Review: What The River Knows (Secrets of the Nile #1)

What the River Knows (Secrets of the Nile #1)
By Isabel Ibañez

Published By: Hodder
Publication Date: December 15, 2023
Date Read: February 15, 2024
Genre: YA – Historical Fantasy
Source: Bought
Format: Hardback
Pages: 400

From Goodreads:
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 an ancient 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.

The Mummy meets Death on the Nile in this lush, immersive historical fantasy set in Egypt filled with adventure, a rivals-to-lovers romance, and a dangerous race.

Isabel Ibañez is an author who has been on my radar for a while. I remember getting one of her other books in my Fairyloot boxes a few years back, but I never picked it up. However, when I received What The River Knows I was too intrigued not to try this one. This book is dubbed as Indiana Jones meets The Mummy and well… The Mummy is my favourite movie of all time, so how could I not want to read this one?

What The River Knows is just utterly magical. From the very first page I was sucked into this phenomenal mystery and adventure set between Argentina, where our main character Ibanez resides at the start of the book, and Egypt. I have always been a huge lover of fantasy books set in non-Western countries and cultures so immediately I absolutely loved this setting. I loved our main character, Inez, from the very start. She is absolutely hilarious and when men tell her to do one thing, you can guarantee she is going to do the very opposite. I loved her for that.

I absolutely adored just about everything about this book. I loved the mystery that kept you guessing of what has actually happened to her parents, and you just don’t want to put the book down until you find out. I loved this, as it’s quite rare to find this sort of mystery in a fantasy book. I will say that is definitely light fantasy. If you’re picking this up in the hope that you’re going to get lots of magic goings on, then you’re not going to find it in this book. There’s a touch of magical elements, but honestly that’s all you needed. It fit the whole history of Egypt, and honestly you don’t need more than that in this phenomenal book.

Now, the romance. There is a lightest touch of a romance going on. It is definitely not the main focus of this book and I adored that. I am the sort of reader who doesn’t really need romance, I’m a plot girl through and through so the fact that this is more plot focused was a definitely positive for me. But fear not… there IS some romance. But it is a super slow burn… and it was perfection. I loved Inez and Whit’s budding romance and their rivals/frenemy status throughout this book. It was just hilarious and definitely added that touch of comedy that you need when discussing harder hitting topics.

What The River Knows was utter perfection for me. I personally think the vibes run more towards Indiana Jones type stories than The Mummy but either way I adored it. This is the first book in a long while that I just wanted to start all over again the minute I finished it. I’m a re-reader but very rarely will I want to re-read a book that quickly. So that speaks volumes over how much I loved this book. I cannot wait to get my hands on book 2. If you want a YA Fantasy to take over your whole life and personality, this is it! Go read it now!

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