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Gemstomes

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Gemstomes is Currently Reading

Gemstomes is currently reading

The Everlasting

by Alix E. Harrow (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: currently-reading

Reading for the 2nd time

read in February 2026

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Gemstomes said: " My favorite poem of all time is ‘The Highwayman’ by Alfred Noyes. Romantically bookending it is the promise that its doomed lovers utter to each other of a moonlit night: “Look for me by moonlight. Watch for me by moonlight. I’ll come to thee by moon My favorite poem of all time is ‘The Highwayman’ by Alfred Noyes. Romantically bookending it is the promise that its doomed lovers utter to each other of a moonlit night: “Look for me by moonlight. Watch for me by moonlight. I’ll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way.” This refrain kept sneaking up on me as I set upon the pages of Alix E. Harrow’s ‘The Everlasting,’ a time-defying tale of star-crossed lovers who vow to find each other in one lifetime or the next.

The legend of Sir Una Everlasting has built the nation of Dominion, been whispered to its children, inspired its warriors to take up arms. She was the orphan who clawed her way up to knighthood in service of her queen and country and died with her legend fair and true. But the story of the life she lived, with all its triumphs and heartaches, has long been lost to time

Nine hundred years later, historian and failed soldier Owen Mallory has been in love with the tale of Una Everlasting ever since he was a boy. He follows her banner into battlefields, libraries, archives…and finally, into time itself. For Owen and Una’s story is a circle, destined to repeat itself over and over again as they meet each other beneath the yew tree, live out heroics and betrayals, and face the same unspeakable tragedy at the very end. If they want a better ending, Owen and Una must fight to regain control of their story and rewrite time itself, once and for all.

It takes a lot, and I mean a LOT to get me to fall for tales of star-crossed lovers – it just has to be done RIGHT or everything falls to pieces. And boy did Harrow get this one right! I positively fell in love with her tale of this woman who fights like annihilation, and this self-described cowardly man who overturns all of history to keep her alive. I loved how their romance is quite so often immersed in wrenching and ugly circumstances but is threaded with moments of unbearable beauty all the same. It absolutely makes sense, how they come together – Owen and Una see what make each other so unflinchingly human and so aching to give back to the world that tears at them. Owen, so lost in her legend at first, sees all of Una’s dreams, her whims, and also her caprices, and loves her all the more; Una in turn falls hard for Owen frankness, his verve, his all-consuming passion. Their love isn’t so much epic as it is earthy and steadfast, filled with wonder at each other’s whole selves, glories and pitfalls and all.

Owen and Una’s circle is small but intense, and I was invested in every single one of their relationships. There’s Una and her queen Yvanne, savior and mother-figure, who spurs her on but also bleeds her legend dry. There’s Owen’s clashes with his war minister, the Machiavellian Vivian, whose labyrinthine plots defy physics and ethics both. And then there’s Owen’s prickly connection with his mentor, Sawbridge and his thorny kinship with his radical father, both of whom say things at the top of their voices, both of whom can be incredibly difficult, but both of whom are considerably lodged in Owen’s heart in a way that is irreversible. I do love me some complicated parental figures, and Harrow excels in her varied portrayals of them all.

Like a magician, Harrow keeps all her tropes in the air, juggling them with finesse, and then, to my marvel, transforming them anew. To be honest I’m still not sure the mechanics of time shenanigans slot seamlessly here, but I was so impressed by the endgame, it almost doesn’t matter. Here Harrow ties up the concept of time travel with the laborious act of hammering myths into shapes to shake the fate of a nation. A point is made about how myth is often stitched out of our knowledge of the nuances of Story, crafted by the innate romantic in us all. Meanwhile, the Avalon-like Dominion falls under a scathing critique of nationalism, with its years of malfeasance and malediction strung up under a noblebright artifice of lies. Harrow reminds us that there aren’t any GREAT nations there are only nations; and a nation that falls under one mind is merely tyranny under a different name. And finally, to talk of tropes…I positively adored the non-traditional flair of this book’s main romance. Una’s battle-scarred, fiery femininity coupled with Owen’s cautious, scholarly masculinity made for some fealty-laden sections of the stoic lady knight fighting in the soft gentleman’s favor, and the latter keeping the former’s firepower at bay for the sake of all. There’s nothing sexier than a good gender-reversal, I say!

Harrow’s prose feels like it leaves golden footprints in its wake. It is piquant and shimmering, the wine to her heady and evocative storytelling – I never knew which words to expect next. I was thoroughly impressed that all the time loops had different hues and flavors – new and shining insight is unearthed every time, things are said that have never been said before. And frankly, telling such a story in second person, with the two lovers calling to each other over time in a temporal waltz, is crazy work! But this book more than pulls it off.

At the moment I have a serious case of book hangover – I still miss Owen and Una; I’m still thinking of their journeys from the yew tree and beyond, though hell should bar the way. I’m still vibrating with satisfaction at the symmetric and poetic moments between each cycle of Story, at the very earned plot beats that fell right into place. Just like I did with the author’s last novel, my first of hers, I instantly ordered a physical copy of ‘The Everlasting’ upon reaching the last page. It’s early in the year to have a favorite book so far, but this is mine. And I simply can’t wait to get my hands on whatever else Alix E. Harrow has written or will write next. ...more "

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"why am I gasping; I've read this before" — May 25, 2026 06:14AM

Feb 17, 2026 01:40AM · see review

Gemstomes is currently reading

A Year with G. K. Chesterton: 365 Days of Wisdom, Wit, and Wonder

by Thomas Nelson

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May 14, 2026 12:10AM

Gemstomes’s Quotes

“Some speak of the savagery of beasts. I will ever prefer that to the thoughtless contempt some men have toward animals.”
― Robin Hobb, Fool's Errand

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“That's what I love about reading: one tiny thing will interest you in a book, and that tiny thing will lead you onto another book, and another bit there will lead you onto a third book. It's geometrically progressive—all with no end in sight, and for no other reason than sheer enjoyment.”
― Annie Barrows, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

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“You fucking bustard!” yelled Draco at Vampire. “I want to shit next to her!”
― Tara Gilesbie, My Immortal

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