Amal El-Mohtar’s The River Has Roots is a spellbinding novella steeped in the alchemy of language and transformation. At its heart is the River Liss, running north to south, its waters brimming with “grams”—linguistic fragments that can be conjured into magic. Within this world of mutable meaning and shifting forms, sisters Esther and Ysabel Hawthorn care for the willow trees on their family’s land, singing to them in gratitude for their grammar. Esther, sharp-minded and drawn to riddles, is endlessly fascinated by Arcadia—a mystical city beyond a veil—while Ysabel, tender-hearted and poetic, fears the unknown it represents. Their bond is one of deep devotion, even as their perspectives on change threaten to pull them in opposite directions.

El-Mohtar’s prose is exquisite, layered with intricate metaphors that weave seamlessly into the novel’s thematic core. Magic here is not just spoken but conjugated and transformed, illuminating a world where the structure of language dictates the shape of reality itself. The novel’s central tension—between the fixed and the fluid, the named and the nameless—is mirrored in the sisters’ relationship, as well as in Esther’s love for Rin, a nonbinary shape-shifter from Arcadia.

The narrative unfolds with an immersive sense of wonder, carrying readers like the River Liss itself—ever-shifting, never stagnant. The story’s resolution, while poignant, arrives perhaps too swiftly; I found myself wishing for just a little more time in its luminous world. Still, The River Has Roots is a stunning meditation on language, love, and the transformative power of both. El-Mohtar crafts a tale that reshapes itself in the reader’s mind long after the book is closed, much like the grammar that bends the reality of Arcadia.

📖 Read this if you love: Lush, language-driven fantasy, stories of sisterhood and devotion, and folklore-infused worldbuilding.

🔑 Key Themes: Language as Magic, Transformation and Change, Family and Inheritance, The Tension Between Stability and Freedom.