Once & Future (June 2020) Buddy Read Discussion - Mina & Elysian & Allyson

[Aless, Discord/Readathon Procrastinator]

Welcome to Once & Future Buddy Read Discussion thread! This thread officially opens on June 26th and anyone can join at any time. Please keep in mind that spoilers are allowed in this thread but only up to the group's current reading place. Do not spoil the book if you've read further than the group. Any extra days can be used to catch up!

Each week we will be reading by chapters. The suggested Buddy Read discussion schedule is as follows:

Week of 06/26
June 26: Lost & Found – Winners & Losers
June 27: Hearts & Aches – Prison & Break
June 28: Love & Loss – Pageantry & Reality

Week of 06/29
June 29: Gravity & Grudges – Once & Future


PARTICIPANTS
~ Mina
~ Elysian
~ Allyson

[mina, Group/Buddy Reads Procrastinator]

Have you guys started it?

I'm really behind on it, but I'll finish it by the end of the month.
At this point I read only two chapters and 😬 I'm hoping for it to get better

[mina, Group/Buddy Reads Procrastinator]

Day 1 chapters. (view spoiler)[So things are moving sooooooo fast and it annoys me. Like not even a full day has passed since she and her brother are on the run and she already pulled the sword, met Merlin, met Morgana, fought a duel and won, got engaged to the Queen and then married the said queen... and all that in less than 24h! What? (hide spoiler)]

Day 2 chapters. (view spoiler)[*Merlin's memories.. he gives up so fast on being freed and asks for his powers... if Morgana is haunting him because he didn't help Arthur then.. I may understand her.

*Ari felt herself shouting from the pain of their paired consciousness detaching. Her breath cut in fast and sharp, hampered by lips on her lips.

Erm, what? First I thought Gwen is giving her mouth to mouth because the memory trip didn't last long.. but allegedly it's been days since that happened so.. why is she kissing an unconscious Ari???

*😂😂😂 and of course, only after a few days, even let's say a full week, of the moment when she found Exacalibur now she sparked a rebellion and the rebels want her to lead them.. yeah, so believable.

*I admit, after the first part hadn't kept my interest I started playing games while listening to the book so maybe I remember things differently. So, first I thought Merlin told ppl that Ari is the new Arthur and then the news that "King Arthur has risen, and that Merlin returned" happened... but I skimmed through those chapters I listened "so carefully" and saw that first the news happened and then Merilin spread the word when he wanted to get arrested.. Unless, there was another scene where it was told to people how did the news get that she's the new king Arthur? Like, even Merlin didn't think a girl was Arthur so how did the news get to that conclusion, I surely wouldn't after seeing a girl with a sword, and a kid with magic.. is it because of the independent city and they have the medieval setting? (hide spoiler)]

[[deleted user]]

I can’t decide whether I like this book or not...it’s one that’s out of my comfort zone, so I’m hoping that the longer I stick with it, the better it will get.

[mina, Group/Buddy Reads Procrastinator]

I'm on the not liking it side 😂😅 I don't think it's out of my comfort zone, it has things that I would usually like.. however.. I don't.

On what chapter are you?

[[deleted user]]

I’m on Chapter 3...I’m so behind!

[[deleted user]]

I’m 58% of the way done and, gosh, I wish i was 100%. This book is not good.

[mina, Group/Buddy Reads Procrastinator]

I'm on 55% since Sunday.. when I started the book. I could've listened to it yesterday.. and today and been done with it.. but I just can't make myself pick it up.

I'm going to push trough it today because I don't want to bring it into the next month.. I was wondering what all is going to happen because all the classic steps have already happened, like (view spoiler)[Ari is "dead" (hide spoiler)] and my answer came.. it was ONE YEAR LATER gosh, do I hate it or what? Like, the writers did a shit job at telling the story and there had to be more pages so let's fast forward a year and continue from there.. The spoiler would've been a good way to end book 1.

What are your other thoughts beside that the book is not good?

[[deleted user]]

I honestly thought the book was completely over at that point. They definitely should have ended it there. Everything else is unnecessary. I feel like the plot moved way too fast for me to even process anything.

[mina, Group/Buddy Reads Procrastinator]

yeah, the plot is fast paced which is one other thing that annoyed me. Things happened so fast and moved to other things that you just couldn't gather what the hell happened.

[[deleted user]]

Exactly! I can’t remember any characters other than the main few...I don’t know who did or said what anymore.

[mina, Group/Buddy Reads Procrastinator]

I understand that. I was listening to the prison break chapter and then Merlin says oh, Hex is dead.. and I was eeem, who the f is Hex?
That's one other thing it does, makes it sound like the character is going to have an importance.. but it doesn't. If it had been nicely written then maybe Hex would've played a role but like this..

Oh, and I have to complain about something that irks me... and I'm not really sure why, but it does. How they are referring to their mothers like Captain Mom and Mom, like they have names..

[[deleted user]]

Oh my gosh, I know! One of the biggest things that frustrates me is all of the romance. I feel like there is too much of it to keep track of. And everyones' sexualities...like, I'm all down for diversity in books but I'm just confused at this point.

[mina, Group/Buddy Reads Procrastinator]

I agree with everything you said.. Lucky you, you finished it.. I still have 8 chapters.

[[deleted user]]

It was like a weight being lifted off my shoulders...good luck!

[mina, Group/Buddy Reads Procrastinator]

I finally managed to finish it. I sped it up to 3x and even that felt like slow how much I wanted to be done with it, and I felt sick while listening to it because this is so bad.. like, how did I make myself go through that??

And the ending? Jeez, like there was a lot of everything throughout the book, but adding (view spoiler)[time travel (hide spoiler)] to the game was...

[[deleted user]]

I was so confused...like, how was that even relevant??? I would have been a little more forgiving if they touched on it earlier but there was literally NO MENTION! Something like that needs more time to develop.

[mina, Group/Buddy Reads Procrastinator]

I feel like a lot of the things were or felt irrelevant.

I'm so disappointed in this because it had potential, but it ended being this...