THE RIVER HAS ROOTS

After co-writing the epistolary enemies-to-lovers SF novel This Is How You Lose the Time War (2019) with Max Gladstone, El-Mohtar makes a solo novella debut featuring another haunting harmony. The town of Thistleford is known for the grammar, or transformative magic, that flows from the Faerie land of Arcadia to be conjugated in the River Liss and translated through the Professors, the pair of willow trees rooted into its banks. The Hawthorn family is known for its willow-wood business as well as the stirring duets of sisters Esther and Ysabel: respectively, the gregarious elder daughter cheekily composing riddle songs for her immortal lover and the shy younger beauty who can belt a murder ballad but secretly wishes to be the adored subject of a beloved’s poem. When a greedy mortal suitor forcibly separates the sisters on opposite sides of Arcadia’s border, they must bridge an impossible distance measured only by how far the voice can reach. True to the title, darkness lurks just beneath the surface of this story, in which death is cruel yet not without its lingual loopholes. El-Mohtar’s blend of prose and poetry will catch readers in its fast-moving flow, even if the magic system requires multiple rereads. The core tale will be relatable regardless of a reader’s genre affinity: an ode to sisters’ secret languages, a paean to petty adolescent envy reshaped into the foundation for growing together into adulthood, an anthem for bloody retribution. The only slightly bitter note is the rather neat resolution, but the poetic justice nonetheless adds up to a satisfying performance.

Mar 7, 2025 - 07:27

After co-writing the epistolary enemies-to-lovers SF novel This Is How You Lose the Time War (2019) with Max Gladstone, El-Mohtar makes a solo novella debut featuring another haunting harmony. The town of Thistleford is known for the grammar, or transformative magic, that flows from the Faerie land of Arcadia to be conjugated in the River Liss and translated through the Professors, the pair of willow trees rooted into its banks. The Hawthorn family is known for its willow-wood business as well as the stirring duets of sisters Esther and Ysabel: respectively, the gregarious elder daughter cheekily composing riddle songs for her immortal lover and the shy younger beauty who can belt a murder ballad but secretly wishes to be the adored subject of a beloved’s poem. When a greedy mortal suitor forcibly separates the sisters on opposite sides of Arcadia’s border, they must bridge an impossible distance measured only by how far the voice can reach. True to the title, darkness lurks just beneath the surface of this story, in which death is cruel yet not without its lingual loopholes. El-Mohtar’s blend of prose and poetry will catch readers in its fast-moving flow, even if the magic system requires multiple rereads. The core tale will be relatable regardless of a reader’s genre affinity: an ode to sisters’ secret languages, a paean to petty adolescent envy reshaped into the foundation for growing together into adulthood, an anthem for bloody retribution. The only slightly bitter note is the rather neat resolution, but the poetic justice nonetheless adds up to a satisfying performance.