The Once and Future Queen (Lives of Guinevere #1) by Paula Lafferty

A medieval setting, time travel, a quest, and intriguing complications--did Paula Lafferty write this book especially for me? She wrapped some of my favorite elements in funny banter, poignant (non-swooning) romance, and enough plot complexity to keep the whole thing chugging along and keep me riveted. I loved this.

Twenty-two-year-old Vera is the beloved only child of two dear parents, but the rest of her life is a shambles. Her love Vincent died in an accident, her father is very ill, she's waiting tables, and she feels generally aimless and unseen.

Then a strange man comes to town, telling Vera an unbelievable story of her true origins and her destiny. He says that she is actually from Camelot, in King Arthur's time, and that he himself is Merlin. Oh, and that her full name is Guinevere, as in "Queen."

He says that she was placed in her current time to grow up in safety into the woman she needed to be. The existence of the kingdom and magic itself are reliant upon Vera's time-travel back to Arthur's world, and only she can save them.

Was this premise developed for me and my personal reading enjoyment? I happily fell into this story hook, line, and sinker.

When Vera plunges into the past, she retains reservations about the situation (she also insists on bringing her jog bra, modern underwear, and running shoes; this complicates things in time-travel world but I loved it), and Arthur clearly harbors reservations about her. She wants to help as directed but isn't sure how to achieve her goal of saving Camelot. And growing conflicts, puzzling developments, and murky motivations and loyalties complicate everything.

Vera struggles against the powerful, mysterious former presence of herself as Guinevere, looming like a specter, and she frequently must puzzle out the meaning behind her prior acts and feelings as that other version of herself. I was disappointed that she doesn't dig into her former self's memories enough to unlock a real connection between her current and prior times and existence; I was hoping to more deeply link the Vera we know to the Guinevere of the past and to witness her reconciliation between them and better understanding of her whole self.

She finds that the traditional thinking about a Guinevere-Lancelot romance is off base, but Vera builds a friendship for the ages with Lancelot. This funny, poignant, powerful connection is one of my favorite aspects of the novel.

I liked the injection of just enough modern feminism into a medieval setting (running! speaking her mind! wearing that modern underwear! jousting!). A newly imagined relationship with Arthur is hard-won and lovely.

Lafferty handily skirts the logistical difficulties of time travel and modern-medieval (Middle English) communication with a "magic will automatically translate" solution that I was all in for. Vera naughtily and hilariously brings a few minor modern elements into the past (high-fiving; rock paper scissors) while Merlin frowns about the implcations.

One frustration I had with the book: Vera is not in fact essential to discovering why magic is seeping from the realm as Merlin originally posited, so her uprooting of her life and everyone else's years-long workarounds were not necessary--except for my own significant reading enjoyment. I found this unsatisfying but loved the rest of the book so much, I was ready to overlook it. Gawain (a favorite, scene-stealing character) is key to that discovery.

And we are all set up for a book two.

I listened to The Once and Future Queen as a library audiobook via Libby. It's narrated by the fantastic Julia Whelan.

My friend Jamie told me about this book, and as we both read it we messaged each other with our adoration for the whole situation.

The Once and Future Queen is the first in a series from Lafferty about Vera/Guinevere. (She first funded this book's publication as La Vie de Guinevere through Kickstarter.) The second installment is not yet published.

More Books You May Love

For more books I've read with medieval settings, please check out the titles at this link, and feel free to check out these Bossy reads about knights. For more books about time travel, one of my favorite narrative devices, please check out these titles.