Well balanced blend of reality and magic! The characters have real depth, and I loved the adventure and mystery of this book. I’ve always been fascinated with Egypt so this was a treat to read.

Actual Rating 3.5

Inez belongs to the upper-class society of Buenos Aires in the nineteenth century, but with her parents spending more than half of each year in Egypt without her, she finds herself yearning for more. When she unexpectedly receives news of their untimely deaths along with a golden ring from her father, she decides to take matters into her own hands, travelling to Egypt to look for answers. Once there, she discovers that her ring is steeped in ancient magic, and she unknowingly starts down a path that may lead her to clues about her parents’ deaths but is rife with dangers.

The characterization in this work was strong. It was easy to immediately be sucked into the characters, their stories, and their goals. It’s told from a dual POV, and I will say that I found Inez’s POV to be stronger and more compelling than Whit’s. His was useful in that it provided necessary plot-relevant information that we wouldn’t have been privy to otherwise, but I didn’t find his voice to be that compelling. I also found the romance to be unnecessary and I felt the story would have been stronger without it (though it appears to be necessary for the sequel).

Part of what I enjoyed about this one was how seamlessly the impacts of colonialism and the antiquities trade were incorporated into the story and the setting. Rather than telling us how awful these things are, the author instead show the innumerable ways it affected Egypt, the culture, and their identity. Making this topic a realistic and well incorporated part of the setting allowed the reader to feel the emotions of the character relating to these aspects rather than just hearing about it. I also loved that this work of historical fiction was focused on a non-white protagonist traveling to Egypt during this time. I also enjoyed the incorporation of magic, both in items and in places, and the bits of explanations we got about that.

While the main storyline is resolved by the end of the book, it is set up for a sequel with a bit of a cliffhanger included. I found the ending to be a little weak, but I enjoyed the rest of the read so it didn’t bother me much. If you enjoy historical fiction and magical realism, you’ll likely enjoy this read. My thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for allowing me to read this work, which will be published October 31, 2023. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Searching for ancient artifacts in late 19th-century Egypt comes alive in these pages. Inez, an Argentinian who seems very mature at 19 years, is really there to ferret out what happened to her missing parents. They have spent much of the last 10 years working with her uncle to locate prize treasures of old.

Because Inez’s father sent her a magical golden ring, she has absorbed some of the magic and is able to “feel” where related objects are. I’m a great skeptic about this sort of thing, but here, at least in the more important instances, it seems to work.

As Inez travels from Cairo to the island of Philae we are treated to the sights and smells of that time. But there is so much intrigue that we really don’t know whom to trust, and some of the plot points are not all that plausible. Despite many twists and turns, Inez manages to be both naïve and resourceful, and we are enchanted with her wanderings. Oh, and there’s a surprise at the end.

** spoiler alert ** REAL Rating: 4.75 (I round up if its above .5)

***I was given What the River Knows as an ARC in exchange for an honest review. There are spoilers that are unmarked in this version. For spoiler-marked review, please read the goodreads link.***

Sentence Synopsis: What the River Knows, a YA fantasy novel, is The Mummy, Jungle Cruise, and Clue, wrapped up in a powerful, Hispanic protagonist with a “who-done-it?” suspense line.

Isabel Ibañez does it once again. She rips me down to my bare atoms to where I am only emotions and eyes. What the River Knows is a historical fantasy with suspense and romance at its forefront. We meet our main character, Inez, with the news that her parents have mysteriously died during their latest exhibition to Egypt. The facts aren’t lining up, so Inez, our beautifully independent protagonist, blindly leads herself to the country where her uncle resides, and her parents supposedly died. The love interest is a morally-gray spy for her uncle, with a past just as mysterious as his present, and a smart mouth that I found myself grinning at with each line of dialogue. If you have ever watched Fox Animation’s Anastasia, then imagine the banter of Anya and Dimitri with me and you’ll understand. While she isn’t some long-lost heiress, her parents were popular enough in Cairo to where she was practically royalty (I say this loosely, it was more that she was well-known).

Ibañez has a talent for creating magical worlds that invoke realism from our own. The magic in this world is channeled by objects– a nod that I found from her book Together we Burn, which I smiled fondly over. I love when authors use similar systems, as it makes me wonder if they would canonically be in the same universe, even if it is never confirmed. I also love a realistic magic system (if those words can be put in the same sentence without lightning striking down) because it gives the characters limitations, which in my opinion, causes us as the reader to relate to them more, and also see a creative side to them. While objects touched by magic can be very powerful, most of them are very old and have been touched by too many hands to count, and each time they are touched, a piece of their magic goes into the holder. The more magical an object feels, the more valuable it is. What happens when you find an object that was touched by the magic of the last Pharaoh of Egypt?

A ring given to Inez by her father has this magic, though she doesn’t know if he understood this or not. All she knows is that she is developing visions of memories left behind by Cleopatra, and she may be the only person who can help her uncle find the Ptolemaic ruler before tomb robbers find it and destroy it. But evidence placed against her uncle makes him a suspect in her investigation, and she isn’t sure who to trust.


I will say that at the beginning of the book, I was a little skeptical of the antagonist being the uncle, because of its similarity to the antagonist of Together we Burn. This is the magic of Ibañez. She is able to get us to believe one thing, while leaving small easter eggs towards the real conflict. I won’t reveal this, as you too must feel the dread when it comes. I’m not even sure if I am 100% correct, because the ending of the book takes me out like a landmine. I was expecting a stand-alone, and had I known it would not be (and I hope it is not, because if so I have to change the rating from 5 stars because that ending would actually kill me) I would not have read this book so quickly. She sets up so many twists, with “a-ha!” moments and “WHAT??” moments combined. You learn information with Inez, not before or after. I finished this book in a day and a half, and it still took me forever to write the review from the hangover it gave me.

One critique I do have, is that the ending felt rushed. With the understanding there hopefully will be a sequel, I would’ve thought that there would be space for it to breathe. It was leading up to a HEA pretty quickly, but the twist at the end changes all of this, and I wonder if Ibañez had cut the last twenty or so pages from her book, how I would’ve reacted to that scene (you’ll know), with the open-ended question of “will everything be alright?” left for the sequel, as I have that question now for a different plot point.

I cannot wait as a bookseller to promote this work heavily, and I recommend you all to preorder it. Ibañez is a storyteller, historian, and overall, a wonderful writer. I sit on the edge of my seat until the sequel is announced.

This book had a perfect blend of what felt magical and what felt real, what felt historical and what felt like it could still be true of our modern world. I loved the way Ibañez crafted the mystery and storytelling and how it unfolded over the course of the novel, with plenty of twists and turns along the way!

More twists and turns than the Nile itself!

I didn’t think I could love anything more than Isabel’s Woven in Moonlight/Written in Starlight duology, and then she went and wrote What the River Knows.
WTRK is written against the backdrop of Egypt in the late 1800s. The descriptions of the landscapes and settings are lush; the heat is intense, the stakes are high, and predators lurk below and all around the banks of the Nile. I truly felt I was peeking around the leaves of a potted palm in the hotel lobby, eavesdropping on conversations, or tucked away in the bow of a dahabiya as it snaked down the Nile at dusk. The relationships between the characters build intentionally, yet always leave room for the reader to try to tease out any potential hidden meanings behind sideways glances, tone, etc. The author keeps even the most seasoned reader on their toes—even when I think I’ve figured out the plot there’s always a twist that proves me wrong yet again! Such a fun read, and I cannot wait for the sequel.

Wow! This book had everything- a great setting, lots of egyptian history, adventure, strong female characters, mystery and gorgeous writing. I was kept wondering until the very end. I especially loved the historical elements regarding the theft and smuggling of artifacts out of egypt in the 1800s. This was one of those books you just cant put down! Thank you netgalley for the digital copy.

What the River Knows by Isabel Ibanez is a historical fantasy novel that’s follows Inez, a young woman living in Buenos Aires in the late 1800s. After her adventuring parents die mysteriously, she is sent to live with her uncle half a world away in Egypt where he is on a mission. When Inez arrives, she learns that not everything is as it seems and not everyone can be trusted. She has to rely on her wit (if you know you know) to keep her one step ahead of anyone that is out to get her.

Is there anything better than going into a book completely blind and not being able to put it down and finishing it in one day? The answer is no. I had zero expectations going into this book and it completely blew me away. This book is a blend of The Mummy and Romancing the Stone in the best way. This book somehow manages to keep a fast pace throughout the story even in the slower parts. My intrigue was piqued throughout because there were constant reveals of things happening.

Inez was such a fun character to read from. She is determined and quick on her feet but that doesn’t mean she always makes the right decisions. Her banter with the love interest cracked me up. Speaking of the love interest, this book has one of the best slow burn romances I have read in awhile. Because of the time period, there are a lot of rules regarding how you have to behave with a member of the opposite sex and that just added to the tension.

This book is pitched as a fantasy and while it does have a little bit of magic, it’s not a main focus of the story. I do hope there is a bit more magic in the next book just because the tidbits we got were interesting. I loved all the Egyptian history in this book. The settings seemed well fleshed out and lush.

The last chapter and epilogue of this book had me in the floor (figuratively because if I get in the floor, it’s rough getting back up) and I need at least an announcement of the next book soon so I have something to look forward to. I will in fact be buying this book immediately when it releases because I need it in my life and I will be recommending this constantly to anyone who wants an action packed book with a swoony romance.

INFINITE STARS!
Isabel did an absolutely amazing job mixing history wit fantasy. The tension between Olivera & Whit 🫠 Did I mention Whit is a hot British guy? The ending probably was the biggest shocking cliff hanger off all the books I’ve read in 2023. I need the next one now 🫣 I want to visit Egypt and learn all about cleopatra after reading this book. Perfect about of romantic tension mixed with adventure. She kept me on my toes the whole boom and had me second guessing who was bad and who was good. So many twists I didn’t see coming. Will recommend to everyone. ❤️

Whoa!!!! I loved this book so much! I am realizing that “historical fantasy” is a favorite genre of mine - this book reminded me of Gods of Jade and Shadow, one of my favorite books that I read last year.

This book has so many things that I love in it - some actual history set in a really cool location, a headstrong female protagonist, complex familial relationships, twists - I did see one coming, but the last one completely shocked me, and best of all, a slow burn antagonistic/bantery romance. I canNOT wait for the sequel! The heat and the immense cliffhanger situation will have this one living rent free in my head for a while!!!

What the River Knows by Isabel Ibañez is a gorgeous historical fantasy set in 1880s Egypt.  

Our protagonist, Inez, is a Bolivian-Argentinian girl who has always wanted to visit Egypt — her parents are archeologists who live in Egypt half the year. When she receives word that her parents have been killed, Inez sneaks away from home and sails to Cairo.  

Inez is embroiled in magic and mystery as she tries to figure out what happened to her parents and the origin of a mysterious ring (maybe belonging to Cleopatra?) her father sent her.  

There’s a fun banter-y romance with Whit, her uncle’s assistant who has been charged with making sure Inez goes back to South America (the resourceful Inez, of course, disagrees with this plan). 

This one is quietly-paced in a way that lets you sink into the book and feel immersed in the setting and characters, before Ibañez hits you with a series of events and revelations that flip everything around.  

I also really appreciated the anti-colonialist look at Egypt, archeology, and the theft of artefacts.  When I was a kid/teen, I loved books about Egypt, but they were always written from the perspective of the British.

The only thing I felt was missing here was a wider sense of how magic works and is interacted with in Inez’s world.  Perhaps that will come in book 2.

Thank you to Netgalley and Wednesday Books for my review copy of this book.

This book surprised me with how much I enjoyed it!! I had never read anything like this and thought the concept was so unique!! The Egyptian setting/adventure mixed in with the mystery was so interesting to read!! I really enjoyed following Inez’s journey as she went to discover what happened to her parents and the many twists and turns that happened along the way. The mystery, secrets, lies, betrayals and magic were so good!! I absolutely loved the incorporation of magical elements into Egyptian archaeology. It truly added so much to the story and made it fascinating to read about!! The little subplot of romance was so cute and I need more!! Definitely a slow burn. The ending??? Jaw on the floor. I was so shocked and I literally cannot wait for the next book because I need to know what is happening!! Would definitely recommend this!!

Thank you NetGalley & St. Martin’s press for the arc in exchange for an honest review!!!

Inez Olivera travels in secret from Argentina to Egypt after getting word of her parents' death (mysterious circumstances obviously). Drawn by magic, Inez follows her uncle to his excavation site.

The novel was engaging and the story was fun. The pacing felt a little off - significant repetitive build-up in the first half turning to rapid-fire plot twists in the second - which made it feel very uneven. The same thing happened with many of the characters; Inez is almost unbelievably naive and her love interest, Whitford Hayes AKA Whit, changes his personality so rapidly it's hard to keep up.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

What the River Knows is a fast-paced YA historical fantasy full of mystery and intrigue with a touch of magic. The strong female Bolivian-Argentinian lead character, Inez Olivera, never gives up as she searches for the answer to how her parents died while on an archeological dig in Egypt. Through heartache and road blocks, she perseveres.

This unique book is a master in story-telling and the beautiful settings come to life on the page. I couldn't put this one down and read it in one day. And with the mind-blowing cliffhanger and epilogue, I cannot wait for the sequel!

What an incredible journey! Thank you Netgalley for allowing me to read this!

Historical fantasy, slow burn, secrets, lies, adventure, magic and Egyptian mythology! I was completely hooked from the start! Inez is one of my favorite FMCs this year! She’s strong and determined and she never stops trying to find out what happened to her parents! The MMC is mysterious and smart and of course my favorite trait… morally grey!! The relationship between our two characters is so perfect!!

That end though…… cliff hangers get me every time!! I can’t wait to see what happens next!!

4.75 stars ⭐️

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martins Press for this free ARC, the opinions that follow are my own.

TLDR: If you liked the Mummy, go buy this book! Same vibe, different characters 🔥

I absolutely adored this book! From start to finish, I was deeply invested in Inez and her journey to find answers!
The book is full of so much love and lore from Egypt, it was a delight to learn more about their culture and history. The plot was sooo good — a mix of mystery and archeological adventure! I loved learning more about Cleopatra’s story. I also loved how much of Inez’s culture she brought with her. It made me love her even more!
The romance is true to the era and so delicious! I really enjoyed Whits character and their chemistry. There were so many moments between them that also left me breathlessly cackling.
Now, I must warn thee — it has a killer epilogue. So go in prepared to be thirsty for the sequel. I know I am! 🥵😳🫨

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with an eARC of this book in return for a fair and unbiased review.

I completely adored this book. The characters? Excellent. The vibes? Immaculate.

The prose really had me feeling like I was getting a glimpse into historical Egypt at a rather unfortunate period in the country's and its people's history (British colonialism). I was fuming along with Inez at the brazen theft and destruction left behind by the British.

Inez is a heroine you want to root for. Her clever wit and resilience is quite commendable.

Whit is unfailingly loyal, brash, and definitely dreamy haha.

The first third of the book is a little slow and could definitely be cut down in my opinion, but the rest of the book was worth it. Some of the twists and turns were obvious to me, but they were still clever.

But let me tell you, the ending had me SHOOK! Completely shook, I tell you. The first book isn't even out yet and I NEED the second one ASAP! Big kuddos to the author for making me feel this desperate for the next one.

This book was compared to The Mummy and I'm sorry to say that I was severely let down when the story wasn't at all like one of my favorite movies of all time. I had been hoping for more action, more adventure, swashbuckling fun, but that's not what this novel was. I thought the setting and characters were a breath of fresh air, but my expectations based on the marketing made me a little disappointed.

What the River Knows is a well researched historical fantasy by Isabel Ibañez. Set primarily in Egypt, she takes us on the defiant coming of age story of 19 yr old Inez as she traverses an unfamiliar land while trying to find answers to her parents untimely deaths.

I stepped out of my comfort zone to read What the River Knows— I'm not a huge fan of fantasy— but I'm so glad that I did. The descriptions had me longing to be standing along the Nile and taking part in the excavation of a temple. The use of magic wove beautifully into Egyptian history, and propelled the story forward.

The characters of Inez, Whit, and Ricardo were well written. Incorporating the use of Spanish and Egyptian into the text was a great enhancement. While the ending completely left my head spinning and second guessing everything that happened, I am anxiously awaiting the next chapter.

My only critique is that this book is a slow burn, and feel that it could have used a little more action in spots. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press/Wednesday Books for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review. Publishing date is Oct. 31, 2023..

4 out 5 stars.

This is her best one yet!

Seriously.. reading this made me want to watch The Mummy.

This book has heart stopping adventures, beautiful imagery, slow burn romance, complicated family… it has it all!

I loved the main character, Inez! She was extremely determined to figure out what happened to her parents. She was at times a bit rash but understandably so. I loved her relationship with her cousin or should I say more like her sister? The other relationships she has in her family are super complicated and I felt Ms. Ibañez did such a good job exploring that and making it realistic.

Whit was a favorite of mine. Boy was he something. The tension and banter between him and Inez was golden. I chuckled so much throat reading. I can’t wait to see more of him.

Tío Ricardo was also an interesting guy.

I had my suspicions about who not to trust.. and I was so wrong lol. There’s a mystery going on here as well.

I was with Inez trying to figure out what was going on and who was involved.

There is a scene that I did not expect and my jaw just dropped! I was not prepared for that occurrences towards the end.. and no, I’m not talking about that jaw dropping cliff hanger!! I literally had to go back and reread the epilogue like..whaaat? Did I miss something?

I’m so excited to read book 2 because that ending… I NEED TO KNOW WHAT IT MEANSSSS

Overall, I loooved this book! I did not want to put it down. It has romance and adventure with wonderful descriptions of Egypt and artifacts, as well as the food and culture.

I highly recommend! I only read one of Ms. Ibañez’s book and it was not my favorite.. but this! THIS. So much better and more of my cup of tea! Definitely check this one out! If you weren’t a fan of her other writing, this is so different and much better.

Thank you to Netgalley and St.Martin’s Press & Wednesday Books for gifting me an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.