I may be a bit biased in this review because I love Robert McCammon’s stories. I’ve been a long-time fan, and I was so happy to hear that he had started writing again. He was missed in those dark years of his absence (an apparent self-chosen, very much premature retirement – 10 very long years from approximately 1992 to 2002).
Probably my favorite book of his, vying for first place with the more recent Matthew Corbett Series, was 1987’s Swan Song, and mostly that because it is a post-apocalyptic story (his only one?). If you haven’t read Swan Song, then you are not a post-apocalyptic aficionado.
But all of his books are so wonderful (they comprise a few genres), and I couldn’t possibly understand why anyone would not read them all. And now there are even more. (next up: I Travel By Night novella)
The River of Souls is Book 5 in the Matthew Corbett Series. I somehow missed its publication last year (2014), even though I knew it was coming. So I finally got it, as usual these days, as a Kindle e-book. That felt kind of wrong, but I do most of my reading these days as e-books. It’s the wave of the future and all that, is usually cheaper, and it is very convenient, as well. So I have resigned myself to it. (it may or may not “save trees”, since the toxicity and environmental destruction involved in creating e-book readers could be more environmentally unfriendly and detrimental overall than cutting down trees and recycling paper products)
Anyway, the Matthew Corbett Series is about a professional ‘problem solver,’ something of an early private detective / “fixer” / bounty hunter (-ish) of sorts (kind of / semi-lawman in a frontier society that has not yet quite codified and established what we enjoy today), that takes place in and around early New York city and the Colonies (east coast) at the turn of the 18th century. They started in 1699 with Book 1: Speaks the Nightbird, published in 2002. That this book also heralded the return of McCammon made it that much sweeter. That’s when I fell in love with the soon-to-be series.
The current book takes place in 1703, and the intervening years are covered in succession by 2007’s Book 2: The Queen of Bedlam (yet another too-long wait – 5 years), 2010’s Book 3: Mister Slaughter, and 2012’s Book 4: The Providence Rider. Thankfully they have been arriving published closer together over the years, and seem to be on a 2-year schedule, which is, of course, too long.
The River of Souls is good (nay, great) like the others. A somewhat typical Matthew Corbett story, which is to be expected. Like the first book in the series, Book 5 also takes place in the Carolinas (pre-north-south split) in the area of Charles Town (early Charleston). Besides the stories in general, I have always liked well-written historical fiction, especially when it is action-adventure-oriented. McCammon does a wonderful job of making you feel like you are there. As far as I can tell, they seem to be fairly historically accurate overall, which is also nice. The writing style has just enough usage of “old language” in speech dialogue and storytelling that is is readable and not irritating like some seem to do. As often happens, the story ended too soon. And with something of a cliff-hanger this time, which I think is a new thing. (small potential spoiler) It looks like the next book may be taking place in England, if only in part.
Like almost any good story, there is some romance, but (mostly) only in the sense of it being part of life. And other things like that, that you would expect in a well-rounded storytelling adventure. There is so much to the stories that I feel like I’m leaving something out. Suffice to say that they are just plain good stories that anyone who has an interest in reading well-written fiction writing would enjoy immensely. (and then even more so if you like period stories, historical fiction, etc.)
So check out the series, and his other books. I doubt if you will be disappointed, and will most likely be ensconced in joyful reverie for the duration. I envy anyone who has not read his books, because that means you have them to look forward to.
Note, however, and this is my only complaint, at $9.99 it was too much. I’ll pay that for McCammon, somewhat reluctantly, but only for him and less than a handful of others. I don’t know what he and/or his publishers are thinking, but it really is too much to charge. AT MOST it should be $5.99, maybe $6.99. It’s almost like he’s taking advantage of his fans. Because he knows we will pay it. And that’s not right. (also, truthfully, this book maybe wasn’t as good as the others – but that may be on me and some mood I was in, or something)