Deeply and carefully imagined. The Seaborne is about a man pushed to his limits, forced to go deep into himself to rediscover what's important in life. The book asks thought-provoking questions about what modern humans have given up in terms of community, faith and honor in favor of always grasping the new.
Blue Ink (starred) Review
Quite captivating. I love the elemental quality and the constant presence of the wild and rugged landscape. The characters are strong and believable. A deep and thought-provoking book.
Josie Smith
A beautiful story, imbued with Celtic themes and a deep spirituality. The story unfurls like a flower coming into bloom.
Don MacGregor, Midwest Book Review
Coaxes us to turn to a simpler, more community-based way of living where there are no or fewer planes in the sky and our lives are forced into simplicity, personal creativity, greater stillness, listening and natural rhythm. A connectedness with each other and the sacredness of all.
Jo Parsons
This was such an engaging read. The author does a great job of creating a breathtaking world that draws the reader in and populates it with characters that keep the reader invested throughout.
authoranthonyavinablog.com
Multiple worlds proliferate in fiction these days and the time-shift fantasy is virtually a genre of its own, but it is notoriously difficult to create an internally consistent and convincing alternative universe – something I think Rivett has achieved magnificently.
Richard Danckwerts
A novel of Celtic quantum time that asks us to consider the ways in which we are all born strangers, seaborne foundlings, living between worlds. A parable for our particularly torn times.
Damian Walford Davies
A deep and moving book. Just wonderful. Wholeheartedly recommend this book and I hope the author writes more. Thank you.
Dr D Morris
I found myself sad when I had to leave the Island at the end of the book, because I enjoyed the peace and strength that it lent me.
www.woodbtwntheworlds.blogspot.com
The hero's transition from John to 'Dhion' does not feel forced, and we share his bewilderment and confusion at first, gradually turning into something like acceptance and culminating in a climactic choice . . . I enjoyed this so much that I bought a second copy for my daughter and this is what she said: “I've just finished The Seaborne and I adore it – it will stay with me for a very long time – so beautiful and so magic. Just wonderful.”
A White
This book is beautifully written, creating the place and its people in precise and poetic detail, and made me wonder what it would be like to live in such a place, without technology and underpinned by a belief in a very present spiritual reality. It's an intriguing and absorbing read.
Maggie Hamand
I thoroughly enjoyed this well written book particularly the exploration of life now and then and what happens when the two worlds come face to face. I am recommending the book to other people.
Barbara S
Two worlds are brought together in this debut novel. The world in which we live with all the planetary problems which pervade at present and a world long forgotten but on which spiritual values prevail to a greater degree and life is much simpler. A thoroughly good read.
Michael Jones
This beautifully crafted story transports the reader into the mystical medieval world of Celtic spirituality. The author’s love and intimate knowledge of the Scottish landscape infuses the text. Biblical parallels and symbolism abound, which give it its power to move, to enthral, and potentially challenge and change the inner world of its reader.
P Newton
A.G. Rivett's beautifully written novel, The Seaborne, transports the reader, and its protagonist, to a remote island in a mystical Celtic past. Can a simpler world, with fewer creature comforts but a stronger sense of community, be better than the rat race of contemporary urban life where money can buy anything but one does not know one's neighbour? The Seaborne's protagonist must choose. Highly recommended!
Violet Elizabeth Grayson
It's 3am and I have been kept up by this book – a compelling read! Beautifully crafted, evocative and a gently gripping storyline that grows as you read. The main character develops into a man whom I felt I really got to know, and made me question how I would manage myself, if something like this happened to me. The images the author has created make me feel like I am also part of this community. That's quite a skill, and I look forward to the next book.
Jane Rogers
This beautifully written myth speaks to our deep inner wisdom, and calls us to return to the ancient ways of knowing that don’t look to externals for answers. It returns the reader to a deep relationship with the land, the elements and the connection with all that is. The measured pace of unfolding story invites self-reflection. As we walk with Dhion through his self-discovery, we’re are likely to hear a whisper in the air around us, “Are you living the life you are meant to live?” Highly recommended.
Amazon customer
I loved this book; a real page-turner! It's beautifully written, well-paced, and evokes an ancient culture rooted in the land and close community. Inspiring, informative, and a pleasure to read.
Natasha Hood
Not only is this a great and really atmospheric story, there's food for thought here too. I love novels that are both a good read and spiritually enriching (but without any preaching at all!).
Fiona D
The genius of the story is the prescient reflection of the themes of our present time through the consciousness of the main character in his attempt to escape the failures of his life, and the challenges he faces outside of his own timeline and culture. This sets up a tension of values which reverberates through the story, creating a mirror of our present.
Brooksby
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. A beautifully written and thought provoking story, rich in meaning. I cared deeply what happened to the people and their culture. Can't wait for the sequel!
Nicola Aven
You feel as if you were born on the island alongside Shinane and Dermot, and yet, you are also alien to its customs and practices, much like John. The writing style in this book reads almost like poetry, the mountains and pools call to you like water burbling over stones. I found myself sad when I had to leave the island at the end of the book, because I enjoyed the peace and strength that it lent me.
Anna, Wood Between the Worlds Blog
This book cleverly wove a completely believable story into an unbelievable situation. I am not normally a fan of fantasy –this story was convincing and clever and so gentle that I slept beautifully after every read, imagining and dreaming of that misty damp green Celtic landscape with those lovely human characters who didn't have zips and lived such a simple wholesome life. I have mourned finishing it and can't wait for a sequel.
Amanda Nant Gwyn Faen
This novel started slowly for me. Beautifully written, I found myself drawn deeper and deeper into the story, pausing to ponder and reflect, but pulled forwards by the strong narrative line and characters. By the end, I was totally immersed in the new world, feeling quite bereft when I turned the last page. And yet I find it's stayed with me. I'm still pausing to ponder the layers and strands.
Julia Clare
I have read this book twice. The story is told deftly and with depth and beauty; scenes, landscapes and characters are described with economy and an engaging, unusual turn of phrase that often surprised and delighted me. I felt it coaxes us to turn to a simpler, more community-based way of living where there are no or fewer planes in the sky … a connectedness with each other and the Sacredness of all.
Jo Parsons
This book is quite unlike anything I have read before. I was captured and enraptured from the Prologue through to the Epilogue and I felt deeply changed by it.
Sarah Wilson
I recently finished the Seaborne, and I really enjoyed reading it. Lots of Gaelic/Nordic influence there, which gives it a certain beautiful and at the same time rough feel I can somehow relate to. Wouldn’t it be just wonderful to hear from a person from 1000 years back if their lives were really similar to what A.G.Rivett pictured them to be? Were they happier folks than us? Maybe? The hardship must also have been overwhelming oftentimes is what I'd imagine.
F Kommoss
A gripping and thoughtful book about a shipwrecked man who is rescued in a different time and world. As he gradually recovers, learns to communicate and to live in this new world, his influence brings challenges to his hosts too. Can they deal with the distruptions he creates in their settled lifestyle? And given the choice, would he return to his old world or make his life here? I am greatly looking forward to the sequel.
Beth Noakes
What an interesting and intriguing tale. The constant comparison between the world we live in, represented by John, and the earlier time he finds himself having to live in, holds up a mirror to our world, offering food for thought.
B Syme
Enter an ancient world and find out what happens when an outsider has to adapt. A relevant story for this time, as our world in lockdown became a very different one so suddenly and we all had to find ways to adapt. A.G.Rivett's story transported me to a very believable ancient world, one that I enjoyed immersing myself in.
I recommend this highly original book and look forward to the next installment.
Leonora
A beautifully written, imaginative and detailed tale, of another world in another time, with the added depth of thought provoking moral conundrums.
C Walker
I have just finished reading The Seaborne. I really enjoyed it. I found myself drawn very quickly into the story and also found myself mulling over the story and the characters when I wasn't reading it. Pete Dobson
One of the most important advantages of this novel is its portrayal of a way of life which, it acknowledges explicitly, is much harder than John had known before, but also much more deeply satisfying. This life exacts its toll even as it avoids so many of the things degrading modern lives and destroying our ecosystems and our planet. The Seaborne is a must-read if you are interested in Celtic spirituality.
D.C.Reid
Imagine being taken back in time and finding most of things you've learned in life are useless, and you've no idea how to cope. This book takes its time to build a world of a thousand years ago, seen through the eyes of a man of today. You feel with John - his disbelief and frustrations; his sense of isolation, and his regrets as he looks back on the life he ran away from. The, as John becomes Dhion and begins to find his feet, the book becomes a page-turner. But it never loses its sense of then and now being held together, and also compared. What have we gained? And what have we lost? A really interesting read.
Linda Howell
