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The Riverman Trilogy #3
The Storyteller: The Riverman Trilogy, Book III by Aaron Starmer
The extraordinary conclusion to the critically acclaimed Riverman trilogy.Keri Cleary is worried about her brother, Alistair. As the one witness to a shooting, he has been shocked into near silence. But Keri--and everyone else--needs to know the answers to three Who shot Kyle Dwyer? Where is Charlie Dwyer? What does this all have to do with the disappearance of Fiona Loomis?Perhaps the answers lie in stories. As Alistair makes strange confessions to his sister, Keri becomes inspired. She tells stories, tales that may reveal hidden truths, fiction that may cause real things to happen. In the concluding volume of the Riverman Trilogy, readers are asked to consider the source of inspiration, the borders of reality, and the power of storytelling.
Hardcover
First published March 15, 2016
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June 10, 2025
As a child, I really loved book series: at my peak, I think I was following 10 or 11 at once. What I learned is that a series is hard to finish--authors feel the temptation to wrap everything up in a series of gaudy bows that give the fans everything they were hoping for, or they panic under the pressure and do something totally goofy. But I trusted Aaron Starmer--he had amazed and enchanted me with the previous two books, so I had no doubts he would wrap up this trilogy beautifully.
And he did! This book switches perspectives, which might seem like a risky move (and certainly has failed in the hands of other authors), but it works (duh). Now, we're reading Stella, the diary that Alistair's older sister Keri keeps. This switch is so interesting is how it affects our relationship with Alistair. The Riverman was told in first-person; The Whisper was told in third-person, but it was a close third, still focused through Alistair's perspective. The Storyteller is first-person again, but we're in someone else's mind, someone who doesn't and cannot know the intricacies and intimacies of Alistair's thoughts.
Speaking of identity, it's one of the things this novel--this series--explores so well. In this final volume, one of the questions at the heart of the identity theme is "who am I when I am special?" Starmer explores this idea in two parallel tales: the Alistair/Keri story, of course, but also through the tale of a magical, glowing wombat. It's like the phrase "it's lonely at the top," except that these aren't stories of success separating people, but inherent being (i.e., who they are) that sets them apart. It was true of Fiona in the first book, who is lonely and called to Aquavania, and it's true of Alistair in subsequent books, first because he is sucked into Aquavania and becomes the Riverman and later because he is the boy involved in a mysterious shooting and disappearance who doesn't behave like he used to. How does being special, set apart in some way, alter the person you are? In Keri's case, the question might even be "how does living adjacent to special change you?"
Starmer also masterfully crafts a razor-sharp balance between melancholy and wonder in this story--for starters, Alistair is transformed into a character entrenched in sadness, and the author smartly employs the use of the startingly-wise-child trope (as we, the readers, know that Alistair is actually many, many years older inside than he is outside) to create this contradictory, uncanny, fascinating character of a young boy who is world-weary. The story never tips into uncomfortably depressing, which is a feat in itself, but Alistair definitely reminds us that the world isn't a bright, shiny, beautiful place, even for children. But there is wonder, too: perhaps it's Keri's unwillingness to accept Alistair's bleak outlook, for perhaps it's the idea that life goes on, or maybe it's that Alistair doesn't give up, even in the face of his despair.
This balancing act happens in Keri's diary, too. Sure, we get entries about the things going on in her life, but it's not all we get out of Stella. There are these weird, interesting short stories, too, magical realism oddities that are at once wondrous--a story about a couple who builds a child out of peppermint, or the aforementioned glowing wombat--and bleak, full of surprising emotional turns (I won't spoil you) that effectively mirror the constant battle the Cleary family faces in trying to adjust to their new normal. In The Whisper, I said that the interwoven stories were reminiscent of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales. If that's true, then the stories in this third volume are like the work of Angela Carter: brutal and sad and true, capable of tearing your heart out and taunting you with the still-beating mass of muscle. I said the one word that described The Riverman was "creepy." For The Whisper, it was "lonely." For The Storyteller, it's "marvelous," in the etymological sense--full of marvels, both joyful and sad.
So what's the final product? A novel that never, even for a second, stops demonstrating its exacting wit, its Technicolor vivacity, and its careful, well-planned narrative structures. A novel that soaks you in its briny lifeblood, then wrings you out delicately but without mercy. A series that is strange, sad, surreal, and satisfying. A must-not-miss. A victory.
My rating: 5/5
And he did! This book switches perspectives, which might seem like a risky move (and certainly has failed in the hands of other authors), but it works (duh). Now, we're reading Stella, the diary that Alistair's older sister Keri keeps. This switch is so interesting is how it affects our relationship with Alistair. The Riverman was told in first-person; The Whisper was told in third-person, but it was a close third, still focused through Alistair's perspective. The Storyteller is first-person again, but we're in someone else's mind, someone who doesn't and cannot know the intricacies and intimacies of Alistair's thoughts.
Speaking of identity, it's one of the things this novel--this series--explores so well. In this final volume, one of the questions at the heart of the identity theme is "who am I when I am special?" Starmer explores this idea in two parallel tales: the Alistair/Keri story, of course, but also through the tale of a magical, glowing wombat. It's like the phrase "it's lonely at the top," except that these aren't stories of success separating people, but inherent being (i.e., who they are) that sets them apart. It was true of Fiona in the first book, who is lonely and called to Aquavania, and it's true of Alistair in subsequent books, first because he is sucked into Aquavania and becomes the Riverman and later because he is the boy involved in a mysterious shooting and disappearance who doesn't behave like he used to. How does being special, set apart in some way, alter the person you are? In Keri's case, the question might even be "how does living adjacent to special change you?"
Starmer also masterfully crafts a razor-sharp balance between melancholy and wonder in this story--for starters, Alistair is transformed into a character entrenched in sadness, and the author smartly employs the use of the startingly-wise-child trope (as we, the readers, know that Alistair is actually many, many years older inside than he is outside) to create this contradictory, uncanny, fascinating character of a young boy who is world-weary. The story never tips into uncomfortably depressing, which is a feat in itself, but Alistair definitely reminds us that the world isn't a bright, shiny, beautiful place, even for children. But there is wonder, too: perhaps it's Keri's unwillingness to accept Alistair's bleak outlook, for perhaps it's the idea that life goes on, or maybe it's that Alistair doesn't give up, even in the face of his despair.
This balancing act happens in Keri's diary, too. Sure, we get entries about the things going on in her life, but it's not all we get out of Stella. There are these weird, interesting short stories, too, magical realism oddities that are at once wondrous--a story about a couple who builds a child out of peppermint, or the aforementioned glowing wombat--and bleak, full of surprising emotional turns (I won't spoil you) that effectively mirror the constant battle the Cleary family faces in trying to adjust to their new normal. In The Whisper, I said that the interwoven stories were reminiscent of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales. If that's true, then the stories in this third volume are like the work of Angela Carter: brutal and sad and true, capable of tearing your heart out and taunting you with the still-beating mass of muscle. I said the one word that described The Riverman was "creepy." For The Whisper, it was "lonely." For The Storyteller, it's "marvelous," in the etymological sense--full of marvels, both joyful and sad.
So what's the final product? A novel that never, even for a second, stops demonstrating its exacting wit, its Technicolor vivacity, and its careful, well-planned narrative structures. A novel that soaks you in its briny lifeblood, then wrings you out delicately but without mercy. A series that is strange, sad, surreal, and satisfying. A must-not-miss. A victory.
My rating: 5/5
May 1, 2016
My reaction after finishing this book:
This was SUCH a terrible ending to this trilogy! I absolutely loved The Riverman and The Whisper, so I was eager to find out how it would all end. You'd think with how The Whisper left off, and this being the final book, that it would be most crucial here to have the story told from Alistair's perspective, that it would make the most sense. But no, the final book is told from Alistair's sister, Keri's, perspective, which is pretty much useless to us because she knows squat about Aquavania, and so it feels like we're only getting one side of the story from someone who isn't really knowledgeable. Even when Alistair attempts to explain things to her (which he does a terrible job of, and it just comes across as very vague and ambiguous), we're still not given access to Alistair's thoughts to give us a clearer idea of what's going on in Aquavania or what his experiences are like as the new Riverman. For example, throughout the book I kept asking, "So, does this mean that Alistair's evil now or..? Is he to be trusted?" because you really don't know what's happened after Alistair became the Riverman and it's not explained clearly, between Alistair being vague as hell and Keri being like, "Wow, my brother sure is acting weird," through like 80% of the book -__-
Because Keri is narrating the book, we're forced to suffer and listen to her side of everything, which unfortunately means that a vast chunk of the book is devoted to things that I couldn't have given a flying eff about, like Keri having a boyfriend who she sort of/not really likes, but she decides she needs a boyfriend anyhow. LIKE, I LITERALLY DO NOT CARE ABOUT STUPID GLEN, CAN YOU PLEASE GET BACK TO THE REAL STORY, PLEASE? In comparison to what's going on in Aquavania, everything else just seems trivial. Oh, and Keri is also narrating the story through her diary, which he has named Stella and which only makes the writing even more intolerable and juvenile-sounding. In between telling about her life, her brother, and everything else that's going on, Keri also has gotten into writing stories. This is nice, I guess, but I honestly didn't really care. I felt like these stories didn't really contribute much, if anything, and were just a waste of time to me. Or maybe I was already impatient with the story by this point. Who knows? Regardless, I ended up just skipping over these parts, which fortunately made getting through this book a lot quicker.
I was extremely dissatisfied with the ending. I still don't feel like there was really a great explanation given for how Fiona found her way back, for how Aquavania was saved..? Maybe..? I'll be honest, I still don't really know what the eff happened. Alistair apparently "absorbed them" and somehow everything turned out okay, but again, what the hell does that even mean? Like I said, everything was explained in such a vague way. It would've been extremely helpful for this story to have been told through Alistair's perspective. I don't know what the hell the author was thinking by having it told from Keri's perspective, a character who, let's be honest, we don't really care about at all and who was never a major part of this trilogy. So I felt like I didn't get the ending or the closure that I needed, and I really did just want to throw the book out of frustration and out of feeling like I just got jipped from a trilogy that I was really beginning to love and that made me hopeful for a good ending.
This was SUCH a terrible ending to this trilogy! I absolutely loved The Riverman and The Whisper, so I was eager to find out how it would all end. You'd think with how The Whisper left off, and this being the final book, that it would be most crucial here to have the story told from Alistair's perspective, that it would make the most sense. But no, the final book is told from Alistair's sister, Keri's, perspective, which is pretty much useless to us because she knows squat about Aquavania, and so it feels like we're only getting one side of the story from someone who isn't really knowledgeable. Even when Alistair attempts to explain things to her (which he does a terrible job of, and it just comes across as very vague and ambiguous), we're still not given access to Alistair's thoughts to give us a clearer idea of what's going on in Aquavania or what his experiences are like as the new Riverman. For example, throughout the book I kept asking, "So, does this mean that Alistair's evil now or..? Is he to be trusted?" because you really don't know what's happened after Alistair became the Riverman and it's not explained clearly, between Alistair being vague as hell and Keri being like, "Wow, my brother sure is acting weird," through like 80% of the book -__-
Because Keri is narrating the book, we're forced to suffer and listen to her side of everything, which unfortunately means that a vast chunk of the book is devoted to things that I couldn't have given a flying eff about, like Keri having a boyfriend who she sort of/not really likes, but she decides she needs a boyfriend anyhow. LIKE, I LITERALLY DO NOT CARE ABOUT STUPID GLEN, CAN YOU PLEASE GET BACK TO THE REAL STORY, PLEASE? In comparison to what's going on in Aquavania, everything else just seems trivial. Oh, and Keri is also narrating the story through her diary, which he has named Stella and which only makes the writing even more intolerable and juvenile-sounding. In between telling about her life, her brother, and everything else that's going on, Keri also has gotten into writing stories. This is nice, I guess, but I honestly didn't really care. I felt like these stories didn't really contribute much, if anything, and were just a waste of time to me. Or maybe I was already impatient with the story by this point. Who knows? Regardless, I ended up just skipping over these parts, which fortunately made getting through this book a lot quicker.
I was extremely dissatisfied with the ending. I still don't feel like there was really a great explanation given for how Fiona found her way back, for how Aquavania was saved..? Maybe..? I'll be honest, I still don't really know what the eff happened. Alistair apparently "absorbed them" and somehow everything turned out okay, but again, what the hell does that even mean? Like I said, everything was explained in such a vague way. It would've been extremely helpful for this story to have been told through Alistair's perspective. I don't know what the hell the author was thinking by having it told from Keri's perspective, a character who, let's be honest, we don't really care about at all and who was never a major part of this trilogy. So I felt like I didn't get the ending or the closure that I needed, and I really did just want to throw the book out of frustration and out of feeling like I just got jipped from a trilogy that I was really beginning to love and that made me hopeful for a good ending.
December 19, 2017
So, the Riverman is written in first person, the Whisper is written in third person - but still from Alistair's perspective - and then there's the Storyteller, written from the Storyteller's perspective, in first person. The Storyteller being Alistairs teenage, but older, sister, Keri.
One book at a time, Aaron Starmer manages to completely distance us from Alistair, to the point where we remain completely on the outside, as we are forced to go through his sister's journey and see things from her perspective, completely oblivious to what her brother had experienced or Aquavania's existence. This is interesting...but also, strange. Interesting, because it gives us, readers, the upper hand. We know things Alistair's family don't know. We know what's wrong with him, we know why he's different, but they don't. It's strange because, we are reading things from his sister's perspective as she writes in her diary, which takes us on tangents as she talks about school and friends and her boyfriend. Things we really don't care about, as readers, because we just want to get on with the story.
Then there are Keri's short stories, stories that sound weirdly familiar. Almost like she's been to Aquavania. It makes no sense, but these stories just come to her and she writes them down.
I enjoyed this book because it took us out of Aquavania and back into the real world. We finally know what's happened to Charlie and Kyle, Fiona is still missing, and no one knows what's going on. However, a lot of questions go unanswered. A lot of things go unexplained. Starmer is brilliant, the writing is good, but I feel like we've gone so far off topic.
One book at a time, Aaron Starmer manages to completely distance us from Alistair, to the point where we remain completely on the outside, as we are forced to go through his sister's journey and see things from her perspective, completely oblivious to what her brother had experienced or Aquavania's existence. This is interesting...but also, strange. Interesting, because it gives us, readers, the upper hand. We know things Alistair's family don't know. We know what's wrong with him, we know why he's different, but they don't. It's strange because, we are reading things from his sister's perspective as she writes in her diary, which takes us on tangents as she talks about school and friends and her boyfriend. Things we really don't care about, as readers, because we just want to get on with the story.
Then there are Keri's short stories, stories that sound weirdly familiar. Almost like she's been to Aquavania. It makes no sense, but these stories just come to her and she writes them down.
I enjoyed this book because it took us out of Aquavania and back into the real world. We finally know what's happened to Charlie and Kyle, Fiona is still missing, and no one knows what's going on. However, a lot of questions go unanswered. A lot of things go unexplained. Starmer is brilliant, the writing is good, but I feel like we've gone so far off topic.
October 3, 2019
Whoah ... my head feels like it's gonna explode >,<
There are stories within a story, and somehow they are all connected. It's kinda fun trying to figure out the connection. Especially when the stories are dark and disturbing (for example, there's a story about a couple who build a daughter, a girl from candy canes, but in the end they eat her).
I suspect the author is a fan of The Chronicles of Narnia or The Dark Materials trilogy.
There are heavy issues like The Death of God, World Creation and World Ending. I can't believe this is a book for Middle Grade ...
There are stories within a story, and somehow they are all connected. It's kinda fun trying to figure out the connection. Especially when the stories are dark and disturbing (for example, there's a story about a couple who build a daughter, a girl from candy canes, but in the end they eat her).
I suspect the author is a fan of The Chronicles of Narnia or The Dark Materials trilogy.
There are heavy issues like The Death of God, World Creation and World Ending. I can't believe this is a book for Middle Grade ...
June 10, 2016
Imagine a 62 year old man just finishing The Storyteller and unable to control his tears. The ending was satisfying, not particularly sad, why the tears?
First, a brilliantly written trilogy was coming to an end. Words, carefully chosen, provided me with many quotes worth saving. The last one I saved; "Because whether inspiration comes from an actual place or not doesn't matter if you don't choose to do something with it. And if you do choose to do something with it, the stories you create don't matter unless they make ripples in the world."
Second, a trilogy that was brilliantly conceived was coming to an end. It was a story so imaginative, so other worldly, I was constantly in amazement that a singular person brought this story from his mind to paper. Not for one moment did I have any idea where this story was going, or how it would conclude. And if I was asked what the trilogy was about? Well its about storytelling, about imagination, but this passage really sums up its deeper meaning;
"...But when you're a kid, It's different. You lose something and then there's this hole inside of you and you want to fill that hole, but you don't have the experience or wisdom to do it. So you ask for answers. From the air, from the clouds, from the stars, from anyone who might listen. And when voices finally respond and promise that there's a place where you can get what you want, where your wishes can come true, then you go. You go to that magical place and you stay and you create and you try to heal. You fill that hole. Which can be brave. Which is important. But while you're there, you realize that what you want and what you need are two different things. And that's when you're done with the place, and you leave for good. But leaving for good means you forget the place even existed at all."
Third, I had the satisfaction of the end of a trilogy that answers some questions but leaves others for me to fill in, that leaves characters in a satisfactory place, but not necessarily ideal, and that left me exhausted because of the mental exercise such a convoluted plot put me through.
Thank you Aaron Starmer for writing a trilogy for the reader, that exercises the reader, that doesn't pander to convention or what is currently in vogue and for understanding the YA/middle audience and knowing how smart they really are.
First, a brilliantly written trilogy was coming to an end. Words, carefully chosen, provided me with many quotes worth saving. The last one I saved; "Because whether inspiration comes from an actual place or not doesn't matter if you don't choose to do something with it. And if you do choose to do something with it, the stories you create don't matter unless they make ripples in the world."
Second, a trilogy that was brilliantly conceived was coming to an end. It was a story so imaginative, so other worldly, I was constantly in amazement that a singular person brought this story from his mind to paper. Not for one moment did I have any idea where this story was going, or how it would conclude. And if I was asked what the trilogy was about? Well its about storytelling, about imagination, but this passage really sums up its deeper meaning;
"...But when you're a kid, It's different. You lose something and then there's this hole inside of you and you want to fill that hole, but you don't have the experience or wisdom to do it. So you ask for answers. From the air, from the clouds, from the stars, from anyone who might listen. And when voices finally respond and promise that there's a place where you can get what you want, where your wishes can come true, then you go. You go to that magical place and you stay and you create and you try to heal. You fill that hole. Which can be brave. Which is important. But while you're there, you realize that what you want and what you need are two different things. And that's when you're done with the place, and you leave for good. But leaving for good means you forget the place even existed at all."
Third, I had the satisfaction of the end of a trilogy that answers some questions but leaves others for me to fill in, that leaves characters in a satisfactory place, but not necessarily ideal, and that left me exhausted because of the mental exercise such a convoluted plot put me through.
Thank you Aaron Starmer for writing a trilogy for the reader, that exercises the reader, that doesn't pander to convention or what is currently in vogue and for understanding the YA/middle audience and knowing how smart they really are.
April 13, 2019
Wow. Read the first book in the trilogy and pretend the other two don't exist.
December 7, 2017
I have to admit, I was skeptical about Keri taking over as narrator of this book. I felt like she'd been out of things for so long that she couldn't possibly be a narrator I'd care about... but I think it was her stories that really reeled me in, especially with the way that they gave so many different views about what Aquavania was, and how the Whisper/Riverman/etc began in the first place with the Una and Banar myth . I was disappointed about the distance that we had from Alistair... it felt like seeing a past dear friend from afar but being unable to get their attention. Alistair obviously has pretty weighty things on his mind, and maybe we as readers can no longer really relate to this old-man-in-a-teen's-body, so I understand why Starmer made this choice, but it was a sad one for me. Continuing the parallels between "Stranger Things" and The Storyteller, it felt like Alistair was Will being taken over by the Mind Flayer, with the way that he was so distant and with the way I was often unsettled and unsure if he was acting in the best interests of Aquavanians or not (similar to how Will's actions and words were suspect... well, until an obvious tipping point).
Back to The Storyteller: I'm not a huge fan of short stories, but I surprised myself by feeling happy (or at least, not upset) when a story chapter rolled around. By now, Starmer has earned my trust as a short storyteller. The stories aren't always my favorite things; sometimes they seem random, sometimes they're downright weird... but weaving them together in the end was an unexpected move. There's a lot left in this book for me to chew on mentally, a lot left that I haven't necessarily resolved for myself... but I wanted to get this book back into the library for those who might want to fly through it next. I was worried when I started this series that the ending--and Aquavania itself--might turn into something trite and pat, but Starmer did not disappoint in creating something intricate, unique, and also a bit unsettling.
Back to The Storyteller: I'm not a huge fan of short stories, but I surprised myself by feeling happy (or at least, not upset) when a story chapter rolled around. By now, Starmer has earned my trust as a short storyteller. The stories aren't always my favorite things; sometimes they seem random, sometimes they're downright weird... but weaving them together in the end was an unexpected move. There's a lot left in this book for me to chew on mentally, a lot left that I haven't necessarily resolved for myself... but I wanted to get this book back into the library for those who might want to fly through it next. I was worried when I started this series that the ending--and Aquavania itself--might turn into something trite and pat, but Starmer did not disappoint in creating something intricate, unique, and also a bit unsettling.
May 20, 2017
2.5 rounded up. I can't fit the pieces together that well. I liked the stories interspersed, but in the end, it feels like they were less important. I liked Keri as the narrator, but I didn't get enough of Alistair. It's been his story.
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This would have worked better as the second book, with the third book a jump backwards in time explaining what happened to Alistair. That'd give a better segway from realism to full on fantasy (although I liked the switch between books one and two, though not necessarily two and three. It felt like a step backwards in the world's development. Although, maybe it was intentional? Real world to fantasy to real world? But this one was a little too crazy to be real world, I think). I really, really like Keri, both as a character and a narrator.
I'm a little confused about the wombat, Luna.
Thinking more about it, I really wish this was the second book. Then The Whisper would just have a couple more chapters showing the ending of this book from Alistair POV.
Also I wish Kyle was in it more. And Charlie, who's a terrifying villain because he's so darn REAL.
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This would have worked better as the second book, with the third book a jump backwards in time explaining what happened to Alistair. That'd give a better segway from realism to full on fantasy (although I liked the switch between books one and two, though not necessarily two and three. It felt like a step backwards in the world's development. Although, maybe it was intentional? Real world to fantasy to real world? But this one was a little too crazy to be real world, I think). I really, really like Keri, both as a character and a narrator.
I'm a little confused about the wombat, Luna.
Thinking more about it, I really wish this was the second book. Then The Whisper would just have a couple more chapters showing the ending of this book from Alistair POV.
Also I wish Kyle was in it more. And Charlie, who's a terrifying villain because he's so darn REAL.
March 28, 2020
This series is fantastic, and I stand by this. It’s key for anyone who likes literary analysis but wants something more readable. An absolute must-read for its weirdness (especially for people who like the Knife of Never Letting Go brand of weirdness or would like something like Alice in Wonderland on steroids). But I just couldn’t give this conclusion to the series more than 3 stars. While Keri as narrator made sense and brought many elements of the stories together, I still mentally pouted and wished for more of Alistair’s perspective. Or Fiona’s. Simply not enough Fiona in book 2-3. I greatly enjoyed Keri’s stories and loved the way they were all tied together in “Worlds Collide.” Really an artful wrap-up in many ways, but the ending was lackluster for me. “Some questions are never answered,”?! Are you kidding? I know this, but I cannot BELIEVE we didn’t get more Alistair’s perspective there at the end.
August 12, 2016
Aaron Starmer's The Riverman Trilogy is without a doubt one of the finest crafted series I've read in some time. The Storyteller may have been my favorite of the series. How everything comes together left me totally satisfied. I couldn't put this one down, and I highly recommend the entire series.
June 7, 2016
Why is a book with 12 and 14-year old protagonists so dark?
The Storyteller is the conclusion of The Riverman Trilogy, the mind-bending stories that encapsulate Aquavania and the fates of those submerged within its waters. This third book was once again told in first person, however it is coming from a new voice. Kerrigan Cleary is Alistair's older sister and has pretty much done nothing big on the previous two books. That was why my reaction when I first found that this was to be written in Keri's POV was... "Why?"
As I read through, I (maybe) understood why Starmer chose to have this book told in a new view. As I have reached this far in the trilogy, I know by now that this series tells not just a single story; it provides stories within stories and how these stories interweave one another. At the same time, it tells the story of our characters, how The Riverman was Fiona's story told by Alistair, and how pretty much it was also Charlie's in the later parts. How we were made to believe that The Whisper would be about Fiona and Charlie, but later on it was also about Aquavania and largely, about Alistair after all. Now, we are provided by Keri's story, and how she perceives other stories through her eyes, how she sees her best friend, how she tries to have a boyfriend to know what it would feel like, how she copes with her brother that straight out changed overnight, how she deals with the frustrations her parents could bring, and how she understands the strange disappearances of children she either knows or not. This all is told through a diary she named Stella, and crumpled up in all her daily entries we get to be in the mind of an emotionally confused fourteen year-old girl. This here is written so well it is as if Starmer has become, well... a teenage girl. But Keri is more than that, she writes stories of her own. Stories she believes comes from her imaginations, and these stories (like the ones on the previous books) always make me think. Starmer, like Keri, is a great storyteller, that I'm sure.
From here on, I will tell why I didn't give The Storyteller 5 Stars:
1. The style of writing is unlikely. Yes, the diary-like approach makes the dark tales funny and personal, but since this is from a diary, it can't be helped that there are some things that are better off not mentioned at all (eg. her rants about her best friend and her boyfriend). Since the final book approaches the mysteries to be solved, it would've been better if the story focused on that more.
2. This book feels detached from the previous two. Aside from the different approach on writing, this book really takes you far from our original characters (Alistair, Charlie, Fiona). It focuses instead on how Keri perceives things. And this doesn't really explain much at all. Her personal life is different from that on how her brother and Charlie and Fiona were in Aquavania. The first two books, despite being mysterious and confusing at times, followed a clear timeline and set a few goals. These goals are expected to be encountered for this final book, yet it was seen from a different angle. It's like the readers are left peeking through their windows instead of actually being at the event outside. This books was very different that I can't help but feel this could be an extra, something like a 2.5 book in the series, something that could be titled "Aquavania and Other Stories".
3. Everything is vague. This was supposed to be the conclusion, and what I expected was that I'd be diving deeper into the waters of Aquavania. But then Keri has little to nothing knowledge about Aquavania at all, and it frustrates me how I only get as little answers as her from Alistair. Most of the time, the readers could get "Alistair has become really strange but what is he really doing?" All the answers I hope to get would only come from Alistair's vague statements and strange actions. We don't fully see Alistair become the Riverman, which is something I really hoped for after I read The Whisper. We don't know what really goes on as he does his job because we can't get into his mind. Instead, we have stories of dead birds and joggers, of toy guns and aliens, of clouds and opposite days, of princesses and potions, of wombats and bush babies. All of these Starmer tries to relate to the world of Aquavania. It is done so brilliantly well that it becomes confusing at some point, I don't know if children who read this can really understand all of it. But this is what I like about Starmer also, because he does not underestimate the reader. He pushes them to think, to turn words into jigsaw puzzles and let them build a picture with the pieces he provided. And even with all these, I could barely get an answer about Alistair and his job. What we get instead is a story of Aquavania's own: how it began and, with Alistair, maybe how it will end. Starmer makes it so that Keri could have been someone with a deep connection to Aquavania, but whatever the connection is may be to astounding to be believed.
4. What of Alistair? This may have been mentioned before. But even if Alistair was there, he seemed like a second character who is off to do the most strange things yet we are deprived of that. I didn't even know what really happened. The transitions of his personality happened so abruptly and the way he says he'd solve the problems looked promising, but what happened, really? How'd he do it, really? Did he do it, really?
5. The lack of Charlie. Though Charlie is difficult, and could even be considered the antagonist, I can't help but think he is one of the best characters in this series. There's just so much in him that we didn't see coming. I wanted more of him, despite maybe Starmer meaning to end his story in the previous book. I loved Charlie, but like Alistair, I didn't get to see much of him. In fact, whatever happened to Charlie, actually? This just seemed so unfair to him because Charlie felt like a forgotten entity in this.
The writing is marvelous, as usual, but as a conclusion I couldn't quite call it one. This having told by someone who hasn't done much in the previous two books makes me wish it wasn't the end yet. But then again, Keri says she'd write more stories, and how she could always leave stories with no endings. It makes me want to roll on my bed until I fall to the floor. Starmer had introduced some characters but barely had any time to elaborate them all. He resurrected old ones (like how we go back to the very beginning of The Riverman, when Alistair saw death for the first time), but they had not given me enough answers to say if they were relevant at all. I would like to read this entire trilogy again someday, maybe after I've grown smarter and when I'd understand vagueness more. I'm sure there were a lot of gems Starmer hid in this last book. Maybe I have not been thinking more to see all of them. Maybe I need to believe more to understand. Maybe I need to be an adult with a kid's heart, or a kid with the mind of an adult. This is what these books could do to you.
Nevertheless, a huge clap for Starmer. He has made a wonderful series that pushes you to the edge of imagination.
The Storyteller is the conclusion of The Riverman Trilogy, the mind-bending stories that encapsulate Aquavania and the fates of those submerged within its waters. This third book was once again told in first person, however it is coming from a new voice. Kerrigan Cleary is Alistair's older sister and has pretty much done nothing big on the previous two books. That was why my reaction when I first found that this was to be written in Keri's POV was... "Why?"
As I read through, I (maybe) understood why Starmer chose to have this book told in a new view. As I have reached this far in the trilogy, I know by now that this series tells not just a single story; it provides stories within stories and how these stories interweave one another. At the same time, it tells the story of our characters, how The Riverman was Fiona's story told by Alistair, and how pretty much it was also Charlie's in the later parts. How we were made to believe that The Whisper would be about Fiona and Charlie, but later on it was also about Aquavania and largely, about Alistair after all. Now, we are provided by Keri's story, and how she perceives other stories through her eyes, how she sees her best friend, how she tries to have a boyfriend to know what it would feel like, how she copes with her brother that straight out changed overnight, how she deals with the frustrations her parents could bring, and how she understands the strange disappearances of children she either knows or not. This all is told through a diary she named Stella, and crumpled up in all her daily entries we get to be in the mind of an emotionally confused fourteen year-old girl. This here is written so well it is as if Starmer has become, well... a teenage girl. But Keri is more than that, she writes stories of her own. Stories she believes comes from her imaginations, and these stories (like the ones on the previous books) always make me think. Starmer, like Keri, is a great storyteller, that I'm sure.
From here on, I will tell why I didn't give The Storyteller 5 Stars:
1. The style of writing is unlikely. Yes, the diary-like approach makes the dark tales funny and personal, but since this is from a diary, it can't be helped that there are some things that are better off not mentioned at all (eg. her rants about her best friend and her boyfriend). Since the final book approaches the mysteries to be solved, it would've been better if the story focused on that more.
2. This book feels detached from the previous two. Aside from the different approach on writing, this book really takes you far from our original characters (Alistair, Charlie, Fiona). It focuses instead on how Keri perceives things. And this doesn't really explain much at all. Her personal life is different from that on how her brother and Charlie and Fiona were in Aquavania. The first two books, despite being mysterious and confusing at times, followed a clear timeline and set a few goals. These goals are expected to be encountered for this final book, yet it was seen from a different angle. It's like the readers are left peeking through their windows instead of actually being at the event outside. This books was very different that I can't help but feel this could be an extra, something like a 2.5 book in the series, something that could be titled "Aquavania and Other Stories".
3. Everything is vague. This was supposed to be the conclusion, and what I expected was that I'd be diving deeper into the waters of Aquavania. But then Keri has little to nothing knowledge about Aquavania at all, and it frustrates me how I only get as little answers as her from Alistair. Most of the time, the readers could get "Alistair has become really strange but what is he really doing?" All the answers I hope to get would only come from Alistair's vague statements and strange actions. We don't fully see Alistair become the Riverman, which is something I really hoped for after I read The Whisper. We don't know what really goes on as he does his job because we can't get into his mind. Instead, we have stories of dead birds and joggers, of toy guns and aliens, of clouds and opposite days, of princesses and potions, of wombats and bush babies. All of these Starmer tries to relate to the world of Aquavania. It is done so brilliantly well that it becomes confusing at some point, I don't know if children who read this can really understand all of it. But this is what I like about Starmer also, because he does not underestimate the reader. He pushes them to think, to turn words into jigsaw puzzles and let them build a picture with the pieces he provided. And even with all these, I could barely get an answer about Alistair and his job. What we get instead is a story of Aquavania's own: how it began and, with Alistair, maybe how it will end. Starmer makes it so that Keri could have been someone with a deep connection to Aquavania, but whatever the connection is may be to astounding to be believed.
4. What of Alistair? This may have been mentioned before. But even if Alistair was there, he seemed like a second character who is off to do the most strange things yet we are deprived of that. I didn't even know what really happened. The transitions of his personality happened so abruptly and the way he says he'd solve the problems looked promising, but what happened, really? How'd he do it, really? Did he do it, really?
5. The lack of Charlie. Though Charlie is difficult, and could even be considered the antagonist, I can't help but think he is one of the best characters in this series. There's just so much in him that we didn't see coming. I wanted more of him, despite maybe Starmer meaning to end his story in the previous book. I loved Charlie, but like Alistair, I didn't get to see much of him. In fact, whatever happened to Charlie, actually? This just seemed so unfair to him because Charlie felt like a forgotten entity in this.
The writing is marvelous, as usual, but as a conclusion I couldn't quite call it one. This having told by someone who hasn't done much in the previous two books makes me wish it wasn't the end yet. But then again, Keri says she'd write more stories, and how she could always leave stories with no endings. It makes me want to roll on my bed until I fall to the floor. Starmer had introduced some characters but barely had any time to elaborate them all. He resurrected old ones (like how we go back to the very beginning of The Riverman, when Alistair saw death for the first time), but they had not given me enough answers to say if they were relevant at all. I would like to read this entire trilogy again someday, maybe after I've grown smarter and when I'd understand vagueness more. I'm sure there were a lot of gems Starmer hid in this last book. Maybe I have not been thinking more to see all of them. Maybe I need to believe more to understand. Maybe I need to be an adult with a kid's heart, or a kid with the mind of an adult. This is what these books could do to you.
Nevertheless, a huge clap for Starmer. He has made a wonderful series that pushes you to the edge of imagination.
August 6, 2020
This book is told through the diary and stories of Alistair's older sister, Keri. Alistair is home from Aquavania, but mute for the first few days. Charlie is missing and Kyle is in a coma from a gunshot wound. When Alistair begins to speak, it is only to Keri. At first she thinks Kyle is just having a mental breakdown. Then strange coincidences turn her into a believer. I liked that Alistair's story, while important, is set against the backdrop of a creative 14 year old girl everyday life experiences.
The best part of this series is that reality, if such a thing exists, is very slippery. By the time I was finished I knew that I had been on one heck of a ride, but honestly, I'm not sure I really understand what exactly happened.
The best part of this series is that reality, if such a thing exists, is very slippery. By the time I was finished I knew that I had been on one heck of a ride, but honestly, I'm not sure I really understand what exactly happened.
June 21, 2023
This final book is from a different character perspective, which is interesting. There aren't any real answers here, and the writing is disjointed. There are several smaller stories from the narrator here that I suspect are meant to somehow close up some gaps through context, but I couldn't put that together. I was disappointed with this last book and the story ending.
January 25, 2020
One of the few books I will forgive for having an ending that resolves nothing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 3, 2020
4.5 stars
I prefer a neatly finished trilogy but leaving us hanging was the perfect ending to this creepy series
Delightfully creepy
I prefer a neatly finished trilogy but leaving us hanging was the perfect ending to this creepy series
Delightfully creepy
January 14, 2018
The Riverman trilogy is one of the most thought-provoking young adult series I've ever had the privilege to read. I'm still sitting stunned after racing through the last half of the final novel.
I'm not going to lie - after swallowing the first two novels in the series, I wasn't too keen on the prospects of The Storyteller. While waiting for the book to come in the mail, I started reading the "Look Inside!" tab on Amazon, only to annoyingly discover that the book is narrated by Keri...Alistair's sister.
"What??" I probably said. "Keri?? After everything, Starmer ends this thing from her perspective??? Who the hell cares about Keri???"
Well, me, it turns out.
And yes, it doesn't help that Starmer beats-around-the-bush and includes so many of Keri's short stories, but you'd better believe my dumb ass was rushing back to those stories once the end of the book was coming.
It takes a mountain of patience to read and digest all three Riverman novels (especially that second one...man...). But, Starmer's ability to gracefully communicate the complexity of existence is impressive. The ability to communicate that same complexity to teenagers is astonishing.
What began as a dark, possible-horror/mystery/coming-of-age/fantasy á la It, blossomed (exploded?) into such a beautifully twisted, masterfully nuanced allegory (metaphor?) for the endless possibilities that life has to offer.
I truly hope that young people are able to sit through this series and at least try to patiently read and examine those seemingly arduous "Una" chapters in The Whisper and the short stories of The Storyteller. I haven't even dared to look at the reviews for any of the three books; I don't want anything to kill my post-Storyteller vibe.
Life does not make sense. Explaining life makes even less sense.
But Aaron Starmer's Riverman trilogy comes the closest.
I'm not going to lie - after swallowing the first two novels in the series, I wasn't too keen on the prospects of The Storyteller. While waiting for the book to come in the mail, I started reading the "Look Inside!" tab on Amazon, only to annoyingly discover that the book is narrated by Keri...Alistair's sister.
"What??" I probably said. "Keri?? After everything, Starmer ends this thing from her perspective??? Who the hell cares about Keri???"
Well, me, it turns out.
And yes, it doesn't help that Starmer beats-around-the-bush and includes so many of Keri's short stories, but you'd better believe my dumb ass was rushing back to those stories once the end of the book was coming.
It takes a mountain of patience to read and digest all three Riverman novels (especially that second one...man...). But, Starmer's ability to gracefully communicate the complexity of existence is impressive. The ability to communicate that same complexity to teenagers is astonishing.
What began as a dark, possible-horror/mystery/coming-of-age/fantasy á la It, blossomed (exploded?) into such a beautifully twisted, masterfully nuanced allegory (metaphor?) for the endless possibilities that life has to offer.
I truly hope that young people are able to sit through this series and at least try to patiently read and examine those seemingly arduous "Una" chapters in The Whisper and the short stories of The Storyteller. I haven't even dared to look at the reviews for any of the three books; I don't want anything to kill my post-Storyteller vibe.
Life does not make sense. Explaining life makes even less sense.
But Aaron Starmer's Riverman trilogy comes the closest.
March 20, 2016
I only read this because I wanted to know how the story was going to end. That did not really happen and I had to stop myself from flinging the book into the wall upon finishing it. I gave it stars because Starmer can create imaginative worlds and compelling settings. I like how eventually the stories wove together, but I feel the over arching plot of Alistair, Fiona, and Charlie did very little - at least as far as we are told because, hey, they may have spent eons in Aquavania, but we get Alistair's sister's narrative.
If you like dark, twisted stories that leave more questions than answers then by all means you will enjoy this. If you like ending a book series and wanting to scream and rip apart a book have a go (please don't rip your library copies).
I honestly don't know who I would recommend this to. 14 and up?
If you like dark, twisted stories that leave more questions than answers then by all means you will enjoy this. If you like ending a book series and wanting to scream and rip apart a book have a go (please don't rip your library copies).
I honestly don't know who I would recommend this to. 14 and up?
May 24, 2021
Well, I finished and the pondering can begin anew, continue and repeat. Some will not like the ending but I think it fit the theme really well. This is a very unique series that needs to be read together without the year between books. Its creepy, weird, and thought provoking but the reward is worth the challenge.
June 15, 2016
More of a 2.5. This series really petered out for me. Getting Kerri's perspective was fun for a while, but ultimately didn't really provide me with the closure I wanted from such an epic tale. The audiobook narrator was great at being a very normal sounding teen girl. Anytime she addressed the diary by name I had a chuckle.
June 17, 2016
Not bad, but not great either. I definitely expected more answers. This trilogy felt like it could have been a single book that was extended by the publisher to make more of a profit. There were some good moments (I liked parts of Luna's story), but overall it just felt like the author didn't know where he wanted the story to end up, so he just didn't really end it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 2, 2016
I remember reading the Riverman and really loving it. I remember reading the Whisper and thinking it was ok. I found this to be a mediocre conclusion to the trilogy. Firstly, I wasn't super pleased that the perspective shifted to Keri. I thought her friend/boyfriend drama added an unnecessary layer to the story that I didn't care about. I wanted more clear answers.
July 27, 2021
a disappointing ending to a trilogy with lots of potential- I did like Keri's voice and her stories were wonderfully creepy, but this book has almost no plot and almost none of the questions or storylines from earlier in series were resolved satisfyingly
March 25, 2016
Ach, no! IT CAN'T BE OVER.
March 15, 2023
Sometimes I just stop in front of my bookshelves to look at my books. Each a story, a small universe within itself, with a setting and characters all written by an author who’s basically a God for those stories, characters and settings. And I can’t help but think if this life of mine is just another story written by an unseen character seated in front of a typewriter (or sometimes a laptop) deciding what will become of me and all the people and things around me. This doesn’t happen often of course, but nevertheless I question our reality here and there. Inevitably this book had me thinking about all this. And where do stories, and the ideas and source of inspiration for said stories come from. Different authors will have their say about it of course, but in this book it seems that the source of the stories are the small drops of ideas dripping from Aquavania, as if it was the Realm of Forms Plato was talking about.
What started as a promising horror tale in the first book, The Riverman, became a larger than life exercise in storytelling in The Storyteller. I have to admit this book engulfed me and kept me awake a couple of nights just because I was so in awe with the main story and the stories within the story. I'm giving the book five stars because it felt like the perfect way to end the trilogy.
For starters, Keri, Alistair’s sister, takes over in this book. From what little we could see of her in previous books she seemed a clever and witty teenager. Turns out she’s an exceptional storyteller too. I must say that I enjoyed every single of the strange, bizarre and, at times, creepy stories within the book. They feel so innocent, yet there was something sinister behind them and the endings were sometimes randomly wild and, frankly, a bit grotesque.
Even if he isn’t the narrator anymore and we just got small sneak peaks of him, I must say that I liked Alistair’s character development. How he grew from a young teen, up to the man in a boy’s body who has to fix his own mistakes along with the mistakes of the previous Whispers. With Alistair it was all about Fiona and saving her, but the quest grew bigger as he was determined to save everyone, including Charlie. One thing I absolutely like about Alistair is that he’s a kid that keeps his promises.
I’m surprised that I don’t see many people talking about Luna the wombat- her story felt so sad and hopeless and lonely. It gave me a deep sense of isolation and solitude but also she became something so big, a force of nature that, ironically, became bigger than nature. I wonder if more readers were trying to grasp the magnitude of Luna, trying to imagine her traveling through the universe with the energy of a hundred supernovas absorbing everything within her reach until she became the universe. It kind of remind me of Lovecraft’s cosmic horrors and the infinity of the universe, yet it wasn’t scary because after all Luna was a perfectly fine wombat who after 10 billion years still remember the people she loved and after destroying and restoring the universe she had one desire: to feel water pattering on her head, a reminiscence of sweet old days. After reading Luna’s story the idea of God being a wombat didn’t seem far-fetched at all, if not quite appealing.
I wouldn’t say the Riverman trilogy is an easy read even if it is aimed at middle schoolers. I sure enjoyed it, and it is one of the series I wish I could read for the first time again because it is magical. Yet I’m sure that I missed some details and this trilogy is definitely worth re-reading.
What started as a promising horror tale in the first book, The Riverman, became a larger than life exercise in storytelling in The Storyteller. I have to admit this book engulfed me and kept me awake a couple of nights just because I was so in awe with the main story and the stories within the story. I'm giving the book five stars because it felt like the perfect way to end the trilogy.
For starters, Keri, Alistair’s sister, takes over in this book. From what little we could see of her in previous books she seemed a clever and witty teenager. Turns out she’s an exceptional storyteller too. I must say that I enjoyed every single of the strange, bizarre and, at times, creepy stories within the book. They feel so innocent, yet there was something sinister behind them and the endings were sometimes randomly wild and, frankly, a bit grotesque.
Even if he isn’t the narrator anymore and we just got small sneak peaks of him, I must say that I liked Alistair’s character development. How he grew from a young teen, up to the man in a boy’s body who has to fix his own mistakes along with the mistakes of the previous Whispers. With Alistair it was all about Fiona and saving her, but the quest grew bigger as he was determined to save everyone, including Charlie. One thing I absolutely like about Alistair is that he’s a kid that keeps his promises.
I’m surprised that I don’t see many people talking about Luna the wombat- her story felt so sad and hopeless and lonely. It gave me a deep sense of isolation and solitude but also she became something so big, a force of nature that, ironically, became bigger than nature. I wonder if more readers were trying to grasp the magnitude of Luna, trying to imagine her traveling through the universe with the energy of a hundred supernovas absorbing everything within her reach until she became the universe. It kind of remind me of Lovecraft’s cosmic horrors and the infinity of the universe, yet it wasn’t scary because after all Luna was a perfectly fine wombat who after 10 billion years still remember the people she loved and after destroying and restoring the universe she had one desire: to feel water pattering on her head, a reminiscence of sweet old days. After reading Luna’s story the idea of God being a wombat didn’t seem far-fetched at all, if not quite appealing.
I wouldn’t say the Riverman trilogy is an easy read even if it is aimed at middle schoolers. I sure enjoyed it, and it is one of the series I wish I could read for the first time again because it is magical. Yet I’m sure that I missed some details and this trilogy is definitely worth re-reading.
Read
April 22, 2021I literally don't know how to rate this or what to think. Aaron Starmer is a skilled author and a masterful storyteller, so I hesitate to give a bad review. Somehow I simultaneously hated these books for the consistent low-level disquiet they kept me in, but also *had* to finish the story. Merit must be given to an author who presents such an interesting storyline that my curiosity wins out over my desire to forget I ever picked up The Riverman. I plowed through generally feeling unsettled because I needed to finish these books. I didn't want to per say, I didn't *not* want to either... I just needed to. Makes rating these quite impossible (much like wrapping up a series, apparently) so I'm gonna take a page from Starmer, the last page to be precise, and say "sorry, not gonna do it, hope that's alright."
Much has been said about switching POV for the last book in the series, Keri's stories, Glen, and more, but I don't have much beef with those aspects of the story. I didn't care who told me how it all ended, or how many other things I had to read about before I knew. I just wanted to get there. My curiosity was peaked, I never knew what was coming next, and I couldn't wait to see how it all came together. There were hints ("Mandrake") that the events from all three books were all going to get tied together into a series of spectacular connections. It could have been epic. It should have been. Instead, I read both The Whisper and The Storyteller solely to know the ending.... and Starmer didn't give one. Didn't have one?
For some reviewers, Starmer *not* wrapping everything up is what made this book a masterful conclusion. For me, a conclusion that says "I'm not going to tell you anything, and that's okay" can't really be considered a "conclusion" at all. What would have made this book truly masterful would have been for it to somehow end up at an intentional destination despite unpredictable detours. Starmer would have had to give far more thought and dedication to the story to tie things together in a cohesive, believable way, and the ending felt very much like a copout. In fact, the stories he had Keri write seemed like a peek into his own mind in regards to this series-- "I have this idea for a story, but it has no ending. Oh well, I'll just write it anyways." I wish I had been warned ahead of time that Starmer didn't mind leaving readers with a bunch of half-finished story trails, because I don't enjoy being left hanging. And the crazy twists and turns didn't ultimately lead me anywhere but lost. Starmer is a great author with quite the interesting imagination, but I personally was not satisfied
Much has been said about switching POV for the last book in the series, Keri's stories, Glen, and more, but I don't have much beef with those aspects of the story. I didn't care who told me how it all ended, or how many other things I had to read about before I knew. I just wanted to get there. My curiosity was peaked, I never knew what was coming next, and I couldn't wait to see how it all came together. There were hints ("Mandrake") that the events from all three books were all going to get tied together into a series of spectacular connections. It could have been epic. It should have been. Instead, I read both The Whisper and The Storyteller solely to know the ending.... and Starmer didn't give one. Didn't have one?
For some reviewers, Starmer *not* wrapping everything up is what made this book a masterful conclusion. For me, a conclusion that says "I'm not going to tell you anything, and that's okay" can't really be considered a "conclusion" at all. What would have made this book truly masterful would have been for it to somehow end up at an intentional destination despite unpredictable detours. Starmer would have had to give far more thought and dedication to the story to tie things together in a cohesive, believable way, and the ending felt very much like a copout. In fact, the stories he had Keri write seemed like a peek into his own mind in regards to this series-- "I have this idea for a story, but it has no ending. Oh well, I'll just write it anyways." I wish I had been warned ahead of time that Starmer didn't mind leaving readers with a bunch of half-finished story trails, because I don't enjoy being left hanging. And the crazy twists and turns didn't ultimately lead me anywhere but lost. Starmer is a great author with quite the interesting imagination, but I personally was not satisfied
March 6, 2021
Keri, Alistair's older sister, begins to write stories after her brother re-appears. While Charlie and Fiona are still missing, she can sense that Alistair knows more than he lets on. Through stories about phosphorescent wombats and candy cane girls, she begins to learn the truth.
Well, I finished this trilogy and still don't really know what to make of it! There was some pretty creepy imagery in this one (there's story about a girl made of candy canes whose parents eat her, and another where a baby dies of neglect, and another one about dead birds) and most of the stories had endings that were disturbing to me even if they weren't gory. I think my main issue with this particular story is how removed the reader is from Alistair, who was the first-person narrator of the first book. As the trilogy progressed he became more and more distant. Having Keri narrate when she didn't know anything about what the reader learned about Aquavania from the first two books was also a bit of a remove from the story. And because of this remove, I wasn't as invested in finding Fiona or Charlie. So unfortunately as a finale this fell a flat for me, even though I kind of loved the weirdness of the stories within the story.
Well, I finished this trilogy and still don't really know what to make of it! There was some pretty creepy imagery in this one (there's story about a girl made of candy canes whose parents eat her, and another where a baby dies of neglect, and another one about dead birds) and most of the stories had endings that were disturbing to me even if they weren't gory. I think my main issue with this particular story is how removed the reader is from Alistair, who was the first-person narrator of the first book. As the trilogy progressed he became more and more distant. Having Keri narrate when she didn't know anything about what the reader learned about Aquavania from the first two books was also a bit of a remove from the story. And because of this remove, I wasn't as invested in finding Fiona or Charlie. So unfortunately as a finale this fell a flat for me, even though I kind of loved the weirdness of the stories within the story.
May 13, 2018
The Storyteller by Aaron Starmer is a novel about a girl named Keri Cleary who finds herself thrust into a world where magic may be real. She goes through a mental journey as her world is entirely flipped upside down and throughout the book she tries to rediscover herself as a person. I love how unconventional the story is with its content, not bothering to conform itself with the idea of what can and can't be considered a story. Does a story need to have a beginning? Does it need to have an end? The book really makes its audience stop and consider ideas like this but conveys them in such a manner where it doesn't feel overly philosophical for readers. However, I disliked how sometimes the story went from intelligent to chaotic in a snap. The narrative felt overwhelming at times, like there were too many stories being told all at once. For the most part, though, the book was a fantastic read. I'd recommend this novel to anybody whose interested in books that don't confine themselves to the realms of what's considered normal, as this book concerns itself far more with enlightening its audience with eye-opening ideas and doesn't try to anchor itself in fear of being outlandish.
April 9, 2022
The final book in The Riverman trilogy left me somewhat bewildered and with several unanswered questions. Because this one is told by Alistair's sister Keri Cleary, readers are treated to her growing discomfort with Alistair's explanations about what's happening and about Aquavania and all those missing characters. Could what he's telling her possibly be true? Or could Alistair have been lying all along and betraying her? Keri vacillates between belief and disbelief while writing stories of her own. These stories, inserted between the main narrative, were so original and populated by interesting individuals and even animals like the wombat, that I couldn't help but read on. I actually liked them, weird though they were, more than the main storyline, which prompts readers to reflect again upon the possibility of multiverses and infinite possibilities, something I hold to be possible theoretically but don't necessarily believe to be likely. While Keri is the writer in this book, it is the talented Aaron Starmer who is the storyteller, weaving a spell over all of us with this original offering. This is one that might be appreciated even more after a second or a third read.
August 4, 2018
It seems crazy to compare a “young adult” book to Nabokov’s Pale Fire, but really that is the book I am thinking about as I finish this trilogy.
The multiple narrators. Stories that seem unrelated to each other. Unanswered questions. A text that appears to hide its meaning under puzzling symbols. Both books are satisfying reads because they contain these elements.
My main problem with this book is that it feels like it is hopelessly misplaced in the middle grade or young adult sections. This series is much much more complex than other books directed at youth, and I fear that very few young readers will have the patience for it.
If you know a teen reader who is interested in solving puzzles and exploring deep philosophical questions, then it is a great fit. It would be a FANTASTIC choice for a group of advanced 11-13 year old readers.
Really, I recommend this book most for grown-ups. It is a rare trilogy whose unpredictability is ultimately very satisfying and thought provoking. If I was the publisher, I would repackage it as a single book and put it in the adult section.
The multiple narrators. Stories that seem unrelated to each other. Unanswered questions. A text that appears to hide its meaning under puzzling symbols. Both books are satisfying reads because they contain these elements.
My main problem with this book is that it feels like it is hopelessly misplaced in the middle grade or young adult sections. This series is much much more complex than other books directed at youth, and I fear that very few young readers will have the patience for it.
If you know a teen reader who is interested in solving puzzles and exploring deep philosophical questions, then it is a great fit. It would be a FANTASTIC choice for a group of advanced 11-13 year old readers.
Really, I recommend this book most for grown-ups. It is a rare trilogy whose unpredictability is ultimately very satisfying and thought provoking. If I was the publisher, I would repackage it as a single book and put it in the adult section.
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