Riverrun Trilogy

Riverrun #1-3

by S.P. Somtow

Follow the exploits of the Etchison family as their mortal world is rehaped by warring dragon-children under the control of the Darkling King Strang. Within Theo Etchison lies the power of a Turthsayer, a power the Darklings need to dominate the universe. This paperback omnibus includes the entire trilogy: Riverrun, Amorica, and the final book, Yestern.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction

580 pages, Paperback

First published December 12, 1991

About the author

Called by the Bangkok Post "the Thai person known by name to most people in the world," S.P. Somtow is an author, composer, filmmaker, and international media personality whose dazzling talents and acerbic wit have entertained and enlightened fans the world over.

He was Somtow Papinian Sucharitkul in Bangkok. His grandfather's sister was a Queen of Siam, his father is a well known international lawyer and vice-president of the International Academy of Human Rights. Somtow was educated at Eton and Cambridge, and his first career was in music. In the 1970s (while he was still in college) his works were being performed on four continents and he was named representative of Thailand to the Asian Composer's League and to the International Music Commission of UNESCO. His avant-garde compositions caused controversy and scandal in his native country, and a severe case of musical burnout in the late 1970s precipitated his entry into a second career - that of author.

He began writing science fiction, but soon started to invade other fields of writing, with some 40 books out now, including the clasic horror novel Vampire Junction, which defined the "rock and roll vampire" concept for the 80s, the Riverrun Trilogy ("the finest new series of the 90's" - Locus) and the semi-autobiographical memoir Jasmine Nights. He has won or been nominated for dozens of major awards including the Bram Stoker Award, the John W. Campbell Award, the Hugo Award, and the World Fantasy Award.

Somtow has also made some incursions into filmmaking, directing the cult classic The Laughing Dead and the award winning art film Ill Met by Moonlight.

Reviews

[Lasairfiona · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first book in the trilogy, Riverrun, is a trip. The poems at the beginning of each new section is provocative and sets the mood for the ever shifting realities. The style does lend itself to a dreamlike read complete with ellipses as the scenery shifts rather than just changing suddenly. Every once in a while, a word choice would kick me out of my bit of trance. Perhaps it is just when it was written or that the author really wanted to get across that these main characters are just kids, but I am not a fan of dreamlike description, dreamlike description, fantastical creature, "rad!" It seems incongruous. The ending also seems very sudden. It is like the author ran out of pages or needed a break before the planned second book. Hopefully the second book picks up well.

Okay, I finished this series a while ago. Sorry about the late update.

It is WEIRD. It is a total trip. The family is separated and they are trying to save the others and they are dead and they are floating and they are going to save the universe and it is just WEIRD! If you are in the mood for something quite odd and floaty and don't mind some slow and a bit incongruous writing, go for it.

[Ruth · Rating 1 out of 5]

This trilogy is horrible and no one should ever be subjected to reading it, except (possibly) a pre-adolescent male. The story is a weird cross-dimensional saga where all the battles turn into mental challenges where the main characters have to confront their own histories.

The gender roles are hideous, with the only "girl" character showing that self-confidence is equated with being thin, chaste and saving herself for a love that appears unrequited. The perfect version of this female is one that sacrifices herself for her first love who doesn't seem to return her affection. In her many other physical forms in alternate realities, transitions that miraculously don't happen to the males, she is fat (hiding from a sexuality she is scared of), or sexy and promiscuous (response to a sexual assault).

All the other main characters are shallow and / or self-indulgent, and some last-minute revelations about their pasts does very little to endear them to me. The Oedipus thing is downright weird. The ending is unsatisfying.

I think this was published in the '90s, but even its age doesn't explain how this ever got published. I will be throwing the book away instead of passing it on, hoping to protect everyone from reading it in the future.

[Pete · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started reading this trilogy in late March, but this review is largely for Yestern, the final book in the trilogy. This book is a bit better than the the second book in the series, but the trilogy falls very short of fulfilling the promise of the first book, Riverrun. Somtow is a very imaginative writer, and the central premise of the series had immense promise--a King Lear-like figure rules the multiverse, but when he decides to divide his kingdom among his three children, his son Thorn the vampire, his daugther Katastrofa the were-dragon and his son Ash an angelic figure, a war is unleashed across the cosmos. The Etchison family is dragged into this epic struggle because the son Theo is a truthsayer who can navigate the river that joins the worlds. Unfortunately, the series only feels like an epic in a few discrete moments. Much of the series is dominated by the recursive, and often tedious, monologuing of the main characters. In addition, the series feels very recursive as similar events are repeated with slightly different versions of the characters. The series really needed more concrete narrative elements. I also think that it would have been better published as a single book with a tighter structure. Recommended for avid Somtow fans.

[Mary]

Deeply weird, highly recommended.