What the River Knows
by Isabel Ibanez
Summary
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 for 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 a 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 parents’ 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 parents’ disappearance-or risk becoming a pawn in a larger game that will kill her.
GoodReads Nominee for Favorite Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction 2023
My Review
Stopped the audiobook at the 30% mark.
2 stars based on the portion I read.
I went into this book with genuinely high hopes, which made it even more disappointing when I realized it just wasn’t for me, and I ended up not finishing it. Based on the summary and the hype surrounding it, I expected a fantasy story that would be right up my alley, but it didn’t come close to meeting those expectations.
The writing felt mediocre at best, and the characters did nothing for me. Inez, in particular, came across as flat and underdeveloped, and I never felt invested in her journey. I found myself completely indifferent to what happened to any of the characters, which made it impossible to stay engaged.
The story never pulled me in. The pacing was painfully slow, and large portions felt like nothing was actually happening. Despite being marketed as having action and magic, both felt minimal and only seemed to appear when it was convenient for the plot. The slow-burn romance also dragged for me and never created any real tension or payoff.
On top of that, the woke messaging felt heavy-handed and took me out of the story. Overall, this ended up being a disappointing DNF that didn’t deliver on the premise or the promise of its hype.