Riven

The Arinthian Line #2

by Sever Bronny

Augum, Bridget and Leera want only to study new spells and make their legendary mentor proud. But when she unexpectedly departs on a crucial quest, they run afoul of a devious old witch and are forced to make a hasty getaway—straight into the hands of a notorious maniac known as the Blade of Sorrows.

Prisoners of the Blade and his sadistic apprentice, the trio must face their greatest challenge yet: escape using nothing but an ancient spell with some nasty side effects. But more than their lives are at stake, for an entire kingdom’s hopes rest with their mentor—and she’s heading for a deadly trap.

RIVEN is the second novel in THE ARINTHIAN LINE series.

Genres: Fantasy, Magic, Fiction, Young Adult, Adventure, Epic Fantasy, Teen

Unknown Binding

First published February 20, 2015

About the author

Sever Bronny has been a full-time fantasy author since 2015. He publishes one book a year and has three internationally bestselling fantasy series' to his name: The Arinthian Line, Fury of a Rising Dragon, and Chronicles of Anna Atticus Stone.

Prior to becoming an author, he released three albums with his industrial-rock music project Tribal Machine, including the full-length concept album The Orwellian Night. One of his songs can be heard in the feature-length film The Gene Generation.

Sever lives in British Columbia, Canada, with beloved wife, Tansy, and spritely house panther, Miso. Connect with him at his website or the fan-run Discord, where fans can mingle, discuss theories and world lore and spells, duel as arena warlocks, role-play within Bronny's world, get behind-the-scenes photos of the writing, meet the author, and much more.

Reviews

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

I gave up reading at the 60% mark. Just couldn't suspend disbelief anymore. The MCs are extremely "Mary-Sue", and can be relied upon to always let the bad guys go. The villains are very dark and there is an entire chapter devoted to torturing the MC (14 years old), but bad things only happen to the good guys. Makes the whole thing into an unsatisfying slog -- whole chapters of misery inflicted on the MCs while on the rare occasions that bad things happen to villains it is usually just a quick sentence or two. Exhausting. It's a real shame considering the writing is otherwise pretty solid.

[Skyler · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great and logical continuation of the series. The villains are villainous, and the heroes are heroic as well as flawed. You get to meet some interesting new characters as well as Sparkstone for the first time, and it's everything it should be. I finished this book over a camping trip, and had to keep setting it aside so I wouldn't finish it too quick and have nothing to read. Amazing book!

[sharon segreti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once Upon A Time In The Land Of The Arinthians

Just a wonderful story with many twists and turns. I love the touch of chivalry that Augum and his grandmother, Ms. Stone impart to those around them. I look forward to reading the next book.

[Terry Juell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once again Sever Bronny ROCKS the world of fantasy with ACTION, SUSPENSE, and DRAMA so much that you just want more! This book was lots longer than the first so you get more of everything but, it's still leaves you wanting the next installment ASAP! Bronny's characters grow stronger and bond closer as they work on mastering their skills from time after time of harrowing situations. It's a story that makes you want to jump inside the book and live the experience yourself. I can't express enough in my mere words how great this author is and how epic his characters are. You are just going to HAVE to read it yourself. Bronny is brilliant, a very talented author. I CAN'T wait for the next one!!

[Catriona Kupper · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written, complex but exciting

[Justine She sheep · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I wonder who on earth the editor was for this book due to glaring grammatical errors and strange causalities that definitely should have been noticed by a competent editor, this book was again oodles of fun.
Just as Harry Potter remains entertaining though it has a very predictable streak (Remus Lupin anyone?), these books are predictable too, yet it doesn't spoil the fun at all. I still enjoy all the adventures of the arcane trio with every twist and turn.
This is one of those books that is hard to put down and that's why I'm already halfway through the next Arinthian Line while I write this review (:

[Steven Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

A consistent and entertaining read from start to finish.

Sever Bronny picks up the story not long after the conclusion of book one. It is still told in third person limited point of view with only a few editing errors and confusing parts when the author has a character who could make a thesaurus blush. I was pulled in from the first chapter unlike the awkward start in book one. The story remained engageing with no parts that bored me or made me want to put the book down for a bit. There is some okay humor, exciting action, and a few of the emotional scenes were really pulled of well.
A good read for kindle unlimited with adding to your library potential.
I realized early on what was so familiar about the magic system that is that many of the names for spells and such can be] found in roleplaying games and other games in general. However, this does not take away from the story as it seems quite natural within the confines of this world.

What surprised me the most was how the Bronny was able to fool me a few times. Certain patterns are common in most stores and I had a feeling where the story was going only for a familiar path to end up branching off in a new direction. There were particular character arcs, which seemed to be destined to be tropes, that turn out to be quite unexpected. Overall while some of the story is obvious other parts of it took me by surprise. I did think that the author may be a discovery writer with some of the abrupt changes in story direction.

If there is one weakness in the series so far I have to say it is in the antagonist who are rather flat. They all seem to fit the exact same couple of molds. I would not have been surprised if a couple of them twirled their mustaches. Simple put obvious bad guys are obvious. I the younger antagonist fits way to perfectly in the condescending, arrogant bully mold.

I do feel that the main protagonist and his friend would have fitted better in the story and style of writing if they was 16 or 17. Instead it feels as he is try to push a children’s story, early Harry potter, into the YA genre. The romance is certainly in the 12-14 range as well as some the adventure and learning to be a warlock parts but the violence and action is around the 16-17 year old level with torture. bullying, consequences of war, and gore.

[Tilden · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was too long. I get tired of reading about one close escape after another. Sometime, the trios luck should have run completely out but they always manage to wiggle out of their dire circumstances.

I also became irritated at how juvenile the trio acted sometimes. Especially Leera, who showed so much hatred and contempt toward Haley. I mean, for goodness sake, you all are in lots of danger and it would be the smart thing to do to work together to escape the dangerous situations. I started to dislike Leera intensely for how spiteful she was behaving. She obviously hadn't learned the value of forgiveness and not holding grudges. I also wanted Haley to stand up for herself and to tell Leera to go jump in a lake. (I'm thinking of stronger language but this is a book for juveniles.

The ending was disappointing as there was really no conclusion or some sort of a wrap up to at least this chapter in the series. It's off traveling to another part of this arcane world.

I'm not sure if I am going to continue with the series. It's a bit too juvenile for me a lot of the time. I was thinking I had read the Harry Potter series when Harry and his friends were about Augum's age and I enjoyed the books but Bronny's writing isn't in the same league as J.K. Rowling.

[Michael Hollingworth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Much Better than the First

I don’t know if it's because this story required the set up of the first book or if it is because Sever Bronny penned this in a more impactful way, but I found this book an absolute delight to read. I was unable to put it down from the moment I started it.

The story itself is captivating and the world entrancing. What I love the most, however, is the characters and how Bronny makes them feel so palpable and real. It has been a while since a story has elicited such feelings of dread and despair for the characters as this book has.

I am now very eager to see what the third book has in store as the plot continues to develop. My greatest fear is the number of people who died in this story. It was impactful when the first few passed, but as with all stories featuring multiple deaths, the more it happens, the number you get, and I am concerned that if the same pattern exists in the third book, it will become monotonous.

All that aside, this was an excellent read, and one that I can confidently recommend.

[Cindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good series

I am always searching for great adventure series and The Arinthian Line will be added very high on my list.
Riven is a great second installment to the series. There's another adventure, more training, travel, and a few more questions answered.
I really like this world and the good people. There is a very wicked, power hungry, bad guy.

[t. coleman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read!

Anxiously awaiting the next book in the series! The second book aligns with the first book"Arcane." Though there were times in the book when you knew what would happen next, it was still an enjoyable read.

[TeeLee98 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don’t know why I bought the next book in this series. Nothing good happens. It is such a downer. I like the world, the characters and I do get swept up in sometimes. But I need more up times in the book to keep me reading

[Jacob Wallace · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bad pacing utterly torpedoes this series. Everything feels like a sequence of sudden events with no lag-time between them. There is no building of tension or stakes, just zero to One Hundred to Zero to One Hundred Constantly.

[Phil Matthews · Rating 2 out of 5]

Let down

Unfortunately as is quite common with follow up novels this one is quite predictable and even boring. Jumping from one peril to the next.

[Jacob · Rating 4 out of 5]

A few lulls in the pacing, but still an exciting read!

[Stephen Stanback · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good

This is the second book of the series and just as engrossing as the first. The story sucked me in and I look forward to the next book. Highly recommend.

[Shaila · Rating 2 out of 5]

A dark turn

I loved the first book and really wanted to like this one, but it took a dark turn for me. It seemed anyone good was killed, and the legion always had the upper hand. (Plus, all the enemy followers were heartless to the point of evil.) Good people were killed, borderline people became bad, and bad people became evil. Anyone who helped the team was killed mercilessly, the main characters were tortured, and throats were slit. Even when the team wasn’t in the enemy’s hands, the chapters felt dark since Leera became verbally abusive.

I also didn’t like how the plot lagged. The point of this book was to find Mrs. Jones. That’s it. The team did meet new characters, but again, there was a lot of death. The magic took a back seat through the middle of the book, which made me sad. I would have liked to see them use their powers more.

The writing quality was poor. The author really struggled with his use of past participles—i.e. he didn’t use them. He also used the word “grate” at least thirty times to describe Autum’s injury. It got old. Poor editing and revision.

I also felt frustrated at Sever’s lack of research on things like broken ribs. Augum did things which should have been impossible for someone with broken ribs. I know that sounds picky of me, but it happened a lot—people were severely injured one minute but fine the next.

In terms of swearing, there was more of it suddenly and for no apparent reason, but the author stuck to d###, so that’s good.

I did really like the spell they learned in Ley. It’s clever and masterfully written. Super fun addition!

Since I liked the first book so much, I’ll check out the next, but if the mood doesn’t lighten up, I’ll put it away quickly.

[Jeffrey Lach · Rating 3 out of 5]

Once again I find myself wishing there were half stars available in the rating system. If there were i would give this a 3.5. All-in-all I thought this was a decent story, but there was a section of the book I found very annoying. {spoiler ahead} When the crew was in Ley, the author tried very hard to have the Leyan's speak a for of the English we know, but to my eyes, it just seemed like it was horrible grammar and poor editing. I had to keep telling myself it was on purpose, and to just let it go. But i found it terribly distracting, and almost did not finish the book. Once they left Ley, things got much better over all, and I enjoyed the adventure quite a bit. {end spoiler}
One thing I really appreciate about this series, is that not everything is easy for the characters. They struggle, not only with the circumstances around them, but with learning magic in general. The author isn't conveniently just throwing in a new spell as a convenient way to progress the scene or as a "get out of jail free" card. Wondering what they will learn next and whether or not it will even be useful keeps me turning the pages.
I know I have been critical of this this book, but I did like it well enough that I am going to continue the series.

[Ally Mishler · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is incredible. I could not set it down for the life of me and it made sleeping at night very difficult. This story was absolutely heart wrenching and I can’t even begin to imagine how the next books will be since this is only book two. I’m young and haven’t read many books with so much torture and abuse in them before. Watching the children being “questioned” always had me on the edge of my seat. There are villains in movies and other tales that are likable and understandable, but in this book, Lord Sparkstone is absolutely heartless. He murders innocent people, but not only murders them, tortures them in the process. Hanging them on posts and burning them alive. Their process of “questioning people” is basically torturing them until death or until they give answers. This story is extraordinarily sad and I can’t even imagine how one person could be so heartless, let alone thousands. I don’t know how this book series isn’t crazy popular, I’ve looked on all social media platforms and can’t find a thing about it. Honestly all I want to do is talk about the events to at least somebody!!

[Austin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book"Riven" is about a young warlock (a person who has magical ability's), Augum Stone and his two friends Leera and Bridget trying to defeat Augum's dad, the lord of the legion from conquering much of the world. Augums dad is an evil warlock who can raise the dead and create army of undead soldiers. On there quest they come across a old man named Mr. Goss who helps them on the mission. Together they notify Augums grandparent, Mrs. Stone a legendary sorcerer that she is about to be trapped. Mrs. Stone then and almost destroys Augums dad but is struck with arcane fever, will she survive? will Augum and his friends be able to stop lord sparkstone.

This is book is very good, and this is why I gave it four stars. It is a tad lengthy an has some dull and boring parts here and there but is overall a exciting book. This book is also very amusing, with wise humor everywhere. My favorite part is where Augum takes on his dad for a while, it is action packed and there insults are very funny. I recommend this book to young and easily bored kids.

[Seth · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. This series is really helping me out of a reading slump, and I do want to keep reading to see what happens to Leera, Augum, and Bridget. I have my predictions… The writing is fairly strong and the premise is interesting,; however, I found the pacing of both this and book 1 jarring. The action, when it happens, is over as quickly as it was introduced. Yet, talks on horseback last many pages and descriptions and flashbacks are constantly thrown in. I find myself feeling as though I’m reading pages upon pages of many mini-moments that culminate in a “big fight” that deflates within the course of half or one chapter. Also, and this may be a more personal grievance, but I can’t get over how simultaneously courageous/wise and incredibly childish these children are 😂 Some of these within-group confrontations are frustrating to read. It’s also hard to go through the chapters of mental, emotional, and physical torture these kids go through. Nevertheless, a solid wrap-up to the climax. Will try the 3rd to see what happens.

[Annie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Riven is the second in the Arinthian Line series by Sever Bronny.

It still walks an odd line between Harry Potter and Game of Thrones - a fair amount of teenage angst and silliness, juxtaposed with torture, trauma and many deaths.

I still liked the main characters - the arc of one of the peripheral girls was well done.

But it's a very long book, which comes in the middle of a much longer over-arching story, so it did feel a bit episodic in places, and also as if not much progression was actually achieved.

There's also a weird occasional use of the present tense where it's not correct, which pulled me out of the narrative now and then.

I did like the limitations set on the new 'deus ex' type spell the youngsters learned - good use of a magic system that could have been massively overpowered.

[Cheryl Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed the first book although it was new and not quite as gripping, but then I had a long break, forgot about it and then came back to it when I ran out of books to read, it was a book that the first one made me think, well it was alright but not necessarily great. However the second book is a lot better, it builds on the start, making Augum much more of an actual central figure with a purpose and his friends and the others who are not quite friends and enemies becomes a true cracking read that I really enjoyed. He has to learn to master his magic, it's not easy and they are in the middle of war and his father really wants him to join him. He battles loss, pain, fear and his feelings of hope as well. He's still only a child at 14 yet, but it is a good story.

[Charlotte · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I finished Arcane, the first book, I was blown away. I was desperate to jump into the next one, but after staring at the cover for Riven, I kept putting it back down. What if it wasn’t as good? What if I didn’t like it? What if it took from my experience of Arcane? And then I finally bit the bullet, because what if it was better?

Another amazing 5* read from Bronny, with the same adventure, peril and outright awesomeness. Magic, the odd fantastical beast and characters to write home about (Mr Goss is my new Fentwick, I’m so in love). Two amazing books on the bounce is no fluke, Bronny is a treasure of the genre

[Dingle · Rating 3 out of 5]

The prose was excellent, and the story was very detailed. The problem was not that it wasn't a good book. The problem was that it got too dark and detailed for my liking. There were some topics covered that made me very uncomfortable. I started reading the next book in line, but as it started off in that dark spot, I could not enjoy reading it and left it off after a chapter or two.
If you have no issues with a very developed set of torture scenes, and a return to the protagonist's abusive past, then by all means, it is an excellent book.

[xtaline · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an awesome read! I love everything about it. Though there were boring parts but tolerable. You see the characters really grow and mature here. From developing their skills to developing feelings. The adventures and going to different places were truly a treat as it explores deeply the other parts of this world. So much death in some very loved characters. Left me teary eyed and just so sad.
I love this book!

[Fabrizia · Rating 2 out of 5]

So repetitive... a few good and intriguing ideas, but the pattern is fixed: the good guys are captured by the bad guys (very bad and very stupid), they are invariably beaten almost to death, then for some miracle they escape, recover quickly, learn new spells, meet good people, continue their quest, are captured by the bad guys and so on and so on. Too many beatings (and stupidity) for my taste.
[And too many "great-grandmother" "great-grandfather" and "great-grandson" throughout the book!]

[Stephani Austin · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story ideas are intriguing, but I felt for the majority of this book that there was no hope. We have 4 characters who want what’s best and oppose evil. But I kind of feel it’s a bit unrealistic, even in fantasy, to have 3 young, almost untrained teens save the day with their teacher when everyone around them is dying, trying to kill them, or win them to the evil side. Not to mention the army! Perhaps it gets better further on in the series. Not sure I’ll find out.

[Benjamin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good continuation of a good book series. Although a tad long, it's great and it continues some of the great stuff about book one. I had a problem with the pacing of Arcane, Riven sort of fixes that a little bit - although better pacing would definitely be appreciated at this point, and I do wish that the potential in Arcane could be more fully realized in this book, but... oh well, it's still good.

[Claude Moorhead · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good characters make great books.

It was an enjoyable book from cover to cover. I will continue to read the series every chance I get. The only thing I have noticed especially during action packed parts of the book is It will get to the end of a scene/fight and I’m turning back the page wondering what I’ve missed.