What the River Knows
Written by: Isabel Ibañez
Wednesday Books
2023
What the River Knows takes readers into Egypt with romance and danger reminiscent of The Mummy.
A historical fiction with a dash of fantasy and danger, What The River Knows was fast-paced but struggled with characterization.
Characterization
My biggest issue with this novel is the characterization. Let’s say this, Inez is not Evie. And you know what, I wasn’t expecting that. The issue I have here is that Evie has many similarities, but Inez is not likable at all.
I feel like authors sometimes get into their heads about what it means to be a strong woman, and that means constantly making them argumentative and stubborn to the point of stupidity. That’s what happened here, and it was so frustrating.
Inez runs away from home and runs to Egypt to see her uncle because she believes her parents were murdered. She knows nothing of the country, has no money in her name, and is a young girl in a foreign land. So when her uncle sends her back home, you get it. However, that wouldn’t have been much of a story.
This just begins a cycle of her continually not listening to her uncle or anyone, being stubborn and argumentative, and getting into life-threatening situation after life-threatening situation with little to no plan that ultimately does lead to the death of someone dear to her.
Inez was so frustrating that I didn’t find her endearing at all. Half the time, I wanted to smack and yell at her to listen. I understand creating tension between characters to further the plot, but not at the risk of alienating the reader by making the MC so unlikeable.
Final Thoughts
I enjoyed the story within What The River Knows, and I enjoyed the plot, for the most part. I wish the MC had been likable and used her brain more instead of being so frustratingly stubborn and argumentative.
Underwhelming | What the River Knows Review
What the River Knows takes readers into Egypt with romance and danger reminiscent of The Mummy.
Cynthia Ayala
Cynthia Ayala-Bujnicki majored in Writing and Publishing from Emerson College. Editor-in-chief of Cyn's Workshop, she loves to read and write while tending to her pepper plants. She currently lives in South Florida with her husband, two kids Dante and Selene and two furbabies Mr. J the Kitten who Thinks He's Batman (yes, that is his full name) and Nyx.
