A review by cousinrachel
The Riverman by Aaron Starmer

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.