Lyrical and surreal. As expected after ‘This Is How You Lose The Time War’, Amal delivers a depth of worldbuilding and character insight in a concise, poetic manner. Reminiscent of the other-worldly writing of Ursula K. Le Guin with such unique voice and storytelling methods to truly immerse you in the experience. An honour to have read this.

Incredibly unique storytelling paired with touching romance and themes of family. SO so good! Fans of This is How You Lose the Time War will welcome this new novella.

a gorgeous, lyrical fable about love and sisterhood and grammar and magic and song. This was a short and poignant read, full of whimsy and wonder.

I read it in one day, and am still delighted by it. It engrossed me immediately, and I loved it immensely. It was strange and serene - like a fae folktale. I loved

This is How You Lose the Time War, and while there’s not much that’s the same about these books conceptually, they both have that intangible ✨something✨ that leaves you full of yearning and wonder.

I can’t wait to read more from Amal El Mohtar 💖

I was so excited to have received this e-ARC after loving one of El-Mohtar's previous works, "This is How You Lose the Time War". I was also very happy to see it as a short story - I love short stories and anthologies, and found this format to be particularly refreshing.

That being said, "The River Has Roots" went a little bit over my head. I was very pleasantly impressed by the first chapter, though the prose was dense and it was a bit difficult to parse the beginning of our journey. I also found this prose to be an interesting juxtaposition to the prose once we meet our characters - it instantly became much less lofty. I still struggled to understand the metaphors, and am not certain I took away what I was supposed to learn by reading here.

After that, I did particularly like the additional short story from an anthology at the end of this e-ARC. I found the purpose of that story to be much clearer. Overall, I did love the writing I found here, and do greatly enjoy whimsical, quasi-fairytale stories like this one.

Huge thanks to Amal El-Mohtar, Tor Publishing, and NetGalley for a copy of this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

If you’ve read This Is How You Lose the Time War, you already know Amal El-Mohtar doesn’t just write stories she writes poetry disguised as prose, emotions wrapped in metaphor, and worlds that seep into your bones.

This book is lyrical, hypnotic, and deeply intimate the kind of read that feels like a whispered secret between the pages. It explores themes of belonging, nature, and the unseen forces that shape us, all with El-Mohtar’s signature style that makes you want to pause, breathe, and feel every word.

TL;DR: If you love gorgeous, poetic writing, introspective storytelling, and books that feel like spells woven from ink and emotion, The River Has Roots is a must-read.

Fans of the bestselling Hugo Award-winning novella This is How You Lose the Time War have been dying to read Amal Al-Mohtar’s debut solo novel, and with good reason. This fantasy novel is just as compulsively readable, tender, and lyrical as one would hope. The small village of Thistleford sits on the river Liss and on the edge of Faerie. Two sisters, Esther and Ysabel, tend enchanted willow trees and share a powerful bond, until their world gets upended by a Fae lover. Al-Mohtar is a true poet and this enthralling story of sisterhood, song, and riddles will cast a spell over fans of Holly Black and Alix E. Harrow. And can we spare a moment to swoon for that cover?

As always, OBSESSED with El-Mohtar’s writing style. Everything is so delicately worded and beautifully phrased. This is such a fun twist on fantasy/fae people, with roots (haha) of folklore. It feels like a story you would find in a weathered collection of stories passed down through generations. And there are lessons to be found, but it can just be a story if you want it to be.

I didn’t find myself wanting it to be longer or more fleshed out; the shortness of it actually serves to focus you on the story rather than details that don’t matter. And yet somehow El-Mohtar creates an entire, vivid world that makes sense.

Loved it. Love love love.

Initially it was a tiny bit difficult to get into since the writing felt so ethereal and dreamlike that it was harder to comprehend.

But once I got used to the writing style I was hooked. I was rooting for the sisters. I found myself tearing up near the end.

I absolutely loved This is How You Lose The Time War and could not wait to read The River Has Roots.

Amal El-Mohtar’s The River Has Roots will bring a sense of magic and hope to your life and make you believe that anything has the power to be transformed or conjugated. It is a beautiful story of both romantic and sisterly love.

It reads like a faery tale and a ballad and a riddle all at once with the poetic prose that I grew to love in This is How to Lose the Time War. Once again, love is timeless and shapeless and formless - and because of that, it can do anything we want it to.

Once finished, I wanted to go back to the first page and start again. Read this amazing book!

Only Amal El-Mohtar could make me cry over grammar. This story is gorgeous, the magic system is so beautiful and unique I cannot imagine how she thought it up. This is a story of love. Love of your sister, love of your work, love of your craft, and love of your lover. By the end I had tears in my eyes. I don't want to say anymore, go in blind and enjoy.

I do not think fans of This is How You Lose The Time War who are excitedly tuning in for Amal El-Mohtar’s solo debut will be disappointed by The River Has Roots. It’s got the same poetic and beautiful sentences and Romantic (in the original sense) plot. I wished for only one thing when I was reading it, that it was a little longer. But perhaps I was wishing it longer in the same way that after eating an intense sliver of chocolate cake, you wish for one more bite, but if that bite were to actually be given to you, you might find that you are not as wise as the one who designed the portion. All that to say that this is a very short novella. Not a lacking novella, but it is an intense sliver of a story.

Two sisters sing magic into being on the edge of fairyland. They live in harmony (pun intended) with the land and the trees. When love goes wrong, it will strain their bond almost to the breaking point. This softly intense beautiful story about nature, magic, and family will touch even the most cynical heart. A little cozy bubble in these chaotic times.

I received an advance reader copy in exchange for this honest review.

Review posted and links added closer to pub date.

The River Has Roots has the wonderful flowery prose that Amal El-Mohtar is known for. The story is short but emotionally impactful. I loved the characters and while I'm satified with how this story wrapped up, I would love more stories in the future with other charcters from Arcadia. I would recommend this to Fantasy and fairytale lovers, or anyone who was a fan of This Is How You Lose The Time War and wasnt turned off by the prose. It can feel complicated at times but I believes it is well worth it and makes for a beautiful reading experience.

Thank you @tordotcompub for the complimentary copy.

Magical! The language made me feel like I was reading an old fairytale. It took me a little bit to get into it and understand the grammar (magic) but once I did, I really enjoyed it. I loved the bond between the sisters. I would have liked a little more in the way of Esther’s relationship because up until close to the end I wasn’t entirely sure if her feelings were reciprocated or if it was all one sided. I absolutely loved the ending, I read it twice and can see me reading it again.

I have been meaning to pick up "This is How You Lose the Time War" by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone, but it's never on the library's shelf (that's a great thing!). Since I heard so much about El-Mohtar's lyrical writing, I thought I would give her solo debut novella a shot. "The River Has Roots" does not disappoint!

It is a beautiful, lyrical, and spellbinding original fairy tale that celebrates sisterhood, the promises we keep, and the sacrifices we make for love. I love how this tale unfurls as if we the reader are gathered around a campfire listening to someone who is telling the story. I loved the play on words whether through murder ballads or riddles. I was utterly captivated.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan/Tor for an advanced readers copy of the book.

Imaginative, whimsical, and confusing- everything I've begun to expect from El-Mohtar! The prose is spectacular, both somehow precise and inexact. This felt like a classic with the story unfolding really wonderfully. A story of sisterhood, love, and peculiarity of writing. Grammar is magic, and El-Mohtar knows how to create it.

Thank you to Tor Publishing Group and NetGalley for the eARC!

This is practically a modern fairy tale, a classic in the making. It was lush, atmospheric, and so magical. It was beautiful and tragic, but hopeful in the end. This is in my top 5 reads of the year for sure, even though it's only January. I absolutely adored this and can't wait to get a physical copy of my own. No sophomore slump in sight! This is an absolutely enthralling novel, and I beg everyone to please read it!

I don't know how to describe this story without just telling the whole thing, as it was quite short. There's two sisters who sing to two willow trees on a river. Why? I don't know. They live on the edge of faerie, where time and space doesn't work the same as the regular world. They are each other's whole world but one sister, Esther is rebuffing the advances of an aggressive suitor because she's in love with a Fae. Her sister is worried her sister is going to leave her behind and run away with the Fae even though she promised she wouldn't leave her behind. There's also something about grammar? I think like, actual language grammar. I don't understand that point either. This is very apathetic summery because I don't have much to take away except this is one of the most beautifully written books I've read. I could picture the trees and faerie forest and the river. But I don't understand the point, it's written like a fairy tale and it's obviously some sort of parable or allegory but I couldn't tell you what that was.

This. Book. Was. Stunning.

My ONLY complaint is that it wasn't long enough. The prose is beautiful. The story was enchanting. Magical sisters. Grammar as a magic system. Romance. Pining. This was everything.

While this story may have benefited from a bit more length, it was ambitious and poetic and emotional. I was taken aback by how quickly I cared for these characters. Like a fable, this was brief, beautiful and hard-hitting. I'll be rereading this closer to the release date and I'm so excited to share this with others.

Magic is grammar is magic — what a unique concept, capable of transforming (or translating, as it were) something as rote and boring as grammar into something exciting and special. The real magic at the heart of The River Has Roots is the relationship between two sisters, Esther and Ysabel, whose love for one another carries the story along the River Liss, winding through time and throughout the land in a way that makes it easy to tear through this book in one sitting. Between the stanzas of songs and riddles and the twining river running north to south, the lyrical nature of this gorgeous novella shines through. Encapsulating El-Mohtar's stunning turns of phrase and the whimsy and mystery of Faerie, fans of the Cruel Prince series or the Emily Wilde series will love this.