The River Has Roots
Amal El-Mohtar
2025, Tordotcom
Classified Under: Home & Family, Spurned Love, Fae Nonsense
There are certain books that have defined the idea of the fae for me. Books where the illogical magical beings rip off the page. Books that create something real and breathing out of something that has always seemed so ephemeral. The fair folk as an idea have always felt like trying to grasp at a cloud. Trying to write them down in some way, to capture their essence, is a task that my brain computes as monumental. Among my personal canon of texts that somehow, incredibly, achieve this herculean task are the likes of The Secret Commonwealth by Kirk; Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Clarke; and the fairies from my childhood that started the foundation of this list, The Spiderwick Chronicles by Black and DiTerlizzi. Among these books now very firmly sits The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar.
The River Has Roots is the story of Ether and Ysabel Hawthorn. Sisters born to willow tree tenders on the border of the human world and the fae world of Arcadia. Esther and Ysabel grow up singing, playing, and living near Arcadia and the River Liss that runs out of it. This border is guarded by a set of trees at the entrance to Arcadia known as The Professors. As a thank you to the river, the trees, etc., for their work on the border of world, the Hawthorn family offers a gift: the sisters sing to the Professors. They do this often, but four times a year they are required to do so as part of a barely remembered treaty that has become tradition for their family. As the girls come of age and their beauty and talent are noticed by suitors, this life of tending and singing becomes complicated. These two sisters tied together by their music, Arcadia, and the Professors are pushed to make decisions larger than each of them individually.
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 yet again by the wild magic of the River 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-Mohtar. She dips us in the wonder of wild feral magic and then lets the readers see its tricks and nonsense. At this point I thought I could not be more taken by this book but the love of the sisters truly sank its roots into me. The dynamic of their relationship is so lovingly crafted. As someone with a sibling I love dearly, a well-written sibling story is always bound to win me over, but this story moved me.
The only issue I took with the story was at about midway through it. Something occurred that gutted me and I sat the book down not wanting to see what must unfold next. I thought I knew what would play out and that assumption was so wrong. 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. El-Mohtar takes the story in a direction where most authors would flounder. At the end of the 100 pages, I giggled! El-Mohtar proved my assumptions wrong and surprised me heartily. Just like the fae, this story is tricksy and that captures their essence so perfectly. Every time I thought I had this book figured out it slipped through my fingers.
There isn’t a single component alone that crafts the magic of this book. In a mere hundred odd pages, El-Mohtar captured me entirely and when it was all over I didn’t want to let go. These are characters and a world that are meant to be cherished. The River Has Roots is on sale March 4, 2025, from Tordotcom. You can pre-order a copy here from a local (to Kismet staff) indie bookshop, Morgenstern’s, or at most other places you normally get your books. I hope those of you who enjoy a romp with the fair folk will go pick it up—and if you have never been in the land of the fae take this first small adventure. You won’t want to miss this one!
Recommended Reads
- The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns and Fairies by Robert Kirk
- Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
- The Spiderwick Chronicles by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi
M.J. Woods M.J. is a lifelong writer and reader of the speculative as well as Editor in Chief at the Kismet Magazine. He is also a library worker, bookseller (at Morgenstern Books), and an armchair folklorist. His writing is speculative, fantastical and whimsical in nature, and centers on themes of family, food, Appalachia, queerness, belonging, and nostalgia. M.J. calls Bloomington, Indiana, home with his two cats.
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