I liked it a lot. It's set in the future, after some nuclear wars and incredible political turmoil. A city called Palmares Tres was built in a harbor (I think?) in what was once Brazil. It's kind of a giant pyramid, with the more wealthy and politically influential families living on the tiers nearer the top. The city is ruled by a Queen and a council of women called Aunties, and every five years the city elects a Summer King who selects the next Queen and is ritually killed at the end of the year. The book starts with the election of a new Summer King, a boy named Enki who was the son of an immigrant from El Salvador, who loves the city but also has a lot of problems with the way it's run. June, a high school girl and an artist, and her best friend Gil get mixed up with Enki and his plans for his tenure as Summer King. The story is really about how June slowly comes to see that all is not well in her city and she becomes a rather radical political artist. But she still loves her home and wants to save it, not tear it down. The ending was very bittersweet, but I liked it a lot. I also liked how homosexuality is a non-issue and is just a part of life. Gil falls in love with Enki and they become the media It Couple and June's mother is married to a woman and although June is pissed about that, it's only because her mom remarried so soon after her father's death.
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