A review by kermittuesday
What the River Knows by Isabel Ibañez

slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I was so interested in this. It’s historical fiction with a little bit of magic thrown in, seemed perfect for me. But it’s so flat. The pace was so slow when I expected to have been flying through it. 

The MC is like every stereotype of a YA female protagonist you can think of. She’s “strong-willed” but here that just means she finds every possible reason to argue with every other character on literally every other page. Her and the guy her age just argue for no reason most of the time. And she argues with everyone else too. The plot moves forward only through argument.

She’s “clever” but only when it serves the plot. Otherwise she’s an idiot about things so her character is all over the place.
She’s  hypocritical  because when her cousin comes to Egypt she gets mad at her for doing the exact same things the MC is always doing, without a trace of irony. And there was no reason the cousin needed to die. That was extreme and if it meant that of course the MC couldn’t go home because she wouldn’t be welcome at her aunt’s house, that would be one thing but there was no mention of that despite the letter saying the other cousin would never forgive the MC if something happened to the cousin. So there are things thrown in that just make no sense.


The thing is, if it was middle grade, I’d forgive some of this. But it’s YA, it doesn’t need to be so formulaic.
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