The River Keeper and Other Tales was such a cozy, enjoyable read. I have found myself really liking collections of short stories, and this book has a great collection of tales touched by a bit of magic. This is definitely a book people should read together and the stories would be enhanced by being read aloud.

A collection of short stories with fable/fairy tale qualities. In each story the characters had to overcome emotional challenges, which was intriguing. I also enjoyed the fantasy elements woven throughout. I would have liked a little more worldbuilding and development, as the stories are supposed to be set in the same world, but they didn’t feel very connected.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an e-arc.

I thought this book was cute. Well written and no grammatical errors or typos. The storyline was unique and cute. I think this would be a good fit for YA.

The River Keeper and Other Tales by Nancy Joie Wilkie is a series of seven short stories all taking place in the kingdom of Imlay. The book is fairly short, and I was able to finish it in a single evening. The tales were original, but drew on fairly common archetypes that made them feel familiar, and as I was reading, I found it vaguely reminiscent of reading storybooks from when I was a kid. My favorite story from this collection was “A Dream for a Dream,” which was by far the most unique tale in the collection and the only one that I would have liked to be a full book in and of itself.

Pros:

The artwork was absolutely lovely and enjoyable.

It is very uncomplicated and easy to follow. The seven stories are distinct from each other, and can be read independently.

Recurring themes that connect each story when they are read together that make for both an interesting bit of worldbuilding and a well-communicated overall message.

Cons:

The second story contains some ableism where a character who cannot hear but uses a form of sign language is called “deaf and dumb,” which, as a hard of hearing person myself, I found quite offensive.

The worldbuilding is… inconsistent. The first six stories all very clearly took place in the same world, but the last one seemed to take place in the modern world, as the Judeo-Christian universe creation story was brought up, and the protagonist was compared to Jesus.

There was a lot of telling and not a lot of showing. I found some issues with pacing where things moved so fast I had to go back and figure out what was going on.

Overall I rate it 2.5 stars. While I enjoyed the stories, the ableism in the second piece as well as the pacing issues and worldbuilding inconsistencies knocked down the rating for me.

Thank you to Net-Galley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately, this book is just poorly written. If I hadn’t been reading it as an ARC I would have put it down before finishing the first story. Instead I read it all the way through and just became more disappointed as the book went on.

The writing is juvenile and unable to decide whether it wants to be old-timey or modern. The age-old crime of telling rather than (or worse: as well as!) showing is present on every page.

The advance praise says that Wilkie captures the simple language and romantic ethos of fables, but I found that Wilkie managed to capture the vague sexism of many fables without any of the lesson-leaning, timeless language, or beauty that a fable should be able to invoke. The reader is expected to sit through moralistic writing with no morals…but still be subjected to random moments of otherwise completely undeveloped characters making small talk about wine pairings.

I have more specific notes on my disappointment with each story but feel the most important to highlight is The Morning Song, the second story in the book. I briefly thought the author was about to redeem herself with an interesting plot but the story ended up with a cheap and extremely ableist conclusion. The villain of the story, it seems, was Deafness. There were so many ways that this story could have been thought-provoking and creative and the author decided to go with “Being Deaf is bad and should be cured with magic.”

I was glad for the illustrations, they were nice.

- [ ] The River Keeper
- [ ] ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- [ ] The tale of a girl whose love for nature has the ability to save her friends and family. This story was beautiful and wholesome. I loved the ending.😌
- [ ] The Morning Song
- [ ] ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- [ ] This is a story of compassion, forgiveness, and coming together for one another. Another lovely ending. ☺️
- [ ] A Dream For A Dream
- [ ] ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- [ ] Wow, this story was right up my alley! Very dystopian, children live in their own community, adults live in their own community. Each does not have a recollection of the other(their child,parent,sibling). This was a great story with a great ending 🫶🏻
- [ ] Aurora’s Ring
- [ ] ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- [ ] This was much like The Hobbit and I absolutely loved it!! Dragons, adventure, action, what’s not to love?
- [ ] The Pit Of Truth
- [ ] ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- [ ] This was not at all what I was expecting but not in a bad way! The ending had me so confused and shocked 😬😅
- [ ] The Day After Tomorrow
- [ ] ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- [ ] A great tale of why you should be careful what you wish for.
- [ ] The Innkeeper
- [ ] ⭐️⭐️⭐️
- [ ] Although this was not my favorite story, it was thought provoking.


- [ ] Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this book! It has BEAUTIFUL illustrations for each story 🥹
It had a little bit of everything; great sci-fi, fantasy, action, love and maybe an adventure with a fire breathing dragon 😬

All in all it is a good story and well written too. Unfortunately for me it was not it, I didn't quite got into it. But I have to say that the storyline is well thought through and it isn't hard to follow, which allows an uncomplicated and undisturbed reading flow.

I enjoyed this as a collection seven stories, it had that feel that I was looking for and enjoyed getting into this collection. Nancy Joie Wilkie was able to create unique stories and keep us reading each story. It was everything that was promised and am excited for more from Nancy Joie Wilkie.

I really enjoyed each story in the book: I was able to read it within one sitting. Loved each short story and was transported into each story with every page.

"The River Keeper and Other Tales" is a fantasy short story collection set in the Kingdom of Imlay. The book contains seven stories exploring well known but profound themes explored through a magical narrative. The collection offers original tales that feel familiar but still manage to engage the imagination (with lovely sketches sprinkled throughout). Each story guides characters through making difficult choices, sacrifice, telling the truth, the consequences of our actions, pure love. and using magic to help others.
The stories all have a magical quality that blends fantastical elements with moral lessons, creating a timeless fairy tale feel that you won’t want to miss! This is a great option for a short story to read with children of any age before bed.

Story Highlights
- Set in the imaginary Kingdom of Imlay
- Features characters like the inquisitive child Ya, an ambitious king, and a mischievous dog
- Explores themes of personal sacrifice and moral decision-making