Rating: 
Summary: This is a masterpiece.
Review: I first read this book at age 16. Now at age 25 I recently re-read it.I hate it when people recommend books to me - or for that matter give me books as gifts. Even my family members give me books that I have no interest in reading. But when people do make these presentations, I often feel guilty if I don't atleast suffer through thier recommendation. Given my distaste for this practice, I have found it within myself to take the time to URGE all readers to read Summer of Night. It is perhaps my favorite book of all time. I won't wait nine more years to read it again. In fact, I'll probably read it again this summer. I once read a Hardy Boys book 11 times. I didn't think I'd ever top that. Summer of Night is the only other book I've ever read that leads me to think that I will top my Hardy Boys experience. It is that good.
Rating: 
Summary: The greatest ideas are also the simplest ones
Review: I read this book recently and it is one of the best horror novels I ever read.The horror situations in this book are as simple as they are scary.Remember that scene when Duane is walking to the town and the rendering truck passes him on the road? Suddenly truck turns itself around and tries to run him over. That is the greatest horror scene ever!it happens during broad daylight,while the sun is shining and birds singing.that's what horror should be:writer must bring death and fear into the most sacred things of everyday life: your basement, your house and your living room.Castles and dark, stormy nights are naive and stupid!Simmons understands that.Beside this, book is never boring. Something is constantly going on.Unfortunately, as the end comes near, book becomes more and more naive(I mean people, zombies are walking around town, people dissapear and die, but nobody notices that except of the bunch of kids?)but still it's a great book. P.S. did you notice how simply is the mood in the novel created? No Stephen King's loooooooooooong descriptions BUT THE MOOD IS STILL THERE!
Rating:
Summary: One of the best novels I've ever read.
Review: This book is so suspenseful, I seriously had beads of sweat running down my forehead during some scenes! The scene where the zombies attacked the camp with axes REALLY freaked me out. This would make an amazing movie.
Rating:
Summary: Stephen King's right!
Review: This book was great! I know a few people think that it was just awful, but I'll excuse them. Yes, the first two chapters are really slow, but so is a lot of beginnings in many horror books, but you love'em anyway! These kids seem real to me- Maybe because it wasn't long ago that I was one of them. Don't people remeber the joy of doing 'bad' things as a child- and they weren't really bad! They're scared of something they don't understand- Would you understand it? What would you do in this situation? And don't forget, DS has won many book awards- so I don't think that makes him a second class writer!
Rating: 
Summary: It had potential
Review: This is the first book by Mr. Simmons that I've read. It had a lot of potential to be truly creepy, but it missed the mark. The writing was quite good, the characters were likeable. I just didn't find it very scary. There were a couple of good moments, like Father Cavanaugh's visit to Mike. That was about it. This book had quite a few similarities to It, like other people reviewing it have said. Only difference is, It was done a lot better. To the person who said Dan Simmons was a better writer than Stephen King, please don't make me laugh. I'd be a hell of a lot more scared of a killer clown than a dusty old bell hanging in a schoolhouse. I hope Carrion Comfort is scarier than this was.
Rating:
Summary: One of the very best.
Review: Horror novels tend to be a dime a dozen, and most are utterly forgettable. This is one of the few that will grab you and not let go; it's been a couple of years since I first read "Summer of Night", and it still haunts me. Take it for what it is, flaws and all, but they don't get much better than this. You'll want to read more by this exceptional author, and you won't be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: One of the scariest horror novels I've ever read!
Review: If Ray Bradbury and Shirley Jackson had taken a chance and had a child together, that kid would have produced a novel something like this. Claiming a spot firmly in the middle of "Bradbury country" and sprucing it up with Jacksonesque prose stylings, Simmons perfectly recreates what it was like to be a kid back in the early sixties, when things were seemingly more innocent. Having done that, he proceeds to scare the pants off his readers as he dishes up horror after horror: the zombie-like teachers, the strange, many toothed, subterranean animals; the rendering truck...and more! (Personally, I'll never forget the scene in the flooded, darkened basement as Dale realizes the cold hand of a long-dead classmate has just brushed his leg). Simmons is a genius. He writes equally well in whatever genre he chooses. Forget what the previous mook said about this book (anyone that goes around comparing writers like baseball players is an idiot). Besides,the fact that children are involved, King's book (IT) and this one have nothing in common. And this book is one of the scariest horror novels I've ever read! (in fact, like all of Simmons' books, I liked it so much I reread it -- twice!).
Rating: 
Summary: A lack lustre attempt at recreating 'IT'
Review: First of all I have to admitt that the 'fanatastic' reviews the amazon readers gave this book really cranked up my expectations of 'Summerof Night'. I was subsequently disappointed. Having skimmed through the majority of the reviews for an overall feel of what to expect, I began to read the book apprehensively with the prospect of reading something new and refreshing. I chugged my way through the first 100 pages and found myself sighing ; firstly because I was getting bored and secondly did it no way match up to the hype engendered to it by not only the amazon reviewers but also Stephen King. ( A great friend doing an even greater favour for a second rate writer).But still I decided to carry on, thinking there must be something in here that caused a stir in the horror reader camp. Page 200, a few things have happened, I am slightly more engaged in the plot now but still cant help listing in my mind other books of the same nature which are far better. Still I feel now that since I paid £6 for the book, the bloody thing has got to be read. Page 300, At last incidents thats are grabbing my attention, I saver these as I suspect things will relent soon. They do. There are around 120 pages that are remotley engaging out of 650. Worth it, NOT!The Characters as they become brazened to the horror start to swear more, they are only 8-13 in age, it becomes so bad it reads like a bunch of little swartchaneggers running round shooting zombies with stupid noses.(Comedy?).The end is just like yeah,yeah,yeah, well done boys you stopped the rot and lost your innocence for ever bla,bla,bla. This is IT done badly. People keep saying if this book had Stephens Kings name on it it would sell millions, they are right it would, but it would stop at around 2 million as word from the fans got round saying that it was his worst and most non engaging book ever. If you want horror that bites stick the following writers, Straub, Brite, Liggoti, Herbet and Koontz. Oh!, and a recommendation for a book like IT but better than Summer of Night,'Joe Donnely's 'The Dark Valley', read that and weep. If that had Stephen Kings name on it.........well, who knows?
Rating:
Summary: Good book I loved how unpredictable it was.
Review: I really like this book. I'm a big fan of Dan Simmons you have to like a author thats not afraid of killing off a major character in the middle of a book. The ending wasn't the greatest but I find the end of most horror stories lacking something.
Rating:
Summary: wow
Review: This book, its characters, and the events they endured left an impression on my psyche for over a month. For me, that is the mark of good horror.
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