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By day, Yaseema pretends to a loyal servant of the Empire, cataloging the fae relics of her conquered kingdom. But by night, she hunts to reclaim the still-missing artifacts before the Empire can find them first. It’s a dangerous masquerade, but what else can she do? Without the magical relics, her land is dying and her people starving — until she finds what may be the long-lost key that will allow her to cross the River into the fae world and save her people.
A ruthless realm awaits her across the river, though. It is a land ruled by monsters wearing beautiful skin — especially the hard-eyed captain who sees through her lies. But even the captain isn’t what he seems. Under the guise of upholding a cruel regime, he works to overthrow his ruler from the inside. To succeed, he needs the same lost relic Yaseema hunts for: the crown of an ancient Fae Queen.
Yaseema has a choice. Should she work with the captain and use her own strange magic to help him find the crown? Or should she steal it first?
I wanted to love this story. From its opening lines, The River She Became promises a world rich in lore. A young scholar lives in an occupied country. Her people are starving, her traditions are illegal, and the only way she can fight back is by rescuing ancient relics from tombs before they can be stolen. The tomb raiding gave me definite Indiana Jones vibes, and I loved it! I wish the story had revolved more around that.
Instead, readers are then introduced to the fae side of the plot, and this is largely where the story lost its appeal for me. Because while the world-building is the story’s strength, it’s also confusing. Amid the initial chaos of trying to find the true pulse of the story and understand both the human and fae worlds, I was also disoriented by oddly repetitive prose, while other areas of the story only briefly mentioned actions or events happening behind the scenes that readers were not even party to.
The River She Became is not a bad story. (I read the book months ahead of its release and hope that some of its idiosyncrasies will be addressed.) Either way, this story will likely appeal more to readers looking for that promised fae romance, than those intrigued by a plot surrounding the hunt for lost treasure.
Rated: High. Language includes 15 uses of strong language, 12 uses of moderate language, and 16 uses of mild language. Violence includes two countries under oppression. There are examples of starvation, imprisonment, magical killing and torture, the death of children, poisoning, blood and injury, and battle. Sexual content includes kissing, and one vaguely detailed sex scene.
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*I received an ARC in exchanged for my honest review.
