Title: The Summer Country
Author: James A. Hetley
Series: 1 of ?
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: Ace
Page Count: 360
Type of Book: Paperback, Book I Own
Based off the title of the book, and the brightness of the cover, this is actually kind of a dark fantasy book filled with fae, druids, magic, a dragon, and cats. There’s even falcons and other types of birds listed in the book towards the back half of the story as well. This book has an odd assortmet of animals all around, actually, some that might surprise you in the end.
This book features a young woman named Maureen, who is dealing with a traumatic event from her childhood and trying to get over it and be normal as an adult. She was raped as a child by Buddy Johnson, a boy that her sister had gone out with at the age of fourteen when she was just beginning to understand why she liked boys and why boys liked girls. Maureen still hasn’t gotten over it, and doesn’t trust males with a ten foot pole.
It eventually turns from the normal world to the magical world, where a man is following her and that man-named Brian-eventually brings her into an ancient war of prophecies, women with power, and ancient blood that still sings. This book is a like that of a fine irish whiskey-so says Charles de Lint, and I strongly agree with him, even though I’ve never had whiskey, let alone irish whiskey in my life. It looks like an innocent light-hearted fun book, but there’s a war going on that both sides are determined to win for various reasons.
As to the story itself-its not original in that there’s Pendragons and Merlins and Arthurs type story, but the way its written, and the feel of the story is like a breathe of fresh air in a foreign country that you’ve forgotten about over time. There’s different kinds of magic involved-both good and bad, and there’s all kinds of plot twists that you don’t see coming.
I really loved the depth of the characters in the book, the villains were definitely evil enough to be realistic, and the heroes weren’t always brave either which made me happy for variety. There’s also music, and poetry-a lot of Shakespeare mentioned towards the end of the book. There’s a variety of all kinds of magical things in here to tickle your fancy, if you’ll give it a try.
I’m fairly sure that this is the first in a series, but not positive. And I’m currently checking on Goodreads to see if it is or not…and, yes, it is! Book one of yet another series that apparently I’m now invested in.
4.5 stars!
Pass Me That Book 