Review

It’s 1884. Inez, the daughter of wealthy Egyptologists, receives news that her parents have died in Egypt. She’s overwhelmed with grief. But then she receives a magical ancient ring from her father, with no note. What could have happened to her parents? Determined to solve this mystery, she runs away from her aunt’s house in Buenos Aires and travels to Cairo, scandalously unchaperoned, to ask her uncle, a fellow Egyptologist, what happened. She’s met at the dock by her uncle’s employee, the mysterious and very attractive Whit. He’s been given instructions to put her straight back on a boat, but she gives him the slip. Just what has happened to her parents, and why is her uncle so reluctant to have her around?

*

This had all the ingredients of a good read: Egyptology, headstrong heroine, ruggedly handsome romantic lead, magic realism, mystery… I love The Mummy and the Indiana Jones films, so this should have been right up my alley.

Unfortunately, however, the pacing is extremely slow: too much detail and not enough action. I was not at all invested in the characters or the plot. I nearly DNF’d it. I ended up quickly skimming the last quarter. I really should have trusted my early instincts on this one.

It has four stars on Goodreads, though, and was one of 20 nominees for its Readers’ Favourite Young Adult Fantasy award (2023), so your mileage may vary.

Age: 12+

395 pp.

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Perilous situations; historical sexism; a few kisses; some deaths and injuries; main character abandoned for six months every year as a child while her parents went to Egypt.

*

Ibañez, I. (2023). What the river knows. Hodderscape.

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