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The River’s Gift
by Mercedes Lackey

This story is, without a doubt, one of Lackey’s shortest works ever and yet Lackey easily manages to captivate her audience with it. The River’s Gift is a short story contained within one hundred twenty-two pages in a bounded hardback book that is reminiscent of a child’s storybook. Now while the font style and even the concepts are easy enough for a child to grasp it would be a grave miscalculation to consider this a child’s book.

The story follows fifteen year old Ariella who is gifted with the healing touch. She spends her days caring for creatures of the forests which surround her father’s castle. Her acts of kindness keep the land peaceful which benefits the magical beings who inhabit the forest and entices them to make their presence known to her, including a kelpie by the name of Merod. With her father’s death however Ariella’s world is catapulted into chaos as she is ripped from her home and Merod must find a way to save her.

Although the story seems unbearably short much manages to unfold within the limited amount of pages without feeling rushed in the least. That alone is an impressive feat, but add to that the fully developed characters, an enchanting world, and a storyline the reels you in and never lets you go and it becomes no surprise why Lackey is one of the top fantasy writers. If you have only a few moments to spare and don’t wish to get involved in a larger read The River’s Gift makes an excellent choice, although the characters and their world will still be fully alive in your mind and your heart long after you’ve turned the last page.

Truth be told my only real complaint is that the story wasn’t long enough for me, I would have loved to see what new adventures awaited Merod and Ariella, but at the same time I couldn’t imagine the story going further without it ruining the flavor and feel of it. At the very least though I would have liked to learn what happened to some of the characters, such as Ariella’s lady. I’ve never been truly happy with stories that end in a “they lived happily ever after” or “rode off into the sunset” ending. While I like to leave some bits to my imagination there are some aspects I would always like to see closure to.

In all honesty though, my complaint is a minor and trivial one. The River’s Gift makes an excellent short read for fantasy lovers of all ages and walks of life and I highly recommend that you pick up a copy. This is one book that definately should be in every Lackey fan’s collection. Oddly enough however, it’s been my experiance that few have heard of this book and it is a little difficult to find as well. In all likelihood you’ll have to request it at your local bookstore, but it is well worth the effort.

Joana’s rating: