ARC Review: Of Myths and Legends

The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow

Publication Date: October 28, 2025

Summary from NetGalley:

From Alix E. Harrow, the New York Times bestselling author of Starling House, comes a moving and genre-defying quest about the lady-knight whose legend built a nation, and the cowardly historian sent back through time to make sure she plays her part–even if it breaks his heart.

Sir Una Everlasting was Dominion’s greatest hero: the orphaned girl who became a knight, who died for queen and country. Her legend lives on in songs and stories, in children’s books and recruiting posters—but her life as it truly happened has been forgotten.

Centuries later, Owen Mallory—failed soldier, struggling scholar—falls in love with the tale of Una Everlasting. Her story takes him to war, to the archives—and then into the past itself. Una and Owen are tangled together in time, bound to retell the same story over and over again, no matter what it costs.

But that story always ends the same way. If they want to rewrite Una’s legend—if they want to tell a different story–they’ll have to rewrite history itself.

ARC provided by Tor Publishing via Netgalley for an honest review.

Confession:

While I initially struggled a bit with the narrative, I ended up just adoring this story. It is a compelling read that will have you thinking about what makes a hero, their myths and how history and stories shape our lives and cultures. It is a masterful piece of writing that will have you thinking long after you turn the last page.

Una is a wonderful character. She is both strong, yet flawed, and so very tired of her life. She is the perfect picture of a reluctant hero who just wants to be left alone. But her story must be told and must end in a certain way so that she will become a legend.

Owen is also a wonderful character. He is a self proclaimed coward, but I would say that he is more of an empath who feels all of the emotions. That would be hard as a soldier and would eventually break anyone as it did him. He is obsessed with Una and with telling her story, even if it means he has to watch her die when he could have prevented it.

This is sort of a time loop story, but a very different one and told in a very different way. Every time Owen is sent back to his ‘time’ things have subtly changed. When he returns to Una’s time things are also slightly different. The villain of the story is trying to manipulate not just Una and Owen, but others to achieve the outcome that benefits them the most. The story takes a long hard look at how stories and history shape our world and who gets to tell it.

The writing was absolutely beautiful, but it does take a little bit of getting use to. The perspectives are from either Una’s or Owen’s view, and we see the same events over and over again but each time you understand these events differently. The narrative also switches from first person, to third and back again which can be a bit confusing but it ultimately works for this story. Everything is described with such loving detail that you find yourself totally absorbed in the story.

This is a beautiful love story, but one that is full of pain and sorrow. The time travel aspect was really well done and one that is quite different. If you are looking for a story about how myths and legends shape our lives, or how history is told by the victorious, then this is one you really need to consider.