The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar

Follow the river Liss to the small town of Thistleford, on the edge of Faerie, and meet two sisters who cannot be separated, even in death.
 

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

In the small town of Thistleford, on the edge of Faerie, dwells the mysterious Hawthorn family.
 

There, they tend and harvest the enchanted willows and honour an ancient compact to sing to them in thanks for their magic. None more devotedly than the family’s latest daughters, Esther and Ysabel, who cherish each other as much as they cherish the ancient trees.
 

But when Esther rejects a forceful suitor in favor of a lover from the land of Faerie, not only the sisters’ bond but also their lives will be at risk…

Ethereal poetry paired with a simple yet elegant fantasy story, Amal El-Mohtar’s novella The River Has Roots is an enchantingly read akin to a modern fairytale. Beautifully written with an air of sophistication, what this novella lacks in world-building detail given the book’s length it makes up with in poetic metaphors that are both dreamy as well as intelligent; notably a long-running comparison of the rules of grammar compared to the powers of magic being both creative and effective. (On Goodreads, a 4.5 star rating rounded down)

Presented in a hybrid second- and third-person perspective, the tone of the narration paired with the reflective and introspective nature of El-Mohtar’s tale makes this a noteworthy book unlike anything I’ve read in quite some time. The strategic shifts to second person tense and the whimsical sense of wonder really pulls you into the story as if it’s being told by a bard or philosopher. Besides the well-balanced and beautiful prose, the book is filled with poetic stanzas and clever wordplay riddles that would make an English literature or grammar student thrilled; this novella has brains behind its beauty.

As far as the story is concerned, it’s one that is appropriately detailed in all the right areas given the novella format. While the magic mechanics and fae folklore of Arcadia are mostly breezed over in favor of character writing and symbolism, what El-Mohtar does present is enough to serve its purpose as framework for the story rather than the focus. Revolving around themes of sisterly and familial devotion, balance, and unexplored wonder, the story had a wonderful balance of fantasy, literary ambition, and pacing that does the most it can with the limited pages it has to work with. My only slight nitpick is that I wish the ending prior to the epilogue section was a hair longer given the book’s otherwise well-crafted progression and perhaps a bit more of the fae element used, though I understand it is not either sister or Rin that’s the heart of the story but rather the enchanted river Liss, the root of the tale all things passing through it.

I admit that I picked up The River Has Roots purely out of curiosity to see how El-Mohtar’s writing and storytelling in a solo work was given how much I loved her collaborative novel with Max Gladstone This Is How You Lose the Time War. Given that book’s intensely poetic and literary presentation, I was fully expecting some degree of poetry with a quieter touch given the genre shift to folklore fantasy. This novella fully met my expectations and cemented Amal El-Mohtar as a smart and lyrical author to keep an eye on. While perhaps not the best recommendation for casual readers looking for a quick or trendy read, this is a beautiful novella worth picking up for anyone looking for a showcase example of old-school fairytale storytelling or symbolic poetry.