Name: Summerlong
ISBN: 9781616962449

Peter S. Beagle

A complicated family brings a young woman named Lioness Lazos into their lives, and as spring leads into summer, Lioness awakens each family member's long-hidden dreams and desires.

Summerlong

Janice Hopper

A bittersweet tale about two old friends/lovers and how their lives are changed by an encounter with the numinous. 

The story of Persephone and Hades always fascinated me. I never see a pomegranate without thinking of it. If Persephone longs for the sun out of season, what would that mean to the people she met? And when Hades comes to bring her back, what then?

This quiet little story explores that. It probably does resonate a bit more with us older folk. 

Mr. Beagle has been one of my favorite authors for almost 50 years. He doesn't disappoint here.

Maggie Gordon

Thank you to NetGalley and Tachyon Press for providing me with an ARC of this book to review 

Peter S Beagle is one of my all-time favourite authors. Which is strange because he writes books I usually wouldn't be able to tolerate. I'm not a heavy fantasy reader, nor am I much of a fan of stories where slow character development is the central plot. Yet I own most of his books, and I haven't read a thing by him that I didn't adore. So if Beagle can get me on board with Summerlong, a meandering book about relationships, love, and loss, then I have to conclude that the book is pretty damn amazing.

My initial response to finishing Summerlong was to cry. Sob, really. My poor pillow, soaked in tears. Beagle's books are often about grief over the loss of important people in our lives, and human resilience after said loss. However, his books aren't full of the usual high energy dramas that one sees in bestsellers. Summerlong is such a normal story despite the presence of magical beings. It's about the realities of change and growth, and seeing things that sustained us come to an end. For every spring, there is always a winter. The world and our lives are not stagnant, and sometimes we let what we love go. In short, prepare for your heart to be lovingly shattered.

Many people have had quibbles with some of Summerlong, particularly with the character of Lily. However, even if I didn't understand why all the characters made the choices that they did, at no point did I question whether their actions were authentic to themselves. These were real people, at least as much as fictional ones can be, and everything they did felt natural to who they were. Sure, Lily in particular was hard for me to understand, but I think we would struggle to connect if she lived in the real world as well. 

Summerlong is a gorgeous, heartrending, and utterly sublime book. Beagle's gift is to make magic out of stories where it seems like magic has no place, and to plumb the depths of human emotions. His prose is captivating, his characters like old, albeit frustrating friends, and his stories capture the pure beauty of existence, even when it hurts. 

Pre-Release Comments:

(Incoherent screaming and failing, grabby hands)

Celeste Richardson

2.5 out of 5 stars, rounded up for nostalgia's sake.

Has there ever been an author that you loved, who just disappeared off the map for decades? If you’re a fantasy fan, the answer is probably yes. When that author reappears, as though revived from the dead, and releases a new novel after said silent decades, have you ever ran screaming to the store to buy it only to be disappointed? I have. Unfortunately, I feel like Peter S. Beagle let me down with Summerlong. 

Beagle never disappeared completely off the fantasy scene, but this was his first highly publicized work since The Last Unicorn in 1995. It’s a tiny thing, coming in at 240 pages, and yet it took me 9 days to read it. I just couldn’t make myself care about the characters, though they were well fleshed out. Lioness, the hub around which the story spins, was less a character than a lovely idea. The big revelation that doesn’t come about until the last 50 or so pages of the book isn’t that big of a revelation for a mythology fan, which I feel many fantasy readers are. The best part of the book was the gorgeous cover, which also gives some of the story away if you know your mythology. (Side note: I generally care little about what a book looks like; it's what's inside that matters, right? But man, that cover is gorgeous.)

This tale brought the mythic into our reality. The story took place on Gardner Island, a fictitious island huddled inside Washington’s Puget Sound, where life was pretty ordinary until Lioness came on the scene. Abe and Joanna, a happily unmarried couple of twenty years, take Lioness in, and their lives and the life of Jo’s daughter Lily change, for better or for worse. There was no new ground covered here. If you want mythological deities in modern America, I heartily suggest American Gods by Neil Gaiman. But this story was lackluster. Not terrible, but far from amazing. The writing was still lovely, as Beagle’s writing always is. The small scale of the story should have made it emotional and moving, but it’s hard to be moved by what you fail to connect with. 

Beagle gave fantasy fans something special with The Last Unicorn. It was breathtaking, and I still remember reading it for the first time when I was twelve. I had found it in a used bookstore, hiding among The Boxcar Children and Nancy Drew. It was a sparkling jewel in a tattered jacket, and I treasure it still. Summerlong was missing that magic and felt almost crude in comparison. And I mourn what it could have been. But there were a few lines here and there that shined brightly, which gives me hope that whatever special spark Beagle had, he has it still.

You can find this review on Booknest, where I'm now a reviewer! 

And, though this review is not on Celestial Musings, you can still find my other reviews, short stories, and thoughts on life there.

Laura Kehoe

Actual rating is 2.5 stars. 

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!

Cheryl Hedlund

Filled with beautiful Pacific Northwest atmosphere and wonderful prose, Peter S. Beagle tells the story of a late middle-aged couple grappling with too much routine and a life that is so much less than they dreamed of. Enter Lioness, a mysterious and seemingly lost young women. They take her in and that decision changes everything. There is magic and Greek mythology. There is lots of reflection and emotion. The plot is very thin. This is all about the characters and their relationships. For me, Beagle captures emotions, especially a wistful melancholy, like few others. The characters are relatable at times, but not always. They are also not necessarily likeable.