April is probably my favourite Everworld character and I thoroughly enjoyed reading from her point of view. The stuff with the knights was interesting and made a nice change, although again it didn't seem like much happened in this book in terms of plot progression

Plot: Four teenagers pulled into parallel universe populated by God's and legends meet the Knights of the Round Table.

1. All right I think we're starting to delve deeper into character complexities and emotions here. April is also more typically girly than other KAA protags I've known, which is an interesting choice. More on that later.

2. Expanded plot summary:

Spoiler

Merlin sends a dragon to capture Senna. Sir Galahad and Co. come in and save the gang from the dragon. They are all taken to Galahad's keep where Merlin argues with him about what to do with Senna until Loki comes in and demands the return of his witch. Many people die in the resulting battle. They retreat with the Knights and there's this really excellent blood transfusion scene. They manage to drive off Loki with Merlin's help but Senna escapes, and casualties are high. Galahad escapes with them, but is killed but he same dragon that gave them a fighting chance. Life goes on.

3. So.

Galahad dying

is the first really upsetting scene in this series. It was poignant and tragic and okay so I didn't cry but it definitely made me very sad. Good choices all around. Writing-wise, I mean.

4. Since this is an April book it's also tangentially a Senna book. These two hate each other so goddamned much. Every interaction between them is filled with venom- highly entertaining all around. I also really like how Jalil and April and Christopher immediately form strong bonds over their hatred of Senna. This is the first time all of them have been pointed in the exact same direction and it's great. I do love convergences.

5. April probably comes the closest to absolutely losing it with the to and fros between the two worlds, likely because her normal life is happy and purposeful and fulfilled. Just like Christopher it's visibly affecting her behavior, only possibly more so because Christopher can get away with angst- April though, she's sunny and cheerful and full of life. Her yelling out how she can't take it anymore in the middle of mass was likely very confusing all around.

6. Like I mentioned before, April is girly. So far, she's been the one to defuse every tense situation in the group- there's a point in this book where she's really fed up and stressed out and being all "kill yourselves who gives a fuck" and David waves it off as "oh you're feeling tired we should let you rest." And something about that scene was really good because we've been in her head and I can see her unravelling from the peacemaker she started out as, but it's not as evident from outside. Special note to the tiny rant where she internally screams how she's tired of being an estrogen fire hose on all the testosterone nonsense.

Being a girl is very much a part of April's identity, to the point where she's semi-unconciously stayed out of all fights in Everworld so far. To the point where once makes an active decision not to be a person standing in the sidelines, she has to force herself, locked joint by locked joint, to join the latest fight only to freeze when confronted by the enemy. Again, a really lovely scene.

7. Senna is such a great character holy shit. Shes snide, but snide mostly to April, mostly when the others aren't around. She's mind controlling David (yet another scene I liked, Senna dismissively saying David is the best she could get on short notice, and April being indignant on behalf of David despite also being pissed off at him), and fully prepared to whammy everyone else. But even she, usually cool as a cucumber, admits she's miscalculated. That she needs to revise her plans. The thing with Senna is that she's someone with relatively little power, and she leverages it expertly. She gets away from the grasps of multiple entities who could break her in half with a twitch of their fingers. I do love my competent antagonists.

8. That ending though, the one where everyone decides they need to

save Everworld in order to save their own world? I'm not sure how that's going to play out you know- internal motivation wise. It works for David. It works for April

Spoiler

because she's seen the knights die, seen Galahad die, and she has enough of a conscience to want to make that right beyond the practical reason she gives to everyone else but the others? I really want to see how Jalil and Christopher deal with this before I buy into it.

9. Another really enjoyable book truly this is a concept that keeps on giving.

I LOVE APRIL'S POV!!!!!
This one is so much more emotionally compelling than the first two books. They finally meet people on their side who are willing to help and aren't just slaves to their tales. April is also more relatable to me than both David and Christopher, but that's neither here nor there. The struggle between Merlin, Galahad, and Loki is also incredibly compelling, and I loved finally seeing Senna get a bit of a reality check.

The Arthurian book: reunited with Senna, the cast fights off an attack by Loki on Galahad's court. I like that the Arthurian characters are particularly fuzzy in their origins, somewhere between mythic and mortal, with histories that seem to contradict April's research back in Old World; it suits them and gives this book a misty, mythic tone which is more effective than the romantic dynamic between April and Galahad. But April underwhelmed me: I wanted so much to like her, because she's female but also because of how David and Christopher describe her in contrast to Senna. But her PoV is undifferentiated, especially since she comes right after Christopher and their "I narrate my life according to TV/movies" and "I narrate my life according to acting" gimmicks blur together.

My lower ratings are more indicative of quality--which is still not great--than enjoyment. These are easy to chew through, little popcorn books with bizarro worldbuilding and untaxing, if unremarkable, narration. I can give or take the world, but I love Senna and I appreciate the smaller moments: the horror of Merlin's magics, everyone's persistent exhaustion, the contrasting mundanity--both a frustration and an escape--of the "real" world.

Reread 2021.
Blast, I still love this series so much. It's so ya basic and plot driven, but man-I love the genre bending and the characters too.
This book is in April's perspective, which is really interesting compared to Chris & David. She's Senna's half-sister/step sister or something (I can't remember). The female perspective is nice next to heroic David and selfish funny guy Chris.
The book didn't change my life, but I love a good basic fun book to break out of a funk.

I feel like there's finally some plot to this, now.
Maybe that's what's been missing for me, personally. Just a huge lack of why and what.
So it's good that there's some more going on.

Need more info overall to feel like I know what's really going on with Senna or why any of this matters in a bigger way, but overall I'm enjoying the series a little more now. And as always, I do enjoy the knights of the round table and feel like I would have liked this take on Arthur had he been in it.