<i>I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and Less than Three in exchange for an honest review.</i>

This is a story with the lovely cover is one that I should have read and reviewed long ago. There's really only one reason why it took me so long to get around to doing so - I'd read too many short stories around the same time I picked this one up that were . . . . vaguely off-putting and or outright involved sex with squids - sometimes sex between squids, and I really had no clue what this story was supposed to be about going by the description so . . . I hesitated until the point I'd waited too long. But I've read the story now.

Strange thing occurred. I'd finished a book, but needed something else to dip into while completing a different task. So I figured I'd finally dive into this one. Few paragraphs here or there, maybe even the entire story (it is only 40 something pages after all). But then I started the work and . . . I couldn't stop. I felt like I'd falling into a fast moving river that had caught me up and wouldn't let me loose. When I finally shook myself free . . . the story was over. And I was quite happy to have gone on the ride.

It's a simple tale, really, beautifully told, but still a simple story. The story stars a young woman, who described herself in such a way that you know she's kind of . . . largely unattractive, with the best that could be said is that she had nice dark skin and nice hair (hmm, eyes are normally another thing that people mention of those who are (and aren't) attractive, yet no mention of nice eyes to add to the few nice things people say about her). But she's a princess and so people have to say nice things about her. Anything they can latch on to, so they latched onto skin and hair.

Her uncle, who is the king, is dying. A wizard cursed him and the only way to save him is to get a particular black rose from an enchanted forest. Many have tried, some have returned alive, but empty handed. The story starts with the girl taking on the task herself. She has spent her life reading about this forest, and about magical creatures, and knows most (all?) have attempted the task in all the wrong ways (going in while wearing iron, etc.).

And so she enters. Comes to a river. Has a conversation with the river. Is allowed across, reaches the garden that has the rose, is given a task by the elves there - then more tasks. Etc. etc. It's a simple tale, as I said. But a quite lovely tale for what it is. Including the part wherein the river and the princess fall in love during it. Or, maybe I should say, the Naiad in the river (here used to describe a water nymph, not used to describe the aquatic larva of dragonflies/mayflies/or stoneflies).

I look forward to finding more stories by this French author.

Rating: 4.88

August 26 2017

It took me about five times of trying to sit down and force myself to read this book before I finally got through it.

Why? There wasn't anything compelling in the writing. The prose was nice, Jau N is clearly capable of writing nice-sounding sentences - but it was all a very nice-sounding way of saying: 'Bakwa walked down a road. She came across travellers. She entered the forest. She slept in the forest.' There was little emotion or tension to be gained from the writing itself, despite the story being about a quest to save a life. The dialogue was also painfully average, every character spoke with an approximation of how all fantasy characters should speak. Yet, much of the language within the narration itself used felt too colloquial, and took me out of the story.

The romance... forced kissing premise UGH NO. Forgive me if I like my romances to be built on a foundation of 100% enthusiastic consent. Seriously. I hate this trope. The interactions between Sequana and Bakwa were probably the best part of this story but that their romance was built into a format of exchanging sexual favours to complete a quest was just... ugh. And, it's too <i>easy</i>. There's no longing, no great obstacles to pass for the romance to get to these milestones. And it's not like these ended up being a great 'price' to Bakwa - she had no, say, internalised homophobia to get over, or same-sex attraction awakenings to think through. Just some reluctance because she was a virgin.

It also made the plot itself too easy. The two conflicts of the story were clearly laid out but not enough tension was conveyed to me as Bakwa tried to overcome each. I also never got enough character development from Bakwa as she worked to overcome these tasks. I could tell the story's ending from the first few pages, so this read just became an obligation.

River Tale is a wonderful and sweet fairy tale about a brave princess who goes on an impossible quest to save her cursed uncle the king, make deals with fairies and captures the heart of a river spirit.
I’m amazed how development, plot, and character the author put in such a small number of pages. While reading, you never notice how short the book is. The pacing is really good, moving the plot without rushing it or making the writing bare. The plot is also very stream-lined, perfect balance between lushly described environments and fast pace.
I really enjoyed the characters and their romance. Bakwa was a wonderful protagonist- sweet, and polite, but clever enough to research dangers of her quest and be aware of the common stories surrounding fairy folk. Sequana was charming and playful and most of her scenes made me grin. Their developing romance was gentle, kind, and sweet and I loved it. I also appreciated having both protagonists not conventionally attractive (I liked that Bakwa herself says her looks are mediocre!), that was a nice touch.
The writing felt a bit clunky at the beginning, but picked up as soon as Bakwa arrived at the magical forest. The story was a wonderful surprise and I’ll be definitely keeping my eyes out for more from this author.

This book is EXTREMELY short so you really don’t have an excuse to not check it out. You could finish it while waiting at the dr’s office. I was surprised for being such a short story at how quick the pace was and how well the author balanced her plot elements; it’s beautifully written in that modern fairy tale kind of way. The romance element was very simple and despite how short this story was the author still managed to do a good job of fleshing it out so it felt like a believable relationship instead of something hurriedly thrown in.

One of the truly poetic and beautiful things about this is the light it sheds on diversity. I loved the writing style and just adore how they took fairytale elements to new inclusive heights. Hands down my favorite thing is how they made a lesbian relationship just seem so normal.

I really wish this was a longer story... it's that good! I enjoyed the story and characters.

I really enjoyed this story. Usually when you read a short story everything feels kind of rushed and underdeveloped and you feel like you're missing something, but even though it was only around 30 pages long this felt like a complete story. The characters had distinct personalities and reacted to things in a believable way. The story had good pacing and structure and the style of the writing worked really well with the fairytale-esque quality of the whole thing. And of course, the romance was really cute! I would definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a fun short lesbian romance fairytale and also anyone who likes stories about fairies in general.

Beautifully diverse characters, interesting world and great writing make this short story a fun read that leave the reader wanting more.