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A review by novelinsights
Riverland by Fran Wilde
4.0
This is a middle grade portal fantasy novel, although it has the interesting distinction of spending a large percentage of the story in the real world and only occasionally going through the portal to the fantasy world. The fantasy world also created more stress in the character's lives than it did fun. This sets Riverland apart from the classic portal fantasies such as The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, in which the children spend almost the entire book in Narnia and it seems like a travesty that they would ever be expected to return to the real world. That said, the real world of Riverland isn't particularly pleasant, either, and events in one world can have far-reaching effects in the other.
In general, I thought this was a dark yet helpful middle grade book, and unfortunately, I think it could really resonate with a lot of children out there. I am not part of the target audience, yet I will say that I enjoyed it a good bit. I like when kids' books don't shy away from difficult topics or talk down to the reader about them, and this book handled that well.
One of the things that I found a bit peculiar about this book is that I actually found myself significantly more interested in what was happening in the real world than in the fantasy world. This is generally pretty unlike me, and I think it's because the fantasy world lacked the charm and sense of wonder that other fantasy worlds tend to have. The idea of a world full of creatures made of trash and other mundane items was very interesting to me, but as previously mentioned, the protagonists' experiences in this world were all very negative. They dreaded going there, so it was hard for me as the reader to look forward to it. I think if we had spent more time in the fantasy world and had gotten to see some beauty and more positive encounters and adventures, I would have been more attached to the world and felt more positively toward it, but it also would have been a completely different book and maybe it wouldn't have served the same purpose.
I also felt that, to an extent, the magical enemy was dealt with too easily at the end, though this may have been because she was dealt with in a way that hadn't really been previously explained. This made it feel like it happened on the writer's whim and not as something particularly well thought-out on the protagonist's part.
In general, I thought this was a dark yet helpful middle grade book, and unfortunately, I think it could really resonate with a lot of children out there. I am not part of the target audience, yet I will say that I enjoyed it a good bit. I like when kids' books don't shy away from difficult topics or talk down to the reader about them, and this book handled that well.
One of the things that I found a bit peculiar about this book is that I actually found myself significantly more interested in what was happening in the real world than in the fantasy world. This is generally pretty unlike me, and I think it's because the fantasy world lacked the charm and sense of wonder that other fantasy worlds tend to have. The idea of a world full of creatures made of trash and other mundane items was very interesting to me, but as previously mentioned, the protagonists' experiences in this world were all very negative. They dreaded going there, so it was hard for me as the reader to look forward to it. I think if we had spent more time in the fantasy world and had gotten to see some beauty and more positive encounters and adventures, I would have been more attached to the world and felt more positively toward it, but it also would have been a completely different book and maybe it wouldn't have served the same purpose.
I also felt that, to an extent, the magical enemy was dealt with too easily at the end, though this may have been because she was dealt with in a way that hadn't really been previously explained. This made it feel like it happened on the writer's whim and not as something particularly well thought-out on the protagonist's part.