Literature / So This is Ever After

So This is Ever After is a 2022 romcom fantasy novel by F.T. Lukens.

The story follows Arek, a young boy from a village that was picked to The Chosen One by a mage out of the blue, and made to go into a magical quest to gather a party together with his childhood friend with magical powers, Matt, and defeat the cruel mage ruling over the land known as The Vile One. After a 9 month long journey and gathering his party: Sionne, a reliable warrior; Bethany, a flirtatious bard; Lila, a sneaky half-fae thief; and Rion, a gentle squire; Arek is capable of killing The Vile One in his castle through a not very heroic beheading. Unknowingly, this magically binds him as the new king, a role he neither desires, nor is ready for in any way, frustrating his longer plans of confessing his love for Matt and to live a quiet life after the prophecy gets fulfilled. Furthermore, as they quickly learn, Arek cannot resign from the throne under the threat of death by the magic of the crown, and must be married by the time he is 18, giving him 3 months to find someone with whom to be bound with when he believes Matt rejects him.

Tropes:

• Action Girl:
  • Sionna is a skilled female fighter with a sword in Arek's party.
  • Lila is a thief who's good with a knife.
• Aerith and Bob: The book mixes names like Arek or Sionna with Matt, Bethany, Lila etc.
• Amazonian Beauty: The party's female warrior, Sionna. She is a tall, beautiful woman, whose rippling muscles have caused what Arek has described as very inconvenient boners for him and Matt.
• Arranged Marriage: Running out of options, Arek attempts to make a marriage of convenience with Gren, the child of one of the noble families he befriended.
• Arc Words: "King Arek The Kind", the title that Arek gains from his actions towards others. Despite not liking it for not thinking it paints him as quite in a strong way, others still think this is a good and fitting title.
• Arrow Catch: Lila plucks an arrow out of mid air which would have killed Arek if it struck early on.
• Assassination Attempt: Arek is nearly killed with an arrow early in the book, but Lila saves him.
• Ban on Magic: The Vile One killed other magic users while others went into hiding to escape this, presumably as they might be a threat.
• The Bard: Bethany is the bard in Arek's party, with her music being magical. She's also got a strong power of persuasion which works on muggles in most cases.
• Beta Couple: Sionna and Meredith on one side, and Rion and Lila on another. They serve as a contrast with Arek and Matt, who take the entire book to get together, since both couples do it quite fast.
• Big Beautiful Woman: Bethany is repeatedly described as very voluptuous and attractive for it.
• The Big Damn Kiss: Arek and Matt kiss near the end, which leads to them finally acting on their love for each other.
• Childhood Friend Romance: Arek has been friends with Matt since they were both young boys, and secretly loves him. It turns out Matt does too, and they marry at the end.
• The Chosen One: Arek was chosen by prophecy to defeat the Vile One, receiving a special sword out of a bog (somewhat like Excalibur) and having five trusty companions. He slew the Vile One in the first chapter, after which his life gets more complicated.
• Court Mage: After becoming king, Arek appoints Matt, who's a mage, to be his.
• Deconstruction: The book plays with and parodies many fantasy tropes such as The Chosen One, The Prophecy etc. Most specifically, the plot focuses on the aftermath of the heroes' victory over the villain, with The Chosen One Arek being made king and having to deal with rebuilding things, which is far harder in its own way.
• Delayed Diagnosis: After the beginning, the party is jumpy, and Arek is particular has trouble sleeping when Matt is not around him. Subverted in that it does not take long for Matt to figure out the party is suffering from some kind of collective PTSD from their 9 months of questing and being hunted down.
• Due to the Dead: Lila and Sionna insist the princess, along with the Vile One, get the funeral rites the local culture prescripes (cremation on a pyre) after they die. Arek is all for it in the latter case, so the Vile One can't come Back from the Dead with his magic.
• Everyone Is Bi: No character is ever explicitly referred by one sexuality or another and seem to all be interested in anyone regardless of gender. Arek sees all members of his party as possible romantic prospects and possibly attracted to him, despite some of them also being blatantly attracted to women.
• Fading Away: Arek's fate of "fading" literally means fading. Parts of his body literally stop existing for brief periods of time the closer he is to his birthday. When it's time, he can't breath because he assumed his lungs had stopped existing and parts of him are vanishing.
• Fantastic Fruits and Vegetables: Heart's Truth is a plant with the property that when it's pollen affects someone they will tell the truth of their heart.
• A Fate Worse Than Death: The Princess was forced to marry The Vile One and then trapped in a room in a tower to die, and her soul was to be kept there for years even after her death by magic, only released when the main characters opened the door 40 years after The Vile One took power.
• Foreshadowing:
  • Matt is extremely certain that they're losing nothing from not knowing what is under the wine stain on the prophecy parchment. He also says he can't remove the stain despite being able to manipulate wine with magic back into a jug. It turns out he caused the stain on purpose to hide the part of the prophecy that says he is in love with Arek, and wanted to keep that part hidden.
  • The first thing the party learns about the princess from her diary is that, if she survived, she'd tell a girl that she loved her. The story ends with Arek concluding that for her, finding the other noblewoman, and gifting her the princess's diary.
  • Lampshaded. Lila says that for her, love would happen immediately and strike her like lightining. As Arek notices when she confesses to Rion, this is exactly how she fell for Rion when he saved a rabbit the party had captured for food.
• Gender-Equal Ensemble: Aerk's party has three men (himself, Matt, Rion) and three women (Bethany, Sionna, Lila) as members.
• Healing Hands: The healer helping Matt puts both hands on him during healing, which glow with her magic as she does so.
• Hero of Another Story: The Princess was having her own romance story by the time that The Vile One took over, with a slowly developing relationship with a noble girl, which the cast learns from the diary she left behind.
• Insistent Terminology: Arek insists that the pollen from the Heart's Truth flower is not a "lust pollen".
• Internal Reveal: After the incident with Lila and the Heart's Truth's pollen, Arek is forced to explain to his party about the fact that if he doesn't soul-bond with someone, he might die.
• It Sucks to Be the Chosen One: Arek says, multiple times, that he wishes that the prophecy did not exist or that the one who the prophecy talks about wasn't him, due to the fate saying that he should be the one to kill The Vile One and, therefore, forcing him to marry so that he won't end up vanishing.
• Magic Music: Bards like Bethany have magic in their music, such as making its notes carry far beyond the ordinary limits of sound.
• Magic Staff: Matt, a mage, has one that serves to focus and strengthen his spells.
• Muggle–Mage Romance: Arek, who can't do magic, and Matt (a mage) marry at the end.
• Mundane Utility: Matt used his magic to do chores when he was still a boy.
• Nice to the Waiter: Arek and co. quickly decide to increase the wages of the servants who work in the castle, while another is moved deeply at how they don't have her put into the stocks for spilling wine accidentally onto Matt. This gets him named "King Arek the Kind".
• Non-Heteronormative Society: No one bats an eye at same-sex relationships in the book's setting, since everyone who lives there appears to be bisexual, with both main and minor characters being in these or at least shown as having these attractions.
• No Name Given: The princess never gets named, not even by the woman whom she loved.
• Off with His Head!: Arek slew the Vile One this way, though it's harder than he expected with his sword having been pretty dull.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Arek and his companions had no idea the Vile One's real name was Barthly until after he died.
• The Paladin: Rion is a righteous knight and strictly abides by his oath to aid Arek, who admits he's the most moral person among his companions.
• The Pardon: Arek decides to offer the Vile One's surviving followers amnesty for them to not turn into a continuing problem, in return for swearing loyalty to him and military service (at a lower wage than other recruits).
• Poor Communication Kills: Matt and Arek are in love with each other, but their assumptions that the other doesn't feel the same way has them acting in stupid ways that leaves Arek almost dead by the time the book is over.
• The Prophecy: The wizard who met Arek and Matt gave them a scroll which held a prophecy about their quest, including that Arek's The Chosen One. Part of it was erased due to Matt spilling wine on the scroll accidentally though. He's very touchy over it.
• Pseudo-Romantic Friendship: Arek and Matt are very close friends, touching each other affectionately, even lying in the same bed sometimes. However, on his part Arek wants more than friendship with Matt. At first though he believes Matt isn't interested. Eventually they get together.
• Relationship Upgrade: At the end of the book, after miscommunication leading to both of them thinking that the other actually didn't want them, Arek and Matt realize they're both in love each other. After this they marry.
• Resignations Not Accepted: Arek is magically bonded to kingship, and it's also made clear simply abdicating would kill him.
• Sorcerous Overlord: The Vile One ruled Chickpea after usurping its throne and he was a powerful mage. He persecuted other mages and had oppressed the population generally.
• Sticky Fingers: Lila is a thief who's cheerfully, unapologetically kleptomaniacal, constantly stealing things wherever she goes. She met Arek and Matt through stealing from them.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
  • The entire beginning of the novel plays this for laughs by showing the triumph of the hero's party over The Vile One to be much less cinematic than he pictured. He thought he would be able to cleanly behead The Vile One, raise his decapitated head as a trophy, and subsequently, declare his love for Matt and maybe even kiss him. He doesn't get to do any of those things, as beheading someone ends up being a messy and tough affair that soils everyone with blood. He also feels no desire to raise the head because it would be hard since he is bald and it would be really gross to touch a decapitated head as he notices. Matt and Arek are also not in any position for a romantic declaration, being bloodied, dirty, tired, and sweaty, which makes the entire scene much less picturesque than he wanted.
  • Further, when Arek finds himself thrust into kingship as the last heir from the former ruling dynasty is dead, he and his friends quickly struggle with going from commoners to ruling a kingdom.
• Tampering with Food and Drink: The Vile One tried to poison Arek early on, but Rion ate the soup first, with them stopping after he got violently sick. Luckily it was poorly done, so Rion survived.
• Truth Serum:
  • Heart's Truth pollen makes people reveal who they desire at heart.
  • Bethany's Magic Music is also capable of compelling people to tell the truth.
• The Usurper: The Vile One seized the throne, killing most of the royal family while also imprisoning the princess who he needed (temporarily) alive.
• Wedding Finale: The Epilogue takes place in the wedding celebration of Matt and Arek.

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