Reviews - A River Enchanted

10.8k reviews for:

A River Enchanted

Rebecca Ross

4.12 AVERAGE

kackbratze's review against another edition

3.0

mysterious relaxing slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

sheawelb's review against another edition

3.75

medium-paced

pageboi31's review against another edition

2.5

adventurous medium-paced

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

A chosen jar pick from Emm! I had wanted to read this awhile ago and it sort of naturally slipped away from my interest. Time to finally check it out!

Well, I feel like I can officially say I'm in (hopefully past-tense) a reading slump! Typically I soft DNF and return when I find myself not reading like I typically do, but this time I told myself, "Nah, this book's good! It'll be fine". I've been pretty busy this month and too tired to read at night, plus I've used my audiobook as an excuse so my streak was alive and I didn't need to physically read... now it's officially my longest read ever at 24 days to complete. Oof!

But I did enjoy this book though, or at least in parts! I'm always a sucker for things with a twinge of Celtic myth and folklore, and I love the way Rebecca Ross built the magical Island of Cadence. The lore spread throughout of the magical elemental and their trickery was fascinating, as well as the classic two-clan feud that divides the island in two.

I was surprised by how many different POV's there were in the book; I thought we would only follow along with Jack, but we spend equal time with Adaira (heiress of the East and Jack's childhood rival), Torin (East captain of the guard and Adaira's cousin), Sidra (a healer and Torin's wife) and possibly more. Ross did a great job building satisfying character arcs and growth that felt unique to each protagonist! Lot's of relationship building and mending as they searched for the missing girls on the isle.

I was a bit disappointed by the direction the book took towards the ending. I was really holding out that the spirits were responsible for the disappearances, but of coarse it was the rival clan. While it was shocking that Adaira was the "stolen" heir of the West that led to Moray's subterfuge, this ending sucks. The Tamerlaines hate her now!? Why forget all she's done on behalf of her clan? And don't get me started on that last-minute heartbreak where Jack and Adaira ACT LIKE CHILDREN and throw their whole relationship into the dirt. WHY!?! This absolutely killed my interest in picking up book 2 anytime soon.

With this and my audiobook finally out of the way, it's time to start fresh! Well, sort of. Let see how much of TBR I can get done before the month's over 😅

ellevreads's review against another edition

2.0

The mystery of the missing children plot didn’t hook me.
The romance felt bland.
The characters were mediocre…besides Sidra. I really liked her.
DNF at 80%

juli3_78's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

meg_elyse's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous hopeful mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Scottish-inspired fantasy that, I think charts as YA, but certainly doesn't feel like it (which makes sense, as Ross herself says she intended it as adult fantasy.) There are main characters who are roughly in their 20s, and their relationship is key to the story, but there are also central characters who are older, in their 40s and 50s, and the relationships at both stages of life are treated with taste and a level of maturity I haven't seen in even adult fantasy in some time. It was such a nice change.
The story unfolds slowly, but the atmosphere the author evokes makes up for it entirely.
I imagine that, when I'm done with book 2, I will feel like a good editor could have pared everything down to one cohesive novel, but again, the prose is excellent, so I don't much mind.