The Everlasting
It is, I think, undeniable that Fascism is on the rise world-wide right now. It is also undeniable that Autocratic rulers love a good national myth to bolster their popularity. That has been the case from at least Augustus and The Aeneid, through Hitler and Wagner, to the present day. I have academic friends who have devoted their careers to keeping an eye on how far-right political movements mis-use legends from the past to recruit in the present.
What we haven’t seen much of yet, which is why Alix Harrow’s The Everlasting is so welcome, is writers of fantasy fiction engaging with this issue. Harrow doesn’t, perhaps, provide much of an answer, but she absolutely highlights the problem.
Owen Mallory is a mild-mannered history professor and accidental war hero. Since childhood he has been obsessed with the legend of Una Everlasting, the valiant knight whose exploits enabled his country of Dominion to grow strong a thousand years ago. With his expertise in linguistics, no one is better qualified than Mallory to translate and interpret those ancient tales. Imagine his surprise and delight, therefore, when an anonymous donor sends him a copy of the long-lost book, The Death of Una Everlasting, which chronicles the heroine’s final adventure.
However, no sooner has he started to translate the book than it is stolen away again. A clue left for him leads him to the office of Vivian Rolfe, Minister of War, and wannabe dictator. You see, the book is a fake. It hasn’t been written yet. At least, it hasn’t been written as well as Ms. Rolfe would like. Mallory, she thinks, is the ideal man to complete the job to her satisfaction.
Sharp eyed readers will have noticed a lot of Arthurian references here. One character called Mallory, another called Vivian, and a book whose title recalls the historical Mallory’s most famous work. The ancient capital of Dominion is called Cavallon. Una’s last quest is in search of the Grail. It is also true that mediaeval Arthurian romances could be as much attempts to re-write myth to suit the political needs of the time as any other piece of propaganda. Yes, even the bits in The Mabinogion.
There is more to the book than that, however. Having set up our expectations with the outline I gave above, it quickly pivots to a time travel tale that totally eschews the idea that one should try not to change the past. Ms. Rolfe, it appears, is less the Lady of the Lake, and more Kang the Conqueror, and she wants to use legend to re-shape history to her own ends. Or, as Vivian puts it:
“In order to have a future worth fighting for, you must have a past worth remembering.”
Set against this, Mallory finds an unusual ally in Una herself who, after a lifetime of slaying the enemies of Dominion, has sickened of the bloodshed and wants nothing more to do with her legend.
As every good novelist should, Harrow gives her antagonist a good motivation. A lone woman in a man’s world of politics, Vivian is only too aware of the fragility of her position, and of how the men around her will conspire to take her down at the slightest sign of weakness. Her response is utter ruthlessness, and a desire to control, not just the present, but everything in the past as well.
The Everlasting is an enormously ambitious book. It also has some fabulous descriptive passages. Here’s one that stood out for me:
But I remember the cold. The weather turned as we left the hills, the sky turning the bluish-white of a frostbitten finger. Each night we huddled miserably on either side of the wind-whipped fire, sleeping fitfully and shivering ourselves awake.
Pretty much every review I have seen of this book talks about how extraordinary and amazing it is. Not only is it beautifully written, it also speaks most urgently to the time we are living through. I am expecting it to walk off with a heap of awards, and I shall be rather disappointed if it doesn’t.
Title: The Everlasting
By: Alix E Harrow
Publisher: Tor
Purchase links:
Amazon UK
Amazon US
Bookshop.org UK
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