Even though this is just a novella and not a novel, I'm not convinced--This is How You Lose the Time War, which was co-authored with a novelist, notwithstanding--that this author's strengths lie in anything longer than a short story, or at least this book did nothing to convince me of that. The writing is pretty but I feel like there's not enough substance here to sustain it, and also it was way too twee for me, especially for a story that's supposed to be about murder (and admittedly I'm not the biggest fan of cozy fantasy like this to begin with, but I can name half a dozen writers just at Tor.com alone who could have done a better job with the premise here). Thanks to the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my review and honest albeit apparently very minority opinion!

This story is unlike anything I’ve ever read! Unique, surprising, and emotional. I really connected with the pair of sisters and loved the ending.

The vocabulary was also super impressive, I learned some new words!

Thanks to tordotcom for the gifted ARC!

At only 144 pages and filled with beautiful art, this novella is a quick read and focuses on two inseparable sisters, Esther and Ysabel, who sing to the willow trees each morning and each night. Esther rejects a suitor from the land next to theirs, instead falling for a lover from the land of Faerie, and that changes the course of everything. I thought it was going to try to get a little too deep at first with a magic system called "grammar" and trying to accomplish too much in 144 pages, but in the end, the story stayed as a more surface-level novella. While this was atmospheric and had beautiful prose and songs throughout, it just didn't really go anywhere.

I was pulled in by the music of this book from the first page. The deft playing with words was such a delight. The author clearly has a love for the beauty of language and I think easily gets that buy in from the reader. When I thought I had my footing after being stunned by the sheer beauty of the words I had my feet swept away by the wild magic of the Rive Liss and Arcadia. As stated above the challenge of writing fairy magic is not small. Fairies seem so unbelievable and an author has to convince the reader to just wallow in the nonsense. We are eased into the magic by El-Mothar. She dips us in the beauty of wild feral magic and then lets us see it's tricks and nonsense alter. When finally I emerged, perspective changed and thought I had my breath back it was knocked out of me by the love of these two sisters. The dynamic of their relationship is so lovingly crafted. A well written sibling story is always bound to win me over and this one surely did. My only issue I took was about midway through the story. Something occurs that rocked me and I sat down the book not wanting to see what had to unfold next. So often in moments like this when an author has jarred me emotionally out of the world I return and have a hard time accepting whatever comes next. This is not the case here. When I finally returned I found that the book and I both took a deep breath together. I wasn't left to deal with the fallout on my own.

I loved this lyrical fairy tale/murder ballad set in a world where magic is grammar.

The Hawthorne sisters spend their days singing to the willows that translate the magic of the River Liss into grammar that can be used safely in "civilized" lands. But Esther, the older sister, is in love with an Arcadian - an inhabitant of Arcadia, the opposite of civilized lands where magic runs wild - while younger sister Ysabel is happy with her conventional life.

This is a very vibey book, in that its prose and style is just as important as its plot and characters. It took me a few pages to settle into the narrative, but once I did, I adored it. It's a joy to read El-Mohtar's language, the plot makes sure the bad guys get their comeuppance, and the bittersweet ending is super satisfying. I will repeat: I loved it.

This objective review is based on a complimentary copy of the novella.

The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar is a perfect read. What a beautiful exploration of sisterhood, grief and love. There was so much packed into this novella but it worked so well. Absolutely beautiful writing. I wish I could read this book for the first time again and again.

Two sisters live on the edge of Faerie where they tend to enchanted willows with their songs. When the sisters were lost in Faerie as children it was their songs that guided them home as no creature of the Fae can sing. When they are older, Esther longs to return to Faerie while Ysabel fears it. When a mortal man starts courting Esther Ysabel is glad, for she fears she may lose Esther to Faerie and the Fae lover that waits for her there. Esther will leave Ysabel but not in the way either sister expects. The River Has Roots is a beautiful reimagining of the Twa Sisters ballad full of love, longing and magic.

"The River Has Roots" is a magical exploration of sisterhood, grief, duty, and love. It reads like a fairytale that has stood the test of time - one that touches all who read it. More than just beautiful prose, this story tore my heart out and then tenderly mended it. This was worth the wait.

This highly anticipated solo debut is set in a town right on the edge of Faerie and features a pair of sisters who cannot be separated, even in death. Part murder-ballad, part fairy tale, and all about language.El-mohtar packs a lot into a beautiful novella.

This was SUCH fun! Firstly, I ADORED the magic system, and I could read an entire series just dealing with that. I loved the integration of ‘grammar’ and other such words, and it made so much sense in my brain. I also loved the sisters and their connection, and the ending?! What an ending!! This was fantastic, and I cannot wait to tell more readers about it!

Thank you so much for the ARC!

At 144 pages, this might meet some technical length definition of a novel, but in terms of actual plot and content, this is definitely a novella. The vibes are immaculate, but they kinda have to be because there's not a hell of a lot of plot. There's a lot of setup and world building, all of which is really beautiful in both content and form, and then there's a little bit of plot, and then the story ends.

I don't want to undersell how beautiful it is, to be clear. The prose is lyrical and poetic, and El-Mohtar captures the otherworldliness of the faeries of old remarkably well. I found myself impressed by the way they hit the balance between modern expectations of narrative cause and effect and mythological unpredictability. The way that Arcadia defies logic is equally a help and a hindrance to the characters, and so I never felt like it was being used as a Deus Ex Machina cheat.

El-Mohtar also has little to no time for dramatic irony: once the reader knows the narrative is going in one direction, that something is going to happen, that thing happens. There's no beating around the bush and dragging the word count out. This works particularly well given that it's a world that runs on narrative and language, not on physics. However, it does mean that, quite frankly, not enough happens. The story ends at a place that makes sense, I suppose, but given the shape of setup and rising action, I was expecting to be at about the third or halfway mark, not the end. The narrative sets up a journey, sets up expectations of a subversion of who the protagonist is, sets up a whole bunch of questions and interests, and then jumps right past all of them with a handwave.

To be clear, this is only a problem because the book is so beautiful that I want more of it. If the first hundred pages hadn't been so lovely, I wouldn't care that I didn't have another hundred or more to go. This is a good novella, but I think it could have been a masterpiece of a novel.

This book was so achingly beautiful. It often astounds me how an author can connect you to a story and characters in a mere 99 pages, but Amal El-Mohtar did just that. I fear this one will be sitting with me for some time. But while the story is tragic, it is also hopeful with a happy ending.

I was captivated by the world and how grammar was used as magic. And while those who don't read a lot of fantasy may get stuck on the details, the story of the sisters, their songs and willows shines bright.

El-Mohtar's prose is breathtaking and unparalleled. I loved getting to know a new fantasy world and characters, and will read anything else she writes!

The River Has Roots is an enchanting tale about sisterhood, love, and the magic of language. El-Mohtar’s writing is lyrical with touches of the whimsical. I wish the story was longer and more intricately plotted. I wasn’t ready to put it down.

I’m absolutely enchanted by this book! Set in the magical town of Thistleford, where the Hawthorn family tends to their mystical willows, this story pulled me in right from the start. Amal has such a unique and lyrical way of writing—it feels like stepping into a world I’ve never visited but somehow already know.

The bond between Esther and Ysabel was the heart of the story for me. Their relationship felt so real—full of love, vulnerability, and strength. It’s rare to see such a beautifully nuanced depiction of sisterhood, and it hit me right in the feels. The blend of magic and reality was seamless, making the world feel both grounded and otherworldly.

What I loved most was how the story managed to be so many things at once: a fable, a tragedy, a love story, and a tale of sisterly devotion. The themes of storytelling and boundaries were woven in so thoughtfully, adding a layer of depth that really stayed with me after I turned the last page.

That said, I did find myself wishing for a little more in some places—more time to explore the world or dig deeper into certain characters. But honestly, for such a short book, it’s amazing how much Amal managed to pack in.

This novella felt like a cozy, bittersweet hug—romantic, tender, and utterly magical. It’s the kind of story I’ll be thinking about for a while, and I’m so excited to read more of Amal’s work in the future.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

This is such a unique book, and it ends up kind of feeling like some old translated fairytale that you find tucked away in a secondhand bookstore that you can’t quite make sense of and yet understand perfectly. It’s a story about sisterhood, and family, and love, and coming back. It’s about tending enchanted trees by a likely magical river and the day-to-day of not very ordinary life. The prose is classic of Amal El-Mohtar and the story lyrical and haunting enough to remember. I almost want to say it goes by too quickly but I think the story is perfectly contained in the bite you get (and the preview of some upcoming short stories made it sweeter). This is a relatively quick read, full of emotion, but I also think it’s something that you can sit with if you want, and something I’m sure I’ll return to in the future to think about two sisters who love each other, and the life they try to make for themselves amongst the willow trees.

4.25 stars!

Amal El-Mohtar, I love your brain. What a tempting taste of such a beautiful world, with lovely characters and a satisfying plot to match!

On the border of Faerie, the Hawthorn sisters live in harmony, literally. The river Liss flows with the lifeblood of magic, called Grammar, and the eldest sister scorns a courting young man for the attentions of a fae. The way I ate this up cannot be sufficiently described. Language magic? Ancient trees? A non-binary fae love interest who meets the MC in the form of a storm? Delicious, give me fourteen of them right now (which we just might get in El-Mohtar's upcoming short story collection).

I was a fan of This Is How You Lose the Time War of course, and this is a very different story but I think I like it for the same reasons. On one hand, the developed prose makes you work a little and pays you back with a lot of beauty but the story and magic involved are quite loose and not meant to be focused on so much. I don't think people looking for a really in-depth fantasy or a romance will particularly enjoy it, but for those just looking for a story I can't recommend it enough. El-Mohtar is definitely going to become an auto-buy author for me.

Thank you to Amal El-Mohtar and Tordotcom for this ARC in exchange for my full, honest review!

Happy reading!

the bond between sisters, the magic, and the whimsical writing brought together form a flush and elegant novella that will tug at your heartstrings and make you beg for more. the only negative thing i have to say is i never understood the magic system called grammar, though it is repeatedly mentioned. i wish there would have been more time spent on the magic, but otherwise, i fell in love with the lush and flowery prose that dictated this story.
this story will stick with me for a long time. I need a full length novel from amal el-mohtar!!!

This lyrical novella is an ode to sisterhood. Esther and Ysabel live near enchanted lands and a river that flows between the two worlds. When Esther falls in love with the fae, a human suitor sets into motion a sorrowful tale. The El-Mohtar has the same lyrical style she used in THIS IS HOW YOU LOSE THE TIME WAR, especially when describing magic as grammar. A short story from her upcoming collection is included and it has the same theme of men who try to control a woman under the guise of love.

I've never really been a This Is How You Lose the Time War girl, but I am very happy to say, I am absolutely a The River Has Roots girl. The Cruel Sister is a ballad that I've thought about quite a bit since I first read a different reimagining of the story many many years ago when I was a kid, so I loved this interpretation of it, especially the direction Amal El-Mohtar took with it, as well as the world she built and the linguistic aspect of it. This is a book I will absolutely be preordering a copy of for my shelf.