The River She Became – Emily Varga

Published By: First Ink
Pages: 400
Released On: 02/07/2026

My mother told me magic used to pass freely between our land and the fae, like the current of the river that divided us. Until the invaders came, and the wall erected, cutting us off from them. And our crops died. Our people starved. And magic leaked out of our country like the drip in the rotten board of a ship. Nearly all our magic was gone. All except mine.

Yaseema is a brilliant scholar and loyal servant of the Empire – or so they think. By day, she catalogues the fae relics of her conquered kingdom. But by night, she reclaims the artefacts in secret, trying to restore magic to her dying land.

When she finds the long lost key to cross the River into the fae world, a ruthless realm awaits her there, ruled by monsters wearing beautiful skin. Even the cold-eyed captain who sees through her lies isn’t what he seems, and he is seeking the same lost relic as Yaseema: the crown of an ancient Fae Queen. To survive, they must work together to outwit ancient curses, battle creatures born of nightmares, and find a power that could resurrect their worlds. But soon they face the greatest danger of all: losing their hearts to each other.

*****

Thanks to NetGalley and First Ink for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.

I don’t know why, but before I read this I thought it was a non-fiction. About what, I don’t know. But I swear I’d read it was non-fiction but no, instead it’s a romantasy which was a nice surprise.

I do have a copy of Emily’s previous book She is Wrath, but haven’t read it yet so I had no expectations coming into this.

We have a map!

I found it a little haphazard, particularly to begin with. There’s a lot of information to remember. The world building was a bit confusing too, so much of it and it didn’t always seem to fit together. It would have read better, I think, if she’d taken a bit longer to build this world because she crams so much and so much lore into the first few chapters that it’s overwhelming.

There’s two main characters, and then a large cast of supporting characters, human, fae, and otherwise. The two main characters – Yaseema and Kiyan – were interesting, however I felt their chemistry was a bit off. It was like she felt she couldn’t just write a fantasy book, it had to be romantasy, and so it felt a bit forced. It might have been better if it had been earlier, but their whole thing doesn’t really start till the second half.

I think…I’m not sure how to explain it so bear with me. There was this whole plot that Yaseema is a human but she has magic that she shouldn’t do. That was meant to be the standout part, and I was looking forward to how she grappled with her magic in secret. But it almost felt too easy, that everything was handed to her on a plate and I didn’t get the emotional connection to that side of the story.

It’s billed as a cross between The Mummy and The Cruel Prince. Now, I’ve never read The Cruel Prince so I can’t comment on that, but The Mummy? It’s been years since I watched that but I couldn’t get the link really, other than them searching for a lost relic, but that could be any story really.

Other than the quick influx of lore in the first couple of chapters, it is rather slow. Now I believe this is the first book in a potential series, so it makes sense that she wants to take her time so she can continue the story in a later book. But for me anyway, the story and characters weren’t strong enough to hold interest during the slow bits, and because of the slow pace it meant I got a bit bored. And because of that, I probably won’t read the sequel, and so this then feels really slow because I’m not going to get the pay off with the next one.

Is it anything new? No, not really. I’ve read dozens of fae-related romantasy books over the years and they’re all fairly similar. This is definitely more YA aimed I think, and it didn’t have quite the depth I wanted from it. It did have everything you expect from a romantasy though, so if you’re a diehard fan of all the faery-type books then you’ll no doubt enjoy it.

It’s an interesting book, an exciting premise, the promise of danger, forbidden romance, and magic, and some well done characters. But I felt it did not meet its potential; it had major pacing issues, too much lore and world building too quickly, mostly lacklustre characters on the whole, a forced romance, and just not a whole lot of excitement.