Summer of Night (Aspect Fantasy)
by Dan Simmons
List Price:
Our Price: $4.09
You Save: $3.90 (49%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Dan SimmonsEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1992-03-01
ISBN: 0446362662
Number of pages: 608
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Book Reviews of Summer of Night (Aspect Fantasy)
Book Review: Better than IT
Summary: 5 Stars
SUMMER OF NIGHT is Dan Simmons's take on one of modern horror and dark fantasy's favorite themes: the coming-of-age story in which a band of 11- to 13-year-olds confronts some form of evil. This theme can be found in many modern dark masters' work, starting with Ray Bradbury's classic SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES, and continued on with more recent works such as Robert McCammon's BOY'S LIFE, and two famous stories by Stephen King: the novella "The Body" (made into the film STAND BY ME) and the ponderous novel IT. The coming-of-age theme also serves as the basis for dozens of lesser-known modern horror stories and novels, too many to list here. The theme, when well-played, often produces an author's most emotional and lyrical work, because the author is clearly looking back to his or her own childhood for inspiration.
In Simmons's case, he pulls it off with an absolutely deft mastery of language, story, setting, and, in particular, character. The story is set in a small Illinois town in the summer of 1960. Something bad is happening in the town, including the disappearance of a child. The problems seem to be linked to the recently closed Old Central School. A band of boys (with occasional help by an outcast girl) begins looking into the matter, and the tension and horror build from there.
To compare this novel to IT, perhaps the best-known modern coming-of-age horror story: SUMMER OF NIGHT clocks in at a relatively svelte 600 pages in paperback form. Simmons does a great job of escalating the tension and terror every time you think the story might be getting bogged down. Thus SUMMER reads like a book half its length. It's tough to put down. It's also one of those books that you're sad to finish, and to me that's a sign of a great story well-told.
Stephen King's IT, on the other hand, is a bloated, self-indulgent 1100+ pages - nearly twice the length of SUMMER; had IT been trimmed down to about 500-600 pages, the novel would've been a taught, lean thriller like SUMMER. While it's not totally a bad book, in my view IT is a textbook case of a novel that is just too large for the story it tells. I have no problem with length in and of itself, but the length of a book has to be commensurate with the story contained therein. Some stories, like King's THE STAND, need 1000-plus pages to play out; I just don't think IT is a tale that warrants such mass. (Unfortunately, it seems that once an author reaches a certain level of success, his/her editors stop doing their jobs as ruthlessly as they should - for evidence, see lots of King books, plus several of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books, too. Early King books, which many believe are still his best - such as CARRIE, SALEM'S LOT, & PET SEMATARY - tend to be about half the size of his later books.)
Lastly, to compare SUMMER OF NIGHT to another well-known (though slightly less so) novel in the same vein, McCammon's BOY'S LIFE: I'd rate BOY'S LIFE a little bit superior book in the strictly literary sense (though not by much.) However, BOY'S LIFE is really less a `horror' story than a fantasy or magic realism tale with some dark undertones mixed in. Simmons's SUMMER OF NIGHT is without doubt a work of horror in the true sense of the word.
Though I'll admit that the ending of the story was a bit too over-the-top (it reminded me of one of those recent movies where overreliance on CGI effects makes a futile attempt to replace good characterization and storytelling), I thought that the rest of the book was solid enough, with more subtle & believable horrors in the first two-thirds, to overcome that defficiency; besides, overblown, unbelievable endings are a pitfall that nearly every modern horror novelist falls into from time to time.
If you're at all into this genre and haven't read SUMMER OF NIGHT, do yourself a favor and get a copy.
Summary of Summer of Night (Aspect Fantasy)
In the summer of 1960 in Elm Haven, Illinois, five 12-year-old boys forge the powerful bonds that a lifetime of change will not break. An ancient, sinister evil lurks in the dark, and when a long-silent bell peals in the middle of the deepest night, the people know it marks the beginning of terror. Now Mike, Duane, Dale, Harlen, and Kevin must wage a fraternal war of blood against an arcane abomination.Horror Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Horror Books
Let the Right One In: A Novelby John Ajvide Lindqvist
St. Martin's Griffin; Published: 2008-10-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.99
Price in other shops:
Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus: The 1818 Textby Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
University Of Chicago Press; Published: 1982-03-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.00
Price in other shops:
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (Oxford Bookworms S, Stage 4)by Robert Louis Stevenson
Oxford Univ Pr (Sd); Published: 1991-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.79
Price in other shops:
The Oxford Book of Gothic Tales (Oxford Books of Prose)Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2001-11-19; Paperback; Book
Best price: $50.00
The Waste Lands (The Dark Tower, Book 3)by Stephen King
Penguin Audio; Published: 2003-08-26; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $149.99
![Thinner [UNABRIDGED] Image](/images/Thinner-UNABRIDGED-0140862668-X.jpg){kind=small}
Thinner [UNABRIDGED]by Stephen King
Penguin Audio; Published: 1996-09-01; Audio Cassette; Book
Best price: $8.00
Price in other shops:
The Crow: Temple of Nightby S P. Somtow
Harper Paperbacks; Published: 1999-11-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.99
Price in other shops:
Brains: A Zombie Memoirby Robin Becker
Eos; Published: 2010-05-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.23
Price in other shops:
The Strain LP: Book One of The Strain Trilogyby Guillermo Del Toro, Chuck Hogan
HarperLuxe; Published: 2009-06-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $14.45
Price in other shops:
Prince of Darknessby Barbara Michaels
HarperTorch; Published: 2005-04-26; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.58
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
Swan Songby Robert McCammon
Gallery Books; Published: 2009-11-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.38
Price in other shops:
Ghost Storyby Peter Straub
Pocket Books; Published: 1989-09-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.40
Price in other shops:
Speaks the Nightbirdby Robert McCammon
Gallery Books; Published: 2007-07-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.99
Price in other shops:
Hardcase (St. Martin's Minotaur Mysteries)by Dan Simmons
Minotaur Books; Published: 2002-08-19; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.99
Price in other shops:
Hyperionby Dan Simmons
Spectra; Published: 1990-03-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.70
Price in other shops:
Song of Kaliby Dan Simmons
Tor Books; Published: 1998-01-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.99
Price in other shops:
Children of the Nightby Dan Simmons
Grand Central Publishing; Published: 1993-06-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $44.48
A Winter Hauntingby Dan Simmons
HarperTorch; Published: 2002-12-31; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.20
Price in other shops:
Carrion Comfortby Dan Simmons
St. Martin's Griffin; Published: 2009-11-24; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.98
Price in other shops:
Flashbackby Dan Simmons
Reagan Arthur Books; Published: 2011-07-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $10.95
Price in other shops: