Book reviews are subjective. I tend to rate books not according to how “perfect” they are, seem to be, or are said to be in general but rather to how perfect they are to me. Revell provided me with a complimentary copy of this book for an honest review.
In the Shadow of the River by Ann H. Gabhart
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Description: In 1881, Jacci Reed is only five years old when a man attempts to kidnap her from the steamboat her mother, Irena, works on. Badly wounded during the confrontation, Irena takes Jacci aboard the Floating Palace, a showboat tied up beside them. There, Jacci’s actor grandfather tends to her mother and Jacci gets a first taste of the life she will come to lead. Fifteen years later, the cryptic things Jacci has overheard about her past portend a renewed threat.
My thoughts: It was getting several glimpses of this historical novel’s lovely cover that urged me to try out this ChristFic author for the first time. I was drawn in by the visual blend of the theater auditorium, the showboat, and the river.
After I started reading, the river’s atmosphere mixed with the theme of old-fashioned show business pulled this diehard historical fiction fan into the story, gradually. Now, it wasn’t exactly so gradual that I lost all interest at any point, but the novel felt longer to me than it had to be. Until around 100 pages in, Jacci is still five, while her mother Irena’s trouble with an injury stretches out for most of that time. Irena has little to do then but sit and go over the past, and in different key scenes later on, other characters spend more time rehashing those past events the reader already knows about.
In more than one scene, the story’s danger felt contrived to me. Jacci walks right into hazardous situations, regardless of the fact that clear forewarnings precede her each time. It seems that with her having firsthand experience of life-and-death peril in the past, with the ominous memory of it remaining with her long afterward, Jacci would know to take some sensible precautions when related danger becomes apparent again. More than once.
Depending on their personal beliefs, some ChristFic readers may be uncomfortable with the way Jacci inwardly asks a deceased person to watch over her. As for the romance, I didn’t find the romantic characters compelling. Overall, this was a novel where, while the characters in general didn’t grip me as people, the events in their lives kept me reading.
On the whole, I enjoyed the read enough to plan on trying this author again sometime.
Prismatic Prospects 