Peter S. Beagle can spin a fantastic, beautiful phrase, and I'm looking forward to reading more of his work. However, Summerlong didn't do it for me. I feel like I might have approached this book differently had I know about the mythological twist that reveals itself in the last third of the book, because without having known it, I felt that the fantastic elements of it led to a disconnect between the story that I had become familiar with and the story it ended up being. I don't recall reading anywhere about the ties to Greek mythology, so it was definitely a wait, what?? sort of moment. I think my lack of enjoyment of the story is completely on me, because I was expecting something more fantasy driven than the contemporary character driven story it is. I felt like I didn't relate to any of the characters, and it took a long time for me to get through a relatively short novel. If you enjoy stories about coming to life, as it were, after the summer of your life has passed, I think you'll find this novel right up your alley!

I'm a little ashamed to admit that I've never actually read anything by Peter S. Beagle, despite The Last Unicorn being on my tbr list for many years. So, when the opportunity came for me to read Summerlong, I was really excited to finally get the chance to check out his work. Despite my low rating, I did actually think this was a good book. The writing was certainly beautiful and I almost gave it 3 stars just on writing alone. But, the plot just moved a too slow for my taste.

I feel like the first half of the book was just an introduction to the characters, with the actual action only popping up during the last quarter. The concept was really interesting and once I figured out what the story was about, I thought it was so great. As man of you know, mythology is 100% my jam. I just think the execution could have been better.

So, overall, I was a bit disappointed with my first foray into Peter S. Beagle's work. There was enough good stuff that I'm interested to try another one of his books though. And I'm glad I have this one a read.

Thanks to NetGalley and Tachyon Publications for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I genuinely don't know if I like this book or not but it is definitely something that stays with you. I keep thinking about it. Well written, interesting concept, well executed. But really sad.

an insightful and original novel full of ideas, magical realism and storytelling.

This book is everything you've ever come to expect from Peter Beagle. Stark beauty and whimisical magic in the most mundane of places. This is mythical fantasty brought to life in new and breathtaking ways, tilting your normal assumption and comforts of how mythology should done and put them into new hands, flushing new colors and drawing new glory from a brand new spellbinding way of treating them to a modern audience.

I was just as caught in the romance, deep and fleeting where it could be found, of this piece as I was moved, and broken, by its moments of compelling dispair. I agree with many reviewers that this book reaches gentle hands into your chest and before you realize it's gotten its claws around your heart and is holding on for dear life to itself and you until the tale can be told to its end.

I never cared for The Last Unicorn. It was a fable, it was fantasy. It told a happy story where nothing much comes in the way of generally harming anything else. Not my fare, but after tearing apart most of what the colleague who recommended it to me, I felt like at least giving one of them a shot. And I did. And then I forgot it, which I’m sure is fine for all parties involved.

Flash forward a couple years and now I see that man who wrote a book in 1968 has written a new book, the first in nearly a decade. I read the plot, looked at the page count and said, “Ah, what the hell.”

This book is nothing like The Last Unicorn. Summerlong shows the author’s age in its characters and follows the two late middle-aged protagonists (unmarried but married) living their semi-connected lives before promptly running into a stranger. They take this stranger in and find in time that there is, in fact, something special about this impossibly beautiful woman. *Insert gasp and surprise*. This is not to say that the fantasy advertised on the back of the book shows up immediately, it doesn’t. The first half of the book offers some peculiarities that offer nice curious moments and for a time it seems like it might be trying to flip the coin on A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings.

That I would have enjoyed. That is not what happens.

We quickly migrate from character bantering to plot forwarding exchanges of dialogue, which are apparently two entirely different things to Beagle. He does well enough with the former and makes the latter feel like a stilted means of moving the story forward.

The presence of magic grows more frequent, it starts broadcasting its intentions about plot and ultimately trips over itself running to the finish line resulting in a story that feels like a worse, impatient, and above all shorter American Gods operating with the grace of an aged drunk on a bender.

I can’t say I regret reading it. There were some wonderfully well written and human passages. And mixing magic and humanity appropriately is what lets magic feel real, and at first, I hoped that maybe they were pulling off some small simple tale of momentary crisscrossing of worlds. Instead, it goes whole ham mythology and beats you in the face with it either out of fear that the reader is stupid or that we will not properly appreciate how wonderfully delightfully brilliant he is being. I’m hoping it’s the former, but at his age and security in work, he should have been more than comfortable making the reader work for the parallels instead of spelling them out in blood and heartbreak.

Summerlong is a slow-paced, quiet story about a couple who meet a waitress in a diner, their lives soon becoming entwined.

The writing brilliantly creates mood and atmosphere, and the couple are very well constructed characters with vividly portrayed lives.

However, I found the story itself to be rather drawn out; half the novel was spent setting the scene and characters. The waitress, Lioness, seemed more an idea than a character; the mystery surrounding her and her past making it hard to connect with her character.

The cheating - and its later excuse of “it’s because they’re gods” - was unsettling; on the other hand, I appreciated the realistic approach to the aftermath of the same, and that the couple was not the same (or even together) after.

And while this novel was labelled as magical realism - which is what originally caught my interest - there were very few hints of this in the first half of the novel. When magical realism elements came up, they were brilliant and exactly what I wanted - but they were also fleeting and subtle and gone almost before I could enjoy them.

I’d recommend this to anyone who likes character-heavy and setting-heavy novels. If you’re looking at this novel for magical realism, it’s got some bits of that - and it’s great stuff - but it’s certainly not heavy on that side of things.

This was a delightful book--I'm a suck for stories with medievalists (as I am one) and stories about how our relationships with stories change (and don't change) as we age. this was right up my alley, and while it wasn't flawless, it was a wonderful read.

DNF after ~ 50 pages.

Unfortunately, I found a scene in the story quite offensive to my religion. One of the main characters makes fun of Muslims, their Prophet and their God just to instigate a response from another character, who simply ignores him and does not react. Now I'm not sure if that was what the author wanted from his readers as well - i.e. just shrug it off - but I personally still thought it was quite blasphemous for an author that is so wildly praised. Asides from this (which hugely tainted my experience of the pages ahead after the scene), I think the story has an interesting contemporary feel. The character around which the story revolves is mysterious and keeps the reader intrigued. Personally however, I found myself not committed to the story or caring enough about the characters. Just not for me.

The cover for this book was super pretty and eye catching, so I was super excited to get the chance to read it. It was a very short read and it wasn’t until I’d finished that I realised that Peter’s name rang a bell. I’d heard good things about his works!

This novel was enchanting and I managed to finish it in one sitting. I can’t go into too much detail otherwise I’d risk spoilers, but I do believe everybody should at least try this book once.

I give it a 4 out of 5 stars.

After all these years Beagle still writes some of the most beautifully heartrending tales filled with mystery, myth, the intersection between fantasy and reality. This new tale is set in modern times, but with a few characters steeped in such 'otherness' they can't help but fascinate anyone who crosses their path (reader included). Even after I pieced together most of the twists, I still wasn't sure where it would end.

Though it revolves around the intriguing Lioness Lazos, whose arrival in Puget Sound brings beautiful weather and captivates the inhabitants, at its heart the novel is about the formation and dissolution of relationships. The main characters Abe and Joanna have a comfortable relationship, one that seems almost enviable at times, but as Lioness' presence has a curious effect on them; they are fascinated and seemingly pushed to explore new desires that make them see their relationship in new ways.
Beagle expertly interweaves this introspective tale with a well-known Greek myth, adding depth to the magical layers of the story. The particular myth is fairly obvious if one is familiar with Greek mythology, but confirming Lioness' identity is still entertaining.
Altogether, Summerlong is beautifully written novel. It has an intriguing tone that keeps you reading and its characters and the relationships they share stay with you.