Reviews with content warning for Classism - Summer Sons

Summer Sons is the story of the sexually repressed and angsty Andrew as he moves to Nashville in order to find out what happened to his supposedly dead-by-suicide (boy)friend Eddie. There’s also lots of cars!

I… think I get the most frustrated by books that have every element to be fantastic, intriguing, and meaningful, but aren’t… so needless to say, this one was a doozy for me. I don’t want to write a dissertation (maybe Troth can help me on that one, because I am white! Not a man though 😔) but I have many thoughts.

The positives: Queer repression is real, and while I found it a bit jarring at first, I suppose it’s realistic. Two rich men from the American south weighted down by the generations behind them aren’t exactly gonna accept that they’re a bunch of massive queers immediately. There were beautiful sentences!

“Fire wouldn’t cleanse the history from that earth, but maybe it could put the bones to rest.” “The sepulchral vibe ached in his molars, wreckage all around resting silent and still.”

Among others. I liked the vibe, the aesthetic, and the setting of the book with all its imagery, hot sweat and blood dripping down the bodies of troubled young adults whose mere identities outcast them to the cursed grounds they reside on. I thought that eventually, some of the characters were quite interesting and likeable, and by that I mean West, Riley, Del (who was done horribly wrong in this tale) and sort-of Sam.

Aside from that… dear fucking god. Let’s just make a list.

1 ) PACING: as everyone is saying, the first 200 pages are a slog. There is far too much description and far too little plot progression, especially given the character we’re following is supposedly so determined to uncover the truth about Eddie. Every tiny little detail we uncover is followed by a paragraph of Andrew putting clothes in a washing machine, Andrew going into his or Eddies car, Andrew moping around and some variation of, “but did he REALLY know Eddie?” It takes at least two dick-years to get to anything of substance. Even in the latter half of the book, the pacing is still jarring, and the last 50 pages (you know, the interesting bit) felt so rushed in comparison to the rest.

Where was all the atmosphere in the Troth stand-off?

2 ) CHARACTERS: Andrew and Eddie were perfect for each other, because they both sound utterly insufferable. Stories can center around morally imperfect or awful characters, but that requires intrigue. I get the impression the Andrew was written as a privileged white boy whose redemption arc is unveiling the family curse he inherited and accepting his gayness, but he never grows likable. None of his dialogue, thoughts, or anything feels much more distinctive or interesting than, “well, that’s a dude!” Same with Eddie. As I stated, there are other characters who are fine, but through the lens of Andrew, whose relationships apparently involve little more than violence or eye-fucking

(haha, quite literally there at the end)

, there is only so much we can be interested in. These characters’ chemistries are implied and not earned, a trend I’m seeing far too often in queer media (fuck you Love, Lies, Bleeding.)

3 ) STORY: Andrew is dumb as fuck dude.

(Why don’t you fucking TALK to Eddie’s friends? Why don’t you read his notes? Why do you keep just fighting everyone who could help you? Why don’t you suspect Troth more? Why GO TO HER HOUSE and DRINK COFFEE she gave you when you were aware it was all a trap?)

The story had such jarring genre shifts and scenes it made the whole narrative a mess.

(Why does everyone keep racing with like, no verbal agreement? Why is there a romantic sub-plot sex scene smack dab in the middle of this book where 40 pages ago all the characters still hated each other? Why does the whole structure of this book amount to “nothing-burger convo, drive, hang out, drive, drive, DRIVE, haunt, wake up, drive, useless conversation with one tiny clue, DRIVE” I get we’re in America but MAAANNNN)

And honestly, when all is said and done, it’s just disappointing and honestly a little goofy.

(Wee-woo, Troth dies, Sam fucks up his eye, Andrew burns shit and bittersweet ending yay!)

The writer could’ve put all that lovely description into the lore of the land and the

Fulton curse

but used it mostly on “for-the-vibes” passages, and the lack of real build up made everything feel flat. Also, it really likes to insist on how “southern gothic” it is when like… the characters… Vanderbilt… fuck it.

4 ) WRITING: we all have flaws. Writing is hard. It is for me! But just… the fucking dialogue, or lack thereof, was poorly done. There are too many bizarre and unnecessary adjectives

(why the fuck are we describing a chair as “utilitarian” and the climatic fire at the end of the book as “respectable”)

and other needlessly complex, bordering on haughty words that negatively impact the reading experience. The haunt scenes were very difficult to visualize. It’s all hard to read and not in the “good challenge” sort of way, minus the addition of a couple cool words to my vocabulary. Just… not as well thought out as it should’ve been and also very not my speed. Perhaps a lowly dyke like me isn’t intellectual enough for this book! (Okay, too snarky.)

I could go on and on. Clearly, this author has talent and put a lot into this book. I don’t doubt the heart and it’s far from the worst trash ever written (I’m just harsh.) Clearly, the writing is especially not jibing with me personally. Admittedly, once I start disliking something I’ll tend to nitpick too, so that contributes. But… god man. I could’ve loved this book. I did not.

Honestly, do what you want, but I don’t recommend this one.

Content Warnings

btaylorb's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

😭

The comparisons to The Raven Cycle are very accurate. There were some occasional descriptive moments that were confusing and I would have to re-read, but overall I loved this. Spooky shit, southern gothic, magic that is a stand-in for something else, a hint of dark academia and ending that is a glimmer of hope while also guaranteeing nothing, hurts so good, satisfyingly unsatisfying.

Content Warnings

madscientistcat's review

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Visceral, haunting, a queer gothic masterpiece.

Content Warnings

holyschmitz's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Woah.

Content Warnings

dodgeremerson's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

chris_reads's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Content Warnings

frantic_vampire's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I am…unwell over this book. This was just fucking fantastic and I’m honestly at a loss for words for this review. Summer Sons is one of the absolute best books that I think I’ve ever read and I just want to scream about it. It’s this mix of dark academia, paranormal hauntings, and queer longing that had me hooked from the very beginning. Everything about this book was feral and unhinged and tinged with the sticky restlessness of a southern summer. And I could read about Andrew and Sam and Riley endlessly. This book is one that will haunt my dreams for a long time to come and I can’t recommend it enough. This is the easiest five stars I think I’ve ever given a book. I’m just gonna excuse myself now and go scream about it into the void…

Content Warnings

perkyanda's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

If you like horror dark academia mystery southern gothic chaotic bi energy death magic, all with a trans character who it literally does not matter is trans and who you can’t tell is trans til it just happens to come up, I cannot recommend Summer Sons highly enough. The only thing that could improve it are more female characters but then it couldn’t be a book that is largely about male relationships. And it has one of the BEST scenes with a female character who is otherwise unimportant I’ve seen in a long time.

And it’s spicy at points which was NOT expected in a, well, horror but not horror but horror ok mystery maybe maybe suspense? Is dark academia even a genre or just a sub genre or a blend genre I don’t fucking know book

And while I normally don’t actually love spice in normal books and was surprised at the level of detail it didn’t feel gratuitous it felt extremely relevant to character development bc repression and male friendship and sexuality is a big part of the book

Honestly this book is just a sweltering mess of OH MY GOD GO TO CLASS and DO YOU WANT TO GET YOUR DUMB ASS MURDERED TOO and IF YOU TALKED ABOUT YOUR FEELINGS NONE OF THIS WOULD HAVE HAPPENED which I guess is a big part of why it has to be about idiot boys instead of idiot girls, even though as an idiot woman I prefer reading about idiot girls. But anyway, these idiot dirt bag druggie boys are adorable and I want to give them all a good talking to. But hey really excellent book about male friendship and relationships and the blurry (ha!) line between homoeroticism and brotherhood.

Content Warnings

More...