The Storyteller

Starred review from December 15, 2015
Alistair Cleary confronts the reality of his return home to Thessaly, New York, from the parallel world, Aquavania, and its impact on his family in this concluding volume of the Riverman Trilogy, narrated by his sister. Continuing Alistair's story from her own perspective, 14-year-old Kerrigan admits her brother seems like "someone from outer space" since the disappearance of his friends Fiona and Charlie and the shooting of Charlie's brother, Kyle. Alistair's silence worries his parents, and police suspect he's involved in Kyle's shooting. In response, Kerrigan begins her diary as a "place to confess...to tell stories." While Alistair's parents try to address his changed behavior, he gradually tells Kerrigan about Aquavania and how he's working to release the souls of children like Fiona and Charlie who are trapped there. Fearing he's delusional, Kerrigan starts believing in Alistair when her own stories "coincidentally" overlap with his. Alternating between the fantastical stories she's writing and her factual chronicle of daily events, Kerrigan's pithy, insightful, irreverent, and vulnerable diary spans the gap between Aquavania and Thessaly and between fantasy and reality, opening readers to the "different way of thinking" Kerrigan and Alistair share. "Story is the important thing" in this consistently imaginative, intense, thoughtful, and satisfying finale. (Fantasy. 10-14)

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Starred review from February 1, 2016

Gr 5-8-This title concludes the original and uniquely satisfying trilogy and will not disappoint fans of the first two books. Picking up where The Whisper (Farrar, 2015) left off in the "solid world," former narrator Alistair Cleary's older sister, Kerrigan Cleary, assumes the narrative. Keri is troubled by what is happening to her little brother, from his involvement in the shooting of Kyle Dwyer to the disappearances of Fiona Loomis and Charlie Dwyer. And now Alistair is refusing to talk about what is going on, except in secret conversations in which he divulges unbelievable stories of a fight he is waging in an alternate universe. As Alistair shares his accounts, Keri tries to read between the lines of what he is saying to find a way to help him. What is happening with Alistair is augmented by stories that Keri herself writes, as a way of expressing her frustrations. But when the stories Keri thinks up and writes in her private journal start to contain troubling premonitions of the tales Alistair tells her, Keri must decide if she can trust her brother, or even herself. This coming-of-age novel is a thoughtful and nuanced exploration of the difficult transitions from childhood to adulthood. The uncertainty of what the characters believe to be real and imaginary parallel the way traumatic experiences can alienate young people and make them feel as though they have to struggle alone. In a subsection of publishing where trilogies often seem formulaic or forced, this refreshing take challenges traditionally reiterated narrative devices by never dealing in absolutes and not tying things off into neat bows. Fans of fantasy and realistic fiction alike will find something to love about this book, in which narrative ambiguity has never been so well leveraged. VERDICT This is a first buy for upper middle grade and YA collections, and a great recommendation for fans of the first two books as well as Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game or Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time.-Tara Kron, Aurora Public Library, CO

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from January 1, 2016
Grades 6-9 *Starred Review* Since Alistair Cleary returned from Aquavania and took up the mantle of the Riverman, he has been closed off and quiet. He knows he has had something to do with the disappearance of Fiona and Charlie, and he is trying to bring them back. Meanwhile, Alistair's sister, Keri, begins writing stories and keeping a diary to help her cope with the missing kids' absence and her brother's aloof behavior. As she hears Alistair's tales, Keri realizes her stories hold many coincidences with things he relates about Aquavania. Keri uses storytelling to decipher what is really happening, the truth about Aquavania, and Alistair's role in everything. Told from Keri's point of view and alternating between her various tales and her struggle to understand Alistair, this is a novel about the power of storieshow they can help people heal and make sense of the world, especially in the toughest of situations. Readers never visit the strange world of Aquavania again, but rather piece together information about this magical place through Keri's writing in a way that brings the trilogy full circle. A stunning and thought-provoking conclusion to the Riverman Trilogy.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)