Thank you net galley for providing me with a free copy of group six and the river in exchange for a honest review


Actually the best rhings I have to say are about the group and how their bond felt genuine and pleasant to read about, I did have some issues with the pacing however the adventures were simply so fun to read about I cannot lower my rating anymore than one star considering the entertainment this bought me.

This book was good. It was a fantasy-based book. I think a couple elements didn’t really make sense. It just felt a bit out of place. It’s a weird Harbor between modern and older technology and it’s got a weird mix of things and that just kind of confused me and wasn’t very clear so I would read more from this author going forward but I think potentially not this series but I did absolutely love the characters and the story line and the relationship. They all had with each other, which is why I finish this book, but unfortunately the story itself wasn’t for me

My review is the same as the ARC of the Ebook, plus that I enjoyed the narrator telling the story.
Interesting précise with a group of characters, which is something I enjoy to follow, a quest, which I love in a fantasy. But in the end, it fell flat for me, as I didn't feel close to the characters.

I really enjoyed this book! I liked the narrator and felt that they went good with the story. I hope to read more by this author in the future.
Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and to the author for the ARC!

*thank you to netgalley for an arc of the book. All thoughts are my own*

I wasn't a fan of this book.

At. All.

I genuinely can't think of a single aspect of this book that I liked. All of the characters annoyed me -especially Serena- and I found myself rolling my eyes at the dialogue, they way they acted, and even just their thoughts.
The plot was weird. So weird. The story felt like it should've been over when it was only halfway through, and the rest of the story just dragged, and felt overall useless.
Oh and the writing. This story told so much, but never ever once did it show us. It kept on being like 'they did this and then they did this and then they did this', lacking any substance or details.
There was literally no redeeming features in this book.
1/10 would not recommend.

Oh gosh… where do I start… I can’t say I liked this book.

The characters felt flat and a little under developed. They didn’t feel realistic or relatable. It was almost like the author had researched common stereotype for these kind of fantasy characters, and then made that their entire personality. I didn’t feel authentic to this story.

Often, it felt like the author was trying to force humor into situations and I was cringing rather than enjoying the moment. Adding to this, the dialogue felt extremely robotic and lacking that lister that really would have been the driving force of these humorous scenes. .

Unfortunately, I can’t recommend this book

As an older adult I have always enjoyed young adult books for their imagination and fantasy, and this book contained both. I listened to the audiobook version and the narrators did a great job with voice inflection, etc. although sometimes it was a little over the top and not very believable. This was a nice fantasy story and since it is designed for youth readers I felt it would be entertaining to that age group of reader. I struggled a bit in the beginning to understand what was going on, but that may have been due to the audiobook version. It was also sometimes difficult to keep track of the timeline and understand when I was in the past and when it was the present. Overall an enjoyable listen and I feel teenagers would be entertained with it.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced electronic review copy of this book. I listened to the audiobook version and liked the narrator. I really looked forward to the magic and adventure, but the story was too all over the place and confusing for me.

received an advance copy of this audiobook from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a charming epic fantasy journey tale, telling the story of the 4 different characters (a female warrior, a trickster and 2 different types of wizard) tasked with journeying up the mysterious river Talus in search of a powerful wizard and riches galore.
Interwoven with the journey itself are elements of each character’s backstory and the history of this world. In the audiobook these also see different narrators, as the author tells most of the backstory chapters with a co-narrator (his wife I believe?) generally tells the main story.
Serena the warrior woman has by far the most intriguing backstory as a rare act of mid-battle kindness sees her inherit a large diamond which makes people quickly fall in love with her - which makes her role in battle and pursuing her own goals very difficult - she finds no fun in slaughtering armless drooling enamoured enemies.
The story sees twists and turns and the crew come together in clever ways to continue their journey and gradually understand Leader, the mysterious man who brought them together.
While not the best epic fantasy tale I’ve ever read, there is plenty to enjoy here and I love that it doesn’t take itself too seriously.
A lovely charming read.

This was interesting and hard to read.. especially right now in the age that we are in. But I also think it’s really important to read and you know

I'm not quite sure what I just read.

It was funny, yes, but. . . . .

It was fantasy, yes, but. . . .

I felt it was something a teenager might have written for other teenagers. The back and forth narrative just made thing more confusing and things didn't flow well at all. They opped aroudn and didn't seem to relate at all to each other.

I like the characters, but the telling of the story was a bit juvenile.

All in all I found it a waste of a read.

Thank you to NetGalley for this audio ARC. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I'm going to be completely honest and say I have no idea what was going on this book. I have no clue. All I know is it was funny at times and I liked the narrater. I was just so confused about what was happening. Was it two different timelines? I don't know. I know there was magic its fantasy but there were a lot of characters and it was hard to keep track on who was who and what they were doing.

"You can look, but you'll die!" - Serena Brimstone

I have a lot of thoughts and feelings about this one. I can say I'm very glad I got the audio version. It's not without its flaws but it was exactly what I needed in my life right now. Highly enjoyable.

Quick facts:

*Fun!
*Light & airy
*Thoroughly enjoyable narration
*RPG feel
*Serena 💘
*Author narration
*Comradery between new friends
*A lot of bouncing around through time and place.
*Sometimes a little tiring
*Confusing 2 parts (75%/25%)
*Felt a bit like 2 unfinished books

I did also get an e-arc of the text version, to try and ground myself with all the bouncing around. Having both made it easier to get used to the writing style in the beginning, then I didn't need to follow along with the text anymore after that.

I do really think this book is more enjoyable in audio form.

The narrators: Great!

Greiner excelled at the main story narration, especially in the voice of Serena 💘 Greiner really made me want to keep listening. And Richard excelled at the flashbacks and different entries, particularly, Dementus, The Mad Treskan.

I love when an author narrates their own work. It's so much more intimate. And I love experiencing the story and characters in the way they were envisioned by the author when writing them.

However, one thing though, as much as I liked listening to them, it was often very hard to tell the main characters' voices apart (both narrators).

~

I did find the 2 parts a bit confusing though.. The first part took up so much of the book, I was surprised when it ended so abruptly.

Then part 2 starts and it feels like the beginning of a sequel. Because there was so little left of the book, I was prepared for it to end on a cliffhanger - I was very surprised when it didn't.

I kinda wish they were two separate books, and both given the page time to fully come to the satisfying end they both deserve.

Final thoughts: The narration was great and the story was fun. My experience was a pleasurable one.

Serena, Orchid, Tresado, and Foxx have one thing in common – they’ve been recruited by Leader to set off on a quest. The quest? Sailing up a dangerous river, rarely traveled, to find a powerful magician. On their journey they encounter many dangers, testing their strength and their skills.

I typically enjoy fantasy works, especially ones that are advertised as being similar to Dungeons and Dragons adventures. Unfortunately, this work fell short of my expectations.

The reader is thrown into the story with no setting descriptions, no expectations of the world, and no way to ground the story. This made it impossible to picture where this story was supposed to be taking place, which is a big part of fantasy stories (or really any story). On top of this, the story jumped around between characters, excerpts from random journals, character flashbacks, and random historical events. There was minimal explanation (generally no explanation) relating to any of these things, which left me bewildered as to how any of it was connected or if it even mattered.

It was difficult to like any of the characters. They didn’t feel realistic or relatable, instead coming across of stereotypes/archetypes of fantasy characters. Also, the summary of the story presents this work as being about Serena, but even 25% in, she still felt like a secondary character. Also, she yells. All the time. Since I listened to the audiobook version of this work, it really made me dislike her character.

This work was advertised as being lighthearted and humorous. Often, it felt like the author was trying to force humor into situations and the dialogue felt extremely forced when it was supposed to be lighthearted and funny. Similarly, the writing felt juvenile and crass, but not in an entertaining way.

Unfortunately, there was nothing that I enjoyed about this work, and I can’t recommend it.

I received a complimentary copy of this work through NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

This was a fun story to listen too.
A fantasy novel about a quest with doses of humour, magic and fantasy.
I did like the funny moments and chemistry between the characters. The plot is nice too and I loved the idea of the magical palace that has a character of its own!
A felt a bit lost in parts though and took me some time to wrap my head around the magic system but overall I enjoyed listening to it.

I found this bookwas to wordy and the author was trying to gross people out and impress his audience with contradiction mixed together

Serena Brimstone is an old fashioned warrior Princess. She loves the fight, and if by some chance within battle she dies, then that’s fine by her. But she has a problem. She has a diamond entity embedded in her chest that wants to keep Serena safe by making everyone around stop, drop their weapons, drool and become completely infatuated with her. What is a warrior Princess to do? Go on a quest to get rid of the damned diamond entity, that’s what! This fantasy book has humour and a good story. But it jumps backwards and forwards in history, which is a little distracting at times. Didn’t stop me finishing the book to find everything tied up neatly by the end. Thank you to Christopher Matthews and NetGalley for letting me listen to an audio ARC. The views expressed are all mine, freely given.

Was approved for this audiobook thru Netgalley and while I appreciate it, I can't continue reading it. The narrator's are speaking so fast I had to slow the book down just to understand them and everytime there is a flashback (nearly constant) it plays this chime that had given me a serious headache.

Group Six and the River is a light-hearted fantasy read I'd describe as The Wizard of Oz meets Dungeons & Dragons. There are five characters who each have a reason to seek the help of a wizard who is rumoured to have power beyond words and they must work together on their campaign to find the wizard at the end of a long and dangerous journey down the river, in their catamaran, Enchanter.

Serena is a warrior who can't function because she has somehow found herself with a magic diamond embedded in her chest which makes men fall in love with her when all she wants to do is fight and earn renown. Her character reminded me of vikings because she has an instinct for warfare, adventure and an honour code that makes it impossible for her to fight the men who are fawning over her instead of taking up arms against her. Orchid, Tresado and Foxx each have different magical capabilities (and very different opinions about how magic should be wielded!) And Leader is keeping his reasons for seeking the wizard secret, lending a bit of mystery to the story. Although the characters are strangers to one another, I felt there might have been room for more conflict between them but the fact that they each use their skills to further the cause of the entire party is very much in the spirit of D&D.

It's an adventurous story, setting up the world of Lurra in a way that leaves the reader wanting to know more. I quite liked the snippets of journals by ancient figures which appear at the beginning of most chapters and give hints of the history of Lurra. This reminded me of the excerpts of Princess Irulan's texts at the start of each chapter in Dune; perhaps this was a cheeky nod from the author. The characters are fun, there are some really cool settings and ideas in the book. There was one chapter I found quite creepy and I would have liked more chapters like that, where the setting itself becomes a character of sorts.. I particularly enjoyed the last few chapters at the Crystal Palace.

One thing I didn't enjoy was the over-reliance on flashbacks to flesh out the characters' stories. I personally felt that the main story of the river journey and its many dangers and obstacles was enough to interest me. I might have felt differently had the flashbacks been more clearly signposted; maybe it was because I was listening to the audiobook and it would be clearer on the page but it was sometimes difficult to tell whetherI was reading the past or present. Hopefully this issue will be ironed out in future instalments of the series.

You like D&D, action, adventure, warriors, and mages. You can’t play cause its impossible to get the party together. Face it you gonna want to read this book.

I loved the RPG format of Group Six, the stats and background throughout the story gave it a fun party feel.. An irresistible warrior woman with a trio of mages on a quest to find a great wizard on the promise that success will grant them their most honourable desire is a delightful premise.

The adventure and battles are detailed and captivating, the humour was fun, and the flashback character building had me craving game night