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The Burning Days #1
River Stone
We are not special. We are just survivors.
Pandora wants so much more than what her village can provide. When disaster comes to the River People, Pan has the opportunity to become their saviour and escape her inevitable pairing with life-long friend Matthew. She wants to make her own choices. Deep in her soul, she believes there is something more out there, beyond the boundaries, especially since she encountered the hunter of the Mountain People.
A story of confused love, difficult friendships and clumsy attempts at heroism, Pan's fight for her village's survival will bring her into contact with a whole new world, where the truth about the past will have terrifying reverberations for her people's future survival.
'A fantastic story for our times. Thilling. Chilling.' - Seann Williams
'An intelligent dystopian drama that is as addictive as it is thought provoking.' - Winnie Salamon, author of Facetime and Pretty Girls Don't Eat
Age range 12+
Pandora wants so much more than what her village can provide. When disaster comes to the River People, Pan has the opportunity to become their saviour and escape her inevitable pairing with life-long friend Matthew. She wants to make her own choices. Deep in her soul, she believes there is something more out there, beyond the boundaries, especially since she encountered the hunter of the Mountain People.
A story of confused love, difficult friendships and clumsy attempts at heroism, Pan's fight for her village's survival will bring her into contact with a whole new world, where the truth about the past will have terrifying reverberations for her people's future survival.
'A fantastic story for our times. Thilling. Chilling.' - Seann Williams
'An intelligent dystopian drama that is as addictive as it is thought provoking.' - Winnie Salamon, author of Facetime and Pretty Girls Don't Eat
Age range 12+
368 pages, Paperback
Published May 1, 2019
46 people want to read
About the author
Rachel Hennessy
10 books7 followersRachel Hennessy’s first novel THE QUAKERS won the Adelaide Festival Award for an Unpublished Manuscript and was launched at Writers’ Week in February 2008. The manuscript was also short-listed for the Varuna Writers’ Centre Manuscript Development program and won the ArtsSA prize for Creative Writing. It was described by John Birmingham as "un-put-down-able".
Her second novel, THE HEAVEN I SWALLOWED, was runner-up in the Australian/Vogel Award and longlisted for the Nita B Kibble Award for an established woman writer.
Her first YA novel, RIVER STONE, was released by MidnightSun Publishing in 2019 and is to be followed up by the second book in the trilogy MOUNTAIN ARROW, in November 2020.
"RIVER STONE will send chills down your spine and have you reading just one more chapter late into the night." Kids' Books Reviews
Her second novel, THE HEAVEN I SWALLOWED, was runner-up in the Australian/Vogel Award and longlisted for the Nita B Kibble Award for an established woman writer.
Her first YA novel, RIVER STONE, was released by MidnightSun Publishing in 2019 and is to be followed up by the second book in the trilogy MOUNTAIN ARROW, in November 2020.
"RIVER STONE will send chills down your spine and have you reading just one more chapter late into the night." Kids' Books Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
July 30, 2019
Many thanks to Reading Time [http://readingtime.com.au/] who provided a copy of this book for my honest review.
The Hunger Games has a lot to answer for! Since Suzanne Collin’s book was published in 2008 the YA market has been flooded with dystopian novels. So I was not thrilled to see yet another new dystopian series enter the already overflowing YA bookshelves. However, River Stone is a cut above, and I think it will attract a large following.
Pandora has reached her Blossoming. She is now considered an adult in the village, and in the tradition of the River People, her life partner has been chosen by her parents. She is not pleased by their choice: Matthew is a lifelong friend, but he is not who she wants to be partnered with for life. Pan has only known this simple existence, living in a small village where everyone is known and traditions are strong.
Pan’s parents fled from The Burning twenty years ago, and found a welcome refuge in this small community by the river. Pan and her friends have been told little about what happened in the past, and there are only a few books and items of steel that remain from that earlier time. When an illness from the days before The Burning strikes the village, Pan and her friends must journey to the city Melney (a melding of Melbourne and Sydney?) to find the cure.
Early in their journey they are saved from a cougar attack by Bayat and Caro, tribesmen from the Mayhaanan who live in the mountains. When the illness strikes the Mayhaanan tribe, Bayat volunteers to accompany them on their quest. There is an instant attraction between Pan and Bayat, (of course), so while they are fighting for their lives, Pan is worrying about her confused feelings towards Bayat! Oh, the joy of youth and hormones! But I’m sure this element will appeal to a young adult audience, it is believable and adds another tension to the plot.
Hennessy effectively uses the device of Pan’s mother writing letters to her to explain what happened in the past: “…change came gradually and more often when we aren’t even looking, walking towards the end with our eyes closed. The land had lost so much and so many: climate refugees driven to the city as the only place where life seemed sustainable; outside a world of famine, sickness, pollution. Leaders who were corrupt and uncaring. Mass animal extinction. These were The Burning Days.” Sound familiar?
River Stone contains a strong warning: that our world is on the road to ecological disaster, and unless we act now and change the way we use the earth’s limited resources, we too will be destroyed. Pan remembers their leader, Theodore’s careful instructions regarding crop rotation: “If there is one thing we have to conquer from the past it is our tendency towards greed. Only grow as much as we need. Let the soil have time to rest, and then sing again.” This message, however, doesn’t come across as preachy nor does it detract from the cracking pace of this book.
I’m sure I won’t be alone in eagerly anticipating the next instalment in this stellar new series.
The Hunger Games has a lot to answer for! Since Suzanne Collin’s book was published in 2008 the YA market has been flooded with dystopian novels. So I was not thrilled to see yet another new dystopian series enter the already overflowing YA bookshelves. However, River Stone is a cut above, and I think it will attract a large following.
Pandora has reached her Blossoming. She is now considered an adult in the village, and in the tradition of the River People, her life partner has been chosen by her parents. She is not pleased by their choice: Matthew is a lifelong friend, but he is not who she wants to be partnered with for life. Pan has only known this simple existence, living in a small village where everyone is known and traditions are strong.
Pan’s parents fled from The Burning twenty years ago, and found a welcome refuge in this small community by the river. Pan and her friends have been told little about what happened in the past, and there are only a few books and items of steel that remain from that earlier time. When an illness from the days before The Burning strikes the village, Pan and her friends must journey to the city Melney (a melding of Melbourne and Sydney?) to find the cure.
Early in their journey they are saved from a cougar attack by Bayat and Caro, tribesmen from the Mayhaanan who live in the mountains. When the illness strikes the Mayhaanan tribe, Bayat volunteers to accompany them on their quest. There is an instant attraction between Pan and Bayat, (of course), so while they are fighting for their lives, Pan is worrying about her confused feelings towards Bayat! Oh, the joy of youth and hormones! But I’m sure this element will appeal to a young adult audience, it is believable and adds another tension to the plot.
Hennessy effectively uses the device of Pan’s mother writing letters to her to explain what happened in the past: “…change came gradually and more often when we aren’t even looking, walking towards the end with our eyes closed. The land had lost so much and so many: climate refugees driven to the city as the only place where life seemed sustainable; outside a world of famine, sickness, pollution. Leaders who were corrupt and uncaring. Mass animal extinction. These were The Burning Days.” Sound familiar?
River Stone contains a strong warning: that our world is on the road to ecological disaster, and unless we act now and change the way we use the earth’s limited resources, we too will be destroyed. Pan remembers their leader, Theodore’s careful instructions regarding crop rotation: “If there is one thing we have to conquer from the past it is our tendency towards greed. Only grow as much as we need. Let the soil have time to rest, and then sing again.” This message, however, doesn’t come across as preachy nor does it detract from the cracking pace of this book.
I’m sure I won’t be alone in eagerly anticipating the next instalment in this stellar new series.
May 3, 2019
http://jessjustreads.com
River Stone is the first book in a new dystopian YA series from Australian author Rachel Hennessy. The story is about survival and bravery, but it’s also about family, legacy and expectation.
At first, I thought The River People were a cult. The village is small, ruled by a male elder, and teenagers are told who they are to be paired with. They don’t get to choose who to have children with, and who or what they want isn’t really taken into consideration.
It all seemed very cultish, and I guess it kind of is, but in a dystopian setting. Most of the world was wiped out after a mysterious virus started infecting people, and The River People are just doing their best to survive and continue procreating so that they don’t die off. In the blurb, it says “when disaster comes to her people”, and I half expected that to be a mass suicide like you see in cults, but I was just overthinking it. Pandora’s people are struck down with the mysterious virus and it’s up to Pandora and her friends to travel into the city and find the cure.
“Caro chews on a large piece of meat. He and Bayat have prepared a piece of the cougar on a long, whittled spear which they’ve placed over there pit, held up by two forked branches driven into the ground. They have turned it sporadically over the course of the afternoon and then carved slices off it.”
Young readers will be drawn to Pandora’s resilience, determination and strength. She’s worried for her parents, but she’s also worried for her village. She doesn’t want to let anyone down and she certainly doesn’t want to fail on this mission.
Pandora has to navigate this new world if she’s going to succeed. But she also has to navigate a love triangle, and the group of friends she’s traveling with. Tensions rise and friendships are damaged.
“At the very least, the training had ensured I could just keep up with Bayat and as we sped along the path to the caves, I realised my muscles were stronger than they’d ever been.”
As an adult, I picked up on a few things about the plot that I thought could’ve used some work. Firstly, there’s a lot of travel involved in this book, which is something most commonly seen in the second book of a series. Travel is very important in fantasy or dystopian fiction, but it can also be a little boring. I certainly felt like the travelling in River Stone could’ve been condensed, or sped up.
Secondly, I found it awfully convenient how easy it was for Pandora and her friends to gain the Mountain People’s trust. Things seemed quite….easy for the team. They’re trained in both information and combat, and they’re given pretty much everything they need to succeed in their mission. It seemed a little unrealistic.
But, I’m an adult. Whilst I certainly think teenagers are at risk of getting bored of the travelling, I don’t think Pandora’s quick connection with the Mountain People will deter young readers.
River Stone entertained and intrigued me enough to want to read the sequel. The premise is refreshingly unique, and whilst the plot is a little slow at times, and the pacing lagging, I think teen readers will be enthralled by the story. I recommend this for readers aged 11-15.
Thank you to the publisher for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.
River Stone is the first book in a new dystopian YA series from Australian author Rachel Hennessy. The story is about survival and bravery, but it’s also about family, legacy and expectation.
At first, I thought The River People were a cult. The village is small, ruled by a male elder, and teenagers are told who they are to be paired with. They don’t get to choose who to have children with, and who or what they want isn’t really taken into consideration.
It all seemed very cultish, and I guess it kind of is, but in a dystopian setting. Most of the world was wiped out after a mysterious virus started infecting people, and The River People are just doing their best to survive and continue procreating so that they don’t die off. In the blurb, it says “when disaster comes to her people”, and I half expected that to be a mass suicide like you see in cults, but I was just overthinking it. Pandora’s people are struck down with the mysterious virus and it’s up to Pandora and her friends to travel into the city and find the cure.
“Caro chews on a large piece of meat. He and Bayat have prepared a piece of the cougar on a long, whittled spear which they’ve placed over there pit, held up by two forked branches driven into the ground. They have turned it sporadically over the course of the afternoon and then carved slices off it.”
Young readers will be drawn to Pandora’s resilience, determination and strength. She’s worried for her parents, but she’s also worried for her village. She doesn’t want to let anyone down and she certainly doesn’t want to fail on this mission.
Pandora has to navigate this new world if she’s going to succeed. But she also has to navigate a love triangle, and the group of friends she’s traveling with. Tensions rise and friendships are damaged.
“At the very least, the training had ensured I could just keep up with Bayat and as we sped along the path to the caves, I realised my muscles were stronger than they’d ever been.”
As an adult, I picked up on a few things about the plot that I thought could’ve used some work. Firstly, there’s a lot of travel involved in this book, which is something most commonly seen in the second book of a series. Travel is very important in fantasy or dystopian fiction, but it can also be a little boring. I certainly felt like the travelling in River Stone could’ve been condensed, or sped up.
Secondly, I found it awfully convenient how easy it was for Pandora and her friends to gain the Mountain People’s trust. Things seemed quite….easy for the team. They’re trained in both information and combat, and they’re given pretty much everything they need to succeed in their mission. It seemed a little unrealistic.
But, I’m an adult. Whilst I certainly think teenagers are at risk of getting bored of the travelling, I don’t think Pandora’s quick connection with the Mountain People will deter young readers.
River Stone entertained and intrigued me enough to want to read the sequel. The premise is refreshingly unique, and whilst the plot is a little slow at times, and the pacing lagging, I think teen readers will be enthralled by the story. I recommend this for readers aged 11-15.
Thank you to the publisher for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.
May 7, 2019
The first in a new YA trilogy The Burning Days, River Stone is a different take on the dystopian genre. The world has been destroyed due to misuse of the environment, animals are extinct, land masses have changed, the air is unbreathable in cities, drought has made outer areas unlivable. Then comes The Burning.
People who survived The Burning have started small tribes away from the cities, hiding and starting new communities with new rules and laws to help them survive.
Pandora's tribe The River People has survived for close to 20 years, but now a forgotten disease has struck the village and things are going to change.
I really enjoyed this novel, and except for a part in the middle which had me disinterested for a bit, I plowed through 80% of this novel not wanting to put it down.
The River People have a coming of age ritual where the parents pick a partner for their children in order to keep the tribe going. Pandora's promised was Matthew, not a choice that Pandora was happy with. I didn't much like Matthew, I thought he was childish, surly and selfish at times. And in the middle of the story he really started to get on my nerves, as did Pandora for a while when she wouldn't make up her mind about what she wanted. The whole premise of having a person chosen, a promised one, didn't sit well with me, I got the reasoning behind it, but if there are other tribes around, why not go outside the tribe to find a partner. When Pandora and her friends come across The Mountain people and she meets Bayat, and their connection is instant, I felt this should have been an option. Matthew's behaviour towards Bayat and his possessiveness towards Pandora, even knowing she didn't want him really annoyed me to the point I put the novel down for a few days. I am glad I picked it up again, once I got past the really annoying bits, the story picked up again and the action didn't stop.
Pandora and her friends are tasked with travelling to the city, a place they know nothing about to try to find medicine to cure the people in the tribe. Their adventure starts when they leave their home for the first time. They meet Bayat and the mountain people on the way, who know much more about what they are going to encounter in the city. Bayat decides that to give them half a chance he will accompany them.
Friendships and beliefs are tested and they will learn to rely on their inner strength and each other to keep going and stay alive.
I am really looking forward to book 2 in this new series and seeing where it goes from here.
Thanks to MidnightSun Publishing for a copy of this novel in return for an honest review.
People who survived The Burning have started small tribes away from the cities, hiding and starting new communities with new rules and laws to help them survive.
Pandora's tribe The River People has survived for close to 20 years, but now a forgotten disease has struck the village and things are going to change.
I really enjoyed this novel, and except for a part in the middle which had me disinterested for a bit, I plowed through 80% of this novel not wanting to put it down.
The River People have a coming of age ritual where the parents pick a partner for their children in order to keep the tribe going. Pandora's promised was Matthew, not a choice that Pandora was happy with. I didn't much like Matthew, I thought he was childish, surly and selfish at times. And in the middle of the story he really started to get on my nerves, as did Pandora for a while when she wouldn't make up her mind about what she wanted. The whole premise of having a person chosen, a promised one, didn't sit well with me, I got the reasoning behind it, but if there are other tribes around, why not go outside the tribe to find a partner. When Pandora and her friends come across The Mountain people and she meets Bayat, and their connection is instant, I felt this should have been an option. Matthew's behaviour towards Bayat and his possessiveness towards Pandora, even knowing she didn't want him really annoyed me to the point I put the novel down for a few days. I am glad I picked it up again, once I got past the really annoying bits, the story picked up again and the action didn't stop.
Pandora and her friends are tasked with travelling to the city, a place they know nothing about to try to find medicine to cure the people in the tribe. Their adventure starts when they leave their home for the first time. They meet Bayat and the mountain people on the way, who know much more about what they are going to encounter in the city. Bayat decides that to give them half a chance he will accompany them.
Friendships and beliefs are tested and they will learn to rely on their inner strength and each other to keep going and stay alive.
I am really looking forward to book 2 in this new series and seeing where it goes from here.
Thanks to MidnightSun Publishing for a copy of this novel in return for an honest review.
May 12, 2019
River Stone by Aussie author Rachel Hennessy is the first book in a new dystopian trilogy. River Stone has a fresh and unique feel that drew me in right from the start and kept me hooked until the last page.
The protagonist Pan grows up not really knowing anything of the past, as it is too painful for most of the village elders to talk about – her mother especially.
River Stone is set on our earth in what could be our not too distant future. In the years before Pan’s birth Earth has been nearly destroyed; mass animal extinction, land becoming barren and unfarmable, people with wealth turning their backs on the rest of the world and the collapse of modern civilization as we know it.
The story mostly follows Pan as she undertakes a journey. A journey that I can’t really say much about without giving away the plot of the book. Hmmmm. Just know the journey tests Pan’s abilities to adapt and learn fast. It teaches her a lot about the world outside her village and she sees things that she never even knew existed.
The other part of the story is told through letters that Pan’s mum writes to her while she is on her journey. In these letters Pan’s mum writes of all the things she could never bring herself to talk to her daughter about. The letters allow us to gain the backstory of the world Pan is living in. In the letters Zaana tells her daughter who she was before the burning days and how she came to be with the River People. I especially enjoyed the letters, they allowed us to get to know Pan’s mother and understand why the River People behaved the way the did – which is almost cult like at times.
River Stone never becomes preachy, but there is a real lesson in there – one of the dangers of greed and environmental complacency.
River Stone is a story of survival, of adapting, of friendship, of being human, and of being a teenager living in the shadow of expectation.
I really enjoyed River Stone and am excited to see how the River People’s story continues in the next book.
The protagonist Pan grows up not really knowing anything of the past, as it is too painful for most of the village elders to talk about – her mother especially.
River Stone is set on our earth in what could be our not too distant future. In the years before Pan’s birth Earth has been nearly destroyed; mass animal extinction, land becoming barren and unfarmable, people with wealth turning their backs on the rest of the world and the collapse of modern civilization as we know it.
The story mostly follows Pan as she undertakes a journey. A journey that I can’t really say much about without giving away the plot of the book. Hmmmm. Just know the journey tests Pan’s abilities to adapt and learn fast. It teaches her a lot about the world outside her village and she sees things that she never even knew existed.
The other part of the story is told through letters that Pan’s mum writes to her while she is on her journey. In these letters Pan’s mum writes of all the things she could never bring herself to talk to her daughter about. The letters allow us to gain the backstory of the world Pan is living in. In the letters Zaana tells her daughter who she was before the burning days and how she came to be with the River People. I especially enjoyed the letters, they allowed us to get to know Pan’s mother and understand why the River People behaved the way the did – which is almost cult like at times.
River Stone never becomes preachy, but there is a real lesson in there – one of the dangers of greed and environmental complacency.
River Stone is a story of survival, of adapting, of friendship, of being human, and of being a teenager living in the shadow of expectation.
I really enjoyed River Stone and am excited to see how the River People’s story continues in the next book.
October 2, 2022
The only world Pandora has ever known is within the bounds of small village alongside a river, comprising of survivors form a destroyed world that requires hard and relentless labour to kto live off the land, a history of a lost civilization and that is bounded by riles for the good of all. Her coming of age sees her bonded to Mathew with an expectation of bringing children into the world to build the small village population. But Pandora is restless and yearns to see what is beyond the village. that crumbled. When a plague threatens the existence of Pandora’s entire village, she and four other teenagers are directed by Pandora's mother to return to the devastated city to seek a cure. Circumstances drive them to the Mountain people and with two young men with some knowledge of the city and the ferals inhabiting it, and some much needed fighting prowess, the team set forth on a fraught and dangerous quest.
Pandora is the principal story teller, but the unsent letters from her mother provide the family’s history and fills the blanks for readers. Personal relationships, budding romance, danger, and fortitude intertwine in the engrossing possible future world which also raises questions on class disparity in the past, and irresponsible scientific experimentation.
River Stone is the first an enthralling and intriguing start to the Burning Days series.
Pandora is the principal story teller, but the unsent letters from her mother provide the family’s history and fills the blanks for readers. Personal relationships, budding romance, danger, and fortitude intertwine in the engrossing possible future world which also raises questions on class disparity in the past, and irresponsible scientific experimentation.
River Stone is the first an enthralling and intriguing start to the Burning Days series.
May 1, 2019
While there are many other dystopian novels out on the market, River Stone manages to shine brightly against the rest.
Without giving any of the plot away, it is about Pandora who is struggling against traditions her village has had set in place for years, she is trying to become her own person and to understand who she is. A sudden illness strikes Pan's village which causes her and her friends to go on a journey of discovery, adventure and purpose.
River Stone hits to the very core of the reader when explaining the ecological disaster that plagued Pan's past and how they were about to combat and fix what had been broken.
River Stone is an engaging, well written novel that not only brings the reader into Pan's world, but also makes them think about traditions, our waste on this planet and how we all might fix what is beginning to break.
Without giving any of the plot away, it is about Pandora who is struggling against traditions her village has had set in place for years, she is trying to become her own person and to understand who she is. A sudden illness strikes Pan's village which causes her and her friends to go on a journey of discovery, adventure and purpose.
River Stone hits to the very core of the reader when explaining the ecological disaster that plagued Pan's past and how they were about to combat and fix what had been broken.
River Stone is an engaging, well written novel that not only brings the reader into Pan's world, but also makes them think about traditions, our waste on this planet and how we all might fix what is beginning to break.
August 29, 2019
When I first picked up the book, I was expecting a fresh perspective on Dystopian YA. I'm sorry, but this book just didn't cut it for me.
I felt like I was forcing myself to keep reading it after about 50 pages. It was obvious that the author was trying to avoid cliches, but I just felt like this made the story dry and grating. The love triangle between Bayat, Pan and Matthew felt imposed and Emmeline seems to only exist as a person for Pan to resent.
On the other hand, the world-building and social hierarchy of the world were mesmerising. I enjoyed the small nods to Australian geography and history ('Melney', a combination of Sydney and Melbourne, is a neat stand-in title for Canberra).
I felt like I was forcing myself to keep reading it after about 50 pages. It was obvious that the author was trying to avoid cliches, but I just felt like this made the story dry and grating. The love triangle between Bayat, Pan and Matthew felt imposed and Emmeline seems to only exist as a person for Pan to resent.
On the other hand, the world-building and social hierarchy of the world were mesmerising. I enjoyed the small nods to Australian geography and history ('Melney', a combination of Sydney and Melbourne, is a neat stand-in title for Canberra).
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews