Amal El-Mohtar’s novella The River Has Roots flows like its namesake—enchanting, melodic, and deceptively powerful. This slim volume carries the weight of a much longer work, weaving together folklore, familial love, and the grammar of magic into a tapestry as intricate as the willows that line the River Liss. Set in the liminal space between the mortal realm and Faerie (or Arcadia, as some characters prefer), El-Mohtar has crafted a love story that transcends both death and genre conventions.
In this tale of the Hawthorn sisters—Esther and Ysabel—whose voices “ran together like raindrops on a windowpane,” El-Mohtar demonstrates her mastery of language and emotional resonance. The story sings with the rhythms of folk ballads while exploring themes of sisterhood, sacrifice, and the sometimes destructive nature of love.
Plot and Setting: Where Mortality Meets Enchantment
The novella centers on the Hawthorn family, who for generations have tended the willows along the River Liss, singing to them in gratitude for their translation of grammar—the magic that flows from Arcadia. Sisters Esther and Ysabel share an unbreakable bond, their harmonized voices stirring magic in the air around them.
When Esther falls in love with Rin, an enigmatic being from Arcadia, she rejects the unwanted advances of neighbor Samuel Pollard. In a fit of jealous rage, Pollard murders Esther, pushing her into the River Liss. The river, recognizing her connection to Arcadia through her betrothal ring, carries her dying self into Faerie, where she’s transformed into a swan and later, with Rin and grammarian Agnes Crow’s help, into a magical harp. Rin returns her to the mortal world as this enchanted instrument, allowing Esther to expose her murderer and share a final song with her beloved sister.
The world-building is subtle yet immersive. The town of Thistleford exists on the edge of Faerie, with the Modal Lands and the stone gateway called the Refrain marking the border between realms. El-Mohtar treats Faerie not as a fairytale kingdom but as a place of different rules and timescales—simultaneously distant yet immediate, familiar yet foreign.
Characters: Richly Drawn with Authentic Complexity
The strength of The River Has Roots lies in its characters, particularly the Hawthorn sisters:
- Esther – The elder sister with dark December hair, thoughtful and gregarious despite her inclination toward solitude. Her fascination with riddles and Arcadia creates tension with her devotion to her sister.
- Ysabel – The younger sister with bright summer-corn hair, outwardly cheerful but inwardly shy. Her fear of losing Esther to Arcadia stems from childhood trauma.
- Rin – Esther’s Arcadian lover, with a voice “like weather,” who shifts shapes and speaks in riddles. Their devotion to Esther transcends death itself.
- Samuel Pollard – The neighbor whose unrequited love for Esther turns to murderous rage, portrayed with just enough dimension to make his villainy believable rather than cartoonish.
The relationship between Esther and Ysabel forms the emotional core of the story. Their promise to never leave each other, made in childhood, becomes both a blessing and burden that drives the narrative forward. El-Mohtar brilliantly captures the complexity of sisterly love—both its joy and its constraints.
Prose and Style: Ballads in Prose Form
El-Mohtar’s background as a poet shines through in her prose. The language is lyrical without being overworked, with sentences that beg to be read aloud:
“The River Liss runs north to south, and its waters brim with grammar. From its secret sources in Arcadia it rushes, conjugating as it flows into the lands we think we know.”
The narrative structure resembles a folk ballad, complete with refrains, repetitions, and a circular journey. El-Mohtar employs an omniscient narrator who occasionally addresses the reader directly, creating an intimate storytelling experience reminiscent of oral traditions:
“You might well ask, why would these prospective gram catchers be so few? Why didn’t every latecomer rush out beyond the Professors’ trunks to drag baskets through the wild waters of the Liss for a chance at great fortune?”
The integration of songs and riddles into the text enhances this folk-ballad quality. Original verses like “Oh what is stronger than a death? / Two sisters singing with one breath” feel like authentic folklore despite being El-Mohtar’s creations.
Themes: The Magic of Voice and Memory
Several interconnected themes run through the novella:
The Power of Voice and Song
Voices in The River Has Roots don’t merely communicate—they transform. Esther and Ysabel’s harmonies carry actual magic, and singing serves as both expression and spell-casting. Even in death, Esther’s voice lives on through her harp-form. This theme extends to narrative voice itself—how stories can preserve, transform, or erase.
The Grammar of Magic and Love
El-Mohtar creates a unique magic system based on grammar—the rules that transform one thing into another. Just as language conjugates through tenses, so does the River Liss transform what it touches. This serves as a metaphor for how relationships change us, sometimes in ways we don’t expect or desire.
Memory and Identity
What makes us who we are? The novella suggests that memory plays a crucial role in identity—and that losing or altering memories can fundamentally change a person. Esther’s transformation from woman to swan to harp raises questions about what remains of us when our form changes.
Sisterhood and Promise-Keeping
The promise between Esther and Ysabel—to never leave each other—drives much of the plot. El-Mohtar explores how such promises can both nurture and restrict, and how true love might sometimes mean releasing someone from a promise rather than holding them to it.
Critiques: Where the Stream Runs Shallow
Despite its many strengths, The River Has Roots isn’t without flaws:
- Pacing Issues: The novella’s brisk pace sometimes rushes past important emotional beats. Esther’s engagement to Rin feels slightly underdeveloped—we’re told rather than shown why their love is deep enough to transcend death.
- World-Building Gaps: The magic system, while beautifully conceived, remains somewhat nebulous. What exactly is “grammar” in this world? The rules seem to shift according to narrative needs rather than follow consistent internal logic.
- Secondary Characters: While the main characters are richly drawn, secondary figures like Esther and Ysabel’s parents receive minimal development, appearing mainly as background elements rather than fully realized individuals.
- Abbreviated Resolution: The ending, while poetic, feels somewhat abrupt. The suggestion that Ysabel might find her way to Arcadia is tantalizing but underdeveloped, leaving readers with questions that could have been explored more thoroughly.
Comparison to El-Mohtar’s Other Works
Fans of El-Mohtar’s Hugo Award-winning novella This Is How You Lose the Time War (co-written with Max Gladstone) will recognize her lyrical style and talent for epistolary elements, though The River Has Roots trades science fiction for folklore. Both works examine love that transcends conventional boundaries and the transformative power of communication.
The short story “John Hollowback and the Witch” (included at the end of this volume) serves as an interesting companion piece, exploring similar themes of transformation and hidden truths but with a darker tone and different narrative approach.
Final Verdict: A Spellbinding Addition to Fairy Tale Literature
The River Has Roots stands as a beautiful addition to the tradition of literary fairy tales. El-Mohtar has created a work that feels both timeless and timely, exploring eternal themes of love and sacrifice through a fresh lens.
The novella’s strength lies in its voice—both the literal voices of its singing protagonists and El-Mohtar’s distinctive narrative voice. Like the Professors’ Hymn that the Hawthorn sisters sing to the willows, this story lingers in the mind long after reading, its melodies echoing in unexpected moments.
For readers who enjoy lyrical prose, folkloric elements, and stories about the bond between sisters, The River Has Roots offers a deeply satisfying experience despite its brevity. It sits comfortably alongside works by authors like Naomi Novik, Erin Morgenstern, and Catherynne M. Valente in its ability to transform familiar fairy tale elements into something both recognizable and wonderfully new.
