The Summer Prince by Alaya Dawn JohnsonMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
I have so many bones to pick with this book, but I'd do my best to start at the beginning. First off, why the Summer Prince as the title? Enki, the man June loves, is a Summer King or a Moon Prince (i'm not entirely sure what the difference is, since the author was never very clear), but he was definitely never a summer prince.
And that's where I get into my next issue. I have never had to guess so much about what was going on while reading. I had NO idea at times, and would just sort of assume things since I knew there was never going to be a definitive answer. The lack of description during action scenes and the random Portuguese words with no context clues....
*deep breath.* Okay. I'm going to try to be fair and at least state what i feel are definitive facts about this book. It is poetically, artistically written. It has beautiful imagery. Its action scenes are poorly written. Its plot meanders. The world-building lacks grounding in reality. It is NOT YA appropriate.
So let's start with the first few points, the reason I gave it anything more than one start. The writing is very pretty. It flowed well. Yet I think it's the first time I've encountered beautiful imagery that actually failed to create an image for me. We get a general sense of a glass pyramid above green vats, but that's about it. I can't figure out how June can see through the different levels int he pyramid when things like walls, flowers, grass, also exist. The author, caught up in the character's head, also seemed to have trouble clarifying anything for the reader that June was unclear about or that June already knew enough about that she never bothered to explain it. It was very frustrating.
The plot drove me crazy because I couldn't quite figure out what the point of it was, other than that we were all waiting for the summer king to die, and this was a sad thing. Yet it was hard to feel sad for him when he became super hedonistic and elf-centered (yet all this was supposedly because he loved too much). I got the feeling we were supposed to adore the main characters, but I couldn't connect with any of them, because their choices made no sense to me.
Which brings me to the next issue, the lack of realism. Everyone in this world seems to be pan-sexual, and have little feelings about it. You have sex early, often, and with whoever feels like having it with you. It's okay if someone you loves has sex with someone else you love. Jealousy? Ha, a thing of the past, apparently. And this is also where I really don't agree with this book being categorized as YA. Sure, the characters are the right age, but that's about it. I know I would never recommend my cousins or students read this--their parents would be horrified with me. And in all likelihood, they would get bored before they got to the sex scenes anyways, having given up on trying to understand the book.
It's a prettily-written book, and probably likeable if you can ignore that half the book doesn't really work. Unfortunately, I can't.
This digital copy of Dear Cassie was given to me by NetGalley & Scholastic Inc. in exchange for an honest review.
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