The River of No Return

River of No Return #1

by Bee Ridgway

Two hundred years after he was about to die on a Napoleonic battlefield, Lord Nicholas Falcott wakes up in twenty-first-century London. The Guild, a secretive fraternity of time travellers, informs him that there is no return. But Nick yearns for the beautiful Julia Percy, who remains in 1815. As fate and the fraying fabric of time draw Nick and Julia together once again, the lovers must match wits and gamble their hearts against the rules of time itself.
 
Rich in romance and historical detail, Bee Ridgway’s debut is a thrilling, fast-paced narrative evocative of Deborah Harkness’s time-bending bestsellers.

Genres: Fantasy, Time Travel, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Romance, Science Fiction, Historical

464 pages, Paperback

First published April 23, 2013

About the author

I was raised in Massachusetts, then drifted around from here to there until I finally came to rest in Philadelphia. I teach American literature at Bryn Mawr College, and for fun I read, write, read, cook, read, walk all over my beautiful and dirty city, read . . . THE RIVER OF NO RETURN is my first novel, and the experience of writing it was so overwhelmingly fun that I'm roaring ahead on the sequel.

Reviews

[Melliott · Rating 4 out of 5]

I almost gave this a five...and then I hesitated. It was wholeheartedly a five until the last 40 or so pages, when I realized that the book would soon be over and yet so much was left unresolved, and it started feeling like someone was taking her time to craft a beautiful, lyrical novel and her editor said "Bee! Wrap it up in 40 pages and turn it in NOW!" and so she did.

Now that I have gone to her website, I have realized that a sequel is planned (but only by exploring some very veiled hints), but the book doesn't really make you feel like a sequel is expected, but rather that the author decided to just let some things go and say "they lived happily ever after," which of course if all those things were left dangling would be impossible! So I felt puzzled and frustrated when I turned the last page, but not in the way one would if one were expecting a sequel and impatient for its execution, but rather because it felt unfinished.

All that set aside...the writing is wonderful, the premise fascinating, the details rich, the characters compelling, and I will (now that I am reassured that this isn't the only one) eagerly look forward to the sequel! I don't know how one subtly wraps up a book so as to let the reader know the story's not over, but this one didn't do that for me, and it cost her a star. But not through any fault of the rest of the book!

[Jenne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has everything I love in a book--getting invited to join a secret cabal! Time travel! Regency romance! Characters who are actual people! Motivations that make sense!

Also, I really appreciated that keeping people ignorant 'for their own good' was something the bad guys do, NOT the good guys.
Compare:
River of No Return: "He kept her entirely ignorant, inert, like a stone. [...] It is unforgivable."
Twilight, book 4: "Wasn't shielding her more important than answering her questions?"
Harry Potter series: THE ENTIRE CHARACTER OF DUMBLEDORE. JUST SAYING.

[UniquelyMoi ~ BlithelyBookish · Rating 4 out of 5]

"We are cowards, really, we time travelers. We cheat death over and over. Jumping away from one story into another. Always pursuing the hope of another day."

In Bee Ridgway’s wonderfully imaginative debut novel, a man and a woman travel through time in a quest to bring down a secret society that controls the past and, thus, the future.

On the cover:

“You are now a member of the Guild. There is no return.” Two hundred years after he was about to die on a Napoleonic battlefield, Nick Falcott, soldier and aristocrat, wakes up in a hospital bed in modern London. The Guild, an entity that controls time travel, showers him with life's advantages. But Nick yearns for home and for one brown-eyed girl, lost now down the centuries. Then the Guild asks him to break its own rule. It needs Nick to go back to 1815 to fight the Guild’s enemies and to find something called the Talisman.

In 1815, Julia Percy mourns the death of her beloved grandfather, an earl who could play with time. On his deathbed he whispers in her ear: “Pretend!” Pretend what? When Nick returns home as if from the dead, older than he should be and battle scarred, Julia begins to suspect that her very life depends upon the secrets Grandfather never told her. Soon enough Julia and Nick are caught up in an adventure that stretches up and down the river of time. As their knowledge of the Guild and their feelings for each other grow, the fate of the future itself is hanging in the balance.

When I was contacted and asked to consider reading and reviewing this story, my first reply was something to the effect, “It sounds great, but I don’t do time travel.” The reply I received in return thanked me for my honesty, asking me to reconsider because this time travel story is different. I thought - but kept that thought to myself - “Yes, that’s what they all say,” but I agreed, even though I was certain I’d only make it through five or so chapters before tossing in the towel. And yet, here I am, forty-six chapters later, so very happy that I did reconsider because this turned out to be a very enjoyable, thought provoking story.

The River of No Return is not science fictiony, nor is it steeped in fantasy or magic. And while this is a romance, and there is some steam, the majority of this story is about the Guild, the Ofan, time travel, and how sometimes the things we do, no matter how small, can change the future, for good or for bad. The world Bee Ridgway has created is complex, and if I give my imagination free rein, I can almost believe it’s possible that such a world exists.

There are many players in this story, and all of them are characters who 'fit,' regardless of their time; past, present, or future. Each is a person with a life they left behind through no choice of their own, and that makes them people I feel for, people I wonder about, and people I want to know better.

The bottom line: Ms. Ridgway has taken a genre that has, until now, completely turned me off, and has given it a fascinating plausibility that's more than just entertaining, it's compelling. This isn't a quick read, but I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of the story. I do wish there had been more time given to Nick and Julia and their growing relationship - what can I say? I'm a hopeless romantic - but the world is so intriguing that I was completely captivated, start to finish.

I'm hoping there will be more books to come because I absolutely must find out what becomes of Jem.

My sincere thanks to Sarah at Dutton Adult, Penguin Group, for offering a copy of this story in exchange for an honest review. I'm sorry I doubted you...

[The Bookish Wombat · Rating 2 out of 5]

At the point of death on a Napoleonic battlefield, Nicholas Falcott finds himself jumping forward in time nearly 200 years and in the care of an organisation called The Guild. He doesn’t know how he got there, just that he can never go back. However after 10 years in the modern world he is told that he must do just that – and that the future of the world depends on it.

The cover blurb of The River of No Return compares it to The Time Traveller’s Wife, but as I’m the only person in the Western hemisphere who hasn’t read that, it didn’t give me any clue to what this novel might be about. I’m not really a reader of fantasy or sci-fi (i.e. anything with time travel in it), though I’m always happy to expand the genres I read, but I’m a huge fan of Doctor Who, so I’m obviously not against a bit (a lot!) of time travelling in fiction. Again on the Doctor Who theme, I’m always up for a bit of requited or unrequited love across the eons. I also read a lot of chick-lit (although I don’t really like calling it that), so have nothing against a good love story.

All this meant I was keen to read this doorstop of a book and I enjoyed the first few chapters, but found that my interest waned after that. The ideas were interesting, but I didn’t feel that the characters drew me in sufficiently and I thought pacing was a problem. Some sections felt like wading through treacle with endless passages of people sitting round discussing the ins and outs of time travel and what time travellers can and can’t do. I understand that sometimes a writer has to do this kind of thing when trying to convey complex concepts, but there was just too much of it to be interesting. The longueurs are interspersed with periods of feverish action which can seem overdone in the context of the rest of the book.

I didn’t feel that any of the characters were particularly well-drawn and some were just walking stereotypes. The 19th century female characters just felt like modern women dropped into that era, they didn’t behave as I would expect from my readings of novels of the time, and this had the result of eroding my trust in the author to know what she was doing.

There was also an irritating quirk of placing small almost subliminal clues in the modern part of the book to trigger recognition in the reader that we’re in contemporary London. A couple of examples of this was the inclusion of The Shard, and ads on the side of taxis for The Book of Mormon musical, which hasn’t yet opened at the time I write this. I found this unnecessary and annoying, rather than helpful, so it just made me cross.

In the same way that many current films are too long, I felt this novel went on and on and on. It would have been a sharper, more involving read had it been shorter. More is not necessarily better and a comprehensive cull of much of the “sitting round discussing time travel” would have made it more enjoyable.

There’s also the issue of the (presumably) forthcoming sequel and having to leave enough loose ends to facilitate this. Does every novel now have to be part of a trilogy? Can we not have stand-alone books, complete worlds in themselves, which we can read and put down totally satisfied without having to wait for the next adventures of the characters? Trilogies are getting out of hand now, for the love of God please stop it!

I felt like there was a good, shorter book trying to fight its way out of The River Of No Return, but sadly it failed, leaving me with a novel that had some good ideas but that I didn’t enjoy as much as I hoped I would.

[Blair · Rating 4 out of 5]

I must confess my initial interest in Bee Ridgway's debut, The River of No Return, was superficial: I fell in love with the gorgeous cover. The more I read about the premise - a time-travelling historical romance, with an emphasis on the romance - the more dubious I became. Then there's the fact that it has been widely compared to The Time Traveler's Wife, a book I tried three times to read without any success, and A Discovery of Witches, a book I finished but in many ways disliked. All in all, by the time I came to actually start reading this book I was a bit concerned I would end up hating it. It was a relief to find it was, in fact, very enjoyable.

The story begins in 1815, with 22-year-old Julia Percy at her grandfather's bedside as he takes his last breaths. Julia believes his secret power - the manipulation of time - has died with him, and she dreads the arrival of her unpleasant cousin Eamon, the new earl. The scene then switches to Vermont in 2013, where Nick Davenant, the wealthy owner of several farms, lives a content yet complicated life. Nick is not what he seems: he is a member of the Guild, an organisation made up of those who, like Nick, have 'jumped' through time and found themselves in an age not their own. At the moment of his near-death in 1812, he was transported to 2003, and after a strange and painful period of adjustment, he has made peace with his unconventional existence. That is, until he receives a summons from the Guild which contradicts one of its own cardinal rules. Does this mean the principal law of the Guild - that there can be no return - could be broken too? And what connects Nick's summons to Julia's predicament back in the nineteenth century?

After a slightly clumsy start which didn't give me a very positive impression of Nick's character, I soon found myself intrigued by the multi-layered plot, particularly the questions surrounding the Guild's operation. Between Nick's story, Julia's story, the background of the Guild and its shadowy enemies, and real-life historical events affecting the characters, there's a lot in this book, but it works - there is plenty of detail but it's all very fast-moving and never becomes dull: nor does it feel like the author is throwing too much information at you, impressive given that the amount that needs explaining about how all this works. As for the love story, it's pleasant enough, and (thankfully) believable. I was relieved to find that there was already an established connection between the two main characters, rather than it being one of these insta-love situations - the reader was easily able to imagine that, had none of the fantastical parts of the story actually happened, these two would probably have ended up together anyway. I did feel that Nick was being a bit too forward with Julia at times, given the strictures of the age (which he was obviously familiar with), but for the most part I liked them together, believed in their feelings for each other, and wanted them to be happy. Beyond this, I don't think I can discuss the plot in any further detail without significant spoilers. Suffice to say, I was carried along by the momentum of it and once I'd got to grips with the basic principles of the timey-wimey stuff and the dynamic between the characters, I was hooked.

The one thing I will say, without actually spoiling anything, is that it's very obvious at the end that the stage is being set for a sequel. This can be read as a standalone book, and there's no cliffhanger as such, but there is plenty that could still be explored about this world and a number of questions which aren't answered comprehensively. I won't pretend this didn't disappoint me a little - I'd have preferred to think of this as a single novel, not the start of some fantasy romance series. Would I read The River of No Return 2? Yes, I probably would, but I have a gut feeling it would be inferior to this one.

I obviously can't say with absolute accuracy, but I don't think this book is really anything like The Time Traveler's Wife, excepting the obvious link of the time-travel theme. It is much more like A Discovery of Witches - a romance between two characters with supernatural abilities, the juxtaposition of rich historical detail and the present day, a secret organisation that holds all the power, our hero and heroine used as pawns by greater forces - but it avoided all the things that marred that story (in other words, the male protagonist wasn't repulsive, the description wasn't too corny, and the romantic scenes didn't make me feel sick).

The River of No Return is, for me, best described as a good old-fashioned rollercoaster of an adventure story. The romance aspect is appealing but it doesn't overwhelm the plot to the detriment of other elements. It's a shame it doesn't look likely that this will be a standalone novel, as I'd like to read a totally different story from the same author, but - obviously - that wouldn't stop me from recommending this one. If anything about the idea of it strikes you as interesting, you'll probably love it.

[Cher 'N Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars - It was great. I loved it.

A wonderful story about time travel, secret elite organizations and an enjoyable love story (because don’t all great time travel novels have romance in them?). I don’t often say this, but I am pleased to discover the author is working on a sequel – one I would pick up without hesitation.
-------------------------------------------
Favorite Quote: No man is a man until he is made weak by a woman.

First Sentence: Julia sat beside her grandfather’s bed, holding his hand.

[Meg · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s always fun to be surprised by a book you never expected to land on your lap. THE RIVER OF NO RETURN was not a book on my radar until one day I received an email that brightened my eyes and made me determined to read this debut by author Bee Ridgway. It’s a book that blends genres to the point where the word genre no longer makes sense – it’s science fiction, historical, romance, action-adventure, mystery, and so much more. And trust me, it might be close to 500 pages, but it gripped me and refused to let me go until the very last word.

GENRE BENDING FUN

While THE RIVER OF NO RETURN is a hard book to peg to any genre, it’s a book that takes the best of things from different categories of fiction and creates a mind-bending experience. Following Nick (an English marquess taken from a Spanish battlefield and sent to the year 2000 as he is about to die) and Julia (a young spinster who is one of the most powerful manipulators of time ever, even if she doesn’t realize it), THE RIVER OF NO RETURN takes place at multiple times, from current day back to 1815, where Nick is dispatched by The Guild to hunt down the Ofan. Or so he thinks…

THE RIVER OF NO RETURN takes genres, throws them in a blender, and pours out a giant delicious smoothie of flavors, times, characters, and sensations. The characters are (mostly) well constructed and portrayed, even if there are a few clunkers, such as the underuse of Nick’s mother and stereotypical use of Nick’s sister and Julia’s best friend Bella. And of course there are characters with secret agendas, hidden identities, and realities that are uncovered with each page.

TWISTS AND TURNS

One of the best things about THE RIVER OF NO RETURN is the fact that when you think you’ve figured the story out, you realize that you were very, very wrong. I still have theories about what will happen in book two, and theories that were soundly debunked in book one. Sometimes, that character you think is the bad guy all along isn’t the bad guy after all. Or is he? Really, I still don’t know. But that ending! Trust me, you will be salivating over the very idea that book two (and eventually book three) will be coming to you, complete with more twists and turns and romance.

VERDICT: One of my favorite novels of 2013 so far, THE RIVER OF NO RETURN is a sensational mix of historical romance and action-packed science fiction that will appeal to fans of literary fiction and genre delights. A definite must read.

[Jess · Rating 1 out of 5]

‘He caught her delicious bottom in his hands and brought her gasping against his thighs.’

Yes, that is an actual line. Racy, huh?

(I actually read other specimens aloud to my housemates and we all pissed ourselves laughing; but there isn’t room in this wordcount – nor enough sanity left in my body – to list them here in full.)

I am disgusted that I just spent £2.99 on this. (And on a bloody student budget as well!) It’s best to mention that The River of No Return was a book club pick – it’s not something I would have picked up of my own volition. Yet, I can’t entirely blame the moderators of the book club; the premise is interesting. I’d prefer to forget about the execution, but I need to purge those demons.

That this must have been a) a solicited manuscript and b) taken up by an actual publishing house completely floors me. The writing is, quite simply, appalling. Clumsy is an understatement; it just about rivals the crappy fanfiction I wrote as a preteen. The prose is saturated with dull, unengaging exposition and filter words which add further distance to the already plodding plot; said plot is flimsy and unconvincing; the smut is bloody awful; the characters are complete cardboard. My favourite though are the British stereotypes, oh my.

‘He was happy to play lord of the manor for the elderly cheese inspector, who was a died-in-the-wool Anglophile. The visits were always the same. The old man would greet him with shy deference, they would chat for a few minutes about the queen or crumpets.’

Yeah, that’s all there is to it! Wait, no… Where’s the fucking TEA?! The equivalent would be characterising someone as French by stitching a beret to their head, having them flounce about with baguettes, murmuring c’est la vie.

I skim-read this one from the early pages, only to pick out the most amusing (for all the wrong reasons) sections for the benefit of my fellow book club members. I am so glad the threatened sequel/series was dropped by Penguin. And I hope the commissioning editor was sacked.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

The French have a spectacular dessert known as "croquembouche" -- a neatly stacked pile of cream-filled pastry puffs, wrapped with caramelized sugar. Creating it takes a master's skill with pastry dough, egg custards and confectionerie, and a generous dose of patience and attention to detail. "The River of No Return" is a literary croquembouche. Just reading the first page filled me with delight, hunger and a rapacious desire to consume the entire thing, and then two or three more just like it. (Full disclosure: I read it in the space of a day and half.) And like a croquembouche, it showcases a breathtaking array of skills, in historical research, character development, dialogue and storytelling.

It's everything the other reviewers have mentioned -- a Regency era love story, a modern spy thriller, a esoteric time-traveling adventure -- and it is an absolute romp besides. The characters, male and female alike, are finely drawn, believable and wholly lovable. The various worlds are rendered with such clarity that it's hard to believe Ms. Ridgway is a citizen of 2013, and not herself a secret time traveller.

One piece of vitally important information: Ridgway is a master of tone and word choice. Readers who threw up in their mouths a little bit at the tin-eared attempts at American English in the "Fifty Shades" books, or whose skin crawls when they stumble upon a gratingly amateurish attempt at Regency slang, can dive into "The River of No Return" without fear. Ridgway cites Georgette Hayer as an influence, and it shows in her meticulous attention to language and mise en scene.

I was on the verge of giving the book 4 stars because it left me panting for a sequel that does not yet exist. But that hardly seems fair, to punish the author for only being able to produce one book at a time, so I'm giving it 5 stars, but I will take it very much amiss if this is the only novel Ridgway ever writes.

[Arie · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are some genres that I just don't go near. Not because they are bad, necessarily, but because every time I try and read anything set in that time/place/style I end up bored to tears. For example, There's just something about the 1800's that I can't stand being immersed in - somehow I just do. not. care.

So that knocks out the possibility of me enjoying anything vaguely Regency or Victorian (I had to look up those terms to double-check I'm on the right track). I wish I knew why, I really do. The closest I've ever come to enjoying it is in Libba Bray's A Great and Terrible Beauty trilogy, though I don't know if those books count what with all the magic and underlying supernatural horror aspects. So anyway: 1800's are out - that's one star off the book for no fault of its own.

Unfortunately another do-not-touch for me (though less extreme) is time travel. Occasionally it works, but such a book has to be extraordinarily well written to get me hooked. I do, however, keep testing these dislikes, certain that one day I'll find the book to prove me wrong. The River of No Return? Yeah, it isn't that book.

Strangely this is the second I've picked up in the past few months that hooked me with the cover and title, then turned out to be recent(ish)-era historical fiction. I really need to stop inflicting this on myself

I'm not being entirely unfair, I don't think. Putting aside (finally! you must be thinking) my personal preferences, there are plenty of other reasons why this is nowhere near even a four star read (and for me, probably closer to 2.5). At least this one wasn't as terribly written as Into the Dim, so I'll give it that. However it was still pretty predictable, far too long with very little happening, filled with vaguely unlikeable/cookie-cutter characters, had an unfortunate case of instalove, and just as things finally got going seemed to fizzle off in the last 10 pages to end on... well, nothing really. Other than that, it's all perfectly adequate, and I manage to finish without too many eye-rolls.

If you like time travel, and the 1800's, and "dashing" lords and swooning ladies then this book is totally for you. As for me? Well next time I decide to try my hand at time-travelling, throw me back to the Greeks, who knows - maybe I'll have a better time.

Update: The fact that I can remember absolutely nothing about this book - to the point of thinking, "oooh, what a pretty name, perhaps I should add it to the to read lis-" before seeing that I'd even left a review of the thing, probably sums it up for me even more than that initial review does.

[Bonnie · Rating 2 out of 5]

My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars
A copy of The River of No Return was provided to me by Dutton Adult for review purposes.

Time travel is a tricky subject. It has to make at least a modicum of sense no matter how outlandish you wish the concept to be. River of No Return handled this aspect of the story quite well and managed to create a different form of time travel that I had not personally encountered in novels before. While I believe it to of been managed well it was still one of the more unbelievable versions with resonant emotions linking individuals to the past allowing them to access those moments in time... I'm not sure I was really sold on the whole concept.

The story definitely went on far longer than necessary. I can't help but think I would have enjoyed it far more if it was condensed down because parts of the story felt long and drawn out. The story had a slow but steady build-up in the beginning but still took forever to really 'get going'. I read about 1/3 of this novel before setting it aside for a short time and then coming back to it... all in all it took me about a month to read which is pretty much unheard of for me.

It definitely had a distinct 'Outlander' feel to it and it was also reminiscent of 'A Discovery of Witches' minus the supernatural creatures, and despite the fact that I love both of those books I just failed to connect with this one. The characters were well-drawn but didn't generate any interest for me. Add to that, the characters in the past didn't act like characters in the past should. Julia was extremely modern sounding and certainly didn't act like a normal woman of her time, despite how progressive she may be.

I was under the impression that this was a stand-alone novel (yay for that extremely rare beastie), however, it appears that this is only the first installment of a new series (trilogy? not sure.) While I enjoyed parts of this I'm not sure I'm interested enough to continue. I'll definitely keep an eye out for additional works by this author as it's obvious she's quite talented, this story and I just weren't meant to be unfortunately.

[Robbins Library · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lukewarm three stars for this. Though the underlying ideas and the plot itself are truly creative, thought-provoking, and unique, the writing throughout seemed effortful; I never forgot that there was an author writing the story, whereas the best authors make you forget they exist. (I think it was Stephen King whose advice to writers was to use the first word that comes to mind; Ridgway apparently used a thesaurus. From 1815.) However, Nick and Julia were at least somewhat well-rounded (definitely more interesting than Diana in A Discovery of Witches), and if the word choice was frequently irksome, at least the story moved along without rambling.

Also, though there is no obvious indication that this is the first book in a pair, trilogy, or series, the ending definitely leaves room for more, though I for one am not inclined to continue. Beautiful cover design, though.

Quotes:

"Time," [Alice] said. "It is like a river. It always flows in one direction....Or does it?" (57)

"Of course you are in control. Most of the time. But you are a time traveler, Nick, and your emotions are your time machine. That's how it works....Normally your feelings are calibrated to keep you in the present, ticking over from moment to moment. But they can also propel you forward and pull you back. Don't you see? We do it with feelings." (Alice to Nick, 96)

"I know others have suffered far more than I. But today I was almost lost in a whirlpool of despair that was wider than my life span, deeper than my admittedly shallow soul. Much larger than the capacity of my heart to beat against it." (Nick, 111)

There was no time for memories and no time for self-doubt. He was about to step lightly across an abyss that was centuries deep. He was about to go home. (Nick, 131)

"What is the Guild without its thousands of workers, Nick? Without the drones that make it all run? Nine out of ten of us jump from war, did you know that? ...War loosens our bonds to our natural time....It sets us leaping like fish from the river. And the Guild is waiting for us with its nets. Some of us they keep, some of us they throw away." (Alva to Nick, 327)

"[W]e move back and forth in time on streams of human emotion...Big streams. We have the ability to use those streams of feeling, but we ourselves - we are just bit players, and our own feelings, our own life stories, they plod forward day to day....It is only the big picture that continues to look always the same, no matter what we small actors do....We run about like busy ants, but the wars do not change. They never change....'The tune without the words.'" (Alva to Nick and Jemison, 412-413)

[Jen · Rating 2 out of 5]

The River of No Return was an ARC published by Dutton.

Book Description: “You are now a member of the Guild. There is no return.” Two hundred years after he was about to die on a Napoleonic battlefield, Nick Falcott, soldier and aristocrat, wakes up in a hospital bed in modern London. The Guild, an entity that controls time travel, showers him with life's advantages. But Nick yearns for home and for one brown-eyed girl, lost now down the centuries. Then the Guild asks him to break its own rule. It needs Nick to go back to 1815 to fight the Guild’s enemies and to find something called the Talisman.

In 1815, Julia Percy mourns the death of her beloved grandfather, an earl who could play with time. On his deathbed he whispers in her ear: “Pretend!” Pretend what? When Nick returns home as if from the dead, older than he should be and battle scarred, Julia begins to suspect that her very life depends upon the secrets Grandfather never told her. Soon enough Julia and Nick are caught up in an adventure that stretches up and down the river of time. As their knowledge of the Guild and their feelings for each other grow, the fate of the future itself is hanging in the balance.

Part time travel, part romance, part historical fiction, The River of No Return did not work well for me. I've tried a number of time travel novels, but for some reason, most simply don't deliver a scenario that makes any kind of sense, and although I'm not opposed to a little romance in a novel, I don't really care for romance novels.

While the book will appeal to many readers, it was a bit ho-hum for me. When I finished the 464 pages and discovered it was the first in another trilogy (aren't there a lot of those out there?), I knew it was not one that I would pursue. It isn't that I don't like long books, I love them. Or that I don't like trilogies, I do. This particular one simply didn't interest me enough to seek future installments.

Time Travel. 2013. 464 pages.
ISBN-10: 0525953868

[Demis · Rating 1 out of 5]

Life's too short. It's not that this was a bad book - inventive premise, intriguing world set up - but once things got rolling it just didn't grab me. The level of of spoon-feeding was a little much and as a veteran of plenty of hard time-travel scifi I found it all a bit unengaging, particularly once the romance kicked in. I feel like this book would appeal to people who like light, easy romance, but those seeking a fulfilling time-travel story will likely be disappointed. Not bad, but there are so many good books out there to spend time on this one, unless of course you think you'll be specifically entertained by a new twist on the Regency Romance genre... Struggled to finish - not interested in seeing where things go in book two either...

[Angela M · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love time travel stories but this one missed the mark a bit for me . I was hooked in the beginning with Nick's travel from 1812 England to 2013 America and then intrigued with his return to England in 1815. Some where along the way things got a bit convoluted for me . All of a sudden there were too many time travelers, too many questions about who were the good guys - the Guild or the Ofans. I enjoy a twist in the story just as much as the next person but the twists just kept coming .
The best thing about it was the love story . We all could use a good romance once on a while .
I liked it but didn't love it - three stars for me .
I read that there may be a sequel . Would I read it ? Maybe .

[Kara · Rating 1 out of 5]

This will be a very blunt and harsh review so be warned.

I got to page 254 and had enough. Much too much sex and references to sex and every word under the sun related to sex. Plus too many f-words and other bad language. The whole concept with the river of time and the time travel was fascinating and I wanted to read on; it's the only reason I got as far as I did. That being said, however, I felt that the author sucked the quality of the story and writing away by miring it all in smut. I am frustrated that this happens so often and disappointed once again that a great idea for a story, and one that had so much potential, was ruined.

[Tim Weed · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fun book. A light-hearted genre mashing romp at bottom, but with such wonderful ingredients, and so ingeniously mixed together!

The ingredients: a mind-bending speculative story of time travel, with all the weird paradoxes, surprising contrasts, and aching separations you could ask for. A robust narrative drive that keeps the pages turning. Well-researched historical detail, judiciously chosen and deftly interwoven to bring the past vividly alive. Beautifully written sentences throughout. An underpinning of philosophical erudition, expertly and provocatively presented in the voice of several different characters. A sense of humor. A most enviable writerly feel for dialog and scene making. Flashes of beautiful imagistic description. I could go on, but here are a few small samples so you can get an idea of what I mean:

"When they reached the Strand, the street grew more crowded. Down side streets to the south they could see the Thames – it was at low tide, and the night-fishing boats, each with its dancing lantern, crowded the center channel. The long, sloping banks were dotted here and there with people, some tending small fires, others combing for treasure among the rocks and bones and broken pipe stems that littered the mudflats."

"The sun was thinking about setting now, and the city below – so small by twenty-first century standards – was beginning to glow in the lengthening light, the river uncurling through it like a silver chain. The great, soot-stained dome of St. Paul’s cathedral looked like the round breast of a contented gray goose, the other, smaller steeples like her goslings, beaks pointing upward."

There are some silly moments, and at certain moments the main character threatens to become a Darcyesque cliché of the idealized Romance Male: a lean, good-looking bad boy who is utterly noble underneath his bluster, remarkably sensitive and considerate in his attitudes – and rich, and highborn, and well dressed to boot. And then there are the sex scenes, which I actually enjoyed, but may not be for everyone.

But these are very minor flaws. Nick Davenant is likeable and interesting, as are all the other main characters, and there is a large and colorful cast of secondary characters. This is light reading, but if you’re looking for highly readable summer fare that will get you both thinking and chuckling, you can’t go wrong with The River of No Return. I look forward to many more books by Ms. Ridgway!

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's been several decades since I've read a romance--am really glad I waited for this one. is a really wonderful read. Lots of reviews here give the contours of this glorious mashup historical romance, fantastical time/space traveling. I loved the historical detail that kept on making me ask, really? Yes, really. From the quilling of letters, to the marital practices of early 19th century Britons, to Norwich shawls, to the consumer choices of the contemporary Guild members--all the details sing. In particular I loved the subplot involving the Corn Laws--working-class history in a romance--hurrah.

Best for me was the subversion of the romance: man is sexy but not overbearing, a woman whose fetchingness depends on her breaking social molds and nurturing her unique powers. Refreshing. And a plot that plays greatly with all that theorizing that academics do without being bogged down for a second with it. Just great fun.

[Marlene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Originally published at Book Lovers Inc.

Too many reviewers start by saying that The River of No Return reminds them of Audrey Niffenegger's The Time Traveler's Wife. I may be the last lover of time-travel stories that has not read that book.

Instead, The River of No Return reminded me inexorably of the late, lamented Kage Baker’s awesome novels of The Company. Especially the early ones when it was clear that she was still having fun and before Mendoza became such a tragic figure in her own life.

Why? Because at the heart of both Kage Baker’s series (start with In the Garden of Iden) and The River of No Return there is an organization, at war, oh so definitely at war within itself, that is attempting to control the flow of time. And the knowledge about how to manipulate time. There are operatives, and there are secrets, and inevitably, there are lies.

In both Kage Baker’s stories and The River of No Return, the organizations see a time in the future when their organizations come to an end, and believe their end represents the end of the world, as opposed to merely the end of the world as they know it.

They definitely do not feel fine about what is coming, and they are trying everything, including breaking all their own rules, to prevent that end.

In The River of No Return, we see the story through the eyes of Nick Davenant, a man who starts his life as the Marquess of Blackdown, and should have died in battle during the Napoleonic Wars. Instead, he instinctively jumps time at the moment of his impending death, into the arms of “The Guild”, and into the 21st century. He’s told that he cannot return, and given more than enough money to keep him happy in our brave new century.

Then suddenly The Guild decides they need him to be Blackdown again. So they politely inform him that every rule they taught him was a lie. And they send him back, expecting him to be just as compliant back in his own time as he was here.

In his own time, he was never a compliant man. Especially not when threatened at gunpoint. After all, he has already died once. All they can do is kill him again.

And he has learned, once and for all, that The Guild is not to be trusted. Perhaps their adversaries are.

Verdict: This is a story with multiple layers. The overarching story is the war between The Guild and their opposing force, the Ofan. The Guild believes that time-travelers should be kept in the dark about their gifts, and the Ofan believes that the talent should be trained and exercised.

If anyone else sees this as a Time War a la Doctor Who, raise your hands.

There is also a love story in the 19th century, that has elements of a Regency romance, but that’s not the whole story either. Julia Percy starts out as a slightly unconventional woman of her time, but discovers that she is a key player in the time war. She is not a fixed point in time the way that the heroine is in The Time Traveler’s Wife, if I understand that plot correctly.

Julia starts out the story being acted upon, and ends the book having great agency of her own. She takes control of her own life, and it makes her a much more interesting character than she would be if she stayed in the Regency mold.

Both sets of time travelers are operating in the dark, and the story occasionally gets murky because of it. There are plots within plots within plots, and sometimes the only way to keep things straight is to just follow Nick and Julia.

The author has made Nick and Julia’s story extremely well worth following.

I give The River of No Return by Bee Ridgway 4 and 1/2 shining stars!

[The Girl with the Sagittarius Tattoo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, that was an abrupt ending. The rest was very meh, driven by Nick's insta-love and the confusing explanations of time travel by Guild and OPHAN members. Then again, 1820s England isn't my jam anyway.

[Lark of The Bookwyrm's Hoard · Rating 5 out of 5]

From a review originally published on The Bookwyrm's Hoard blog.

The River of No Return catches you up within the first chapter and sweeps you along inexorably – into the present, into the past, into a world of truth and lies, trusted friends and double agents, secrets and intrigue. Ridgway seamlessly blends historical fiction, time-travel fantasy, romance, and suspense. The resulting novel is at once broad and personal.

I found Nick an intriguing main character, with his blend of modern and nineteenth-century attitudes. The majority of The River of No Return takes place in 1815, which highlights the dichotomy and makes it both more challenging and more poignant. Julia, the other point-of-view character, is a little more typical – perhaps not so much of her time as of Regency romance heroines. Yet at the same time, she is as individual, and nearly as complex, as Nick himself. I loved the developing relationship between them even as I knew where it was headed.

Or rather, suspected where it was going, because many things in this novel are not what they appear, or are not only what they appear. Reading this book, you soon learn to look for layers in everything. Ambiguity, multiple meanings, false fronts, and symbolism are everywhere, in the characters and their words and actions as well as in the text. The title itself can be interpreted in several ways, and is both false and true.

Adding to the depth and richness is the way Ridgway weaves in quotations from and allusions to the literature of five centuries, from Shakespeare to Winnie the Pooh and Dr. Seuss. Some of these the characters themselves quote consciously, but others are woven into the fabric of the novel, nearly invisible unless you happen to recognize them. (I’m quite sure I missed a number of these in my haste to find out what would happen next; I plan to read more slowly next time, so as to find and savor them.)

Ridgway’s approach to time travel is unique and fascinating. Even by the end of the book, I felt that neither I nor any of the characters fully understood all its secrets, which only served to deepen the mystery and appeal.

As for the historical aspects of the novel, Ridgway (a professor of English literature) has clearly done her research. She brings the sights, sounds, and even smells of 1815 London and Devon to life. Ridgway is equally adept with both mystery and romance. Indeed, her skill and assurance as a writer are remarkable; it’s hard to believe that The River of No Return is her first novel.

I hope it’s also the beginning of a series, for while the book ends on a satisfying note, there are a number of questions left unanswered. There’s certainly scope for at least one sequel, possibly more, and there are a number of characters I would like to know more about: Nick’s sister Clare; Jem Jemison, who fought beside Nick and later became steward on his estate; Leo, Nick’s genius friend; Arkady and Alva and even the mysterious Mr Mibbs. And while Nick and Julia’s relationship seems resolved, I am eager to know where their journey will take them next.

I heartily recommend Bee Ridgway’s The River of No Return to fans of Deborah Harkness’s All Souls Trilogy, Jennifer Lee Carrell's Interred With Their Bones, historical fantasy, time travel novels, and even Regency romance – although the romance here is only part of the story, not the main plot. It’s a deep and nuanced novel which blends genres and blurs the lines between them. And it is, above all else, an enthralling story.

FCC disclosure: Many thanks to Dutton for giving me an advance review copy. The views expressed here are entirely my own.

You can read more of my reviews at The Bookwyrm’s Hoard.

[Lisa Wolf · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'll skip the plot recap and get right to the point: The River of No Return is one terrific read.

This book has so many elements that appeal to me as a reader. It’s part historical fiction, part time travel fantasy, with heaping doses of mystery and romance as well. I was reminded in tone, though not really in content, of Deborah Harkness’s books, A Discovery of Witches and Shadow of Night — not that The River of No Return has supernatural characters, but rather because of the well-researched historical detail intertwined with a modern love story and mystery, the drama of two lovers having to struggle against sinister forces that they don’t fully understand, and the passionate link between two people who probably have no business being in each other’s lives at all.

The writing in The River of No Return is both elegant and fast-paced. As the characters inhabit different eras, their language and surroundings change as well, and it’s vastly entertaining to see them adjust and readjust to the customs, manners, and dress of each world. I loved, too, the characters’ obvious delight in the various sights and smells of the the different times.

I absolutely recommend this book -- and if you'd like to see my more long-winded (or what I'd like to call "thoughtful") response to The River of No Return, you can find it here.

[Jaclyn Day · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don’t remember the last time I read such a fun book. There is something great about reading a book that’s the perfect blend of mindless romance, historical fiction and adventure—a combination that’s far too rare. I think about early Philippa Gregory (her latest stuff is shit, don’t bother) or Jennifer Donnelly’s Tea Rose series. They’re so fun to read. They’re right on the cusp of being just a TAD stupid but they toe that line for all they’ve got. That’s what makes them such a good time. The River of No Return is just such a book. It’s about time travel but not really in the over-serious, stereotypical way you might expect. When I say it’s a combination of romance, historical fiction and adventure, it really is. It’s an almost perfect balance of all three. The characters are interesting, the story moves briskly and the romance portions are JUST THIS SIDE of corny. It’s set up perfectly for a sequel but doesn’t end unsatisfactorily. I read it with a bowl of popcorn. It’s that kind of book.

P.S. Can we talk about that gorgeous cover art?

[Jacqueline J · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this very different book. I have to say however that I really hope there will be a sequel. They story ended sort of but the major problem was not resolved. Well anyway I liked the tone of the book. The writing was well done and the feel for the regency era was pretty spot on. In fact it was more in depth than many historicals. While this took place in the regency era it was not a regency. It was a time travel/arcane powers sort of book. So the nitty gritty of 1815 London was more emphasized than it is in the stylized regency novel. I really appreciated that. I loved Nick, the main character. I loved how time travel had changed him and how his changes and the things that he struggled to change were so realistic. So he was a man of his time who changed in a realistic manner. The heroine was good also. She was strong and brave. All in all a really good read.

[Suzanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's more like two and a half stars, because I really enjoyed all the detail of 18th century England.

I read that this would appeal to people who loved Outlander but unfortunately, the book did not deliver on the same level. It was much more reminiscent of A Discovery of Witches, which, for me, was OK but not brilliant. It even has the equivalent of Witches' too many mentions of "stretchy black pants." For The River of No Return, it was the use over and over again of Nick shooting his cuffs. You could play a drinking game, this action was mentioned that many times.

[Jess The Bookworm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nicholas is the Marquess of an estate in 19th century England. While fighting in a war he accidently jumps 200 years into the future when he avoids being killed on the battlefield. He is taken in by the Guild, a secretive society who picks up wayward time jumpers and settles them in to their new time period.

He now becomes Nick Davenant, and lives in New York, where he lives the perfect bachelor life with money given to him by the Guild.

One day, the Guild tells him that they need his help and that he must go back to his ancestral home in the 19th century. He can't help but hope that he will run into Julia Percy when he returns: the woman he has thought of for years...

This book was everything that I wanted at the moment, a period drama, some romance, some time travel. It all just worked for me. I see comparisons to the Time Traveller's Wife, but I enjoyed this more I must say.

I only realised after I had already started the book that it was meant to have a sequel which was never written. It does end in a way, but it is very open-ended, and it is a true pity that the author did not continue with this series.

[Patrick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Most time travel books are, in part, historical novels, which means they need to have a degree of verisimilitude to be credible, despite the incredible conceit which drives the story. This book is mostly historical novel, set in Regency England, so the need is even more pressing. Here, unfortunately, the main character, Nicholas Davenant, is meant to be an English aristocrat born in the 18th century, but, even in his portrayal before he becomes acquainted with the 21st Century, has all of the attitudes of a liberal 21st century American - I am highly skeptical that someone born as an English nobleman around 1790 would immediately begin taking orders from an African woman without some mental resistance. Accepting that, there are other problems with his portrayal - he is supposed to be someone who has a matter of fact attitude towards sex and passes between casual relationships without concern, but, upon meeting the love interest, Julia Percy, he immediately acknowledges that he is in love with her, and is preoccupied with kissing her, rather than, say, getting it on. Psychologically, there is nothing earlier in the book to indicate that he is this kind of person, and the whole thing comes across as some kind of Harlequin romance. In short, the characters do not seem at all like real people, even in a two dimensional pulp context (let alone four dimensions). (Also, why does an English lord have the Irish first name Eamon? Random shit like this bugs me as a reader.)

There is no drama in the romance (the lovers are immediately attracted to each other and immediately acknowledge the attraction, without any conflict), and the author removes much of the drama from the time travel story by disclosing everything in long passages of exposition delivered in dialogue, particularly in the latter half of the book. Instead of letting characters (and readers) discover things on their own, they (and we) are spoon-fed the previous events which are ultimately driving the story. If the author is not interested in these events, it would be far better to simply dump all of this information at the beginning of the book and get on with the story, instead of bogging it down with these longueurs.

What is interesting is the notion that time travel is an aspect of consciousness, and specifically is a type of emotional power. I wish the author would explore more how certain unexpected physical sensations and emotions can transport us to places in memory, or desire, which we are otherwise unable to attain.

[Lance Greenfield · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book will appeal to most aficionados of the time travel genre. There is quite a lot of originality in the thinking behind the plot and sub-plots. There are conflicts which span time and space; the latter constrained to the surface of planet Earth, of course, but that leaves plenty of scope.

When I was a young lad, reading many books and watching plenty of films, I never had much difficulty in distinguishing the "goodies" from the "baddies." I confess that, having finished this book, I am still in some doubt, and would have personal, internal conflicts if I had to choose sides. It seems a fairly obvious choice between Ofan and Guild at this point, but I expect that could be brought into question in book two.

There are some characters who are obviously bad eggs from the first encounter. Eamon is one such.

The main characters are well developed, especially Nick and his sisters, and Julia.

I would have liked to have seen a bit more about how Nick dealt with his political detractors.

The pace was good in the first third of the book, but then slowed down a little too much for my liking, and picked up again towards the end.

The author has teased my sense of curiosity to the point where I will have to read the second book just to find out what happens to Jem Jemison, and to understand the real significance of the talisman.

Mr Mibbs also remains a bit of a mystery. Is he acting as a powerful individual? He is clearly neither Ofan nor Guild, and neither organisation understands him. Perhaps he is a member of a third organisation, which will come to the fore in the sequel.

As for suggestions for which actors should play which main parts in a film of the book, my suggestions would be Leonardo DiCaprio to play Nick, and Helena Bonham-Carter to play Julia.

I would definitely recommend this book to all my time-travel-loving friends.

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a whopper of a read 586 pages, but worth the read.
The book is a cross between the stories of Barbra Erskine and Kate Mosse with the 60s cult TV series The Prisoner thrown in for good measure.
At first I thought another historical novel with a parallel to someone in the present day, but this is so different. The cover suggests this book is a “story of love and travel” this is a romantic literary fantasy story and as a fan of the Time Travellers Wife I was intrigued to see if I would enjoy this and boy I did.
The book begins with Lord Nicholas Falcott who is catapulted into the 21st centaury when about to face death on a Napoleonic battlefield. He is then cosseted by the strange organisation – The Guild.
Nick Davenant as he is known in the 21st centaury has is sent to the compound to learn 21st centaury ways and to come to terms with his ancestral pile is now part of the National Trust and that he will never see his mother again.
There are rules of the guild and this means he cannot go back, but he yearns to go back and for one woman who is too far back in the past.
Nick lives a comfortable life curtsey of the Guild until he is summons back and the Guild break their own rules and send him back to face up to his past. He then meets Julia Percy who has lost her grandfather He too, had powers that could bend time to his will.
There are lots of subplots and although described as a romance there is more to this book and it encaptures science fiction, history which is well researched, fantasy and even a bit of humour thrown in.
Well written and fast paced so the reader does not get bored.

This is Bee Ridgeway’s debut novel and what a way to start her writing career as soon as this is published this will be on the best sellers list. I cannot wait for her second novel.

[Maxine Wetherall · Rating 1 out of 5]

“You are now a member of the Guild. There is no return.” Two hundred years after he was about to die on a Napoleonic battlefield, Nick Falcott, soldier and aristocrat, wakes up in a hospital bed in modern London. The Guild, an entity that controls time travel, showers him with life's advantages. But Nick yearns for home and for one brown-eyed girl, lost now down the centuries. Then the Guild asks him to break its own rule. It needs Nick to go back to 1815 to fight the Guild’s enemies and to find something called the Talisman.

The river of no return is a book about love and time travel. Described on the back of the book as of the same genre as the time travellers wife. Although I liked the film was not to keen on that book. The cover of this book was very visually appealing, but the book was very thick and I found it hard to get into.
I loved the style of writing and the descriptions but the time travel story was really not for me. It took a long time for the story to get going and I did not find myself warming to the characters or really caring about their fate. The time-travelling element of the story is pure science-fiction and science fiction/fantasy is not a great love of mine. I found it rather confusing and did not work for me.
With that said if you are a fan of this genre, it is an original and well written book and a very good debut novel. Unfortunately just not my genre.