The River Has Roots very much presents with the vibes of a fairytale or an old story passed down through oral tradition. The story itself follows two sisters, Esther and Ysabel Hawthorne, who live in a small town called Thistleford. The Hawthorne land borders a river that flows out of an enchanted land where the Faeries live.

The world of The River Has Roots is a world where magic, grammar, and music all intermingle and connect to each other. As a result, the book is full of beautifully written prose, lovely songs, and a dreamy aesthetic.

The prose itself is very dense and poetic, but still manages to be quite accessible. There is heavy use of rhythm, repetition, and musical language. All of this combines to deliver a story that is far more emotionally complex than the short length of the story might imply.

I listened to this as an audiobook, and I have to say it really enhanced the experience in a way that only an audiobook could. Gem Carmella provides the narration and delivers exactly the right tone to the piece. There are songs throughout that are beautifully sung by the narrator. She gives each character in the story a unique style that helps to easily distinguish them and quickly allows the reader to understand their motivations.

In addition, there are other production elements present, like the sounds of flowing water, musical instruments, and even vocals performed by the author and her sister. These elements are layered in with the audio in a way that serves to enhance without rising to the level of distraction.

Unfortunately, this leads to one of my few issues with this book. On the one hand, the prose is so dense with emotion and meaning that it feels like it really would be best appreciated by reading the words on the page. On the other hand, the audiobook brings so much to the experience that would just not be able to be duplicated in the text. As a result, it leaves me uncertain as to the best format to approach this work from. I might say just do an immersion reading of the book, but that feels like a lot to ask of readers; meanwhile, I don’t feel like either format alone captures everything this story has to offer.

Further, because of the particular style of prose on display, I do feel that I must add some caveats to my recommendation. The prose takes getting used to, and the opening sections of the book are more poetic and harder to wrap your head around than the main bulk of the story, which takes on a more narrative structure. This could lead to a higher chance of bouncing off this book if the reader is not coming to it with the right frame of mind.

All that being said, The River Has Roots is undoubtedly a unique story that is told beautifully and incorporates elements that are not found often in popular fiction. For the right person, this book is an absolute must-read, and I can say it deserves the 4.5/5 rating I have given it.