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Aug 11, 2014JCLChrisK rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
This is a mystery book. But is it a fantasy book? That's the mystery. It's certainly a bit horror, creepy and gripping. Someone bad is out there, coming for children, someone called the Riverman. So is the Riverman a magical predator invading a magical land of imagination and stories or a metaphor for someone very real and too horrifying to name directly? Alistair thinks he knows the answer . . . but. But, maybe not. Fiona has entrusted him with her story, and that has changed everything. Now Alistair isn't really sure of anything, and nothing--and no one--seems to be what he thought, not even himself. Is that because the magic of imagination is real--or because it isn't? And which possibility would be preferable? A masterful book. One that gets beneath the reader's skin, due both to its ominous undertones and to how accurately it captures the feeling that life provides more questions than answers, questions we can't stop asking even when we can't find the answers. Alistair gets caught up in Fiona's story and wants desperately--even at the cost of nearly everything else he holds dear--to do the right things to help her, but can't make sense of things enough to know what or how, and we get obsessively caught up in that quest with him. I want to read this again, more carefully this time instead of rushing to reach the end, then have a good, meaty discussion with someone about it. It doesn't need to provide answers because the questions it raises are so satisfying to consider even as they frustrate. Is this a fantasy? Does it even matter whether it is or isn't? Read for yourself and decide. You'll enjoy the ride.