Review: The Summer Prince by Alaya Dawn Johnson

Title: The Summer Prince

Author: Alaya Dawn Johnson

Publisher: Arthur A. Levine

Publication Date: March 1, 2013

Page #: 289

ISBN: 0545417791

Goodreads + Author's Website









Goodreads Summary

A heart-stopping story of love, death, technology, and art set amid the tropics of a futuristic Brazil.
The lush city of Palmares Três shimmers with tech and tradition, with screaming gossip casters and practiced politicians. In the midst of this vibrant metropolis, June Costa creates art that’s sure to make her legendary. But her dreams of fame become something more when she meets Enki, the bold new Summer King. The whole city falls in love with him (including June’s best friend, Gil). But June sees more to Enki than amber eyes and a lethal samba. She sees a fellow artist.
Together, June and Enki will stage explosive, dramatic projects that Palmares Três will never forget. They will add fuel to a growing rebellion against the government’s strict limits on new tech. And June will fall deeply, unfortunately in love with Enki. Because like all Summer Kings before him, Enki is destined to die.
Pulsing with the beat of futuristic Brazil, burning with the passions of its characters, and overflowing with ideas, this fiery novel will leave you eager for more from Alaya Dawn Johnson.

One of the first things so apparent about The Summer Prince is that Johnson talks frankly about race, class, sexual orientation, sex, love, death, and more. This book covers everything and doesn't apologize for any of it. Nothing in this book feels like it was forced in, nor does any of it feels like Johnson put it in because she had to.

Another element of the book that I would congratulate Johnson on was how she wrote a sci-fi novel set in the future without making it sound campy or confusing. The descriptions of Palmares Tres feel natural, none of it forced. Because of this it feels like a location one could logically visit instead of just some fantasy land that we know is rooted in fiction.

The one thing that I am most thankful for in The Summer Prince has to be the unconventional love triangle that June has found herself in. There's no cattiness, no betrayal, and the emotions that flow between the three main characters feels as natural as can be. This is a book about loving, not fighting, and honors old ties more than it does new flames, something that I feel many modern young adult writers are reluctant to pursue for the sake of preserving the age-old love triangle cliche of, "There can only be one."

That's where my sympathies with June ceased, though. Many times I was left wondering why she did what she did, or why the story was taking her in the direction that it was going. Some of her choices didn't feel natural, but instead were spontaneous (in a not-good way) for the sake of pushing the novel forward. I had some troubles linking up with her on a personal level, particularly towards the end. Still, I honor Johnson's decision to make her the narrator and feel that seeing the events of The Summer Prince unfold through her eyes was the best choice for the story.

The Summer Prince is not only a wonderful story about love and death, but also a real step in the right direction for young adult fiction. Johnson writes frankly about sexuality, class, and questioning the status quo and her work deserves to be recognized and held as an example for what young adult fiction can be.

Four and a half stars!

Feature and Follow Friday (13)

Feature and Follow Friday is hosted over at Parajunkee and Alison can Read. This week's question:

Q: What is your preferred reading format? Hardcover, eBooks, paperback etc?

I prefer hardcover books, but I like paperbacks too! I don't read eBooks, nor have an eBook reader.

...

Feel free to leave a comment and follow any way you please! (Twitter - Goodreads - RSS)

Teaser Tuesday: Spoiled by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan

My Teaser Tuesday for this week comes from Spoiled by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan:

She flipped open the magazine she'd purloined from Charmaine's stash. People showed Brick beaming as part of a story about him buying an alpaca farm for a costar who'd expressed a passing yearning to make sweaters, and he was in Us's "Stars... They're Just Like Us!" section as someone who "loves sandwiches," illustrated by a grainy photo of Brick coming out of a Subway restaurant.

-Pg. 33

Amazon - Goodreads

..........

Teaser Tuesday is hosted over at Should Be Reading.

The End of Google Reader

Unfortunately, as of July 1st Google Reader will be no more. I've been a fan of the service for years so it really upsets me to have to look elsewhere, but alas things must go on.

Thankfully, my search wasn't long. Feedly let me transfer over almost all of my blogs to their services. The only ones that won't be making it are the ones that I registered for through the Google Reader app. This isn't a major problem for me, as I already separated out the book blogs that I read frequently and put them in a new category that successfully made it to feedly.

This switch-over has also been very cleansing for me. I was following a lot of blogs that weren't posting anything anymore and many that were reviewing books that I wasn't interested in reading. It's nice that I'm kind of being forced to put my priorities in order and look again at what sorts of blogs I want to be reading and what sorts of content that I want to be reading.

I hope that everyone who is being displaced by Google finds the system that works for them!

Polish and Prose (3)

It's been a long time since I picked up this book, When She Woke by Hillary Jordan, but the cover is so dynamic that I thought it would translate well to my nails:

These were also done simply. I painted my nails red and waited for the polish to dry. Then, I placed a piece of clear tape down the center of each, pressed it down, and painted the uncovered sides black. After they dried I tidied them up a bit and here they are!

Until next time!

Review: Chew by John Layman and Rob Guillory

Title: Chew vol. 1: Taster's Choice
Author: John Layman
Artist: Rob Ruillory
Publisher: Image Comics
Publication Date: November 1st, 2009
Page #: 128
ISBN: 1607061597
Acquired: Purchased

Amazon, Goodreads, series website











From Goodreads:

Tony Chu is a detective with a secret. A weird secret. Tony Chu is Cibopathic, which means he gets psychic impressions from whatever he eats. It also means he's a hell of a detective, as long as he doesn't mind nibbling on the corpse of a murder victim to figure out whodunit, and why. He's been brought on by the Special Crimes Division of the FDA, the most powerful law enforcement agency on the planet, to investigate their strangest, sickest, and most bizarre cases.
Collects CHEW #1-5.

I've been staring at my draft page for this review for a while now, having put off writing it for two weeks after I devoured volumes one and two, no pun intended, as quickly as I could. You'll have to forgive all of the eating puns, but Chew is very much like your favorite food. It's indescribable, and whether or not everyone loves it as much as you do doesn't matter because you will still go and tell your family, your friends, and any person who asks just how much it satiated you.

Chew is one of those stories that can only be told in comic form. I've been turning to comics more and more often because the stories are grittier, more mature with a hint (or in the case of Chew, bucketloads) of quirkness that you can't always find in novels.

I can't really describe Chew for you, and I know that me just telling you "Go read this," won't be enough for the people that follow this blog for the young adult novels. YA and comics like Chew don't mesh well, I can't remember the last time I read a young adult novel that gave me the same strange, obsessive, slightly nauseous (in a good way) feeling that Chew gave me. All I can do is ask you to step out of your comfort zone just this once and give it a shot.

Five stars!

Getting Settled

I'm a week and a half into classes at school and I'm glad to say that things are going well!

I'm at a dry period in my day now: I had just one class this morning, which I supplemented with going to the gym and are now just hanging out in my room watching Danny Phantom on Netflix.

Other than Spanish this morning I've got two anthropology classes on Tuesday and Thursday paired with a required honors class that I have to take.

And, even better news...

My library card came in the mail yesterday! All I have to do now if pop off to the city and get it validated at one of the libraries and I can start taking out books! This will probably happen over my President's Day break in a few weeks, so I'll make a post about how that goes!

Also, a this-just-in piece of news:

We have a new family member! Her name is Marley, and she's about a year old. She's been adopted from the local pet and animal supply store that has been working with a local shelter to get some of their cats adopted out to good families :) I'm still grieving a bit over the loss of my last cat and longtime friend Whiskers, but it will be nice to have another furry face around and I can't wait to see her over spring break!

More college news later, and next week I'll try and get back on track with my memes and reviews. Thanks for the patience while I get settled in again!