What the River Knows
| Industrial Age |
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 What the River Knows
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World History > Industrial Age > Archaeology
The Mummy meets Death on the Nile in What the River Knows, Isabel Ibañez's lush, immersive historical fantasy set in Egypt and filled with adventure, a rivals-to-lovers romance, and a dangerous race.
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 a 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.
What the River Knows is the first book in the thrilling Secrets of the Nile duology.
Emily's Review
Holy cow, that ending!
This book was such a fun reading experience for me. It had great atmosphere, great characters, forbidden romance, plot twists around every corner, and a really exciting mystery to unravel.
We follow our protagonist, Inez, as she runs away to Egypt after learning about the death of her parents. They spent most of their time in Egypt and would never allow her to visit them. So upon their deaths, she decides to take a chance, visit her uncle who is working in Egypt, and see if she can unravel the mystery of her parent's deaths.
When she arrives she discovers that there is a lot more at stake than she realized. With no one to trust she has to go by her own intuition and sense of magic.
If I had to complain about anything, it's the magic - I feel like it was really unnecessary to the story and was never fully explained. Every time it was mentioned it took me out of the story a little bit. But that really was a very small aspect of the story.
I really enjoyed this and look forward to the sequel. With a wild cliffhanger like that, I hope I don't have to wait too long!
Other Similar Books
Other suggestions on the subject of Archaeology.
- The Secrets of Vesuvius (by: Bisel, Sara, MG, UMG)
- The Windeby Puzzle (by: Lowry, Lois, UMG, YA)
- What the River Knows (by: Ibañez, Isabel, YA, A)