Torrent: River of Time 3 (ARC)

Author: Lisa Tawn Bergren
Genre: Young Adult – Historical/Fantasy
Publication Date: September 1st 2011
Publisher:  David C. Cook
Age Range: Young Adult
Pages: 388
Date Scoot Read: August 2011
Source: eARC from author for review

Scoot's Rating: 10 – Amazing! Loved it. Read it now!

Synopsis (via Goodreads): When Gabi and Lia finally learn to surf the river of time, they realize they must make hard choices about life and love in the third and final book in the River of Time series.

Gabi and Lia Betarrini have learned to control their time travel, and they return from medieval Italy to save their father from his tragic death in modern times.   But love calls across the centuries, and the girls are determined to return forever—even though they know the Black Plague is advancing across Europe, claiming the lives of one-third of the population. In the suspenseful conclusion of the River of Time series, every decision is about life … and death.

Scoot’s Review:

**Warning: don’t read this review if you haven’t read the other books yet to avoid spoilage. Just go read the other books first, they are great!

 

In Torrent we join the entire Betarrini family as they travel back to 14^th-Century Italy.  But how long have they been gone, and what is the state of Castelo Forelli and all of those they left behind?  Torrent is an excellent conclusion to the River of Time trilogy.  So many things happened in this book that I want to gush on about, but I will restrain myself to avoid spoilage.  Let’s just say that I enjoyed this book as much, if not more, than the other two in the series.  Torrent is a well written blend of action, adventure, tragedy, romance, and real life lessons.  The story was one that you enjoyed until the last page and left you wanting so much more (not in a bad way)!  Characterization continues to excel, and I believe that I could read about the characters from this series for ages and never get tired of them.  I enjoyed watching each character grow and develop in different ways. Gabi continues to bring strength to the novel, with her loyalty to doing what she feels is right. Even with unstable pathways ahead of her; wishy-washy Gabi is not.  The emotions riding throughout the story felt natural, real and absorbing; I was heartbroken and in tears in the first 100 pages, and on the edge of my seat or tied up in knots for the rest of them.   The plot had a few unexpected twists, which kept things intriguing and prevented the pace from stalling.   I loved the romance between Gabi and Marcello, they just constantly made me smile.  Needless to say I was really happy with this novel and highly recommend it.  The only error I felt this book had was that it ended.  I need a book for each character; Luca, Marcello, Lia, Rodolpho, etc, etc! (please ignore my shameless plug for more books – unless your name is Lisa of course ;)) Go grab your copy of Torrent today!