Reviews
Praise for Amal El-Mohtar and The River Has Roots
"Half delicious murder ballad, half beguiling love story, Amal El-Mohtar transports us to Faerieland so seamlessly it seems as though she just stepped out of it." —Holly Black, #1 New York Times bestselling author
"A book you’ll want to revisit like a favorite song, especially once you know the words to sing along." —Kirkus, starred review
"This extraordinary novella is El-Mohtar's solo debut, after the splendid This Is How You Lose the Time War (2019), coauthored with Max Gladstone, went viral. It's a marvelous story that pulls on old Grimm fairy tales of violence and truth telling, of what it means to be sisters in a story of fae and folklore, and of the kind of true love that exists between sisters." —Booklist, starred review
"El-Mohtar’s solo debut (after cowriting This Is How You Lose the Time War with Max Gladstone) is a heart-wrenching fairy tale about the bonds of love and family. It’s a murder ballad in book form that will linger long after the final page is turned." —Library Journal, starred review
"El-Mohtar’s ethereal prose paints a clear picture of the unbreakable bond between her worthy heroines." —Publishers Weekly
“When it comes to storytelling, Amal El-Mohtar is like one of the grammarians of Thistleford, a magician capable of deftly transforming the familiar into the unfamiliar and the numinous into the humane. The River Has Roots is an utterly enchanting tale of love and longing, language and song, and the unbreakable bond of sisterhood.” —Fonda Lee, author of the Green Bone Saga
"Gorgeous and glorious! Every sentence sings! Amal El-Mohtar weaves a lovely and poignant fairy tale that will linger in your heart." —Sarah Beth Durst, New York Times bestselling author of The Spellshop
"This book is lyrical, elegant, and above all, kind. I devoured it in one sitting. This story feels like the smell of rain. This is a fairy tale wrapped in brilliant language. An absolute must-read. Amal El-Mohtar is quite simply one of the best writers on the scene in ages." —T. Kingfisher, New York Times bestselling author of A Sorceress Comes To Call
"The River Has Roots is the perfect fable: both bright and brutal, very old and brand new. It's a story that outlasts itself, lingering like a song; I adored it.” —Alix E. Harrow, New York Times bestselling author of Starling House
"Amal El-Mohtar's genius fairytale reflects a truth we can never forget: words carry enormous power. The River Has Roots is truly exquisite." —Zoraida Córdova, USA Today bestselling author of The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina
"The River Has Roots is a beautiful, musical, and loving story, perfectly rendered in El-Mohtar's beautiful, musical, and loving prose. This novella has all the dark comforts of an old tale and all the light vigors of a new classic, and will inspire you to raise your voice in song with those you love." —Emma Törzs, author of Ink Blood Sister Scribe
"Amal El-Mohtar has taken a very old ballad and remade it so once again it has a new and splendid shine. The River Has Roots is about the borders that we cross and recross by accident or with purpose and how these passages remake us in the process. It’s about love, and language, and how language is always a kind of sorcery, and El-Mohtar’s writing is a demonstration, too, of this sorcery in action. It left me intoxicated." —Kelly Link, author of The Book of Love
“Amal El-Mohtar knows how to reel us in with beautiful prose and some of the most dazzling writing that we've seen.” —Cosmo
"El-Mohtar delivers a meditation on love—between sisters and between lovers—on language, magic, loyalty, and transformation.... El-Mohtar is a fantastic prose stylist, with an ear for poetry and a very apt sense for rhythm and metaphor." —Locus
