A beautiful dark romantic fairy tale. Lovely prose, making the world and the relationships just sing. It brims with magic, whimsy, the deep bond between two sisters and the love (and loves) that endure through trials.

More please!

A delightful and whimsical folktale about the bonds of sisterhood and power of song. This is a beautifully written novella, with careful and lyrical prose that feels quite wistful and nostalgic without veering too hard into flowery and purple. Stylistically, it won't be to everyone's tastes, but I enjoyed it immensely. As though it were a children's story I had long forgotten.

I do wish that we got to see more of this world. The magic system is so unique and interesting, but maybe too ambitious for a novella. I was desperate to learn more, but unfortunately left wanting.

Though it's hardly a searing critique to say you wish there more of something, and I do absolutely highly recommend giving this a read. Allow the words to become stories and the stories to become dreams. You won't regret it.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for review.

The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar is out March 4th! Thanks to Netgalley and @quercusbooks for the eARC.

The River Has Roots is an experience. I think with novellas you have more space to be experimental and in this novella Amal El-Mohtar does that through magic. The magic system is based on and called grammar. It's a concept that is hard to grasp at times but plays into the atmosphere I associate with fairy tales and with faerie in particular. The prose is part of the magic and so it's poetic and playful and sometimes weird.

We follow two sisters with a deep bond who live on the edge of faerie. They care for and sing to the enchanted willows on their land. Ester has two suitors, an unwanted one from their town and a mysterious one from Faerie who she loves. She ends up torn between the love for her sister Ysabel and home - and being she is in love with.

I loved the bond between the two sisters and how their different personalities are explored. The dynamic between Ester and her faerie love was also really intriguing. It's not the first version of this fairy tale I've read but I liked that it focused less on the sisterly jealousy and gore and more on the whimsy and strangeness. It made the strangeness of the original tale feel more magical and fit the the vibes of the story. ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4 stars)

This was such a beautiful read, it had such a perfect fairy tale vibes. It was such a magical read overall.

The river has roots feels like a proper fairytale. It's a story of two sisters and their bond. It's a story about different types of love and how much they can overcome.

If you miss a little magic and whimsy in your life, and allow yourself to be enveloped in this story and follow it's flow, you'll be taken on a beautiful adventure.

It's a perfect story if you're looking for a cozy afternoon of getting lost in a story, it's a short read that packs a punch and honestly it made me tear up more than once.

Thank you NetGalley and Quercus Books for this eCopy to review

I recently read The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar, it is an ethereal, dream-like fairy tale cantering on the bond between two sisters, Esther and Ysabel, who live in the small town of Thistleford on the edge of Faerie. The story is filled with magic, fairies, mystical rivers, and enchanted lands, making it a captivating read.

One of the aspects I enjoyed most was the beautifully crafted prose, it added to the enchanting atmosphere of the story. The bond between the sisters was heart warming and well-developed, and their devotion to each other was truly touching.

However, I did find the magic system, referred to as "grammar," a bit confusing. It was mentioned repeatedly but never fully explained, leaving me somewhat puzzled about how it all worked. Additionally, the ending felt rushed, with the climax and resolution happening in just a few pages. Despite these minor issues, the story was still engaging and left me feeling emotional, especially with the touching conclusion.

Overall, The River Has Roots is a beautifully written tale that I would recommend to anyone who enjoys fantasy and stories about strong sibling bonds.

Whimsical, unique and utterly beautiful. An unforgettable setting, an unbreakable sisterly bond and whimsical writing. A true fairytale. It's not often I want more from a story but El-Mohtar did a wonderful job at luring me in and now I want to stay.

Thank you to the Author, Netgalley and Quercus Books for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this novella.

Thank you to Netgalley and Quercus Books for providing this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

The River Has Roots is a thoroughly enchanting book! Magic laced through every page, it keeps you hooked from its first words to its last.

I cannot recommend this gorgeous story enough!

A murder ballad that is as sharp and folkloric as it is devastating.

The River Has Roots pulls inspiration from and mimics the plot points of traditional murder ballads inevitably making it a short and concise novella. I flew through it in one sitting but El-Mohtar’s grammar is as sharp as a needle and her words pierce to the heart of the story to heart-breaking effect. Even as short as it is, I was in tears by the end, and cannot wait to read it over and over for years to come.

Similar to This Is How You Lose the Time War in the novella’s sense of poetry and romance but with a fairytale setting. This was a twinkling gem of a solo debut and cements El-Mohtar as an author I will continuously read from.

Going off my love of fairytale this one was good. The last part ending was fun and predictable. Ot gave me similar vibes to Ava Reids Juniper and Thron at some parts. The sisters love was the strongest point of the story. The romance was good between Esther and Rin in all forms, it was ethereal in atsmphere to read about and really felt like a true fairytale.

Thanks to NetGalley and Amal El-Mohtar for this ARC!

The pages inside this book were SO beautifully designed. This is the kind of fantasy that I always associate with childhood. That sense of wandering into the unknown and finding something strange and wonderful and I really enjoyed going back to that feeling.

“Oh what is stronger than a death?
Two sisters singing with one breath.”

‘The River has Roots’ is an ethereal fairytale that centres around the bond between sisters. A lyrical, magical story with a beautiful prose and a magic system based on grammar;-where spells are conjugated rather than cast.

The magic system is not much of a system in the sense that it is more of a vague understanding that there is something in the air, though it works really well with this short novella. It is beautifully written, I enjoyed the metaphor of magic—or grammar—being a form of language here. I thought it quiet satisfying to consistently have the ‘grammar’ and Arcadia be this mysterious entity.

The story is of two sisters—Esther and Ysabel Hawthorne; focusing on the love and promises they’ve made to one another. How their bond evolves as they grow older but still always having that strong sisterly connection. Being an older sister, I felt the sacrifices Esther made. Esther and Ysabel live on a piece of land that boards the real world and the land of the fae. They sing to two willow trees which sit on the bed of the river Liss. The dynamic between the characters is emotional but also quite sad with their relationship threatened by the two suitors pursing Esther, one being a shape-shifting Arcadian named Rin, who she’s in love with. Esther knows that her relationship with Rin could affect the bond she shares with her sister.

I fully enjoyed how the author explores the power behind a sisterly bond. As well as finding love in the unlikely of places; the importance of shared values and how the cruel nature of greed. Also, I loved how the author explored the queer characters in the story with the most obvious being Rin as they consistently use they/them pronouns throughout.

Overall, the relationship between the two sisters is the heart of this story, and seeing how it played out in such a tragic yet beautiful way is what captured me the most. I definitely teared up a few times while reading this book. So, if you’re looking for an ethereal, whimsical tale with a darker edge then give this short story a go.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for an advanced reader’s copy of this book.

I was looking forward to reading a standalone by Amal El-Mohtar, so this novella's main issue in my opinion is that it's actually very short!

Jokes aside, this was a very enjoyable piece: lyrical, with the unmistakable fairytale ambiance that is weirdly hard to create, and what sold it to me was the sisterly bond that took centerstage and that grammar is magic. The story is tight, paying homage to familiar plots; nothing drags and the Faerie darling is of course transcendent but not annoyingly so. The magic system, as is always the case with fairytales, is not much of a system, more like a vague understanding that's in the air, but it works. I would've loved for it to be described in more detail, but in that case the genre and the storytelling style would probably have to shift more towards fantasy, which was clearly not the point here.

The bonus, “John Hollowback and the Witch”, was rather good as well - it seems the author's style lends itself well to fairytale-like stories, even when they're a little dark and cruel.

Beautiful, lyrically written fairy tale. I thought the world building and plot were perfectly contained within its novella-style length (or extended short story?). I didn’t need the magic system to be explained in painstaking detail - as long as there were a few ground rules to make it internally consistent, I was happy, and there were. I found it satisfying to have most of ‘grammar’ and Arcadia remain mysterious and unknowable.

One thing that did get sacrificed due (either to the length of the book or the style of the storytelling) was character and relationship development. I was interested in what was happening to the protagonists, but I wasn’t emotionally invested. The characters were all pretty two dimensional, which is fine for a fairy tale, but it meant that some of the relationships driving the plot had to be taken on faith rather than seeing them develop on the page. Rin in particular was difficult for me to relate to. I appreciated that as a faerie, they were beyond human capacity to see or understand, and I liked that the author was careful not to categorise them in familiar ways (e.g., gender), but this was a character that looked and sounded different every time they appeared and their only consistent characteristic was the love we were told they have for Esther. It just wasn’t enough for me to latch onto.

I’m giving the book 4 stars because it does what it does very well, but on a purely personal enjoyment level this was probably more of a 3 star read for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance reader copy.

4,5⭐

The River Liss is always changing. It is the core to the lives of two sisters, Ysabel and Esther, in a world where magic is born between the space of grammar and lexis. There is a neighbouring world, Arcadia, where magic is stronger, yet wilder, where lives Rin, a lover to Esther and a Fae.

And frankly, that is all I can say to not take the joy and enchantment from reading this novella. Amal El-Mohtar is a sister figure to Susanna Clarke, with the same brilliant writing; yet where Clarke dives into finding magic in the real world, El-Mohtar looks for doors in everyday life to cross the boundary of magical one. "The River Has Roots" is nothing less than a fairytale, with bright visuals vowed by words, with a world-building so simple yet impactful – for the question "how much of it you can fit in less than a hundred pages" she has an answer "all and a few more". It's mind blowing how large the world is, how deep this care for detail go, and yet to create such a small thing with such depth, it is trully impressive. I did, indeed, let myself be cursed and enchanted by it, and adored every little bit of it.

The writing is dreamy and ethereal, and I was immersed in every page, despite my grip on the story being a thread at best. There are some beautiful descriptions of people and places, and I am usually someone who can get behind a book that prioritises Vibes over plot. However, this has been mentioned in other reviewers’ thoughts, but I agree that the story is too ambitious for the length, and despite being mentioned multiple times, the magic system feels under-explained. The pacing drags at the start and then rushes from climax to conclusion in a handful of pages, so exposing and dealing with the villain is incredibly underwhelming.

Overall, it’s a heartfelt story about sisters which managed to capture a lot of emotion in a small amount of time, and I would love to read a full-length novel in this world focusing on some of the side characters.

A tale of two sisters about the love and promises they’ve made to each other and how those bonds change shape as they age and change themselves. I am an elder sister and I felt this in my soul. The prose is beautiful and whimsical, just like the world it’s set in. The characters and their dynamic is rich and emotional and hopeful but also sad. A wonderful faery tale, I see this being a classic one day!

I’ve had How To Lose the Time War on my shelf for months now and I’m just so excited for more of Mohtar’s voice.

Thank you for letting me read this early.

Poet, writer and musician Amal El-Mohtar’s novella is steeped in English folklore. She draws too on traditional British murder ballads particularly “The Cruel Sister” aka “The Twa Sisters” which El-Mohtar’s haunting fairy tale cleverly subverts. Like that ballad, El-Mohtar’s story features two sisters one dark and one fair. Ysabel and Esther Hawthorn live in the small town of Thistleford, in a mythic England brimming with enchantment. Like their ancestors before them, the sisters tend to a pair of ancient willow trees, source of harmony and magic. Thistleford lies close to the boundary with the world of Faerie or Arcadia, a mysterious place whose rules don’t correspond to those of the mortal realm. Time flows differently there.

Ysabel and Esther are closely bonded, their deep affection demonstrated through duets sung to the willow trees. El-Mohtar’s slender plot centres on the growing threat to their relationship posed by two suitors intent on pursuing Esther. One is unctuous, self-serving Samuel Pollard – the clue to his personality lies in his name; the other is a beguiling, shape-shifting Arcadian known only as Rin. It’s soon clear Esther’s choice of partner will entirely reshape her, and her sister’s, future. I relished El-Mohtar’s atmospheric, lyrical storytelling; her deliberate homage to Hope Mirrlees’s classic fantasy Lud-in-the-Mist, and the echoes of Christina Rossetti’s Goblin Market. And found the novella satisfying overall, even though the world-building could be awkward and a little rushed – still puzzling over the significance of certain metaphors and symbols. El-Mohtar’s narrative’s accompanied by a series of arresting linocuts from artist Kathleen Neely. There’s also a bonus piece included “John Hollowback and the Witch” a brooding meditation on revenge and redemption.

This beautifully written novella has a fairytale-like quality. It could just as easily be a tale from Greek mythology, or from European folklore, as a contemporary story. It’s full of the weird and the wonderful, but still makes perfect sense within the world El-Mohtar has created.

I thought queerness was used and explored brilliantly throughout. The first, most obvious example, is that Rin – Esther’s lover – has no specified gender and uses they/them pronouns. In many ways, though, it is Esther’s queerness that impacts the story. The way she keeps secrets from her family; Ysabel’s worry that Esther will live a life that differs so significantly from her own that they will grow apart; even Esther’s eventual fate.

The relationship between the two sisters, though, is the strongest one of all, and even though their paths do take them in different directions, they still have an understanding of each other that can’t be broken. Their story is what grounds this book in truth and in the real world, even with all the fantastical goings-on.

This is a beautiful novella that has so many layers to it. I know that I will be thinking about this one for the weeks and months to come, ruminating on the different characters and themes.

I received a free copy for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley, Amal El-Mohtar and Quercus Books for a complimentary e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

It's funny how somehow this is the second book that retells the Celtic ballad, The Twa Sisters I've read in recent years! First with Sistersong by Lucy Holland and now in Amal El-Mohtar's new fantasy novella which tells a much more lyrical and folk-tale like rendition of the old murder ballad.
In The River Has Roots, we follow two sisters, heirs to the Hawthorne family who have long looked after the magical willow trees that border the River Liss, which runs into Arcadia - the mythic land of the Fae. Esther and Ysabel, whilst different in looks and temperament, are incredibly close and their songs when sung together has a magic of their own. When the older sister Esther, falls for a fae, her path leads the two of them into one of tragedy, loss and longing.
First, I just want to praise the gorgeous quality of Amal's writing in this novella - I was blindsided almost from the get-go by how lyrical and poetic this novella is, weaving words like the magic that is within the pages. This was my first experience with her writing, as I haven't yet read the more famous dual work the author did with Max Gladstone, 'This Is How You Lose The Time War', but I'll definitely be checking out this and other work by her in future.
This novella, whilst short, feels the perfect length for the story it's going to tell - it's actually only just over 100 pages as the latter part of the book is a sneak preview of the author's upcoming short story collection. It really does read like an old folk tale, much like work by Joanne M. Harris but has a more readable and immersive tone. I really felt for both of the characters in this book and I liked how the author chose to transform the tale into a story of their own, weaving in the romance and magical elements of the Arcadian world, more then the original tale did. I would have liked to have perhaps seen more of a twist in the story itself but overall this was a beautiful take on a familiar folk tale and the world building was something that lent the whole story a haunting atmosphere of a place where you can slip into a world of magic so close to real life.