithful to the characters.

Unlike the first book — where all the main characters are mostly in the same space with overlapping journeys — the sequel has more physical separation and distinct character arcs. Arthur struggles with his father's poor health and an upcoming forced marriage, Emry works on a magical problem, Guin grapples with the consequences of (view spoiler), Arthur's friends form a secret alliance to protect the castle, and even Morgana deals with imprisonment in a magical realm. There's no plot twist that ever surprised me, but tbh I don't need to be shocked or awestruck by a fantasy novel. I just need to have a good time, and THE FUTURE KING delivered that in spades. I breezed through the audiobook through an afternoon of chores, and I can't wait for the next book.

For fans of Galavant, A Knight's Tale, and people who don't give a damn about retelling/historical accuracy. This series is deliberately anachronistic and my very favorite aspect of the worldbuilding.

Read via audio (narrated by Rosie Jones).

Disclaimer: I listened to a free audiobook from the publisher (PRH Audio App) in exchange for an honest review.

PLEASE. Emry and Arthur are my favorite damn couple in any book and you can't convince me otherwise. The magic. The lore. The tension. MORGANA. I have no coherent thoughts right now. This is one of my favorite series of all time and I cant believe I put off reading it after being so enchanted by the first one. I'm truly obsessed with the plot and the characters and have to say that this is top 5 in rankings of worldbuilding, writing, and retellings. DO NOT SKIP THIS.

The Future King is a fun follow-up to The Other Merlin, which I loved reading last year! The vibes of this Arthurian retelling match the vibes of a teen comedy with the right balance of fantasy and magic. I enjoyed following Emry, Arthur, Guin, Emmett, and Lance navigate their respective journeys ranging from possibly becoming the future court wizard of Camelot, the future King of Camelot, and an unexpected start to family planning. It was cool to have various chapters told in each of the character's POV (more than The Other Merlin). I'd rate this 4 stars instead of 5 just because the novel did felt like a filler book setting us up for the finale of this trilogy with less action overall than The Other Merlin, but I'm definitely still curious to see what happens in the concluding book in the Emery Merlin trilogy.

ROBYN SCHNEIDER HAS DONE IT AGAIN. This was one of my most anticipated releases of 2023, and now that I've finished it, I cannot wait to pester everyone in my life to read the two books of the series that are out. (and then we can suffer together waiting for the third book, which is already an agonizing wait for me since I finished The Future King a month ago). ANYWAYS if you liked tHE OTHER MERLIN, its sequel WILL NOT DISAPPOINT! Despite finishing this book at the very very end of 2022, it made the TOP FIVE list. Out of over 100 books! If that's not a glowing recommendation and doesn't convince you to pick up all of Robyn Schneider's backlist before this comes out, I don't know what will.

GAY-ASS ARTHURIAN? LEGENDS FUCK YEAH! PREGNANCY TROPE? FUCK YEAH! COOL MAGIC AND FUN CHARACTERS? FUCK YEAH!!

I loved this book so much, some how even more than The Other Merlin. Bop of a book. We stan.

I received a free digital ARC of The Future King by Robyn Schneider from PenguinTeen in exchange for an honest review.

I loved The Other Merlin, and my love for the series continues with The Future King. Robin Schneider keeps the same fun and magical vibe from the original book. She introduces the reader to a myriad of new characters to continue the variety of the representation we saw in the first book and is not afraid to have the characters grow and experience hardship while also being able to keep a fun atmosphere for the reader. This book is not a heavy read.

Emery and Arthur's chemistry continues in this book as we see Arthur grow into the leader Camelot needs and Emry explore her magic. The reader sees Emery and Arthur travel to Paris in an attempt to make new allies and solve a magical conundrum, as well as references to Alchemy's history and lovable characters from the original Knights of Camelot Legend.

The Other Merlin received a cover redesign between the first book debut and the release of The Future King. I still do not like the cover art for this series. The original cover was outdated and boring, but the new cover does not match stories vibe. Cartoon covers are often used for romance books, but even fantasy books with cartoon covers match the aesthetic and tone of the book. The Future King uses romance books' aesthetic on a fantasy book.

The Emery Merlin series are books I would be able to pick up again and again. Overall, I rate the book five stars. I cannot wait for the next book in the series. Thank you, PenguinTeen, for sending me a digital ARC, I really appreciated it, and I loved the book.