In The Everlasting, a provocative, heartrending fantasy by Alix E. Harrow (The Once and Future Witches; A Mirror Mended), a historian learns to question the purpose of legends after being sent to the past to record the story of one inspiring knight.
Owen Mallory first fell in love with Sir Una Everlasting in a children's book adaptation of her legend, which he read when he was nine. Around a thousand years after Una's tragic death in service to the country of Dominion, her picture on a recruiting poster inspired Owen to join the military, and when he returned to academia, he specialized in her legend. When a book--the original account of Una's story, thought no longer to exist--is delivered to his hands, he discovers the shocking truth: his task is not to translate it but to go into the past and write it, and to make sure that Una dies as she should.
Starting with the trappings of Arthurian-style legend, Harrow tells a powerful tale of sacrifice, love, and defiance. As Owen is sent back in time repeatedly, he at first reshapes Una's story to make her death fulfill a purpose for the nation she served. But after lifetimes of love and loss accumulate and begin to coalesce in Una's memory, the two of them must fight for the chance to not sacrifice her life for Dominion and instead learn what is worth risking their lives for. Harrow demonstrates the impressive breadth of her powers for this romantic saga and brutal critique of the misuses of patriotism. --Kristen Allen-Vogel, information services librarian at Dayton Metro Library