Will they decide to stay?
Once again, Gabriella is captured.
And once again she has to escape.
Will Marcello save her before she is forced to marry another man?
Will she and Marcello ever have any peace in their lives?
Will they ever have a time to just love and to live?
Torrent is the last book in the River of Time trilogy. I really liked reading this trilogy. The only thing I dislike about a trilogy is that the books can sometimes be a great trouble to get! But I managed to finally get a hold of all three books and really liked the characters and plot of all of them. If you are going to read this, be prepared to breathe after the ride. The action just doesn't let up! There’s no time to breathe when you’re life is in peril almost every minute of the day! And it seems like the Betarrini sisters lives are in ceaseless danger.
The Betarrini sisters are extremely dynamic. They are the soul of the trilogy. Wherever they are, trouble, action, and war break out, even if they don’t mean to cause it. The River of Time series is told from Gabriella’s point of view, which I enjoyed immensely. Most authors don’t use first person because of the limitations it naturally has, but Lisa Tawn Bergren writes most comfortably in first person. I read her book Breathe and it just seemed…awkward to me. But the River of Time Series was excellently written and flowed quite smoothly.
Marcello, Gabriella’s love, seemed remarkably perfect. If there were any flaws in him in any of the three books, I certainly could find none. He’s every girl’s dream man. Supremely handsome, honorable, virtuous, and godly. He just seemed too perfect. I think the author could have humanized him somewhat. But then…I suppose that it might be a little hard to do that when he keeps on having to rescue his true love from whatever misadventure she got herself into. And there were many misadventures.
I found the disconnect between Gabriella’s mind and speech somewhat irritating. She always spoke in slang to herself, which seemed to downplay everything. She even downplayed her boyfriend’s love for her, which I found somewhat disconcerting, wondering if she really did love him. She always spoke in a diplomatic, eloquent, verbose way. But she never thought that way. I don’t know about other people, but I certainly speak the way I think. I don’t think I would be able to speak correctly if I thought in slang. Just because a girl is 17 doesn't mean she thinks in slang. I’m 17 and I certainly don’t think that way! I found the way she thought distracting and irksome.
Also, I’m not sure if I would classify this as Christian fiction. I read a review online about this series. The review said that it was a little “preachy”.
No.
There was nothing preachy about this trilogy.
God was mentioned rarely. When He was, it was only because of the religion that was such a part of the medieval lifestyle. Also, Gabriella prayed a few desperate prayers when she was fighting for her life and said, “Thank You, God,” when after a battle she realized all those she loved were safe.
But that’s about the extent of the preaching in this trilogy.
There was no mention of Jesus, except briefly in Waterfall, the first book in the series. This trilogy had potential to have delved deeper into the true meaning of Jesus and his sacrifice. Sadly, it did not. If any unbeliever reads this trilogy, they will not come away with any meaning of Who Jesus is or what He did. And I believe that is why Christian fiction should be called Christian.
The endless action and intense fighting of this trilogy certainly kept me entertained. I really like Gabriella, Evangelia, Marcello, and (Evangelia’s love interest) Luca. They were fun characters that I enjoyed getting to know.
The overall lesson of The River of Time Trilogy is this: Live with passion and love with passion. Don’t be afraid of tomorrow. Tomorrow will come when it will come. Life is short and should not be lived in fear. (Matt 6:34, 2 Tim 1:7, These are apt verses that could have been used in this series.)
I give Torrent 4 out of 5 stars.