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kitvaria_sarene's review against another edition
4.0
This one was something quite different!
I loved the diversity, the different POV, the female lead and the cultures. Asta is a great main character, who can be both strong and weak, filled with rage and love.
The story progressed from a small village where quite some of the people are taken for slaves, and takes off across the sea and two different lands. Asta promises to get them back - and we join her on the long hard journey that follows.
At times I thought the characters a bit too naive (there surely is good in almost anyone!) for the hardships they did live through - and some of the troubles were resolved too easily, so it felt a tiny bit artificial, but overall the plot and characters kept me well immersed in the world and story.
The plot is bloody and brutal in some places - but not just for the sake of it, but because it does fit the story. The balance between family bonds, friendship, blood and revenge was just right for my taste. It didn't feel overly emotional, or gorey - and the different cultures were explored in a way that didn't feel like a moral that was meant to come across, but leaves the reader to ponder, reflect and take away different things from the book.
Definitely recommended, especially if you want to read a fantasy far away from the "white male protagonist" for a change!
I loved the diversity, the different POV, the female lead and the cultures. Asta is a great main character, who can be both strong and weak, filled with rage and love.
The story progressed from a small village where quite some of the people are taken for slaves, and takes off across the sea and two different lands. Asta promises to get them back - and we join her on the long hard journey that follows.
At times I thought the characters a bit too naive (there surely is good in almost anyone!) for the hardships they did live through - and some of the troubles were resolved too easily, so it felt a tiny bit artificial, but overall the plot and characters kept me well immersed in the world and story.
The plot is bloody and brutal in some places - but not just for the sake of it, but because it does fit the story. The balance between family bonds, friendship, blood and revenge was just right for my taste. It didn't feel overly emotional, or gorey - and the different cultures were explored in a way that didn't feel like a moral that was meant to come across, but leaves the reader to ponder, reflect and take away different things from the book.
Definitely recommended, especially if you want to read a fantasy far away from the "white male protagonist" for a change!
riverwise's review against another edition
4.0
Asta is a strong warrior and leader whose family and tribe is ripped apart when slavers make a bloody descent on their coastal settlement. Despite a public vow to recover the missing, she is soon betrayed and set on her mission in a way very different from her expectations. The book follows her as she struggles to find her nephew, accompanied by the echo of her murdered brother in her mind. The voyage takes her to many different places and she falls in with various characters for a few chapters at a time along the way. I wouldn't have minded spending more time with some of these people and places, but Asta isn't one to hang about. Her need to complete her task is the engine that drives the book, and Asta is relentless in her desire to accomplish it. This is a fast moving, incident packed novel, with a convincing picture of a preindustrial world scarred by slavery. Joanne Hall's previous novel made it onto the Gemmell Award longlist earlier this year, and David Gemmell's brand of story driven secondary world fantasy with the grit left in isn't a bad reference point for this at all. Here's to the shortlist next year!
writingcoe's review
4.0
This review was originally published at writingandcoe, and I was given a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review. That said, I say what I think!
The Summer Goddess isn't a nice story; it’s gritty and hard and tough. No-one in The Summer Goddess ever catches much of a break – there’s so much going on in the world that as soon as one crisis is starting to resolve, something else turns up, and then there’s this god, and a mad sect, and slavers, and she’s still got problems from previously, and she needs to find Rhodan…
The story didn’t go where I expected it to from the first half, which was nice; it’s not a particularly surprising twist, but rather one of those life-takes-you-on-strange-paths moves as Asta goes from The Scattering to Abonnae. The search for her nephew always stays at Asta’s core, but the other problems pile on it, and we end up as torn as Asta is; trying to solve as many as possible, without knowing who to trust or where to turn. The plot never really follows the big decisions, which I also like – it’s the small decisions, the little moments of conversation and of trust, that are the ones that make the larger calls. I like the lack of epicness and drama, and I loved that it’s a story about one person that gets caught up in a wider tangle.
There’s other stories lurking amongst the one that we follow, and I love that the wider world is always referenced. I felt that the other stories could easily have been followed – not that I wanted them to be, but it’s nice when you get hints that the wider world is out there, and that the other characters have lives of their own. They all have their own motivations, which lends a nice depth. The other bonus is that The Summer Goddess is set in the same universe as The Art of Forgetting: [b:Rider|18128593|Rider (The Art of Forgetting, #1)|Joanne Hall|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1381724465s/18128593.jpg|25463055] and [b:Nomad|21824659|Nomad (The Art of Forgetting, #2)|Joanne Hall|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1396381152s/21824659.jpg|44276560]; it’s actually the same family if you’ve previously read The Art of Forgetting and want to know more! But you don’t need the history, and don’t have to have read them – the story is easy to get. I loved the detail, too. The worldbuilding is wonderful as always, and I love the strangeness – no spoilers, but the temple and the God…urgh!
Overall? Like I said, it’s not a nice story. There are sweet moments, and happy moments – but Asta’s struggling, making decisions that she doesn’t know will solve anything, and just trying to get back something that’s important to her and her brother. It’s tense, and exciting, and dramatic – but it’s the small moments that catch at your heart, and it’s the small decisions that make all the difference. Read it to be swept along and wanting to know what happens next; it’ll tug at your heart and pull you into the world.
The Summer Goddess isn't a nice story; it’s gritty and hard and tough. No-one in The Summer Goddess ever catches much of a break – there’s so much going on in the world that as soon as one crisis is starting to resolve, something else turns up, and then there’s this god, and a mad sect, and slavers, and she’s still got problems from previously, and she needs to find Rhodan…
The story didn’t go where I expected it to from the first half, which was nice; it’s not a particularly surprising twist, but rather one of those life-takes-you-on-strange-paths moves as Asta goes from The Scattering to Abonnae. The search for her nephew always stays at Asta’s core, but the other problems pile on it, and we end up as torn as Asta is; trying to solve as many as possible, without knowing who to trust or where to turn. The plot never really follows the big decisions, which I also like – it’s the small decisions, the little moments of conversation and of trust, that are the ones that make the larger calls. I like the lack of epicness and drama, and I loved that it’s a story about one person that gets caught up in a wider tangle.
There’s other stories lurking amongst the one that we follow, and I love that the wider world is always referenced. I felt that the other stories could easily have been followed – not that I wanted them to be, but it’s nice when you get hints that the wider world is out there, and that the other characters have lives of their own. They all have their own motivations, which lends a nice depth. The other bonus is that The Summer Goddess is set in the same universe as The Art of Forgetting: [b:Rider|18128593|Rider (The Art of Forgetting, #1)|Joanne Hall|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1381724465s/18128593.jpg|25463055] and [b:Nomad|21824659|Nomad (The Art of Forgetting, #2)|Joanne Hall|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1396381152s/21824659.jpg|44276560]; it’s actually the same family if you’ve previously read The Art of Forgetting and want to know more! But you don’t need the history, and don’t have to have read them – the story is easy to get. I loved the detail, too. The worldbuilding is wonderful as always, and I love the strangeness – no spoilers, but the temple and the God…urgh!
Overall? Like I said, it’s not a nice story. There are sweet moments, and happy moments – but Asta’s struggling, making decisions that she doesn’t know will solve anything, and just trying to get back something that’s important to her and her brother. It’s tense, and exciting, and dramatic – but it’s the small moments that catch at your heart, and it’s the small decisions that make all the difference. Read it to be swept along and wanting to know what happens next; it’ll tug at your heart and pull you into the world.
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