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.
By Lília
“The Summer War had gone for a hundred years before Father had finally won it.” That was 20 years ago, when Argent and Roric were still young boys, and Celia hadn’t been born yet.
The Summer War is one of the six finalists for the Hugo Award Prize for Best Novella, and its premise intrigued me right away when I was preparing the blog post on the Hugo Awards.
As a young girl, Celia has always loved her eldest brother, Argent, and ignored her elder brother Roric. When Argent declares to their father that he is repudiating their father’s name because of his “unacceptable” inclinations, Celia lashes out and ends up cursing him without realizing it. When she finally understands what she did, it’s too late to find Argent again, and here starts her journey to discover a way of reuniting herself with her eldest brother and free him from her curse.
Being half-siblings by their father’s side, both Celia and Argent ignored Roric all his life, but she will need him to help finding Argent. In their journey, Celia and Roric will finally reconnect and, to a certain degree, also with their desperate father, who became almost a hermit after Argent’s departure. Together they will have to find a way to end the curse and the Summer War that still marks the land.
This is indeed an enchanting tale of love and resiliance, perseverance and forgiveness, and learning to understand others, their feelings, and their grievances. Claire needs to learn to forgive her eldest brother and understand and care for her elder brother, while Roric needs to learn to trust that others can care. And a certain prince needs to learn to forgive himself, and the betrayal suffered long ago and again and again…
Naomi Novik has a beautiful style of presenting a rich story in a short manner, and her choice of words and her storytelling grab your attention from the start.
Five stars.
