Review: River of Time Series

RIVER OF TIME SERIES (Waterfall, Cascade, Torrent)
Lisa T. Bergren
Paranormal Young Adult
David C. Cook (publisher)
Available Now
Bought and received for review from author

Warning: review contains minor spoilers

THE STORY
Gabriella Betarrini and her sister Lia are used to following their mother around on archaeological digs, spending their summers in beautiful Italy but ultimately stuck at the dig site unable to explore much themselves. When they stumble into their mother's latest find, an ancient tomb, and place their hands on painted hand prints on the wall that seem identical to their own, they find themselves sucked back in time.

Yanking her hand from the wall a few moments before her sister, Gabi finds herself still in the tomb, yet everything has changed. When she emerges, she sees the ruins she expects restored to all their medieval glory and watches as the battle taking place in front of her proves itself to be no mere reenactment.

This series follows Gabi, Lia and eventually their mother as they navigate their way through medieval Italy and all the beauty and horror of the time, picking up weapons in defense of those who have been wronged and finding unexpected love amidst the chaos of war.

MY THOUGHTS
The River of Time books transport us to an utterly enthralling medieval world, enchanting us with knights in shining armor and their chivalry, but also never letting us forget the difficulties of the time period. With the extravagant gowns and the propriety we also experience lives governed by the point of a sword–often lived fast and lost quickly–as accompanying the gallantry we find greed and a desire for power; just as with loyalty we also discover the brutal sting of betrayal. Ms. Bergren paints her world in hypnotic color, gloriously illustrating the joys and pains of the medieval era, dazzling us with rich historical details and intricacies, and thoroughly entertaining us with characters who win us over with their vibrant personalities. Gabi and Lia drag us through the tomb's portal with them, companions on a an epic adventure that has us keeping track of the page numbers with increasing dismay and grieving the speed with which they're flying by as we catapult toward an end we're simply not prepared to accept just yet.

Gabriella is a heroine virtually impossible to dislike, her quick mind coming to her aid again and again as she moves through a world she's only read about previously, never despairing of her circumstances but rather embracing the soft romanticism of a medieval lady's life with the hard-edged brutality of civilization at the time. While it would be shockingly easy for her to lose herself in the grandeur of living in a castle with the attentions of its handsome lord, she never forgets herself entirely or allows her mind to fall prey to the beautiful illusion, instead remaining cognizant of what's waiting for her in her life back home and the effect her decisions will have on her family. She swoons over Marcello and then mentally chastises herself for doing so, approaching her relationship with remarkable maturity and level-headedness–perhaps more so than we do as readers given that we find ourselves weak-kneed and foggy-minded when faced with Marcello, Luca, and Lord Greco.

In addition to an extraordinary leading lady, Ms. Bergren also increases our love for this series by steadily integrating the presence of Gabi's family, drawing us blissfully further into the story as the dynamic of a modern family traipsing through and forever altering an ancient world fully captivates us. We start with the brief presence of Lia in Waterfall, then progress to the addition of the girls' equally strong-willed and physically fearsome mother in Cascade, and finally see the completion of the Betarrini family in Torrent with their father. Each Betarrini member supports the others fully but also questions them, ensuring no decision is made lightly or without forethought, and we can't help but admire each of them for their individual strengths as we watch a jump in time save a family in so many different ways.

The River of Time series is an absolute pleasure to read, keeping our emotions constantly in flux as we discover both how wonderful and terrifying medieval Italy can be. All three books are incredibly action-packed with family feuds and political battles taking center stage while sweet romance is expertly interwoven to keep our hearts beating double time for hundreds of pages. These novels will appeal to a wide variety of readers as no single element overpowers the others, and we are left with a solid conclusion but also the potential for so much more. The possibility that this world is just waiting for us to return is a heady one, bringing a smile to our faces every time we think of it.

Overall series rating: 4.5/5