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Title: Once Upon a Summer Day (Once Upon A Time Series)
ISBN: 0451460316
Author:
Dennis L. McKiernan
Publicate Date: 2006-04-04
Publish: 2006-04-04
List Price: $7.99
Average Customer Rating: 3.5
Format: Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $3.85
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $0.94
Amazon Merchant Price: $7.99
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| Customer Review: |
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1: Better than the first...but is that saying much?
Okay, when comparing the facts, I gave both this book and the first in the series "Once Upon a Winter's Night" 3 stars. But when comparing the content, the latter is more deserving of a 2, and I regret that now, for this one was far better. Well, far might be a bit of a stretch.
Haunted by the dream of a beautiful girl (Ha! How terrifying), Prince Borel of the Summerwood is determined to find and free the maiden from her constraints. To satisfy not only his curiosity but his hope that she is his destiny, Borel leaves the comfort of his palace to fight another battle in the war that is overcoming all of Faery: one of good and evil. By reading her diary and gaining some priceless friends, the Prince finds out why Chelle, the maid in the tower, is contacting him and how to reach her. But will it be soon enough?
Dun dun dun. Just kidding. It's nice to have interesting character as a lead that has a generally likeable disposition, unlike the previous book (Camille *shakes fist*). The tale itself is traditional but with new suspense, something hard to accomplish in a time-and-time-again-told tale (wow- a mouthful). It also ties in the series, and there are recurring characters from "Once Upon a Winter's Night", but they make vague appearances, which is wonderful.
Although there are a fair share of "boring" parts, the writing is much more improved from McKiernan's first book in the series, and it's more...well...readable. And enjoyable. If only to learn the characters and the series' plot line would I suggest "Once Upon a Winter's Night". But I would recommend this one as a decent book that a person can enjoy without having to think too much. (Which is always a pro.)
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2: Poorly written and lacks substance
This book is awful.
There's no way around it. The writing is pretentious and lacks any kind of grit, substance, or texture. It rambles on for pages about the feast the nobles ate for dinner. The writing is overly flowery and poorly presented. It's awkward, condescending, and sounds like an arrogant 45-year old hitting on teenagers at a RennFaire. The sentences are choppy and overdone to the point of nausea, and the headache you get after reading a few pages doesn't go away until you've read something better to get the taste of McKiernan's book out of your head. I wish someone had told me how awful it was before I wasted my $7.99 at the bookstore.
There are much better books out there. Don't waste your time on this one.
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3: Quest for a Sleeping Beauty
Once Upon a Summer Day (2005) is the second fantasy novel in the Faery series, following Once Upon a Winter's Night. In the previous volume, Camille challenged the marriage of the troll princess to Prince Alain and won all three contests. When the troll king refused to honor his terms and attacked Camille, the thralls rose up and, with a little help from the dwarf band, killed all the trolls and goblins. Upon returning to Summerwood Manor, Camille also solved the previous disappearance of Prince Alain's parents.
In this novel, Prince Borel of Winterwood passes an enjoyable summer day with his brother, sisters and sister-to-be at Summerwood Manor. Lazing in the gazebo, he falls asleep and dreams of a Demoiselle within a stone chamber with a band of shadow across her eyes. Free-floating daggers are outside the tower facing inward at him. The young lady cries out "Aidez-moi" and he awakes with a jerk.
Prince Borel tells his siblings and Camille about his dream before supper and they discuss the possibilities. Borel is morose during the meal and Alain calls for a gala that evening to cheer him. Borel seems to enjoy the singing and dancing, as do all within the manor.
The next morning, Borel awakens early, dresses for the road, and leaves the manor with his wolves. For the next four days, they travel toward the Winterwood. After his arrival, Borel bathes, eats and sleeps until he has recovered from the travel, then he arms himself and sets out to consult a dream diviner.
On his way, Borel scouts the hut of the witch Hradian. Since the primitive hovel seems to be deserted, he searches inside for any indications of the witch's intentions. He stuffs scrolls and a memoire into a rucksack and departs the hut. Just then, the witch lands on her besom and sends him flying with a black wind.
In this story, Prince Borel escapes from a keep that is guarded by Red Caps and Trolls. In the process, he frees Flic, a meadow sprite, and Buzzer, a bumble bee. From what he has learned from the memoire, Borel seeks the lands of Duke Roulan and Buzzer leads the way.
This story is a greatly enhanced version of Sleeping Beauty. The author presents a compelling argument that the fairy tale is a condensed and simplified version of the original bardic tale. This version, however, is much too long to be told in a single evening, since verbal renditions have a very low data rate. Indeed, this novel would provide enough material for a cinema taking five or more hours.
Nonetheless, this fairy tale has much the same flavor as others in that genre. Like the previous work, the vocabulary and settings are enchanting and the story is so engrossing that the chapters seem to fly by. Putting this novel down takes true willpower or maybe just overwhelming sleep.
Highly recommended for McKiernan fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of faery lands, noble princes, evil witches, and magical creatures.
-Arthur W. Jordin
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4: A disappointing fantasy effort by McKiernan
Previously, I've liked most efforts by this author, but this one was an exception.
My concerns?...let me explain
1.) I found that the rather unusual combination of heroes, that being, Borel (Prince and all round good guy), Flic (a faery) and Buzzer (a bumble bee), really pushed the envelop of believability to the very edge (I know, unbelievability is difficult to conceive as a concern when discussing the fantasy genre).
2.) Although this novel did have a few good moments, I felt that the dialogue between the main characters had an overall sense of immaturity; this hindered character development and made it difficult to become immersed in this book.
3.) I got the feeling that a lot of the background story telling done in this novel was really, (and let me be honest here), just fill; maybe to enlarge the book to novel length?...I began to find it easy to begin skimming some of these sections.
4.) Many of the "quests" in this story seemed somehow, out of place; they just didn't seem to fit in. It seemed a new piece of the puzzle would spontaneously appear in a chapter and then become the next important piece in a series of problems that need to be solved. The concern being, that more often than not,(after a period of head scratching by our heroes and several dead ends) a convenient, timely solution appears, like magic, to let the story finally proceed onwards.
All in all, less than I'd hoped for! 2 Stars.
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5: Slow starter - but give it a chance
In this re-telling of Sleeping Beauty, McKiernan continues his tradition of great fantasy writing. Prince Borel has recurring dreams of an imprisoned maiden. He realizes that his dreams are sendings from a real woman imprisoned somewhere by some forces he doesn't understand. He then quests to find her, and along the way is accompanied by Flick, a sprite, and Buzzer, Flick's bumblebee companion. As with any quest, there are many seemingly unrelated adventures that end up being all connected in the end.
I thought it started out slow, but got better once it picked up momentum. It never reaches the fever pitch of some of McKiernan's other works (such as Hel's Crucible or Iron Tower) but maintains a pleasant steady pace once it gets going.
It is not necessary to read "Once Upon a Winter Night" before reading this one. References are made to the earlier book, but this one stands alone. I would place the reading level at age 13 and older due to mild sexuality and general difficulty level.
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