“Celia discovered her talent for magic on the day her beloved oldest brother, Argent, left home. Furious at him for abandoning her in a war-torn land, she lashed out, not realizing her childish, angry words would become imbued with the power of prophecy, dooming him to a life without love.

While Argent wanders the world, forced to seek only fame and glory instead of the love and belonging he truly desires, Celia attempts to undo the curse she placed on him. Yet even as she grows from a girl to a woman, she cannot find the solution—until she learns the truth about the centuries-old war between her own people and the summerlings, immortal beings who hold a relentless grudge against their mortal neighbors.

Now, with the aid of her unwanted middle brother, Celia may be able to both undo her eldest brother’s curse and heal the lands so long torn apart by the Summer War.”

Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I got a copy of this on ebook from NetGalley for review.

Thoughts: I really loved this. The story sucked me right in, was easy to read, had excellent world-building, and engaging characters.

The story follows Celia. When Celia finds out her brother is leaving home for good, she lashes out in anger cursing him to the life of a hero who will never know love. Little does she know her magic blooms at that same moment doing her brother irreparable harm. With her father broken by the leaving of his eldest son, it is left to Celia and the youngest brother (who has long been neglected in the household) to run the estate. However, when Celia is cornered into marriage with the king’s sons, all of the siblings will have to come together to keep the kingdom together.

This has lush world building for such a small novella. The kingdom here is ruled by a centuries-old war between the Summerlings and Celia’s home country. They are in a truce right now, but once Celia finds out the truth behind the truce, everything starts to unravel.

The characters are incredible engaging and easy to relate to. They are complex and come across as completely human; they make mistakes but not on purpose, and they are trying to fix things. This is the story of both a kingdom and a family in turmoil. Celia’s family may be able to make everything right if they can pull together and beat the curse. I was really drawn in to the story and pulling for them the whole time.

This was so incredibly easy to read. Novik is an amazing writer and I always enjoy her books.

My Summary (5/5): Overall I loved this. I always enjoy Novik’s books, and this was no exception. It is tough to put a whole fantasy world, amazing characters, and an engaging story into such a small page space and have it work, but Novik did just that. I loved the world in an uneasy truce, the characters trying their best to be good but messing things up, and the way everyone pulls together to make things better. I read this in one sitting and couldn’t put it down. I am excited to see what Novik writes next.

Early Review – The Summer War by Naomi Novik (5/5 stars)

Like this:

Related

Follow Hidden in Pages

Share this:

Like this:

Related

Follow Hidden in Pages