A review by sarahkatereads
What the River Knows by Isabel Ibañez

3.0

What the River Knows suffers a lot from being an underdeveloped story with all around unlikeable characters. It’s difficult to know where the story is taking you until you’re about halfway through the book, and once it’s finally made clear, you’re kind of left wondering “why did it take so much longer than necessary to get to this point?” I really hated how most of the build up for different plot points resulted in such mundane and emotionless resolutions. “What happened to Inez’s parents” and “what is Inez’s uncle searching for” are resolved with basically no fanfare despite being the main plot points mentioned in the blurb on the dust jacket of the book. 

The magic system is woefully underdeveloped, as well. It is sprinkled in solely for convenience and there seems to be no structure or explanation of how the magic system functions beyond items taking on remnants of magic. The only people in the story who seem to use magic is the FMC and those immediately surrounding her. 

The FMC is the most reckless, naive, and gullible character I’ve ever encountered. Inez is constantly telling herself to be brave, but she acts like 10 year old child in every single situation despite being a 19 year old. 

I did enjoy the actually setting of the book and the archaeology sketches. Similarly, the open disdain and condemnation towards British imperialism and Britain’s theft of historical artifacts from other countries and peoples is great. 
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