I've been on a historical fiction kick lately so Once Upon a River came along at the perfect time for me and I recalled enjoying Setterfield's The Thirteenth Tale so I decided to give this a shot too. Once Upon a River was a compelling story although it got a bit slow in the middle for me and meandered a little (I guess a bit like the river itself) but pulled itself together in the end quite nicely. The reader is introduced to an interesting cast of characters and in fact, the river was like a character of its own with a very strong personality and presence throughout the story. I found this to be interesting combination of science and mythology (dare I say fact and fiction?) with elements of both strongly appearing throughout.