Reviewed by Jennifer Joyce
Nicholas
Falcott is fighting in Spain during an 1815 battle and is about to be killed by
the enemy when he finds himself transported to the year 2003. Waking in a
modern hospital, he is told he shares a gift of ‘jumping’ through time, a gift
he shares with many others. The others are part of The Guild, an organisation
that is centuries old. The time travellers are told they cannot ‘jump’ back to
their own time period, so The Guild helps them to adjust to their new
surroundings. Nicholas Falcott becomes Nick Devanant and moves to America.
Nick spends
the next ten years living his new life when he is summoned by The Guild. It
seems they have lied to their fellow time travellers and, with training, they can travel back and forward through
time, including returning to their previous life. The Guild needs Nick’s help
and want him to return to 1815.
Back in 1815,
Nick’s neighbour, Julia Percy, is devastated when her grandfather passes away.
Orphaned as a baby, Julia was brought up by her grandfather, a man who had the
ability to freeze time. He and Julia had always kept his ability a secret, but
it seems Julia’s cousin, Eamon, knew of his capabilities and with her
grandfather out of the way, Eamon will do whatever it takes to discover how his
uncle could manipulate time.
I’ve been looking
forward to reading The River of No Return as I like the idea of time travel.
Nick is understandably annoyed (to put it lightly) that he has been duped by
The Guild for the past ten years, but he agrees to help them and travels back to
his natural time of 1815, where he meets up with Julia, the friend of his
younger sister. I loved the strong chemistry between the pair and wondered how
long they would be able to keep their secrets from one another. I was never
fully able to get my head around the whole time travel/flowing river aspect of
the book, but it didn’t impede my enjoyment of the book as the characters and
overall storyline were good. However, without giving anything away, I wasn’t
satisfied with the ending, which didn’t really feel like an ending at all, if
I’m honest, and left so many hanging threads and questions, which was
frustrating.
7/10
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