WARNING ✋🏼 There may be spoilers ahead.

FIRST OFF

What The River Knows by Isabel Ibañez is a YA historical fantasy taking place in Egypt. The main character is Bolivian-Argentinian and just came into a shit-ton of money through the death of her parents. This is the story of her epic journey to find the truth of her parents death in Egypt. And yes, she meets a cute love interest, and yes, this is mostly why I read the story—BUT, it’s a damn good story that leaves you wanting more.

SUMMARY

What The River Knows is a story about a 19-year-old heiress who goes on a life-changing quest to discover how her parents died. When Inez received the news that her parents went missing in the desert and had been declared dead, she knew something was amiss. She knew she had to find out the truth herself. But this came at a steep cost, forcing Inez to grow up from her sheltered and privileged life. She knew her parents were involved in helping discover and preserve ancient Egyptian artifacts. Still, they failed to mention how dangerous and corrupt that world is. The only person who could explain this to her, her Tio Ricardo, failed to. And because Inez’s family chose to keep her ignorant of the reality of that world, she fell victim to manipulation and robbery, among many other things. While on a mission to discover one truth, she uncovered many conflicting truths, many of which broke her heart. Isabel Ibañez writes an engaging story from start to finish, leaving you invested in the characters and rooting for the main character to come out of this story alive.

About the Characters

I was rooting for Inez from the start. I could see and understand the world through her mind—so much so that I fell for Whit, too, the charming and painfully annoying sidekick to her Tio Ricardo. There were points in the book where I did not want to put it down because I was so invested in the love blossoming between Whit and Inez.

Tio Ricardo reminded me of my dad and some of my uncles. Machista! I even felt 2nd-degree-anger whenever she had to deal with her Tio Ricardo. The man treated her like a delicate flower when she wanted to sit at the adult’s (men’s) table. Difficult to accept for a 19th century man, and very difficult for a 21st century woman to read about. But I grew to respect and admire his character towards the end.

I ended up loving who Inez loved and hating who she hated. I felt anger towards her home life with Tia Lorena and her judgy older cousin, Amaranta. I felt like they treated Inez like an unwelcome step-family, even though Inez’s father provided the wealth for the entire family. Elvira, Inez’s younger (and favorite), ended up breaking my heart the most, following in Inez’s footsteps and ultimately making the same life-threatening mistakes Inez made. I felt every emotion Inez had for her family through her lens, so yes, when Inez’s heart broke, so did mine.

The Nitty Gritty

I was engaged from the first page. The book is separated into parts, all divided by significant moments in Inez’s journey to discovering the truth about her parents. Things dragged on in the middle, but towards the end, things picked up, and I couldn’t set the book down. With so many unexpected twists, I was invested in uncovering what would happen next. As we got closer to the last page, I knew it wouldn’t be the end of the story. Luckily, it’s not. There will be a 2nd book for sure.

Isabel’s INfluential Pen

Ibañez’s writing style is dope af. She doesn’t beat around the bush, and she’s not afraid to push the limits of the story. There were things she wrote that enraged me! Like, why would she write that? But I get it—she can take the story wherever needed. And sometimes, tragedies happen to innocent people that are outside our control. Some plot twist choices surprised me, but I respect them nonetheless. She wrote a really engaging story that moved me.

Themes & Lessons

Though written as a historical fantasy, this book has many real-life lessons and situations that could be all too real for some people. The tragic loss of family members, manipulation from loved ones, the relentless pursuit of the truth, and learning who to trust. Inez reminds me of me, always looking for answers regardless of what that truth costs. We are different, though—Inez was born into wealth and lived a very sheltered and privileged life, while I did not. I learned who I could and could not trust at a very young age, having dealt with manipulative family members and a split family unit. I discovered early on that sometimes the people you love and admire hurt you the most, and that is what Inez is learning for the first time at age 19.

Something I really loved about this story was Ibañez’s fearless callout to colonizers. Even in Inez’s heritage, she acknowledges her Spanish family roots. She likens Spain’s relentless and vicious conquests in the 16th century to the British conquests in Egypt in the 19th century. She is not afraid to have the character speak up about those affairs. Neither is her Tio Ricardo or her love interest, Whit. Some historical fantasies are afraid to have their characters speak the truth, but not Ibañez.

However ugly, the truth was shocking for Inez since all the adults in her life kept her parent’s affairs in Egypt a secret from her. This omission of truth set Inez on the path towards trouble, getting involved with people she should have avoided and getting herself wrapped up in life-threatening situations, all to find out the truth about her parents, when all Tio Ricardo had to do was tell her the truth. This happens all the time IRL—people sometimes make the most dangerous assumptions when they’re being left out of the truth (think of conspiracy theories as an example).

ISABEL DID THAT

The book is well written, with an exciting plot and vivid descriptions of Cairo, Philae, and other places in the ancient world of Egypt. Immediately, you fall in love with Inez’s plan to go on a grand mission, the world at your beck and call, and an infinite amount of resources—plot twist—that you can’t access because your uncle controls your finances (and your life apparently). I liked that Ibañez gave us space to fantasize about what the privileged life could look like for a 19th-century young lady of high society traveling in a country rich with history. Still, I loved that she gave us the reality of what that might have looked like back then. She did not sugarcoat anything, probably why I stayed reading page after page.

THE PLOT TWISTS HAD ME Y’ALL

Truthfully, I was not too fond of the plot twists. Because the book is written in first person, you get to read and feel everything that Inez is thinking and feeling (and doing behind closed doors). So when she discovered something, you did, too. I’m good at guessing plot twists early on, so one of these plot twists was easy to identify. I knew someone Inez loved dearly would betray her in the worst ways. As someone who experienced that, it was easy for me to read the signs, even though Inez could not see them. There was another plot twist, however, that I never saw coming. The book foreshadowed this, but I refused to read into those signs. I did not want to accept that this would be the fate of one of Inez’s cherished loved ones. I still don’t. Shit, I’m still mad about what happened to—okay, NO—I will not spoil this entirely for you. I’m still unsure what purpose this served, but we’ll find out in the next book.

But this doesn’t detract from the overall quality of the book. Being able to predict plot twists or story endings is what makes stories unique. Unlike real life, where things happen unpredictably and presumably for no reason. With stories, we at least have neat endings and foreshadowing.

In Conclusion

I recommend this book to any YA historical fantasy lover. It’s rich with ancient history and magic, has a steamy rivalry-to-romance plot, and makes you feel part of this grand adventure. Described as The Mummy meets Death on the Nile (I had to watch this movie after I finished the book), this has mystery, death, magic, and Cleopatra—of course. Inez reminds me of the main characters in Mexican Gothic, The Daughter of Dr. Moreau, and Nocturna—fierce, full of life and ready to fight for the truth.

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