Riven (The Arinthian Line Book 2)

Great book! Riven improved on Arcane in many ways. I think the characters developed quite nicely for the relatively short period of time the book covers, and all the added lore and adventure made this book another great fantasy yarn. Awesome books so far, wanting more of this well-written stuff!

I really love your books. I finished Arcane and Riven and just started Valor. I daydream about becoming a warlock. I hope your books become movies. I don’t think there are any parts better than others because the whole book is so good. -Hal

To avoid spoilers I will just say this. You have, what should be, very powerful characters just roll over and die, like literally, here let me help you with that noose. And this is so damn stupid, that I am not sure if I will finish this book. Also, the pace of this book is extremely rushed, god forbid, that a war might actually take time and the process of the bad guys to find ancient long lost artifacts might take more than a day.. What happens in a week in this book should take place over six months to a year. There are also way to many "traitors" to make any sense.

Loved it! Great imagery with the travels of the gang and the new spells they learn. It's interesting to see the kids develop and mature as they encounter more unusual things, and their relationships develop.

The characters can be just flat out horrible. The main character is quite possible the stupidest person imaginable. I just don't see how someone could just be so dense and he literally has a spell to make himself smarter but no that spell is only used for contrived situations. I won't be reading more of this series I stuck it out through the second book hoping for a turn around but nope. I can't stand both the idiocy and childish cruelty of the characters.

I really enjoy the character development and the fact that the characters are on their own for a lot of the book. The pace of the book was a little slow at times, but the characters continued to develop and the story progressed.

Excellent, though at times the main characters' continual survival despite endless freezing, starving, and severe beatings and torture made it a little hard to believe (even for an epic fantasy novel).

Anxiously awaiting the next book in the series! The second book aligns with the first book"Arcane." Though there were times in the book when you knew what would happen next, it was still an enjoyable read.

The author has an incredible lack of believability. He keeps having his characters captured, tortured and then escape like they're in perfect health. This happens over and over. When they have the chance to kill these evildoers, they just run away instead. It's an incredibly bad story.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes this genre. There is plenty of action and adventure. It is an easy enjoyable read and an excellent series. I have read the three books in the series so far and all are excellent.

The first book was promising, with a grand adventure and well developed characters. This book appears to fall into the popular modern fantasy trope of brutally torturing the main characters to further their development, which I find extremely distressing. I gave up after the first quarter and will not be continuing this series.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes this genre. There is plenty of action and adventure. It is an easy enjoyable read and an excellent series. I have read the three books in the series so far and all are excellent.

The first book was promising, with a grand adventure and well developed characters. This book appears to fall into the popular modern fantasy trope of brutally torturing the main characters to further their development, which I find extremely distressing. I gave up after the first quarter and will not be continuing this series.

This book follows the classic coming-of-age model, with a few twists. That's the part I liked. Unfortunately there were some gaping holes in the plot logic, and some annoying character/plot twists designed to. Keep characters in the story..no spoiler but by way of example...you killed my family..burned my village..and when I defeat you and you are at my mercy I leave you unharmed so you can torture me in later scenes. I'm ok with evil characters acting as foils to the hero but the logic gaps got to be very annoying after a while...as did the failure of the protagonists to grow ie they are still moody children at the end of book 2

What began well in Arcane continues and definitely improves in Riven. You share the sense of the author truly hitting his stride with the story. The end of the book brings a combination of disappointment and anticipation which I imagine must be the hallmark of great writing. Wonderful stuff.