The Summer War by Naomi Novik

Publisher - Penguin

Published - Out Now

Price - £16.99 hardback £7.99 eBook

Celia discovers her talent for magic on the day her beloved oldest brother Argent leaves home. Furious at being left behind, she lashes out, not realising her childish, angry words will suddenly 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. Yet she cannot find the solution – until she learns the truth about the centuries-old war between her people and the summerlings, the immortal beings holding a relentless grudge against their mortal neighbours.

With the aid of her unwanted middle brother, Celia may be able to undo her eldest brother’s curse and heal the lands so long torn apart by the Summer War. But what price will she have to pay?

Fantasy enjoys its intrigues with families warring between one another or with other families. We have scheming and when that fails battle. They can be magical or just using swords to make a different kind of point. In Naomi Novik’s The Summer War a Hugo nominated novella explores the resolution of a long simmering tension between human and the fae but also a family’s own pain. It’s a story that has an interesting premise but does feel it takes its time resolving it all so by the end I was more non-plussed than won over.

Celia is the young daughter of one of the most skilled warrior Grand Duke Verris. She awakens to find her beloved brother Argent in an argument with her father but her outrage at Argent’s decision to leave leads to her cursing him and so it transpires Celia is the first Sorceress the human world has seen in a very long time. This attracts the attention of the King and marriage to the prince appears a certainty but Celia also lives on the borders with the fae where raiders often appear to cause death and mayhem and Celia soon finds herself perhaps on the last desperate stage of the Summer War.

This is a very mixed bag of a story and for me really struggled with the novella structure. Tonally it’s strange starting with a dramatic family argument and the dawn of Celia’s powers then Novik turns into detailing lengthily the stages of the Summer War as people think it is. We swerve into an interesting moment of betrayal and then spend the latter half very much meeting the fae before things all get neatly tidied up. It’s a very stop start reading experience and I found this pacing didn’t really add much to the story.

Character wise the development of Celia is another strange choice. We initially think she will be the main character and as a teenager who gets angry with her brother and accidentally curses him in a moment of despair she feels very human and flawed. But this then gets undercut when we soon find Celia is an expert at understanding court politics and takes on training her unpopular middle brother Roric who becomes an ally. But then this all gets taken away in the story’s turning point and she really becomes much more spectator at fae and human fighting when her brother Argent appears and also Roric to help the conclusion. What should be heartwarming instead felt to be more convenience. Roric suddenly knowing how to be a skilled bard while Argent a fearless warrior should be more mythical than this feels. Celia’s magical powers also feels suddenly skipped over.

The world is refreshingly not a fairytale retelling but at the same time doesn’t deliver anythingparticularly new. We have scheming human nobles and fae in their more petty and cruel mode but with added glamour. Overall it still feels overly familiar territory for fantasy and nothing happens that’s too surprising.

Overall this is another story I fell there is either was potential to be a short punchy fantasy short story to enjoy or a more complicated novel that could really have got stuck into exploring Celia’s siblings and their separate journeys. As it is we have this strange tale that is at times breathless and then very slow and ultimately becomes a bit of a disappointment.