What the River Knows Proves Isabel Ibañez Won't be Pigeonholed (book review)

GENRE: YA Historical Fantasy

LENGTH: 396 pages

PLOT

Inez Olivera's parents go missing in Egypt and she travels there to uncover the truth about what happened to them.

CHARACTERS The main character, Inez, continues Ibañez's streak of having strong female protagonists. Inez is at times clever and at other times naive. She has a lot of tenacity and spunk. At first she can come across as a little rude, but I liked and even envied how independent she was. Part of Inez's story line has to do with grief - both of her parents' deaths as well as coming to grips with how little she might have actually known them.

Inez's love interest is Whitford 'Whit' Hayes. They have an enemies to lovers/will they-won't they dynamic. Whit is such a conundrum because he is charming but also secretive. We as the readers WANT to trust him but there remains that question of if we SHOULD.

That question of who is trustworthy translates to many characters of this novel including, also, Inez's uncle, Tío Ricardo. Since we view him through Inez's eyes he comes across as antagonistic but this is contrasted with other characters' opinions on him. This begs the question of who is right in their judgement of his character.

The characters add a layer of mystery to this story that I, as a mystery reader, thoroughly enjoyed. The whole book is centered around discovery - both of the truth about Inez's parents and Cleopatra's tomb - and it gripped my attention and kept me wanting to read late into the night just to know what was coming next.

WRITING

The novel is told primarily from the first person perspective of Inez with the short, sporadic sections from Whit. There is also a mixed media element, that being Inez's illustrations (which is extra special as not only is Inez the character an artist but Ibañez herself is an illustrator).

I've often said I believe Ibañez is one of the most talented writers in her genre currently. Admittedly, the beginning of this novel was a tad rocky as I found the writing to have excessive repetition. This was really only in the first little bit, however, and then the problem dissipated.

This is Ibañez's fourth novel but it is her first historical novel and her first novel in a series (she has previously done companion novels). Therefore, I was interested to see how she would handle both of these things.

Fair warning to readers of her other books, this novel is only lightly fantasy. The magical elements incorporated into the novel are really cool, but this is mostly a historical fiction book. That's not a negative, I just want to set appropriate expectations. In terms of the writing quality, I felt genuinely transported into this 1884 Egyptian landscape alongside the characters. Ibañez actually includes some real life historical figures and a theme of this novel is colonization by the British. As someone unfamiliar with Egyptian history it was definitely eye opening and disheartening to read about the colonization, the mishandling of historical artifacts, and the way that the Egyptians were pushed to the margins of their own history. I applaud Inbañez for including these things, however, because not only can it be educational to the reader (it certainly was to me), but it's important we acknowledge both the good AND the bad parts of history to keep from repeating them. Ibañez herself is not Egyptian (she's Bolivian and her main character is Argentinian), but she handled these difficult topics with such care. Indeed, I know from reading her blog that she actually traveled to Egypt and spoke to experts there and traveled as her character would have (as much as was possible). You can really tell from reading this book how passionate Ibañez was to get things right.

In terms of this being the first book to a duology, Ibañez did an incredible job of setting up a sequel. The novel's story starts out straightforward enough, but there are so many plot twists my head was spinning! Reveals even up until the final page provided a bridge to a story for the sequel as well as having an engaging cliffhanger. That second part is perhaps the most important in ensuring your reader is going to want to pick up your sequel.

FINAL THOUGHTS Despite having a tad bit of a rough beginning, I am once again proud to say that I've been an Isabel Ibañez fan since her debut. She's proven that she can't be pigeonholed to just one genre or standalone stories. Even if her other books don't appeal to you but this one does PLEASE pick it up because you are in for one grand adventure (without ever having to leave your couch)!

FINAL THOUGHTS: 4.75⭐️