What the River Knows Book Review
Book Review:
What the River Knows
by Isabel Ibanez
 |
.png) |
.png)
As this is a historical fantasy taking place at the end of the nineteenth century in Egypt there aren't massive levels of world-building. However, this is not exactly our world as we will see with the magic. We are given beautiful details about the city of Cairo and the dig site. The writing style helped paint a picture of the scene while not being too slow with the story. Besides the details of our setting another facet that is leaned into would be the society setting. The glitz and glamor of the upper class while this part of the world was being molded to be just as organized as British society. The opposite side of that coin is the damage caused by the military and how native Egyptians are not given positions of rank in their government.
.png)
Magic has been lost to time in this world. There are remints in the form of magical artifacts that still work. These only last so long as the more hands they have passed through the less likely they are to still work. There is also the case to be made that the stronger the magic that they originally came into contact with was the longer they will last. Sometimes the artifacts are useful and serve a purpose. Other times it seems the item just held a magical aura allowing the user to feel other magical artifacts made or around the same original caster. Some of these items are highly sought after while others seem to just be used for common work. Artifacts hold high importance throughout the book and will show up often.
.png)
Inez Oliveria has been dreaming of Egypt her whole life. She longs to go there while resenting that its allure has taken her parents away. Being the only daughter of two globe-trotting eccentrics she has had quite an interesting upbringing. Her father has encouraged her studying ancient Egypt and their language; as well as any other topic she would like. While Inez's mother has leaned more toward raising her to be in polite society. Inez lives most of the year with her aunt, her parents only return to Buenos Aires for a few months out of the year. As our story goes on Inez has to come to terms with the fact that she might not know her parents as well as she believed.
Our secondary character is Whitford Hayes. We don't get to see from him much. Just a few end-of-chapter excerpts. Interestingly this doesn't help give us a clear indicator of his character or motives. Whit is a young British man who works for Inez's uncle. He is an everything assistant, meaning he helps things anywhere from digging at sites to spying on troublesome characters.
Shortly after the start of the book Inez learns that her parents have died on their latest trip to Egypt. Unsatisfied with the details given Inez sneaks her way aboard a ship and travels to Alexandria. Inez expects to find her Uncle Ricardo waiting for her and to be able to travel to Egypt with him. Instead, she is greeted by his charming if a tad bit surly assistant who intends to see her leave right back to Argentina. There is a danger in Egypt that no one will tell Inez about and thus she is determined to see the land anyway. After sneaking in disguise aboard her uncle's boat she is allowed to join the current excavation. This leads Inez down a path of lies, betrayal, and long-buried treasures.
.png)
I was very sad that some of the elements I suspected turned out to be true. Through curious to see how it might play out in book two since these were not resolved. There was another aspect that was brought up early on but only followed up with a few lines at the end—wondering if that will just end up being unimportant though it seemed like a big deal. Then finally the epilogue left me with a burning question of what is really happening. Also wanting to shout no that can't be what's going on, as it brought a very sad detail into new light.
I greatly enjoyed this book and am looking forward to reading the sequel when it comes out later this year.
You can find this book from the below retailers:
Comments
Post a Comment