I read this series in high school and adored it, so I decided it was time to dive back into the world. I’ve read other Kay since, and I’ve liked every one.
Unfortunately, Summer Tree does suffer from “written in the 1980s” syndrome. Fantasy has just gotten SO MUCH better since then, as has Kay’s writing (his recent stuff is phenomenal). It’s VERY Lord of the Rings, with some Norse mythology thrown in for kicks. Humans, elves, dwarves, evil power vanquished and rising again, the whole nine yards. I really enjoyed Dave’s character, but everyone else felt sort of interchangeable, and there’s a whole lot of ancient lore that bogs the story down.
Still, I found myself being drawn in by the plot and the high tensions, and I genuinely liked the section with Dave and the Riders. The horrible rapey stuff at the end was really unnecessary (oh 1980s, I’m glad you’re over), and I could have done without the friends letting their suicidal friend kill himself since it was for a good cause… ahem. Yeah. But overall, it had enough going for it that nostalgia won through.
I wouldn’t recommend it to a new reader of Kay, because he has far better books, but at some point I will likely read the next one.
