Review: King's Legacy

King's Legacy

by L.C. Rosen

Union Square, 2025

Category: Young Adult

Reviewer: Kathryn Hall

 

Buy at Bookshop.org

King's Legacy is the second book in Rosen's "Tennessee Russo" duology. In Lion's Legacy (reviewed on The Shmooze in 2023) we met Tennessee, a gay Jewish teenager who is a queer history nerd. His parents are divorced, and he joins his gentile archeologist and reality show star father in a search for artifacts related to queer ancient Greek soldiers. Indiana Jones style adventures ensue. King's Legacy can be a stand-alone read, but I recommend reading them in order if you enjoy the genre.

Tennessee, his best friend, his father, and their producer/camerawoman, journey from Rome to Venice to Paris to a fictional Mont Saint Michel-inspired island in a wild chase for an ancient lyre. There are multiple escapes from improbable mechanized death traps, as well as some failures to escape (only the villains die). Gay sexual scenes occur but are not described. Ethical questions are discussed, as are some very current sociopolitical issues. 

Judaism is integral to this book as the quest is for a (fictional) lyre given by Jonathan, son of King Saul, to David, the future King. Finding the lyre is important to Tennessee to support his hypothesis that David and Jonathan were lovers, as his main interest is exposing queer history. The story of David and Jonathan as related in the Torah is discussed extensively by the characters. Tennessee and his mother are secular Jews and celebrate only a couple of Jewish holidays. 

 

Anyone who enjoyed Lion's Legacy or the Indiana Jones movies will enjoy this queer young adult novel. The author's note at the end explains which parts are fact and which are fiction. 

 

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Reviewer Kathryn Hall is a retired pediatrician, lifetime member of the Jane Austen Society of North America, volunteer librarian for her synagogue and for her local LGBT+ center, and active in her local PFLAG chapter. She has a special interest in Jewish children's literature with LGBT+ content. She lives in Central California with her husband, the youngest of her three children, and two of her eight grandchildren.