The River Has Roots is an impressive first solo novella from Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author Amal El-Mohtar (This Is How You Lose the Time War, with Max Gladstone), taking readers to the very edge of Faerie in a gripping tale of love, sisterhood, and those who would break those many and varied bonds.
The river Liss winds from Arcadia to the town of Thistleford, where sisters Esther and Ysabel are charged with tending to the enchanted willows on the edge of the realm. They sing to the trees, thanking them for their magic. Esther and Ysabel are as inseparable as they are different, and their two voices harmonize with a magic all their own. But when Esther catches the attentions of two suitors, her choice will have consequences for both sisters' lives.
The character-driven narrative presents snapshots of Esther's and Ysabel's lives in nonlinear ways. El-Mohtar emphasizes who the two are as people and who they are to each other, despite whoever else might cross into their lives. This reworking of a 17th-century murder ballad about two inseparable sisters includes echoes of "Tam Lin."
El-Mohtar has crafted a haunting romance that's as transformative as the river that runs through her characters' lives. The poetic nature of her language brings the world of the novella to life, its rhythms drawing readers further and deeper in. The River Has Roots is sure to become a fantasy favorite with appeal across a wide range of readers, and could even be an accessible, engaging introduction to those new to the genre. --Michelle Anya Anjirbag, freelance reviewer