Reviews - The Summer Tree | The StoryGraph

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Five Canadian college students are transported to a magical kingdom, and all of them are pretty blasé about it. Their lack of reaction cued me in pretty early on that I wasn’t going to like this book. None of these characters felt like real people to me; the students are pretty interchangeable (one’s a bit crankier! one has guilt! two possess vaginas!) and they all completely lack one of the most important things, in my opinion, for a successful fantasy novel: a sense of wonder. Nothing about this other, magical realm felt wondrous, so when it was threatened, I couldn’t bring myself to care. Which is a pity, because I felt there were some interesting ideas buried in here: Paul’s story of redemption and self-sacrifice is the type of thing that’s usually right up my alley. But it was stuck under a mountain of overwrought prose and I’m not willing to wade through that.

Plus—FUN BONUS!—there was a brutal rape scene right at the end! *makes cranky face*

reynier's review against another edition

3.0

adventurous medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

A weird mix of absolutely gorgeous prose and the most annoying high fantasy cliches in the business

And also Francis Crawford is there

whimsicalmeerkat's review against another edition

3.0

I enjoyed this book quite a bit. Based on the two [a:Guy Gavriel Kay|60177|Guy Gavriel Kay|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1218804723p2/60177.jpg] books I have read, I think I will continue to find his work enjoyable, but hardly world-changing or meaningful. This book has a definite "Narnia for older people" feeling to it, which I found charming. It had its silly moments, some jarring, but also managed to be frequently touching. Basically, it's well-done for a fun, light fantasy read.