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A review by kylielynelle
The Riverman by Aaron Starmer
2.0
A NetGalley ARC
1.5 Stars
I loved the premise of The Riverman. In the spirit of Coraline or any other of the many "evil villain kidnaps children and holds them captive in a fantastical universe, this title seemed to have the makings of a very compelling coming of age fantasy for the middle grades. However, I quickly grew bored. I loved Fiona's quirky exchanges of dialogue with Alistair at the beginning of the story- her views on names and naming things, the bit with Alistair's car poster etc- but, the dialogue quickly fell flat. It became just another mediocre fantasy that felt way too long, and I found myself skimming rather frequently. I HATED that the author chose to have the main character take matters into his own hands by arranging the purchase of a gun. In my opinion this should absolutely never happen in a novel for the middle grades. There is so much gun violence in our society already- I think it's a bad idea to encourage children to read books where the main character chooses to solve a problem by buying a gun instead of bringing the problem to a responsible adult that can help them. But, I am a teacher and maybe i'm biased. All in all, I was interested in basic plot involving the Riverman and his villainous plot to kidnap children, but all of this title's other plot points were quite unsatisfying for me.
1.5 Stars
I loved the premise of The Riverman. In the spirit of Coraline or any other of the many "evil villain kidnaps children and holds them captive in a fantastical universe, this title seemed to have the makings of a very compelling coming of age fantasy for the middle grades. However, I quickly grew bored. I loved Fiona's quirky exchanges of dialogue with Alistair at the beginning of the story- her views on names and naming things, the bit with Alistair's car poster etc- but, the dialogue quickly fell flat. It became just another mediocre fantasy that felt way too long, and I found myself skimming rather frequently. I HATED that the author chose to have the main character take matters into his own hands by arranging the purchase of a gun. In my opinion this should absolutely never happen in a novel for the middle grades. There is so much gun violence in our society already- I think it's a bad idea to encourage children to read books where the main character chooses to solve a problem by buying a gun instead of bringing the problem to a responsible adult that can help them. But, I am a teacher and maybe i'm biased. All in all, I was interested in basic plot involving the Riverman and his villainous plot to kidnap children, but all of this title's other plot points were quite unsatisfying for me.