Review – Primavera by Francesca Lia Block (3/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 208 pages
Publisher: Firebird
Release Date: January 19, 2004
ISBN13: 978-01424006784
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: Swapped through Paperbackswap.com
Rating: 3/5 stars

“Unable to have the man she loves, Primavera goes in search of Elysia, a magical city once ruled by her parents’ band, Ecstasia, unaware that if she gets there, she may not be able to return home.”

This seems to be the sequel book to Ecstasia, although I struggled to find any info on that anywhere. I haven’t read that book, but this story stood on its own fine. It’s written in Block’s very beautiful, yet somewhat ambiguous style. Reading Block’s books always feels a bit like floating through a dream: beautiful, magical, a bit blurry, and sometimes hard to focus on.

This is the story of Primavera who leaves paradise to visit the city her parents used to live in, Elysia. Along the way she stumbles across as much death and horror as she does beauty and magic and ends up struggling to find her way back home.

There are definitely references to mythology in here…both to the Orpheus and Persephone myths. Paradise suffers greatly when Primavera, their Spring, leaves. One of the characters seeks out the drug Orpheus, which allows her to see her dead loved ones but eventually ends in her death.

Many magical creatures show up throughout the story and lend it a very fantasy feel.

My main complaint is the one I always have with Block’s works…they are super sweet but sometimes a bit hard to digest. The story isn’t very cohesive at times and wanders. I still ended up enjoying it though because the writing style is beautifully descriptive and does a great job with imagery.

Overall this was okay but not great. I do love Block’s beautiful imagery but struggled some to stay focused on this ephemeral story. I’d recommend if you are a fan of Block’s writing style or if you like ambiguous but beautifully written fantasy.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– Goodreads Reading Challenge
– Mount TBR Reading Challenge