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shereadytoread 's review for:

River Woman, River Demon by Jennifer Givhan
3.25
emotional mysterious tense
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This book was an interesting bend on the mystery thriller. It includes a lot of cultural and supernatural elements. The book plays into the trope of an unreliable narrator, but it is mostly in the way of her discovering events from the past (prior to the events of the book) that she doesn't remember, and not really whether her perception is true of what is happening now. The author's attempt to humanize mental illness and choices that the reader may not agree with, lands in some ways but in other ways does not (for me). 

I thought the mystery portion was pretty interesting a couple of the twists were predictable but I still enjoyed following the story. This was a book with a good variety of female characters that made both positive and negative impacts/choices. Some of the supernatural elements felt a bit forced.

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