The Rift

When 17-year-old Meg Archer returns home to her mystical island after living with her mother on the mainland for ten years she finds herself in the midst of a struggle for survival. Having been bitten by mythical creatures from The Rift when they were children, both Meg and her friend Cal possess Rift Sight and are key to preventing the Rift from opening and allowing the wolves to destroy the Old Herd. This book was quite good but in my opinion is more of a second novel. It needs a prequel to better explain why the Old Herd is so important, what exactly is The Rift and where did it come from, more background on the characters and why they have the hint, they reason behind the drug testing and creating zombie animals... so many great show more concepts that felt a bit disjointed. show less

The Rift by Rachael Craw drops the reader onto the island of Black Water, where the secretive and mystic Rangers protect the Old Herd from threats both natural and supernatural. The story follows Cal and Meg, childhood friends who were separated when Meg was moved off the island after a tragic event nine years ago. The story begins with Meg returning to the island.

This is a young adult novel and hits on a number of themes and archetypes of that genre. If you’re a reader who doesn’t care much for YA fiction, it may be a pass for you. I, personally, really enjoyed the story. I liked the blending of the ranger characters (literally ranger class as if lifted from D&D or any fantasy game) with the supernatural elements of the Rift, the show more ley lines, the Rift hound bite powers, animal bonds, etc. I liked that the modern world exists outside the island of Black Water, which I found grounded the story a bit more than setting it in some fantasy world. Ultimately, I thought the story was a unique and exciting entry into a genre that is quite crowded already.

The author’s writing is excellent, painting the scenes with thoughtful imagery and diligently describing the characters’ feelings and motivations. There were a handful of iffy passages, though these may have been elements that had yet to be edited (my advanced review copy had a number of formatting and punctuation errors throughout).

[Spoilers below]

I know the author has stated this book is intended to be a standalone story, however there are a number of loose threads and unanswered questions that I think could merit an equally exceptional sequel, if not a trilogy. (Who will be the new head Ranger? How will Nutris hit back? What is to become of Nutris’ reanimation serum? What happened with Rilke and the spirit of the head ranger? What sorts of powers will the new bite survivors develop and how will that help in the impending conflict with Nutris? How badass will Meg get when she figures out her own powers and gets her own animal bond? What other sorts of effects do the Rift and the ley lines have on the Rangers? On the wildlife? Even just some slice-of-life from Meg’s perspective of living on the island and with the Rangers after spending so long off the island)

[Spoilers above]

The publisher, Candlewick, provided me with a copy of the book for early reviewing, however, the opinion expressed above is my own. show less

Black Water is an island that's home to some kind of interdimensional rift, an ancient herd of magical deer, and a hereditary line of rangers with supernatural powers who are sworn to protect them. But the deer have a substance in their antlers that can be used to make powerful medications, so representatives of a pharmaceutical company are allowed onto the island once a year for a cull.

It seemed to me like an interesting genre-blending set-up, but I was rather disappointed by how little the novel does with it. The more real-world-feeling side of things is hugely underdeveloped, and the pharmaceutical company and its methods themselves are more magic than medicine and more plot device than either. There is a lot of scope here for some show more interesting themes about magic and science and capitalism and human need vs. environmental preservation, and such, but none of it really gets explored.

What we do get is readable enough, I guess. There's some action, some revelations, some romantic tension. But I have to say, none of it really gripped me at all. In the end, I'm mostly left with the feeling of a potentially interesting concept that didn't really go anywhere, or, more charitably, of a work by a writer who was interested in entirely different things about it than I was. show less

Plenty of potential, the execution just wasn’t for me.

When Meg and her mother return to their former island home, it’s meant to be a short trip, strictly for financial purposes, however, very quickly Meg’s caught up with rangers, fortune hunters, a pharmaceutical company, mystical and zombie deer, as well as hounds, who, if they don’t kill you, their bites may imbue you with powers.

The supernatural, the medicine, the rangers, the fortune hunters, the backstory of Meg and her family’s separation, pretty much all of it remained vague throughout, I mean, yes, I had a basic understanding of what was going on, but for the most part, none of it was delved into with depth or detail, it seemed underdeveloped, lacking concrete show more explanations. With so much undefined, I struggled to feel fully immersed in it, particularly once the book took a turn almost entirely into action territory where more solid footing in the world of the story might have been helpful in holding my attention more than this ultimately did.

It may also have helped my emotional investment and my overall engagement with this one had there been more of an arc, more conflict beyond fighting off supernatural creatures. For instance, I wondered why afflict Meg’s mother with cancer if it doesn’t tie in to the story? If she’d been dying and could have benefited from the island, wouldn’t that have massively upped the stakes? If Meg had been torn between saving her mother’s life and siding with her father/the rangers she admired (and wanted to be), it may have provided some very necessary tension, if Meg had to deal with moral and emotional conflicts about something real world tangible, make tough decisions, maybe the plot would have felt like stronger and more involving.

Initially, I was intrigued by the character dynamics. Meg’s mom still seemingly harbored some feelings for Meg’s dad, Meg longed for a relationship with her dad, Meg was envious of Cal basically living the life she’d wanted, Cal felt unworthy and Rilke compounded that, there was a lot of juicy stuff to dig into here, unfortunately, so much of the interpersonal fell to the wayside after one particular attack, moments, confrontations I’d anticipated from the interesting set-up early on, between Meg’s parents, between Meg and her parents, between Meg and Cal, and Cal and Rilke, most of that became lost amid the action as opposed to being woven into it for what could have been a richer reading experience.

I received this ARC through a giveaway. show less

Rachel Craw's The Rift is about ancient traditions and the supernatural pitted against Big Pharma, as Black Water deer, whose antlers have mystical healing powers, are being exploited by Nutris Pharmaceuticals. At least I think I have that right.

I have complicated feelings about this book. On the one hand, it's really well written. Especially when considering emotions, Meg's anger and frustrations, and Cal's humiliations and vulnerability sizzle off the pages. And because I'm admittedly not the target audience for YA, I really loved and connected with Meg's mother, Cora.

However, this book feels like sequel to me--the world building is a bit vague and character names are dropped as if we already know them. It took me a long while to show more really get what was going on in this book, and even when I felt like I had a grasp on it, I still felt as though I were missing pieces.

That being said, I did like it and as I think there have been hints at a possible sequel, I'd most likely look into reading that too.

Thank you to Candlewick Press for providing this review copy through LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program. show less

The story itself is intriguing but the structure of it left me unable to connect with the characters. If the flashback scene, which is told as one continuous narrative that is far too long and happens far too late in the book, had been doled out piecemeal throughout the novel it would have changed things entirely. As it was, I could have cared less about these protagonists because I just didn't understand where they were coming from until it was too late for me to enjoy the tale. So frustrating.

Thank you to Candlewick Press who were kind enough to send me this ARC for review.

A lot happened in this book. Just to clear it out of the way, there were a number of times the tense slipped from present to past when it shouldn't have and a handful of typos, but I’m quite confident those are wrinkles that will be ironed out in the final copy.

My main reasons for both enjoying and not enjoying this book is the world-building. It felt like I was supposed to have more information than I did at the start. The whole idea of the Old Herd, the Rift and all the magic that come with them is fascinating. It’s unique while still including well-loved traits of a fantasy story. The biggest issue is that it’s set in a fairly modern time. No amount of treaties or “please turn off electronic devices" signs would actually show more stop the government of any modern country for pillaging that land or teens from using cellphones. If it was simply set back in time, or clearly on a different planet it would have been more realistic. Well, realistic in the fantasy sense. It seemed the one island is the only magical place which makes no sense. The magic was not given a huge backstory, basically just “it’s been like that for a long time and at some point, humans started dealing with it".

While trying not to spoil what does/does not happen, I will say that I wish there was a little more backstory to the Rangers. We learn why they are there in the present, but the story of how they formed was pretty lost in the book for me. With that and with the love story was pretty basic, I still liked the characters and the variety of people on the island. This definitely felt like a character field book. I was pretty invested in their stories and their friendships.

Overall, it was really just a quick read with a world that I hope gets fleshed out more in a sequel or prequel, because the characters were built well and just needed that little push of information. show less