What have I just read?

Let me try my best to piece this together. Val, an investigative journalist, is tasked with a special mission by her friend Carlton who is a political big hitter. Carlton asks Val to go and investigate an island in Eastern Russia that the Vice Presidents daughter has visited prior to her disappearance. Agnes Pendalon, head of the CIA, is less keen on sending an outsider but having sent other agents who come back tight lipped about what has been found there, Agnes has no choice but to trust Val.

On arriving in Russia, Val is ferried off to the island, complete with a a gaggle of other tourists and a large number of Russian guards. There, Val discovers a Rowan tree in a circle of crystal trees. Visitors select a leaf from the Rowan tree and this somehow becomes a strand of light that can be attached to their bodies allowing them to become 'enlightened'. Suddenly the light fades, the tree drops all of it's leaves and the crystal trees shatter leaving Val feeling sad that she didn't partake in the enlightenment. However, back at her apartment she is able to contact the guide from the Island and reactivate a gathered leaf from the Rowan and join the others in their enlightenment. Now she has joined them, Val suddenly has great insight and wisdom (there is a bit here about autistic people being cured and addicts miraculously rehabbed following their own enlightenments) and she joins the other enlightened people in a quest that is leading somewhere that we just aren't sure about. Add in a side serving of the CIA trying to work out what is going on, a team a enlightened scientists who have been working together for just 5 days and who manage to harness dark matter to produce an energy source that allows them to fly on a wooden platform, and a chase across the world in pursuit of a second Rowan tree in the company of a whole host of billionaires. - and you have the recipe for something that just feels...off.

I was utterly confused by this book. I didn't like the writing style at all. The characters are too numerous and completely 2 dimensional. I know that this is only the first in a series of books but even so.....I was just confused and didn't feel that it lead anywhere meaningful.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book wasn’t my cup of tea. I found the plot confusing and most of the time didn’t make sense. It was an interesting premise but unfortunately it didn’t work out. The characters were also flat and boring and I struggled to relate to any of them. Sadly, not for me.

It’s time to get to the bottom of why a tree is causing a curse on the land. But the CIA was involved? I became very confused very fast in this novel.

An interesting read with so much promise but it fell a little short for me. I was so intrigued by the premise of the storyline but it was too descriptive and waffly.

While this sounded intriguing, I found that it didn't work for me.
The characters and world felt a little flat. With little action to make up for it. Part of me is glad it's on the shorter side. But also wonder if being longer would have helped flesh out the characters and world more.

So the description I feel like sucked me in almost immediately because it has the government/spy/thriller-esque sci-fi feel to it and it had an X-Files feel to it, which I absolutely loved as well!

I’m not super science-y, so some things did tend to go over my head, but I do love how some of the things that the non-science members said were easier for people like me to understand.

Government thrillers may or may not be my new jam!

“The sudden thrill of being let off the professional leads.”

“When things start moving fast, I need to be at the heart of darkness.”

Found this book very confusing. Not sure which genre it was trying to be, and it ended up as not being any one successfully. Not really my preferred type of book.

What is the appeal for visitors to a small island on the far edges of Russia? Tales are leaking out of people whose lives have changed dramatically since visiting the place. When the vice- president's daughter returns & begins to study for a doctorate after worrying her parents with her involvement with drugs & wild parties, there are questions asked on a National Security level. Val, an investigative journalist, is asked by the CIA head of Operations to see what is going on, little knowing how this will change her life.

I found this book to be a real surprise. I was unprepared for how I was drawn into the story. A combination of different genre but all spun together with beautiful writing. I wanted to read the sequel straight away & really hope I won't have to wait too long! Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read this book. It's one of my favourite reads so far this year.

thank you to netgalley for the advanced reading copy. this was fantastic, just what i have come to expect from this author and look forward to carrying in my book store.

I couldnt get into this one. It was slow moving and the language was clunky. The story itself was interesting and well laid out but the presentation just didn't do it for me.

Davis Bunn tells of a magical tree that suddenly appears on a mostly deserted Russian island near Japan. investigative writer Valentina Garnier is asked by members of the Government to go and investigate The Rowan (hard from Severn House). While she watches, other tourists with her seem to be affected by the tree, which explodes while she watches. People, who were changed, in a good way, start working together, which petrifies the CIA. This tale of a God-like interference in human affairs reaches a point in which missiles are shot at a second manifestation of the tree. There is a second half coming in which our heroes have to survive evil Government and bring their revelation to the world. Fun.

I was really drawn to this book from the synopsis. However I have struggled with just not getting into it. I tried a few times but it's just not for me.
Thanks netgally for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

My thanks to Severn House for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘The Rowan’ by Davis Bunn.

I was drawn to this thriller by its premise of a mysterious Rowan tree situated on Kunashir, a remote island in Russian territory, that appears to exert some kind of influence upon the consciousness of people that have been drawn to visit it.

The phenomena comes to the attention of folk in Washington D.C. when the daughter of the Vice President visits the Rowan tree and undergoes a transformation from an out of control party girl to studying for a doctorate.

Pulitzer Prize winning investigative journalist, Valentina (Val) Garnier, is asked by Agnes Pendalon, CIA’s deputy chief of operations, to join a group travelling to the island and record what is happening there.However, Agnes doesn’t count on Val having a deeply profound experience of her own. Certain shady D.C. types and others feel threatened by the Rowan and whatever mysterious force is behind it with the inevitable over-the-top response.

While I enjoy political thrillers and the idea of a consciousness altering Rowan tree appealed, I found it rather difficult to engage with the plot and characters. It all felt rather flat.

However, I stuck with it and did find that the later chapters when the action moved to Morocco along with the conclusion did grab my interest. It is the opening book in a trilogy and I am somewhat interested in discovering what is behind the appearance of the tree, so may read further when available.

2.5 stars rounded up to 3.

This was a DNF for me.

The premise intrigued me but I struggled to get into it and found it didn't grip me at all

Another predictable fantasy that felt forced, read flat, and characters were boring. Story was off-putting and uninspired.

I enjoyed the premise of The Rowan, and I liked the first half of the story, but I felt like it didn't hold my attention as much during the second half. I struggled to connect with some of the characters, and at times they started to feel a little 2 dimensional. Val, the main protagonist, starts off as a strong character who won't bow down to anyone. I was a little disappointed that halfway through her character changes from headstrong to being very toned down. Overall though, I think it's a cool idea for a story and I would be interested to see where the sequel takes it.
If you like government thrillers with sci fi mixed in, then you might enjoy this book!

Thank you NetGalley for sending me a copy of this book.

I was tempted to knock half a star off my review as there's a fair bit of "US arrogance" in assuming that the US govt can do whatever they want on foreign soils, but it was a minor grumble in my British head, and irrelevant to the quality of the book, which I couldn't put down! So a firm 5 stars/excellent read.

What a beautiful work. The concepts involved are very unique, the style of writing is such that I page marked quite a few paragraphs so I could read them again (just a joy to read). Throw in some astrophysics (I'm an astrophysicist, and the a'physics bits were pretty good) and I simply loved this book.

As for the concept, I'm now sitting wishing the sequel, No Mans Land, would come out as soon as tomorrow.

The Rowan is a book that doesn’t quite know what it’s trying to do.

Proper pacing is a very delicate balance when telling any story. This is made even more so when working on a trilogy, or any other serial fiction.

As the author, you have to be careful of playing too close to the vest, but you also need to give away enough that your reader is still part of the inner circle. Each book in the series needs to be able to stand on its own, to a certain extent.

This is The Rowan’s primary problem. It’s the first book in a trilogy (the other two aren’t out yet) and very quickly it becomes obvious that not giving away even a hint of what’s happening is being used in place of actual pacing.

The little blurb at the beginning of this review is what drew me to the novel in the first place. I love a bit of contemporary urban fantasy meshing worlds together.

It is not an accurate depiction of what happens within the novel itself.

Admittedly, I struggled to get into the book for the first few pages. In fact, I was seriously regretting my decision to review it. By the end of the prologue, though, Val had won me over and I was ready to go along for the ride. I’ll talk more about Val in a bit; she’s an amazing character and I want to gush. But for now, the issue is pacing.

As The Rowan progresses through its main conflict points, events and interactions become more and more obscure. I had definite Celestine Prophecy/cult introduction vibes while reading it.

The characters kept referring to an “it” that they weren’t able to describe, but each of them “just got.” They experienced an equally indescribable feeling/urge/pull. There’s some suspiciously convenient telepathy going on as well.

Rather than build mystery and suspense, this adds up to a conversation the reader isn’t actually part of. Think meeting your partner’s work friends and they only talk about work things the whole time.

There also isn’t anything at stake. The characters never experience any real risk because this convenient telepathy and equally convenient supernatural other always gives plenty of warning that danger is on the way and the means to perfectly evade it.

You want the protagonist’s side to win, sure, but they have to earn it. Bear with me but I’m going to launch into some MCU fandom here.

Endgame is a perfect example of what I’ve been talking about so far. It’s the culmination of a collection of trilogies based around individual characters. Each part builds on the previous one, but they also work on their own, more or less. They have a Mini Bad, a short-term problem, a short-term solution.

Particularly because it’s based on comics, you know without a doubt that the good guys are going to win and the bad guys are going to be shuffled off to some undisclosed location.

When Endgame comes around, you know the Avengers will ultimately defeat Thanos, but there are some close - and some more than close - calls along the way. Integral characters are sacrificed, often with the person closest being forced into making that call. Even though cognitively you know Thanos will be defeated, you start to wonder exactly how that’s going to happen, especially when the indefatigable Captain America starts to lose faith.

It’s not until that point - the point where the character most convinced of fairness and justice, of the good guy always coming out on top, of never giving up realizes fairness and justice have never been a thing at all - that the audience is brought back from the brink.

More people are lost, the battle is still hard, and by the end, the heroes are more shattered than celebratory, but they won, just like you always knew they would.

That’s how you do good pacing.

Now that I’ve devoted a considerable amount of text to the particulars of pacing, let’s talk about Val.

Val is what “three-dimensional” character means. She’s a mess of contradictions that are all entirely believable and actually fit together.

She’s great at her job and extremely talented, but also full of doubt and known to make a mistake or two. There’s a tragic backstory, and, while it doesn’t influence her attitude and decisions, it’s not her entire motivation for everything. She makes dumb decisions that she knows full well are dumb decisions but makes them anyway because that’s what people do.

In essence, Val is a flawed anti-hero without being the Flawed Anti-Hero. It’s a welcome reprieve from the typical self-destructive addict/loner who just so happens to be the most brilliant person in the room and gets away with everything short of murder even though they are obviously a tsunami of chaos who should never be left unsupervised ever.

The Rowan comes with a very big pro and a very big con, which leaves me with mixed feelings.

On its own, I wouldn’t recommend The Rowan to anyone, but as part of an as-yet-unseen trilogy, it’s unfair to judge without the whole picture. It’s possible that the next two books will redeem it and show that the confusion here is necessary.

It’s possible.

But I’m not going to read those books to find out. I’m just not curious enough to carry on with this story to see where it goes, which says that, even if it turns out that this first book had to be so obtuse, it still fails its mission to pull the reader towards the next instalment.

A mysterious phenomenon on an island near Russian is drawing visitors to the experience. The vice president's daughter is among those who make the pilgrimage. This alerts the powers that be that there might be somesort of threat to national security going on. The CIA anonymously sends a reporter to witness what is happening on the island. She does not participate but merely observes but is soon drawn in .
This is a mysterious read. You never quite understand what is going on. The government is doing all in its power to try and stop it but the group grows stronger. The reader is drawn in but is left waiting for answers. There will be a sequel.

It started ok. I got to admire Val especially after her little stunt in the face of the FBI. But i got annoyed with the obscurity of a lot of what's going on and most of all the dialogues. Confusing, unnecessarily long and not how dialogues should look like in novels. I was so irritated i could not go on