Needs Way More Mummies: What the River Knows – An ARC Review

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What the River Knows has the makings of a five star read. It promises an adventure-hungry debutante, a bad boy scholar, mysteriously exotic Egypt, ancient magic and comical scheming villains. But, promises are meant to be broken.

Hi, book fam! It’s been a while, hasn’t it? I’ve written the fewest reviews ever this year, including this one, it is six reviews. Which is a depressing number considering how many pending reads I have on Netgalley. I also don’t read as much as I’d like to and books are so expensive these days, I barely own any new physical copies. But, enough of being depressing! Massive thanks to Hodder & Stoughton for the approval, I truly appreciate you allowing me to voice my opinions.

What the River Knows: Needs Way More Mummies

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Plot, Prose and Pacing: Romance vs Mummies

Told from Inez’s point of view (with the occasional useless glimpse into Whit’s perspective), there is nothing she wants more in this world than the company of her parents. But, they spend almost all their lives in faraway Egypt. When she receives news of their deaths, Inez believes that there is more to the story. She plots her escape to Egypt in the hopes of joining her new guardian and to finally visit the world that has encaptured her parents’ fascination all these years. But it is not at all how she imagined and when the ancient ring her father sent to her gets stolen, Inez realises that there is more to Egypt than she bargained for. The ancient magic contained in the ring calls to Inez, leading her down a dark path she is unable to navigate except with the help of Whit, her guardian’s enigmatic assistant. 

It is embarrassing to admit how often I watched The Mummy and its subsequent films when I was younger. To say I have an unhealthy love for the franchise is underplaying it. So, I can safely say that What the River Knows does not deserve this comparison. It starts off strong. I was intrigued by the promises of the magic system and how it would tie into a historical context. I was excited to see Inez blossom in Egypt, uncovering the mystery of her parents’ disappearance and following in their footsteps. I loved how she came off as too intelligent for a society that prioritises etiquette and niceties. That all changed the moment she stepped foot in Egypt. It was as if she left all her intelligence and worldliness back in Buenos Aires. 

Characterisation aside, the plot lacked a lot of intensity and fast pacing that a mysterious adventure promises. Perhaps, I had expected too much. Rather than being filled with adventure and fun, What the River Knows felt more like Inez’s coming of age story. In that sense, I loved the direction the story took. I loved the betrayals, the twists and the heartbreaks. It was a more emotional journey than I expected.

Characters: A Damn Mess

However, what I did not love was how frivolous the lack of substantial characterisation made it all seem. Like a teenage girl’s fantasy played out on paper. What the River Knows feels juvenile at best. Perhaps, it is a book I would have loved and adored when I was sixteen, when all I wanted was the bad boy to be tamed by the headstrong, stubborn and reckless main character. Because a majority of the story is spent on Inez and Whit’s relationship which is shaky at best. They’ve barely known each other and they’re making grandiose declarations of love. 

Inez is frustratingly reckless, jumping headfirst into precarious situations without any thought. She makes decisions without any semblance of planning and expects things to work out in her favour. In some characters, this may be a charming trait as they are able to worm their way out of trouble. Unfortunately, with Inez, she is always having to be rescued, often by the very unsexy Whit. This is also the defining quality of Inez’s personality; in fact, that’s all the personality she has. For a character who claims to have studied all that she can get her hands on about Egypt, she is reluctantly forthcoming about Egyptian knowledge nor does the book’s premise demonstrate otherwise. Inez is also said to be a talented artist; her sketches are peppered throughout the book. But, that barely had any relation to the plot. It just served as a device to get her uncle to allow her to stay in Egypt and that’s all she did at the dig sites: sketch. And might I add, without any true purpose. There were no further attempts to expand her knowledge about Egypt or engage in any scholarly pursuits. She was on all accounts, a foolish and naive girl, out of her depth and exactly like the little girl her uncle says she is. But, What the River Knows, wants you to think otherwise. She was, to me, completely unlikable and not relatable.

As much as I disliked Whit, I have to admit that he is Inez’s complement. He is a walking cliche of all the bad love interest tropes you can imagine. His entire personality is boiled down to wannabe bad boy. If he’s not constantly swigging from his flask of alcohol (I was hoping to have some form of plot twist or something more interesting than budding alcoholic), he’s leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. He’s smouldering, he’s smirking, he’s winking and the list of cliched expressions go on. He is also insufferably rude and not in the least bit charming or appealing. He felt like an empty, hollow shell. And spoiler alert, Whit is already engaged to be married and is apparently, a member of British royalty. Talk about a cliche.

Instead of a historical landscape, we are to be content with the scraps of romance tossed to us in Inez and Whit who frankly are incredibly one dimensional and annoying. The banter between the both of them was uninspired and overused. I felt absolutely no tension, angst or any attraction between the two characters. There were so many things wrong with this pairing to the point that I sincerely hoped that a second love interest would pop up to complete my bingo chart. The lack of communication between the pair is supposed to serve as angst or tension but it makes the both of them seem childish, especially since they’re written as adults. The immediate attraction and instant-love was also disappointing, considering that they’ve just met, the story spans only a handful of weeks and Whit is engaged to be married back home. It’s 2023, cheating on your partner (even though it’s an arranged marriage) is tacky, especially when you’re a whole world away. It’s also not sexy to be chasing an engaged man.

Worldbuilding: Shallow and Requires Work

Frustrating romance or poorly written adventure, What the River Knows does not know what kind of story it wants to be. This is reflected in the lack of worldbuilding. It introduces a fascinating concept of magic; it is supposedly something quite commonplace, especially in Egypt. But, this magic system is never further developed. Characters use enchanted everyday objects such as a shoe that can create fire, a handkerchief that shrinks objects etc. but no one can create magic because supposedly, there were no written spells, rules or enchantments. They’re lost to time. It’s just another convenient explanation for story’s sake. No one knows why magic happens or how magic is created; it just is.

Furthermore, Inez experiences disturbing flashbacks tied to ancient magic trapped in everyday objects whereby she seems to see glimpses of an ancient Egyptian past and Cleopatra. But again, this is never expounded upon and resolved in What the River Knows. It’s hard to tell if this is going to be something we see explained in the sequel or just another story convenience. 

What the River Knows also seems to lack a lot of Egyptian history and lore, whether accurate or fabricated. Even if the information was regurgitated from National Geographic documentaries or pulled out of thin air, it does not exist. While I understand that the story is set in a time when mummies were still being discovered and Egyptian treasures were being plundered by colonial forces, it did little to truly feel grounded in history. What the River Knows did not necessarily need to be set in Egypt because nothing about the worldbuilding cements itself within the region. Instead, it is made up of vague descriptions of sand, sea and excavating tombs. There are vague mentions about Egyptian politics, enough to give readers a sense of time but other than the encroaching British occupation, had again little to no impact on Inez, Whit and the overall story. 

I did, however, rather like the inclusion of a secret society of treasure hunters who sell stolen Egyptian artifacts to the highest bidder. But again, never further explored.

However, there is something that unsettles me deeply. In a media landscape that has progressed so much in terms of exploring and unpacking culture and history, What the River Knows feels like a regression. It feels like it’s been written through a very White lens, despite the author and main character being people of colour. It feels like Egypt is used as an exotic, mystical location as opposed to a country with an incredibly rich history, culture and people. It simplifies Egyptian politics to scheming villains and barely features any Egyptian main characters. The Mummy and it’s subsequent films are a product of its time; it’s hard to say that What the River Knows is written in 2023. But, I am not Egyptian and have no rights to determine if this is accurate representation or not.

Did I Enjoy It: Conclusion

In conclusion, What the River Knows fails to impress. I was excited to see a Rick and Evie dynamic recreated in a book. After all, books set in Egypt are hard to come by, especially YA books. I was thankfully able to finish reading it within a couple of sittings but at some point, I was skimming. The first person point of view does an extreme disservice to what has the potential to be a rich and lush homage to Egypt. It narrows readers’ view of the world to Inez’s eyes, who is herself not a likeable main character and has little redeeming qualities. With the glowing reviews I am seeing on social media and Goodreads, I think this is a matter of opinion and does not define What the River Knows. Unfortunately, this is not a series I am looking forward to return to and because the sequel seems to promise much, much more. 

Rating: 2 out of 5.

ARC RECEIVED FROM HODDER & STOUGHTON VIA NETGALLEY FOR REVIEWING PURPOSES

What the Rivers Know

Author: Isabel Ibañez
Series: What the River Knows #1
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Historical, Romance
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Date Published: November 14th, 2023
ISBN13: 9781399722179 (Hardback)

The Mummy meets Death on the Nile in this lush, immersive historical fantasy set in 19th century Egypt, filled with adventure, a rivals-to-lovers romance, and a dangerous race.

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 they venture off on their exploring adventures.

When she receives word of their tragic deaths, Inez inherits their massive fortune and a mysterious guardian, an archaeologist 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.

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