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squeakadillo's review against another edition
4.0
I'm going to have to let this one settle for a few days before I review it.
bellesbooknook's review against another edition
5.0
I'd be incredibly outraged by this ending if I hadn't just discovered that there's a sequel! Yaaay!
funfetti7's review against another edition
5.0
4.5 stars This was a very compelling, imaginative, thought-provoking (definitely upper) middle grade read. I would not be surprised if this book ended up winning some awards. There are some questions raised in the narrative that I will be pondering for quite some time. However, I did have some issues with a few of the characters and there was something about the narrator's voice that didn't gel for me, which kept this from being a 5 star OMG LOVED it read. But I have no doubt there will be many who disagree with me on this because it is really well done.
kiwiglory's review against another edition
5.0
4.5 stars
I am going to start off by saying that I committed one of the many faux pas of book reading by judging this book by its cover. It was a slow Friday afternoon and I was looking over my carts of ARCs, didn't really like the cover of this book, and thought that I would just read the first couple pages, add it to a couple of the genre lists and be done with it. Well, I read the first couple pages of it and was hooked.
The books begins with Alistair Cleary telling about a haunting experience he had when he was three years old. When he was at a family cabin he saw the body of a missing boy at the bottom of a river bank whose arm was slowly waving back-and-forth with the movement of the river. As a young child he thought a boy was waving to him from the bottom of the river, and told his father, “The boy is saying hello,” But, of course, as a young child, no one paid much attention to what he was saying. Many years passed before Alistair realized what he had seen and by then the cabin had been sold and the missing boy was probably no longer there. But, for a few short moments, Alistair had found the missing boy.
When you first read this memory, you aren't really sure how this is going to relate to the rest of the book. I mean, I first read the description and saw magical portal, man stealing children's souls and had assumed that it wouldn't be too realistic. This book is set in the 1980s, but that doesn't really affect much of the setting of the book aside from there being no cell phones and using a tape recorder. In the following chapters the readers follow Alistair's daily life as he goes to school, interacts with his friends, specifically, Charlie and Fiona. Aside from Fiona's recollection of Aquavania, there isn't much of a fantastical element to this book. It just requires a child-like imagination and curiosity.
In the second chapter, Fiona comes to Alistair gives him a birthday present (when it isn't his birthday) that consists of a dusty old jacket and a tape recorder. On the tape recorder is Fiona's request for Alistair to write her biography based on his skills that he demonstrated in a fictional story he wrote called, “Sixth Grade for the Outer-Spacers”. Alistair is intrigued by her request and once she begins telling her life story she says to Alistair that she needed, “a witness with an imagination”. As she continues the readers learn more about how when she was four years old she was called to the boiler room in her basement by the clicking from the radiators. When she ventured to the basement the boiler vanished and in it's place was a sphere made of water. When she touched the water she was transported to the world of Aquavania. Aquavania is a world where any child with an imagination can create any world of their liking. A world filled with plants, animals, anything they could wish for. But, there is a dark aspect to these wonderful worlds being created.
Fiona tells more about Aquavania and we learn there is a person who ventures from each child's world and steals their souls. Fiona is worried that she will be next. Alistair listens to Fiona's story and assumes that Aquavania is a coping mechanism for something horrible that is going on within her personal life at home. So he sets off to investigate the people living in Fiona's home. As I continued on and Fiona told me and Alistair more about the world of Aquavania, I secretly wished that my radiator had spoken to me as a child.
When I was reading this book I was as hooked as Alistair was to Fiona's story and how everything unraveled within Alistair's daily life interactions with his family, Charlie, and Fiona. This has been the first book in a while that I felt the need to take home with me from work and read it all the time. As Alistair is trying to figure out the mystery of Fiona, the readers experience his daily interactions at school and sleep overs with Charlie. Instead of dragging the story down, these experiences add to the richness of the storytelling in this novel and the completeness of Alistair as a believable character and middle school age boy.
I wanted to know if Fiona's soul was eventually stolen, who was the Riverman?, is Dorian Loomis (Fiona's Uncle) really a good person? These are only a few of the questions that I wanted answered, and so when a few weren't answered by the end of the book, I was confused. How could the author end the book that way? I want to know more! But, as I woke up the next morning I was okay with how it had ended and thought it was one of those types of books that was supposed to not give all of the answers, because that's not how life is. So, when I came into work the next morning to look up the book, I was surprised when I saw that it is going to be a trilogy. I am honestly not sure how I feel about that, because I do feel like the ending of this book was perfect and I think trilogies are being overused. However, aside from those facts, I am hooked to Alistair's story and the world of Aquavania, so I am sure I will be picking up the next in the trilogy and finding out what happens next.
I am going to start off by saying that I committed one of the many faux pas of book reading by judging this book by its cover. It was a slow Friday afternoon and I was looking over my carts of ARCs, didn't really like the cover of this book, and thought that I would just read the first couple pages, add it to a couple of the genre lists and be done with it. Well, I read the first couple pages of it and was hooked.
The books begins with Alistair Cleary telling about a haunting experience he had when he was three years old. When he was at a family cabin he saw the body of a missing boy at the bottom of a river bank whose arm was slowly waving back-and-forth with the movement of the river. As a young child he thought a boy was waving to him from the bottom of the river, and told his father, “The boy is saying hello,” But, of course, as a young child, no one paid much attention to what he was saying. Many years passed before Alistair realized what he had seen and by then the cabin had been sold and the missing boy was probably no longer there. But, for a few short moments, Alistair had found the missing boy.
When you first read this memory, you aren't really sure how this is going to relate to the rest of the book. I mean, I first read the description and saw magical portal, man stealing children's souls and had assumed that it wouldn't be too realistic. This book is set in the 1980s, but that doesn't really affect much of the setting of the book aside from there being no cell phones and using a tape recorder. In the following chapters the readers follow Alistair's daily life as he goes to school, interacts with his friends, specifically, Charlie and Fiona. Aside from Fiona's recollection of Aquavania, there isn't much of a fantastical element to this book. It just requires a child-like imagination and curiosity.
In the second chapter, Fiona comes to Alistair gives him a birthday present (when it isn't his birthday) that consists of a dusty old jacket and a tape recorder. On the tape recorder is Fiona's request for Alistair to write her biography based on his skills that he demonstrated in a fictional story he wrote called, “Sixth Grade for the Outer-Spacers”. Alistair is intrigued by her request and once she begins telling her life story she says to Alistair that she needed, “a witness with an imagination”. As she continues the readers learn more about how when she was four years old she was called to the boiler room in her basement by the clicking from the radiators. When she ventured to the basement the boiler vanished and in it's place was a sphere made of water. When she touched the water she was transported to the world of Aquavania. Aquavania is a world where any child with an imagination can create any world of their liking. A world filled with plants, animals, anything they could wish for. But, there is a dark aspect to these wonderful worlds being created.
Fiona tells more about Aquavania and we learn there is a person who ventures from each child's world and steals their souls. Fiona is worried that she will be next. Alistair listens to Fiona's story and assumes that Aquavania is a coping mechanism for something horrible that is going on within her personal life at home. So he sets off to investigate the people living in Fiona's home. As I continued on and Fiona told me and Alistair more about the world of Aquavania, I secretly wished that my radiator had spoken to me as a child.
When I was reading this book I was as hooked as Alistair was to Fiona's story and how everything unraveled within Alistair's daily life interactions with his family, Charlie, and Fiona. This has been the first book in a while that I felt the need to take home with me from work and read it all the time. As Alistair is trying to figure out the mystery of Fiona, the readers experience his daily interactions at school and sleep overs with Charlie. Instead of dragging the story down, these experiences add to the richness of the storytelling in this novel and the completeness of Alistair as a believable character and middle school age boy.
I wanted to know if Fiona's soul was eventually stolen, who was the Riverman?, is Dorian Loomis (Fiona's Uncle) really a good person? These are only a few of the questions that I wanted answered, and so when a few weren't answered by the end of the book, I was confused. How could the author end the book that way? I want to know more! But, as I woke up the next morning I was okay with how it had ended and thought it was one of those types of books that was supposed to not give all of the answers, because that's not how life is. So, when I came into work the next morning to look up the book, I was surprised when I saw that it is going to be a trilogy. I am honestly not sure how I feel about that, because I do feel like the ending of this book was perfect and I think trilogies are being overused. However, aside from those facts, I am hooked to Alistair's story and the world of Aquavania, so I am sure I will be picking up the next in the trilogy and finding out what happens next.
sienaka's review against another edition
4.0
I have to wonder what demographic Aaron Starmer had in mind when he wrote this. At first glance, "The Riverman" seems like just another quirky middle-grade novel, but when it gets dark, it gets DARK. The unsettling atmosphere is offset well by two insanely lovable protagonists though, so I can't wait to see what comes next in this magical trilogy!
secretrue's review against another edition
4.0
A. Do not do the audiobook. I was hating this book on audio, but then I switched to physical book and it was instantly better. In an effort to make the audiobook more suspenseful and atmospheric, there were a lot of pauses. Not the best. B. Who is written for? It’s slated as a middle grade, but so many of the topics are older and the situations seem a bit intense. Also although several of the characters appear much younger than they are mentally. I can’t reveal much, but that’s a little strange during some parts. Overall though, once I stopped listening to the audio book, I was super engaged and loved it. That ending though.
cousinrachel's review against another edition
2.0
I got all excited about this because I love middle-grade kids' books, particularly ones where the kids go on adventures/special missions. Turns out, it seemed too old for the ~12-year-old market audience (cursing and some sexual references, I think) but not sophisticated enough for a well-written teen book. And there wasn't much to get me caring about the protagonists and looking forward to what happened next: no characterization, like unique quirks, or humor to lighten the fairly heavy subject matter. Fiona is supposed to be pretty quirky, but she comes off as a bit of a Manic Pixie Dreamgirl: mysterious, dragging her adolescent male friend on her secret mission. Other than that, there was nothing I can remember that made her stand out. And - SPOILER - wouldn't you know it, he gets a crush on her. Although I guess that wasn't really a spoiler, because in almost every single book I've read or movie I've seen where a boy and girl in the same age group are good friends, there's some sort of romance between them. I found myself looking at reading this as a chore, only continuing because I had found the premise intriguing. Really, I had just wanted to know who the Riverman was, and then I found out, so there wasn't much point in finishing it. I gave this 2 stars instead of 1 because the premise was kind of neat, and because there wasn't anything really cringeworthy that I recall; it just wasn't engaging.
peacel's review against another edition
4.0
I can’t wait to get the second book in this series. It ended in a rather confusing way. The whole book was pretty heavy, actually, even though it doesn’t sound like it. I don’t know why this is labeled as middle grade fiction- it is definitely YA or just adult. It reminds me a lot of the golden compass series by Phillip Pullman. But a little bit darker. Either way, it’s very good!
daniellejones's review against another edition
5.0
I am pretty sure I have never read anything like that before.
I am pretty sure I loved it.
I am pretty sure that I am not sure about anything that happened.
And for some reason the music of TWIN PEAKS is going through my head.
I am pretty sure I loved it.
I am pretty sure that I am not sure about anything that happened.
And for some reason the music of TWIN PEAKS is going through my head.
mistressmess's review against another edition
4.0
How the hell is this a children's book?
Seriously, this is one of the most imaginative thing I've read in a while. It was really dark in tone, but always fun at the same time. I feel like it would make a really good movie.
Seriously, this is one of the most imaginative thing I've read in a while. It was really dark in tone, but always fun at the same time. I feel like it would make a really good movie.