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FindingJane
Jul 06, 2015FindingJane rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
A terrible war and a plague that has destroyed 70% of the male population has caused dramatic changes in societies around the world. The parameters of this brave new world are written with such clarity that it seems almost like reality, like any dystopia written in the 19th century. At the center of the story is Enki, the prince doomed to die at the end of his one-year tenure. The character of Enki is a bit of a cipher. Composed as he is of human flesh and bio-modifications that allow him to link to the mechanics of the city around him, he comes off as being so inscrutable even his lovers don’t quite know what to make of him. He cares deeply for his city and yet, at the same time, he’s willing to wound his people. As one character stated, “He knows exactly how he hurts people, and he cares, and he does it anyway.” At times he seems almost inhuman. While this is enough to make him fascinating, it keeps him at a distance; you can’t quite care for him the way others do. Therefore, most of the drama centers on June Costa and her ambitions as an artist. If she comes off as hard hearted at times, you’re made to understand why: because her art means so much to her. We are made to see how she connects with it, how she connects through it and the lengths to which her own ruthlessness will push her. Enki can afford to be careless about her art. He has only one year to live and June has over a century in it after he’s gone. This is a most unusual story, about the death of a prince and the changing of a world. Dreamy, thrilling and terrible, “The Summer Prince” barrels towards its conclusion with the inevitability of a Greek tragedy and the ache of profound, destructive and redemptive love.