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A review by bookbybook
The Rift by Rachael Craw
4.0
3.5 stars
I received this book in exchange for an honest review. This in no ways changes my opinion and all the words below are my own. My review is based on an advanced copy of the book and may not fully reflect the finished copy.
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 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.
I received this book in exchange for an honest review. This in no ways changes my opinion and all the words below are my own. My review is based on an advanced copy of the book and may not fully reflect the finished copy.
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 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.