Storm Boys (Seasons of the Storm in English) is a book recently released in bookstores. Published on June 23, 2020 in English, the last of October has arrived in Italy thanks to Rizzoli. The author is Elle Cosimano, writer debut in 2015 with the thriller Early Gone and debut as a young adult fantasy writer.

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The author of the Boys of the Storm, Elle Cosimano
The author of the Boys of the Storm, Elle Cosimano

Jack, a 19-year-old Winter, awaits the spring months with a mixture of trepidation and sadness; it will be during these that he will meet Fleur, an 18-year-old Primavera. It will be she who, like every year, will kill him to allow him to return to Crux, the base where the seasons alternate. Fleur will in turn be killed by Julio, the comely summer, who in turn will be finished by Amber, the combative Autumn. This is the destiny desired for the seasons by Chronos and Gaia, carried on as an unshakable tradition since time immemorial.

There's only one problem: Fleur begins to have feelings for Jack, and it takes longer and longer to kill him. This is not good for balance, and when things go wrong, Jack makes a decision that will turn everyone's fortunes.

Technical and Stylistic Analysis

The book, about 560 pages, is divided into three parts and told in the first person. Alternating are the two protagonists of the story, Jack and Fleur, often flanked by numerous secondary characters who remain in the background.

The characters presented are young adults, each presented through immediate and unoriginal stereotypes. Something will also be discovered by advancing in reading, with the succession of events. The depth of these discoveries, mediocre, sometimes clashes even with young adult canons. The story takes place in a plethora of different environments in the United States of America.

The narrative time undergoes some variations with the succession of the parts. It is slower and more detailed in the first part, after which it increases gradually with each change of part, as if to emphasize a climax. Climax that happens too many times and that in the long run ceases to matter.

In general it is a sliding book, with some high points and others lower, but all in all appreciable.

The protagonists of Boys of the Storm
The protagonists of Boys of the Storm illustrated by Morgana0anagorm, left to right, top to bottom, Jack, Fleur, Amber and Julio

From here on, the spoilers begin!

Mythomania corner: the comment

I sincerely hoped that phase YA (Y) had long since gone into the fantasy genre, embracing darker and more dystopian novels with fiery passion (Divergent, Hunger Games, Twilight) and leaving behind a genre now bombed by kids with otherworldly powers and absurdly handsome vampires.

Storm Boys is no exception; barely legal children are represented in such a way simplistic and mostly stereotyped, without real depth. Situations happen, in the second e third part, one after the other with alarming speed and an almost unlikely reaction from the characters. Some chapters seem to have been extrapolated from a different story and forced into the plot [which was confirmed (“move that chapter later”) in the thanks at the end of the book], superfluous and unable to change the general narrative.

Despite having long since passed the genre YA, in hindsight I may have been intrigued by this book; almost interested in the love affairs between Jack e Flower, to this they follow each other incessantly and fight to love each other. But unfortunately, Storm Boys it did not capture me, quite the contrary. Elle Cosimano, almost as if wanting to stay in the canons for which it was written, without wanting to dare more (I don't know if it is due to desire or ability), she managed to write a novel. Storm Boys is enjoyable, in my opinion, only and strictly for the target for which it was chosen, unable to satisfy slightly more experienced palates.