The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar (coming March 4) is lyrical in many senses of the word, beautifully expressive and imaginative, and with songs and poetry playing important parts, not just accentuating but sometimes driving the plot. The prose is luscious and lovely, and it luxuriates in lingual ludi. Maybe my last sentence lapsed into laughability, but I’m a little drunk on words. But that’s totally fair, since the novella takes care to caution readers about the potential pitfalls of exposing oneself to grammar/gramarye; after all, words and magic can be equally transformative, often in unexpected ways.
This novella is El-Mohtar’s debut as a longform solo author, but she’s been winning awards for her poetry and short fiction since at least 2009, and she rocketed to viral stardom in 2019 with the co-authorship with Max Gladstone of This Is How You Lose the Time War. So The River Has Roots has been hotly anticipated by many speculative fiction fans. I am happy to say that it fully lived up to my hopes!
The novella is a retelling of a reasonably well-known fairytale murder ballad, so alert readers may anticipate some of the story beats. There are two sisters, and a suitor, and a warning from beyond via music. But even if a reader has an idea of where the story is going, there are bends in this river of a plot. There are also elements here that aren’t in any versions of the murder ballad that I’ve heard, including more characters who play important roles, and considerable use of wry humor.
Anyway, although the plot is very important as a framework, it’s the wonderful way in which this story is told that makes it both heart-wrenching and heart-warming. I’ve already sung my praise of the language, but it’s not only the descriptions; there is witty verbal fencing between opposing interests (with multiple reasons that people are trying not to let themselves get put under obligations), and although the beginning is lush and languorous, there are also some sharp scenes and impassioned passages. There is grief in this story, but I’ll spoil the plot just enough to say that there’s also a fairly happy ending (because it’s both a murder ballad AND a fairy tale).
There’s also a lot more about magic in this novella than in the original. The girls live on a farm that a river runs through, but it’s also on the edge of the Modal Lands that border Arcadia (basically, Faerieland). The willows from which the family harvests leaves, bark, and wood drink in magic from this border river through their roots, which is why these products (and the farm) are highly prized. Parts of the story do cross the perilous border (unlike many unwary travelers, the story does make it back to terra cognita). And although this novella hugs the border closely enough to stay well within comprehension, I love the hints of how much wilder Arcadia can get the farther you get into it (but I also love that it isn’t fully explained).
Obviously, this novella is a fantasy tale without a hint of a time war or any other science fictional elements. But for any reader who adored TIHYLTTW partly for its amazing use of language and partly for its love story, you’ll find plenty of that in The River Has Roots. I thought it was amazingly good, and I highly recommend it.
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stunning, lyrical novella
The River Has Roots is a stunning, lyrical novella. It's a fairy tale recrafted like a meandering river, with clever touches and nods to the traditional murder ballad form. It's a world where the magic system is built on grammar. (oh my heart!!) There's enough plot to carry the book through, too, which is pleasing, because the style risks being form over substance.Ysabel and Esther Hawthorn are sisters who live by the River Liss. The Hawthorn family is responsible for singing to the willows, and Ysabel and Esther love each other as dearly and completely as they love the singing. Esther is being courted by her neighbor Samuel Pollard, who she cannot abide, and and Arcadian named Rin who "is a feeling, a lightness in her step, a burr in her throat..." as ethereal as the land they come from. Love and power can be a treacherous game though, and Esther comes to a crossing point where she must face the most difficult of choices.This has perhaps my new favorite twist on an old favorite murder ballad, The Two Sisters/The Cruel Sister/Bonny Swans, wherein the sisters are dearest friends rather than bitter enemies, and yet the outcome is still much the same. For those familiar with folk songs, you'll find other recognizable ballads lightly referenced throughout. There are some similarities in lyrical style to Time War, and with the same amount of whimsy, but with perhaps more grounding in plot.I look forward to reading and rereading this story over the years. Simply put, it's gorgeous.
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