Reading: Once and Future

Amy Rose Capetta and Cori McCarthy's Once and Future is a queer, genderswapped, anticapitalist retelling of King Arthur in space. Ari, an illegal refugee from a planet which has been blockaded by the all-powerful Mercer Corporation for daring to challenge its power, finds a sword stuck through the trunk of a tree and pulls it out, revealing herself to be the forty-second reincarnation of King Arthur and setting another cycle of the legend in motion. She is helped by a teenaged Merlin, released from his crystal cave to help the new Arthur (Capetta and McCarthy's version of the story clearly owes a debt to T.H. White, and, like his, their Merlin also ages backwards) and a band of friends who, fortunately, have all learnt the skills of knighthood on a medieval-themed planet.

Once and Future isn't a perfect book - the worldbuilding and characterisation are fairly shallow - but it's generally an enjoyable romp which reminded me a lot of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (the glorious, all-pervading queerness and general diversity of the main cast, as well as the theme of a small, desperate band fighting an overwhelming oppressor). Like She-Ra, it does have some very dark moments, but it also has a lot of humour and a sense of optimism even in the face of gathering darkness. It's the first of a duology, and I'll definitely be reading the sequel.