Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⬜⬜
Title: What the River Knows
Author: Isabel Ibanez
Genre: YA Historical Fiction / YA Mystery
Setting: Cairo Egypt & Buenos Aires, Argentina
Month Read: October 2023
Book Type: E-Arc
Publication: October 31, 2023
Publisher: St Martins Press / Wednesday Books
Pages: 416
*Thank you to Netgalley and St Martins Press/Wednesday Books for the E-Arc--- this has in no way influenced my review and all thoughts are my own.
TRIGGER WARNING-
Disappearance / Abduction / Murder / Death / Guns / Light Blood/Descriptions of violence
No Spoiler Summary (Goodreads):
Bolivian-Argentinian Inez Olivera belongs to the glittering upper society of nineteenth century Buenos Aires, and like the rest of the world, the town is steeped in old world magic that’s been largely left behind or forgotten. Inez has everything a girl might want, except for the one thing she yearns the most: her globetrotting parents—who frequently leave her behind.
When she receives word of their tragic deaths, Inez inherits their massive fortune and a mysterious guardian, an archeologist in partnership with his Egyptian brother-in-law. Yearning for answers, Inez sails to Cairo, bringing her sketch pads and an ancient golden ring her father sent to her for safekeeping before he died. But upon her arrival, the old world magic tethered to the ring pulls her down a path where she soon discovers there’s more to her parent’s disappearance than what her guardian led her to believe.
With her guardian’s infuriatingly handsome assistant thwarting her at every turn, Inez must rely on ancient magic to uncover the truth about her parent’s disappearance—or risk becoming a pawn in a larger game that will kill her.
Review:
I'm unsure what to say in this review because the third act really solidified me dying for a sequel for a book I didn't like up until the absolute very end.
I got this book from Netgalley a while back and thought the premise sounded really cool, and thought the cover was absolutely GORGEOUS. (Seriously, it's so pretty!) I didn't know it was YA (which is fine) and didn't know it was part of a series (which I wish I would have known while reading it.) Both Barnes and Noble (YA) and Book of the Month chose the book and I was so confused about why until I got to the end.
Everything seemed slow, and sort of repetitive, and I wasn't totally in love with Inez. Now that I know that this was the first book in a series or duology, it makes a lot more sense to me why it was so slow until the last third of the book. I also kept wishing for more of Whit's POV, but now I understand why we got literal CRUMBS because of how the ending panned out.
Speaking of characters, I really like Whit- and will primarily read book 2 because I am invested in his story, and not really as invested in Inez or Tio Ricardo. I would love to get a POV for another adult in the book, but don't want to potentially spoil anything so I won't name names. I also hope Inez is a little less... childish? annoying? quick to make all the wrong choices in the next novel. She really didn't do much for me, and I'd love to have a little less of her, while getting a bit more of the supporting characters in the novel.
I'm gonna jump back to the third act, where this book goes from 0-60 in absolutely NO time at all, and I will say the last 20% or so of this book was a wild ride and I gasped out loud several times, and was fully buckled in for wherever the book took me. I think this is book that would benefit being 300-350 pages vs. the 416 that we were given. A lot of fluff could have been cut and we could have gotten to some of the big reveals and big action scenes a lot faster which I think would have done a lot for me in rating this book 4, or even 5 stars. I am excited that it seems the next book will pick up pretty fast due to events at the end of this book taking us right into the action.
I will say one thing for this book, is that the descriptions were beautiful, and I really did feel immersed in Egypt, and in the beginning in Argentina. It gives big Stephanie Garber and Alexandra Bracken vibes (which make sense if you read the author note) and any Romance plot Emily Henry has a hand in helping to figure out has to be great. (and it WAS!). I loved seeing some of my favorite authors be here to work on different part of this book that really took me back to how good they are at their respective writing. (Bracken for transporting you to faraway places and fast paced action, Henry for Romance, Stephanie for a bit of magic and beautiful descriptions of clothing and also a lot of big reveals.)
Keep in mind this is YA, and it does read like YA-- so if that isn't for you I might give this a skip.
Recommendation:
I'm going to give you some recs for some of the authors Isabel thanks in her Authors note, and some other series I thought of while reading this one:
Caraval Series and the Once Upon A Broken Heart Series by Stephanie Garber
The Passenger Series by Alexandra Bracken
Book Lovers by Emily Henry
Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor
Enchentee by Gita Trelease
We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal
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