Reviews with content warning for Injury/Injury detail - What the River Knows

I really appreciated the historical setting and attention to imperialism and theft of Egyptian artifacts by imperial archaeologists. The plot itself is like Enola Holmes meets Agatha Christie - there’s a lot going on and none of it is particularly surprising to the reader (except for the epilogue????) but it is really fun nonetheless.

Personally felt that the magic and fantasy aspect was very underworked and almost like an afterthought. The allure of magic was not a necessary motivator in the real life massive theft of Egyptian artifacts (or really the plot imo), but I guess that is more appealing than including that the Europeans wanted to eat mummified brains.

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lakinglaze's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

First off, thank you so much to St. Martin's Press for the ARC of this book. I’m so grateful and have now bought two separate editions of my own and the audiobook because I loved it so! Isabel Ibañez did such an incredible job with this novel! 🥰

I absolutely loved everything about the story. As a trained archaeologist myself, it hits very close to my heart! Inez’s strength drew me to her side and never let go. Whit’s charisma and ‘wit’ty banter had me falling right in love with him. The story was exciting, mysterious, adventurous, fun, devastating, shocking, and left me gasping for more! November won’t arrive soon enough!

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meganders22's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional informative inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

Before we begin, let me just say that ending was rude. I need book two NOW. Ranting done.

Now, here’s the rest. That was such an enjoyable ride! I absolutely loved the main character, Inez, and loved her character development across the entire book. I loved all the historical aspects of the story & the thrill of archeological discoveries! The only aspect I didn’t care for in the book was its pacing, at times it felt slow and drawn out then other times numerous things happened in span of a few paragraphs. It just felt that the two main halves of the book were a little disproportionate to each other, the front half was a tad too slow then the back half went too fast (I needed more). Overall, the book was an amazing read and I can’t wait for the next one!

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finnzebelle's review against another edition

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adventurous inspiring mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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whatbeccareadnext's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Every so often a YA book comes along that blows me away, this is one of those books. Isabel wove an incredible story full of intrigue, mystery and a hearty sprinkle of romance. The Egyptian setting was so rich and vivid, I could completely imagine myself there.

Mostly though.. THAT ENDING Isabel?!?! Who do I need to bribe for book 2?

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cassielaj's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

So close to being 5⭐️ because I loooved this. The first part was a bit slow, but once part two came around, things picked up and never stopped. From page 111 to the end, I didn’t want to put this book down (I do have a job, so I had to. Boo). Inez is such a good main character — smart and spirited, but still so clearly young and naive. The tension and mystery throughout kept me guessing: there were a few things I guessed, but plenty of others that surprised me (the ending?! What?!). I loved the other characters as well: Whit is the perfect complement to Inez, Ricardo is fascinating, and I can’t wait to see more from some of these smaller characters in future books. As a start to a series, this book is really strong — I want the next one asap!

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estelagois's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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blewballoon's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I rated this a 3 originally and then lowered it upon reflection. The ending in particular really frustrated me. There were some positives. I liked the historical Egyptian atmosphere (mostly the descriptions of what people were eating), I liked the touch of having illustrations every now and then, and there was enough adventure. The author seems to have done a decent amount of research on the setting. The concept of old objects having quirky magical properties was executed alright. The first issue I had with the book was that the writing felt bad. It reads like fanfiction I read when I was 12, written by fellow 12-year-olds. That may seem harsh, but it's exactly what I thought in the earlier chapters. The writing improves a little when there is more action going on, but the more reflective parts are very clunky. There's one part where the main character reflects that she's been seeing visions of the past/someone's memories, and that was a surprise to me because she never had any on the page before then. Maybe that was an editing mistake. There were also many instances where there would be a paragraph of internal monologuing, and then a line on its own for emphasis. As a stylistic choice, that's fine, but it was very repetitive and once I noticed it I couldn't stop noticing it. The rest of my issues are with the story and characters themselves. Spoilers and rant:

The romance doesn't feel right. Inez reads like she's 16 and Whit reads like he's 25, and while they have some banter, without Whit's perspective I'd think it was just one-sided teen girl hormones. The book also repeats ad nauseam that Inez is too trusting, and clearly, something is up with Whit based on the epilogue. Speaking of being too trusting, her dead mom shows up to convince her to betray her uncle and then poofs away to reveal herself as a villain (one of several "twist" villains) and contribute nothing further. The worst part of the book for me: what the hell was the point of dragging completely irrelevant cousin Elvira from the very beginning of the book back to the end of the book just to brutally murder her? It was a complete waste, unnecessary shock value. No character really gets any development. After spending most of the book with him, the uncle could do just about anything and I wouldn't have a reason to be surprised. I know the cliffhanger ending is meant to make you want to read the next book, but it turned me off even more. The book was already a long slog, and you didn't even have the decency to wrap any of it up? It leaves me with no faith the author can write a satisfying conclusion.

For me, the redeeming qualities of the book aren't enough to outweigh the bad. I was excited based on the premise but was very disappointed in the execution.

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