My Five Word TL:DR Read : Enjoyable, entertaining, easy to read

My review for What the River Knows is long overdue so in this instances I’m going to cut and paste the description of the book rather than write about the plot.  Instead I will simply discuss my thoughts and feelings.

‘Bolivian-Argentinian Inez Olivera belongs to the glittering upper society of nineteenth century Buenos Aires, and like the rest of the world, the town is steeped in old world magic that’s been largely left behind or forgotten. Inez has everything a girl might want, except for the one thing she yearns the most: her globetrotting parents—who frequently leave her behind.

When she receives word of their tragic deaths, Inez inherits their massive fortune and a mysterious guardian, an archeologist in partnership with his Egyptian brother-in-law. Yearning for answers, Inez sails to Cairo, bringing her sketch pads and an ancient golden ring her father sent to her for safekeeping before he died. But upon her arrival, the old world magic tethered to the ring pulls her down a path where she soon discovers there’s more to her parent’s disappearance than what her guardian led her to believe.

With her guardian’s infuriatingly handsome assistant thwarting her at every turn, Inez must rely on ancient magic to uncover the truth about her parent’s disappearance—or risk becoming a pawn in a larger game that will kill her.

The Mummy meets Death on the Nile in this lush, immersive historical fantasy set in Egypt filled with adventure, a rivals-to-lovers romance, and a dangerous race.’

I will start this review by saying that this is a very easy to read and entertaining story and one that I had no problems getting along with.  Maybe I had a few issues here and there and I’ll try to outline these below but notwithstanding that my thoughts first and foremost are that I had a good time reading this.

I think the writing and pacing for the story were really good.  I felt like the author managed to cut through some of the tedium in order to throw us into the more interesting aspects of the story.  By which I mean, after a fairly short introduction to the lifestyle that Inez enjoys we join her again as she arrives in Cairo.  Her parents have passed away and she is determined to have answers.  I liked that Ibañez doesn’t spend page upon page detailing how Inez managed to escape her families scrutiny and travel, unaccompanied, to Egypt.  A lot of what she manages to get away with, which is only briefly touched upon, is due to people jumping to conclusions about her marital status which, whilst totally wrong, allow her a degree of freedom.  Of course upon arriving in Cairo, she quickly makes the acquaintance of Whit, her uncle in law’s handsome assistant, who has basically been sent to intercept Inez and put her back on a boat back home.  Thankfully Inez manages to outwit Whit and grant herself a small stay of execution.  And from there the story enjoys a fairly consistent pace.

The setting was a mixed bag for me.  Partly because I think I raised my own expectations in terms of Egypt, dig sites, etc.  I wanted a bit more from this aspect of the story.  I still think the author does a good job of setting the scene, but, at the same time, some of it felt like the author was envisioning things directly from the Mummy films – although that could be just that I was envisioning those scenes in my head.  I don’t know.  All things being equal though, I still enjoyed the setting, the travel and the exploring.  In this world magic is still very real, if fading.  I think the magical aspects play a very small part.  I’m not totally confident that I understand how the magic works or why it was included – I think it easily could have been removed – but, I didn’t dislike it, just more it felt a little flimsy.

The characters.  I liked Inez.  She’s young and naive in some ways but at the same time she manages to wriggle herself into situations and she isn’t totally without knowledge.  The desire to impress her globetrotting and oftentimes absent parents, have stood her in good stead in many respects in terms of artefacts, and other little tidbits that she has gleaned over the years.  Whit, he’s also a contradiction in terms, he’s sarcastic and unhelpful at times, caring and thoughtful at others.  To get straight to the point the two enjoy a very slow burn romance with plenty of chemistry along the way and some rather amusing banter.

The story is constantly on the move.  Certain aspects feel like going on tour.  There is plenty of travel and some crazy rescue missions.  I really enjoyed the pacing, never a dull moment to be honest.

In terms of criticisms.  Well, for those of you who don’t enjoy cliffhanger enders – beware.  I don’t mind personally but thought I’d point that out.  Also, and this is more about me than the book because I’m not sure there’s any real foundation for this – but I had guessed the twist in the tale.  On top of this, there is an emotional aspect to the conclusion that felt a little underwhelming, by which I mean it felt like it was brushed over very quickly and Inez didn’t seem to have the intensity of feeling that I would have expected.

All things being equal though I had an undeniably good time reading this.  It was entertaining. Sure, I had a few little niggles, here and there but nothing that spoiled my enjoyment.

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks.  The above is my own opinion.

My rating 3.5 of 5 stars