Reviews

The Rivener by Garrett Godsey

shawna_reads's review

adventurous hopeful mysterious medium-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? No

5.0

"They say new souls are born from the fragments of the old. We are drops of water, evaporated from a sea, reconstituted, and released from rain clouds." 

Kid is a foster care survivor turned courier for an organization called The White Lotus. Alice is a teen from the Young School for violent psychics called travelers who can traverse to a parallel universe called The Dream. Kid and Alice's paths cross when a run goes wrong, where he is faced with stalkers and creatures made of nightmares. They must work together in order to survive and help save humanity. 

I'm going to start off by saying this book was absolutely fucking amazing and everyone should read it. Is that review enough? 😆 

It was evident that Godsey put his heart and soul into this book. The world building and character development was phenomenal. The prose was beautiful and the dialogue felt real. He did an amazing job weaving horror, fantasy, sci-fi, and supernatural elements all in one story. 

It was also an emotional read with the exploration of the foster system, broken relationships, and simply trying to survive life. My heart grew heavy for Kid and I was rooting for him the entire time. He is definitely a new favourite character 🖤 

For a chunky book, there were no dull moments and I found myself fully invested from start to finish. This was an adventurous, unique story that has already cemented its spot in my favourites of the year!

readingbymyshelf's review against another edition

adventurous reflective medium-paced

3.5

mythical_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

benjaminpritchardreads's review

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

The Rivener by Garrett Godsey is wild and not what I was expecting at all. The book hooks you immediately, the world feels huge and small at the same time....not sure that makes sense but it's how it felt to me. Lore was constantly building within the story with great characters and character building. Great action and build up to it and the world just got bigger and bigger with more characters getting brought into it. There really was some great fantasy and sci-fi in this. 

The characters are so well written you really get invested in them and their arcs and you really do want to know more about them. I really think it there would be a great opportunity for Garrett to write an prequel based on Mara and The School.....wont say anymore as it could potentially spoil the book. 

Some parts of the book I thought were a bit too more and dragged and I really did just want to get back to the main plot of the story which did have me speed reading / skimming through BUT I did end up going back just in case I did miss something important. 

Overall this is a great debut novel and I really hope Garrett builds more on this.

agreatandterriblelibrary's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

ambersedai's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

4.5

“𝕎𝕖 𝕞𝕒𝕜𝕖 𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕞𝕚𝕤𝕥𝕒𝕜𝕖𝕤 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕨𝕖 𝕔𝕒𝕣𝕣𝕪 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕞 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕦𝕤. 𝕋𝕙𝕖𝕪 𝕒𝕣𝕖 𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕓𝕦𝕣𝕕𝕖𝕟 𝕒𝕤 𝕨𝕖𝕝𝕝 𝕒𝕤 𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕗𝕦𝕖𝕝. 𝔸𝕝𝕝 𝕨𝕖 𝕔𝕒𝕟 𝕕𝕠 𝕚𝕤 𝕝𝕚𝕧𝕖 𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕝𝕚𝕧𝕖𝕤 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕓𝕖𝕤𝕥 𝕨𝕖’𝕣𝕖 𝕒𝕓𝕝𝕖, 𝕥𝕣𝕪 𝕥𝕠 𝕗𝕚𝕟𝕕 𝕡𝕦𝕣𝕡𝕠𝕤𝕖, 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕨𝕠𝕣𝕜 𝕥𝕠𝕨𝕒𝕣𝕕 𝕚𝕥 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕙𝕠𝕟𝕠𝕣 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕝𝕠𝕧𝕖 𝕕𝕖𝕤𝕡𝕚𝕥𝕖 𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕦𝕟𝕒𝕧𝕠𝕚𝕕𝕒𝕓𝕝𝕖 𝕗𝕒𝕚𝕝𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕤.”

“ℝ𝕖𝕒𝕝 𝕞𝕒𝕘𝕚𝕔 𝕚𝕤 𝕕𝕒𝕟𝕘𝕖𝕣𝕠𝕦𝕤 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕣𝕒𝕨. 𝔸𝕟𝕕 𝕚𝕥 𝕚𝕤 𝕒𝕝𝕤𝕠 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕓𝕖𝕒𝕦𝕥𝕪 𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕓𝕚𝕟𝕕𝕤 𝕦𝕤 𝕥𝕠𝕘𝕖𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣.”

Firstly I want to say thank you to the author, Garrett Godsey for being so kind to send me an ARC for an honest review.

The Rivener is such an impressive debut novel. I found myself a lot of the time thinking, there’s no way Godsey is an indie author! His writing seems so effortless, yet simple & beautiful at the same time.

We meet Kid who’s a ‘street rat,’ that delivers packages for a syndicate called the White Lotus. Set in San Francisco, present-day, Kid lives his days trying to stay out of trouble, although it seems to find him everywhere he goes. On an ordinary day, delivering a package for the White Lotus, his life changes in an epic mind-bending, supernatural way. Kid also meets a girl named Alice, who’s also an orphan, raised in The Young School, molded into what’s called a ‘traveler.’ They shortly discover they must battle the shadows within themselves to save not just The Real world, but also The Dream. Along the way there are many people & creatures that try to stop them. 

This story is extremely thought provoking. While it is easy to read, a metaphysical outlook isn’t lacking here that’s for sure. Godsey did an excellent job at writing a fast paced story with a solid plot & intriguing characters. I would’ve rated The Rivener 5 stars, but for me at times I wanted more depth from the characters individually. Overall it kept me wanting more. Hopefully there’s a second novel in the works? With the ending as epic and cool as it was, I’m positive there will be more to come. I absolutely loved how authentic the characters reactions were to the situations they faced. The villain was one of the scariest I’ve read about in a while, although saying that I’ve not really read too many horror novels before, so The Rivener has really broadened my horizons when it comes to the horror genre. Godsey also includes mythology in his story, which was very reminiscent to me of Assassins Creed with Gods/Goddesses, as well as animus and totems. The world building is there, but it’s not over the top for those that find descriptions overwhelming. It never feels info-dumpy and flows really well. This is a story about redemption, love, hope, free will, fighting your demons. It has mature content, so if you’re interested in reading The Rivener make sure you read the foreward at the beginning. As a whole I was shocked that I loved the characters as much as I did, I even cried at a few scenes. I want to keep this as spoiler-free as possible so I’ll leave this with an intriguing can’t wait for what happens next. 

If you like The Sandman, Neuromancer (The Matrix), or The Thing, then you’ll love The Rivener. 

“𝕀’𝕝𝕝 𝕔𝕠𝕞𝕖 𝕘𝕖𝕥 𝕪𝕠𝕦, 𝕨𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕣 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕒𝕣𝕖.”

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Sexual content

sektor7slums's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious fast-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? No

4.0

 The Rivener is an urban fantasy about a guy called Kid who accidentally finds himself mixed up in a world of magic, and murder, a seemingly immortal villain, and an entirely new world. He also has to help thwart an attempt to unmake reality.

When I recieved an ARC of this I was, unfortunately, in a reading slump, so it definitely took me longer than it should have to read. This story is fast paced and very interesting, all of the main characters are likable and some of the villains are easy to hate.
There is a lot of really interesting world building and a lot of lore that I want to learn more about. The story is high stakes and fast, but it knows when to slow down and let you get to know the characters.

This was definitely a good read, and I'm surprised it's the debut novel by Garrett Godsey, it definitely feels like he's done this before. I can't wait to read more from him in the future. 

abisometimesreads's review against another edition

3.0

I received an advanced copy from the author, in exchange for an honest review.

felifirefly's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

‘The Dream. Quite Ancient. Quite real.’

What a ride this was! 

I was so exciting to finally get my hands on The Rivener and finished it (almost 😬) just in time. Life got in the way, but I’ve binge read the second half in only 2 days!

‘I’ll try to turn my brain off for a while. Seems like it’s getting in the way.’

So, what to say. It’s not easy to describe to what you sign up for when picking up this suspense novel.. It’s a bit SciFi, a bit Fantasy, it has Thriller elements in it, we’re going on a journey full of adventure. It’s dark and intense at times, fast-paced and very plot driven. We accompany Kid and Alice on a suspenseful journey through reality and dream and a lot is happening on their way to escape the lives they thought normal.

If you like stories like Sandman, Otherland, Matrix, all combined with some cosmic horror and a lot of action packed scenes: this book is for you!

‘It is not complicated to explain. It is only difficult to accept.’

The world-building started great and consists of sweet and heartwarming concepts like ‘our dreams are your stars’ which really got to me. Some of the characters are quite loveable (while others are truly not and not meant to be), it just kind of lost me in the later chapters. I did enjoy reading about the Kid’s adventure but also missed some depth later on. It’s all there with a lot of potential, we have intense moments like the Nightclub (where the empathy push definitely got through to me as a reader!), I just kinda feel like I lost my connection to the characters somewhere on the road.

Garrett’s writing was refreshing, though. It’s easy to read and fun, all the slang maybe a bit much for me for the whole novel, but definitely something I liked for this book.

Also, can we talk about this great price of art we see on the cover?! 🙌

Overall, The Rivener is going to get ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ from me.

Thanks for letting me join your ARC team (and sorry for the tiny delay 🙏🥲)

ambers's review

I went back and forth on this, but ultimately I'm going to DNF this book. The plot is interesting enough, but even at 33% in, I felt like it alternated between all trippy vibes (with little substance) and info dumps. There's a wide cast of characters, but they veer dangerously close to caricature to me - especially poor Alice, who has some heavy manic pixie dream girl vibes. That being said, as I didn't finish the book, I can't speak to any development the plot or characters go through by the end..

Ultimately, though, maybe it's a failure to connect on my part. I felt a sense of distance between myself and the text throughout, and I just found that I was reading further out of a sense of obligation vs enjoyment. That isn't what reading is about, and the review it would've produced wouldn't be fair to the author either. I'm setting this book down for now. It isn't the book for me, but it might be one for you. 

(I received it as an ARC via BookSirens; all opinions in this review are my own)