This humorous YA fantasy features a modern twist on the King Arthur myth set in a high school, complete with a sassy female lead and an ancient mage. The premise is fun, with clever movie and song references, making it a great read for 17-year-olds. The author captures the challenges of teenage life well, but the story loses momentum toward the end, with an anticlimactic resolution and unresolved character dynamics. A villain closer to the protagonist could have added more tension to the plot.

Book Review: The Sword and the Sophomore by B.P. Sweany (Narrated by Tami Stronach)

The Sword and the Sophomore by B.P. Sweany is a delightful YA fantasy with a fun and inventive twist on the King Arthur legend. Picture Arthurian lore transported to a modern-day American high school, with a feisty teenage protagonist navigating the trials of adolescence—this is where the book shines. With plenty of clever references to popular movies and music, the story resonates well with its target audience, especially teens navigating their own journeys.

Rosemary, the female lead, is relatable and sassy, providing a voice that captures the often tumultuous yet thrilling experience of being a teenager. The author does a commendable job of portraying her ups and downs, and the dialogue is peppered with sharp humor that adds to the book's overall charm. The introduction of an ancient mage with a bizarre Benjamin Button syndrome only ups the stakes, providing a whimsical touch to the unfolding drama.

While the premise is enjoyable and much of the book is engaging, the story loses momentum toward the end. The plot unravels in a way that feels slightly rushed, leaving some character dynamics unresolved. Rosemary’s indecision makes sense for a teenage character, but the resolution feels anticlimactic. A twist, such as a villain closer to Rosemary or someone in disguise, could have added more intrigue and depth to the narrative.

Tami Stronach’s narration complements the tone of the book well, capturing the wit and emotions of the characters with ease. Her performance adds energy and brings the humorous moments to life, making the audiobook an enjoyable experience.

Despite the somewhat underwhelming conclusion, The Sword and the Sophomore remains an entertaining read, particularly for younger readers. The mix of teenage angst, time travel, and Arthurian legend makes it a creative addition to the YA fantasy genre.

Rating: 3.5/5 stars – A charming and funny take on Arthurian legend that shines in its humor and relatability but stumbles in its final act.

This book had an interesting concept, but I think for me I couldn't get past the concept. I feel like this was aimed at young adults, but should have probably been for new adults. Our main character is a prophecy baby that is born out of lust, did i mention this is a King Arthur retelling. It's okay I was just as confused until I did some back story research.

Anyways once I got to the middle of the story I was too invested and wanted to finish the book to see what happened next. It was equally as weird as the first half. Though the author does do a great job making the characters lovable, but I feel like I would have liked them more if they were a tad bit older.

Some parts do feel rushed, while others are too slow. Overall this book kept me hooked but it took awhile to get me there.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed all of the Arthurian myths and legends that were woven into this book. I really enjoyed the magic in the book too. This book really makes me want to reread all of the legends of Arthur and his knights of the round table. I wonder how this series will continue as the book seemed to wrap everything up nicely.

I started the novel and DNF-ed because I couldn’t stand the main character. She was too annoying and only really cared about her ex boyfriend. I just couldn’t push through to figure out the rest of the plot

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

What you’ll find in The Sword & the Sophomore:
Arthurian Legends
YA Fantasy
Coming of age

The story was really interesting and something different for an Arthurian retelling.
The narration was good and kept me super engaged.

Arlynn Rosemary Banson, a cool and popular sixteen-year-old, finds her life turned upside down when she discovers her true heritage. She is part of the Lust Borne Tide, descended from the royal line of King Uther Pendragon, imbued with mystical powers. Her parents are actually Guinevere and Lancelot, banished to 21st-century America by King Arthur. As Rosemary navigates typical teenage drama, including a breakup with her quarterback boyfriend, Benz, she learns she must face Mordred, who has come from the past to continue the Lust Borne line. Guided by the mysterious Welsh exchange student Emrys Balin, Rosemary plans to thwart Mordred's plans while balancing her life as a modern teenager.

Also on a side note, this cover is stunning!!

I received an ARC of this audiobook from Netgalley and RB Media in exchange for an honest review.

Basically nothing happened in the majority of the book except a lot of talking, boring teen drama, and backstories about time travel that made zero sense. All of the action happened near the very end and was crammed together. Arlynn is an odd character, in that she is described as awkward and an outsider, but also popular and dating some sort of big man on campus type. All of the talk about Arlynn's fertility was just plain awkward.

I think this story has a lot of potential, but definitely needs some edits and fine tuning.

I love books based on Arthurian legend and this was a solid YA fantasy adventure with a unique twist on just that. As the first in a series it seemed to be a lot more about the world and character building than plot & the conflict was resolved a little too quickly at the end. It was still extremely interesting and enjoyable and I would definitely keep an eye out for more of this series.

I really wanted to enjoy this book but it felt too juvenile in the writing style, the FMC was whiney and coded ery much "not like other girls".

I'm not sure if it's because I listened to this on Audiobook, but I didn't enjoy the book as much as I thought I would.

The story was a bit too typical for me - I know it is a YA novel, but I would've liked a bit more originality. I also would've enjoyed more action throughout this book.

DNF at 41%

The casual use of the protagonist's fated SA/r*pe (or else she's barren) as a plot device is quite bizarre to me.

Thank you NetGalley for the audioarc of this book for an honest review.

The audio read of this book was easy to follow and quite expressive. I enjoyed listening along while driving. The authors storytelling is fluid and the story is paced well. I way the story is written makes you feel like you are experiencing is with the characters, which to me is a great style for audiobooks, personally!

5/5 would recommend

I actually really, really enjoyed this book. I loved the movie Avalon High growing up, but I've never really read or watched anything that was similar so this book was super cool for me. I like reading YA so I didn't really mind all the high school drama, but I could do with a little less haha. My only downside to this was that I do think the ending was a little rushed. That being said, I am SO excited for the second book, although that may be ages away. This author definitely has a fan in me!

unfortunately, I was unable to listen to this book due to technical errors. I have no idea why i can't play audiobooks from my netgalley app, and I would deeply appreciate it if netgalley fixes this issue🙏🏾

I had requested to listen to the audiobook because the plot was very interesting and I have always been very fascinated by the Arthurian sagas.
The plot actually proved to be captivating and enjoyable, despite the risk of always telling the same things.
Fortunately this is not the case.

The biggest problem I had with this book is its protagonist.
Okay, she's a teenager.
Agreed, she certainly cannot think and behave like an adult.
But she is truly the epitome of recklessness! And he often shows that she doesn't think straight.
Plus, her obsession with his ex-boyfriend is pathological.
Tell me, please, that "young people today" (I feel old) are not all like that.

Because of her I really struggled to continue listening, thinking multiple times about giving up.

Yeah, this was a big no from me.

YA can be young without being immature. And this book was so immature. The MC was irritating and insufferable but at least she was 3 dimensional which is more than can be said for all the other NPC's, I mean secondary characters.

I really dislike it when YA is "dumbed down" and this felt very that. Everything was so easily accepted, earth shattering and life changing secrets are revealed and everyone basically shrugs their shoulders and said "I still like you". There is a difference between being accepting and emotionless robots.

An advanced middle grade reader might like this book.

I don't generally like YA books because I find teenagers especially American teenagers whiny and ungrateful brats, in most books.

So imagine my surprise that I actually liked Rosemary quite much, in fact I loved her sarcastic humour and sassy ass too much. I get she seemed too self motivated and selfish but she made me laugh so much that I will just ignore her selfishness.

The sword and the sophomore is Arthurian retelling which involves everything Arthur related. So there's Arthur, Merlin, Morgan and all the characters that comes with the platter. And yeah Excalibur too.

Rosemary is a teenager with raging hormones and infuriating parents, a mom trying too hard to be friends and a dad who is absent most of the times. She has a boyfriend Benz and a best friend Jocelyn and a mortal enemy Amery. Yeah so almost everything is typical or India obvious but also Rosemary is more than that. She is Guivenere's daughter born out of passion.

There are so many positive things about this book and so are negatives too. So let's see what I liked very much about it
* We can say that this book is typical with a teenager with best girlfriend, one girl she hates, one boy she is in love with or thinks she is in love with. But even then this book was too fun to listen.
* There is never dull moment in the book, the interactions between characters are fun to listen and there are many laugh out loud moments.
* The narration is spot on, too good that kept me hooked to the book.
* Emerys is love and even though Rosemary isn't exactly a likeable character I loved her.

Now what I didn't like
* There's very less action in the book, there are only 3 action scenes to be honest so more action would have saved this Book for me. Given a fantasy world, it would have been great to read more about it.
* Many characters are just shown to accept Rosemary's secrets in a very casual ways, like it was how things happen in routine.
* The character development is very poor. Especially Rosemary's parents. Only characters which I feel are developed are Emerys, Rosemary and to some extent Jocelyn.
* The end felt rushed. And not so great. It happened in last 5 % of the book after about almost 90% of the book was done and it was a huge letdown.
* There are so many moments where it felt dumb that people in the book including Rosemary where living a totally normally life.
* Most book is conversations between characters, and even though it was enjoyable it didn't really add anything to the story or didn't raise the excitement. I think that's a poor way of writing.
* Rosemary's obsession with Benz was too much, about 30-40% of the book she is thinking about him. I know that's how teenagers act but it was annoying. Also there are 2-3 points where they seemed to make up and then in the next scene they behaved like they didn't so again it was shown that they were trying to make up. It was really confusing.
* World building is very poor. Even when this is supposed to happen in present but there are too many loopholes to mention.


To be honest, now that I noticed negatives are much more about the book, I decided to bring down one star for the book.

Narration and sassy Rosemary saved this Book for me otherwise I might have DNFed it.

Audiobook : 3.5 stars
Book : 2.5 stars

Even when I rated it low, I enjoyed the audiobook. So Thank you RB media and Netgalley for the audiobook ARC in exchange of an honest review.

DNF at 20%. I believe that maybe I am a bit too old for this book. It mostly revolves around the main character being a quirky teenager in a rather childish way. Maybe it would suit better for young audiences, I did enjoy for a moment, but the way that the MC POV was written didn't really hook me, so I ended up losing interest in reading the rest of the story.

Unfortunately the MC in this book is pretty annoyingly self centered. The plot and premise of this book really got lost for me because of the overall tome of the MC. If the audiobook narrator hadn't done such a good job I don't know if I would have been able to push through this one.
As far as a high school aged Arthurian book goes it really didn't stand out much. With a concept that has been redone so many times it really needs to stand out more to be worth it in my opinion.

Fun fact--I am a sucker for any Arthurian legend retellings. So much so that I applied for a grant to chase down information about Arthurian legends in France and England and I got it! More on that later, but I think this YA novel by B.P. Sweany was a cool and original entry into the rapidly expanding list of Arthurian retellings. It's chock full of teenage angst and antics...plus magic, time travel, and a rather unfortunate prophecy for MC Rosemary.

There were aspects of this story that I found frustrating, particularly Rosemary's feelings/angst around her ex-boyfriend Benz. However, I'm no longer a teenager, and that means there are some things that I'm just not going to "get" anymore. Overall, I really liked it, and I'm looking forward to more books in this series! I have a lot of questions!