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Full Goodreads reviews are found here.-->
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"Smith-Nochasak has an impeccable ability to create intriguing and unique characters while also showing a well-honed ability of turning forces of good and evil into something much more complex. Her impeccable storytelling kept this reader turning pages, gasping, crying, and riveted by the way Smith-Nochasak’s graphic and, at times, deliberately chaotic writing evokes such intense emotions.
"I can hardly wait to read the third and final part of the Taggak Trilogy."
~~~A-M Mawhiney, author of Fugitive Rifts, Spindrifts, and Spelldrifts
"On the outside, “River Becomes Shadow” is about an arduous journey an assorted group of individuals take to join the revolution and bring down the Elect. In its core, it is so much more than that. It is an unflinching account of human courage, resilience, and the strength of love. It doesn’t treat you gently, hinting at the atrocities people are ready to commit to gain power or to save their skin. Everything is at full display here, sharp-edged and painfully realistic, forcing you to close your eyes and draw a deep breath. And still, peeking through the disturbing scenes is hope. The subtle yet powerful matter that makes people capable of great deeds. Even those who, at first sight, appear weak or too torn by the demons of their past. Because they know what can help them win an impossible battle. “Take all the times and people you are given and appreciate them while they are there.”
~~Eve Koguce, author of Neglected Merge, The Accidental Cop, Finding Your Way, and Broken Chances
"River Becomes Shadow” by Anne Smith-Nochasak continues the harrowing, futuristic dystopian tale of Taggak Journey. Young River is taking a dangerous trek across an unforgiving terrain to join the rebel forces who fight against Elect’s tyrannical regime. River’s companions and protectors are Dr. Andrea, a veterinarian, and River’s cousin Tag. Although most of the narration is from Andrea, we also hear the stories of River and other key characters. The trio take pains to stay hidden because to be captured means either death or an enslaved existence, and drastic measures are taken to ensure their safety. This is a captivating, disturbing, and thought-provoking read!"
--Kelly Miller, award-winning Regency romance author of Mr. Darcy's Perfect Match and other Pride and Prejudice variations
"River Becomes Shadow is not the type of book I would normally read, I mostly like romance books(happy ever after). However, this is a very good book, although it not a happy one. I like the author's writing style.-dramatic, poetic, descriptive, emotional. There is a lot of pain but a lot of hope. It describes a world that has fallen apart, and it eerily reminds me of what could come if conditions in our real world continue as they are. The characters are complex and driven. I enjoyed reading River Becomes Shadow, and I am really looking forward to Book 3 when everything comes together."
--Goodreads reviewer
"“It begins with fire, and it ends with fire, and always, there will be fire.”
A magnificent and heart-felt expedition of discovery, resistance, resilience, and ultimately hope, brilliant author Anne M. Smith-Nochasak delivers a stupendous follow-up to her incredible “River Faces North” which was the opening salvo in the Taggak Trilogy, in the breathtaking sequel “River Becomes Shadow”."
~~PL Stuart, author of The Drowned Kingdom Saga, podcaster of Six Elementals and much more
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"I can hardly wait to read the third and final part of the Taggak Trilogy."
~~~A-M Mawhiney, author of Fugitive Rifts, Spindrifts, and Spelldrifts
"On the outside, “River Becomes Shadow” is about an arduous journey an assorted group of individuals take to join the revolution and bring down the Elect. In its core, it is so much more than that. It is an unflinching account of human courage, resilience, and the strength of love. It doesn’t treat you gently, hinting at the atrocities people are ready to commit to gain power or to save their skin. Everything is at full display here, sharp-edged and painfully realistic, forcing you to close your eyes and draw a deep breath. And still, peeking through the disturbing scenes is hope. The subtle yet powerful matter that makes people capable of great deeds. Even those who, at first sight, appear weak or too torn by the demons of their past. Because they know what can help them win an impossible battle. “Take all the times and people you are given and appreciate them while they are there.”
~~Eve Koguce, author of Neglected Merge, The Accidental Cop, Finding Your Way, and Broken Chances
"River Becomes Shadow” by Anne Smith-Nochasak continues the harrowing, futuristic dystopian tale of Taggak Journey. Young River is taking a dangerous trek across an unforgiving terrain to join the rebel forces who fight against Elect’s tyrannical regime. River’s companions and protectors are Dr. Andrea, a veterinarian, and River’s cousin Tag. Although most of the narration is from Andrea, we also hear the stories of River and other key characters. The trio take pains to stay hidden because to be captured means either death or an enslaved existence, and drastic measures are taken to ensure their safety. This is a captivating, disturbing, and thought-provoking read!"
--Kelly Miller, award-winning Regency romance author of Mr. Darcy's Perfect Match and other Pride and Prejudice variations
"River Becomes Shadow is not the type of book I would normally read, I mostly like romance books(happy ever after). However, this is a very good book, although it not a happy one. I like the author's writing style.-dramatic, poetic, descriptive, emotional. There is a lot of pain but a lot of hope. It describes a world that has fallen apart, and it eerily reminds me of what could come if conditions in our real world continue as they are. The characters are complex and driven. I enjoyed reading River Becomes Shadow, and I am really looking forward to Book 3 when everything comes together."
--Goodreads reviewer
"“It begins with fire, and it ends with fire, and always, there will be fire.”
A magnificent and heart-felt expedition of discovery, resistance, resilience, and ultimately hope, brilliant author Anne M. Smith-Nochasak delivers a stupendous follow-up to her incredible “River Faces North” which was the opening salvo in the Taggak Trilogy, in the breathtaking sequel “River Becomes Shadow”."
~~PL Stuart, author of The Drowned Kingdom Saga, podcaster of Six Elementals and much more
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Full Amazon Reviews are found here ---------->>>
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"River Becomes Shadow is Anne M. Smith-Nochasak’s second installment of her Taggak Journey trilogy, and it as gorgeously written as the first, River Faces North. Smith-Nochasak is at heart a poet, and her prose reflects her agile wordplay. Her strength is painting scenes and effusing them with emotion; her characters are fully fleshed, unique and alive. The phrase “literary, poetic, dystopian fiction” seems contradictory, and yet Smith-Nochasak has achieved a balance here, weaving the magical and fantastical with gritty brutality and just a glimmer of hope, in prose that sings."
~~Amazon Reviewer, Heather McB
~~Amazon Reviewer, Heather McB
Editorial Reviews
What sets this novel apart from typical dystopian fiction is its depth of moral insight and emotional clarity. Rather than divide its world into good and evil, life and death, Smith-Nochasak fills it with haunting ambiguity—people wounded by loss yet still reaching for light. Through River’s story, she turns devastation into renewal, urging readers not just to watch the world fall but to imagine it healed.
Bleak, visionary, and profoundly human, it’s a haunting story that lingers long after the final page.
--Prairies Book Review Services (analysis hired by author)
Bleak, visionary, and profoundly human, it’s a haunting story that lingers long after the final page.
--Prairies Book Review Services (analysis hired by author)
Smith-Nochasak’s writing balances visceral detail with moments of eerie beauty. She writes pain with a poet’s precision: the physical exhaustion of running through smoke, the smell of damp moss and burning wood, the dull ache of hunger that erodes thought itself. Amid all this devastation, moments of grace persist. . . .
By the time the reader closes the book, it becomes clear that the novel is not about apocalypse at all, but about renewal through connection—between people, between generations, between the living and the dead, and between humanity and the earth itself. It’s a story that mourns what we’ve lost while insisting that love, courage, and storytelling are the seeds of resurrection. A page-turner.
--BookView Review (analysis hired by author)
