Quick Summary
The story of So this is Ever After begins at the very end. Our heroes have just defeated the big, bad, evil guy, and… now what?
The book follows our main protagonist Arek who is desperately trying to figure out what to do now that he has successfully beheaded the oppressive king that ruled the Kingdom of Ere. His friends eventually convince him to assume the throne “temporarily” while they free the princess, only heir to the throne, that is supposedly locked in a nearby tower.
Unfortunately, the princess is long dead and Arek has to now rule a new Kingdom with the help of his friends who aided him on his initial quest.
Unbeknownst to his friends, Arek was magically bound to the throne when he “temporarily” put on the crown. Matt, Arek’s best friend and court wizard, soon finds out the conditions of this bond: Arek must find a spouse by the time he turns eighteen, which is three months away. If this condition is not met, terrible things will happen to whoever rules the Kingdom of Ere.
My Opinion
Don’t get me wrong, the book is brilliantly written and has tons of moments that keep you engaged in the story, but unfortunately the plot is quite predictable. It was very clear who Arek would end up with from the very beginning which made all the moments between the two lovers before they confessed very frustrating.
After I finished the book and put it down, I even said the following to my husband: “This book could have been about 150 pages shorter and it wouldn’t have changed the story much”.
Arek going through his entire friends list before even considering his best friend as an option was extremely odd as I think the best friend would be the first and most natural choice in a life or death situation that involved a marriage.
Some online reviews on Amazon UK do echo this sentiment as well:
“His plan to “woo” all his friends was stupid and there was no real romantic angst. We all knew he was going to end up with his best friend Matt who even though they both clearly liked each kept getting the wrong end of the stick.”
Another User wrote:
“If mutual pining is your thing, this is the book for you. It’s not my thing, the protagonist’s reasons for not clearly talking about their feelings in a marry or die situation were not compelling. It made even less sense when their friends got involved.”
And the one that I personally most agree with:
“A little too angsty for me and took too long to get to the point but I didn’t hate it”
However, despite the slow burn of the story and odd pacing – this book is a great read. Watching Arek go from a clueless, blood soaked adventurer with a sword he pulled from a bog, to King Arek the Kind, who is well regarded for his very fair and human approach to leading a kingdom (that was quite frankly in shambles), was amazing.
Summary & Score
I personally give this book a 7/10 – it has some great elements but the slow-burn with such a predictable plot just knocks it down for me.