The Everlasting

"The Everlasting", by Alix E. Harrow, 2025, 400 pages, 121k words. There is a cover blurb: "A Legend. A Lie. A Love Story."

Harrow was a neighbor for a while, living in neighboring KY county Madison. Harrow has since moved to Virginia.

This is 1 of those books that remind you what fantasy is at its very best: it is mythic, but it also has an incredible heart.

It is also a meta story. 1 of the 3 main characters is a historian writing a history of another of the main characters. We are given many exerpts from this history.

This book just continued to amaze me. How creative it is! I really don't want to say much about it, I don't want to spoil 1 iota of anybody else's reading pleasure. I may already be saying too much.

I will list the titles of the 5 sections of the book, to give you an idea.

1. The First Death of Una Everlasting
2. The Second Death of Una Everlasting
3. The Third Death of Una Everlasting
4. The Fourth Death of Una Everlasting
5. The Last Death of Una Everlasting

Interesting, this was the 2nd book in the last few months that incorporated redaction in the text. Here's a sample:

But the use is completely different. The 1st use, in "There Is No Antimemetics Division", had mass redaction to show that memories have been eaten & are gone. In this use, the redaction shows our historian/chronicler choosing to protect the name of his subject.

So it looks like redaction is now a tool in the author toolbox?

This book deserves awards, I hope it wins some.