So This Is Ever After

After chosen-one-foretold-by-prophecy Arek (with the help of his party) beheads the Vile One and becomes king of Ere, he thinks he’ll have some time to relax. Unfortunately, it turns out that bureaucracy is a lot harder than heroism.

To keep his crown (and his life), Arek has to get married. And he only has three months to find his soulmate. His ideal choice would be his childhood best friend and wizard-of-prophecy, Matt, but Matt has made it clear he has no romantic interest in Arek. So Arek sets about attempting to woo other members of his party, following the instructions he finds in a dead princess’s diary. But Arek’s attempts at romance don’t turn out in quite the way he expects.

So, how was the plot? 

The story is a cute friends-to-lovers romance. The main premise is that Arek tries to engineer situations with his party members (pretty classic DnD characters) to make them fall in love with him. Unfortunately, he keeps falling into those situations with Matt instead.

The reader knows from the beginning that Matt also has feelings for Arek, but Arek doesn’t know this, which makes for some moments that are harrowing for Arek but hilarious for the reader. The narration does a good job showing how Arek falsely interprets Matt’s actions as a lack of romantic interest, while these same actions show the reader that Matt is romantically interested.

The story’s tone is satirical and ridiculous; Arek’s sarcastic first-person narration was a pleasure to read, and it helped me connect with him as a reader. I loved how the narrative plays with the “chosen one” trope in a fun way by starting after the defeat of the villain.

Overall it was a fun read with a cute romance that made me smile.

So…why only three stars? Stingy much?

I will say, I didn’t connect too much with his other party members (with the exception of Matt). They felt a little too one-dimensional and stereotypical—they didn’t have much personality outside of their assigned Dungeons & Dragons classification (knight, rogue, bard, fighter)…but I guess that might have been the point. Plus, it is pretty hard to fully flesh out six characters in only a three-hundred-page novel.

Also, this might be because the story is intended for young adult readers and I am an adult, but I couldn’t suppress the mild feeling of panic at the thought of a bunch of seventeen- and eighteen-year-olds running an entire country. Every time Arek told his stuffy advisor that they were going to run the country Arek’s way instead, a voice in my mind (that admittedly sounds like a crotchety old lady) yelled, “Tradition isn’t always bad!” followed by “Do we have to flout protocol this much?” followed by “Get off my lawn, whippersnappers!” But, again, this likely comes from the simple fact that I am not this book’s intended audience.

The prose also isn’t the most polished—sometimes dialogue or descriptions doesn’t quite make sense in context. But that’s a minor issue that’s mostly outweighed by the laugh-out-loud narration.

It’s a fun read that doesn’t take itself too seriously. I think my teenage self would have absolutely loved this story.