At one point I wanted to give up on this book, I was so annoyed. I didn’t, because I suck a DNF’ing, but honestly I’m glad I didn’t, because while I’m not particularly happy with the ending, I did like it better than what I thought was where we’re were going. I’m gonna have to revise my rating for the previous book, because while I think this one is slightly better, it’s still just fine - meaning I was being way too generous to RE.

Now, in honor of me almost DNF’ing a book, here’s a list of all the things that were driving me nuts, as concise and spoiler-free as I can manage:

Innes: gave up infant to die. very upset at man responsible for killing did not kill. Very happy child not dead. Wants to punish non-killing man for the child she’s happy is alive being alive, forever, or with death. Wants to take in child, now adult, as if nothings happened. Thinks any of this is reasonable. Also has zero interest in or concern for the life of the one (of three) children she’s has actually kept and managed to raise to adulthood. Will, and does, gladly, and repeatedly, trade that child (now also adult)’s life for the return of the child she, willingly, abandoned to die. The west is checks notes… just and fair?

Torin: has most definitely learned and grown from RE, yet is somehow still pulling the exact same tantrums. At one point, Torin gets mad a Sidra for something he did, storms out of their home at night. Comes to the conclusion that he was wrong, and should be the one to apologize. Gets sidetracked and does not do that. Did I describe RE or FE? Exactly. (Although I am still holding out hope for OhMyDio gracing us with their version again)

Adaira: not one thought in this woman’s head about everyone in the East, including her abandoner parents, constantly essentially deadnaming her. Not one single thought, before she’s then crying about being called Adaira again. Giant missed opportunity for conflict, even if only internal, and it would’ve been so easy to add too. Personally, I imagine it with a bold “My name [optional dramatic pause] is Adaira” during the final conflict. But sure. No thoughts just vibes is also fine, I guess.

Jack: besotted fool (affectionate), does actually not excuse being stupid fool (derogatory). Man doesn’t have two brain cells to rub together to try and preserve his own life. Also, wtf are “new moon eyes”? Is it referencing the color? The shape? Both? Neither? This shouldn’t bother me this much, but shit is piling up.

The book (the split in half one in the story, not the book itself, although…): why were we constantly forgetting about the book? Especially once they (by pure luck) stumble across the other half. Like, how hard could it have been to give it a quick skim through? Like did it even really matter? I feel it could’ve been cut from this duology and everything would’ve been the same.

Moray: Villain. Insane. Insane villain. That’s it, that’s all he is. Bro’s only character traits are his motives making no sense, and being evil.

The source of the title: Adaira writes letter to not send to Jack. Jack finds it and reads it anyway. Jack lies on the floor. Adaira has barely a reaction to this. Adaira strips Jack and straddles him, on the floor. He is her fire endless. Roll credits. There is still nearly a quarter of the book left.

Cut to me, looking up from the book, dead-eyed stare like I’m on a tv-show, trying to convey to the camera how close I am to giving up on life.

Kae: her character itself is fine, but the way it way included felt very deux ex machina in the sense of shit we don’t actually have room in the book to properly explore and explain this lore because we’ve been dilly dallying too much, so let’s just make this character to infodump it.

The “deadline” of Jack and Adaira’s marriage: this is the only part where I cannot avoid slight spoilers, but it’s also the last part, so skip it if you don’t want to know… While it was less constant in this compared to RE, we were still frequently pushed the narrative of “time running out” due to Jack and Adaira’s initial marriage only lasting a year and a day. Which, on its own, like, did it ever really matter? Not really. But then in the end, by the end of this book, when the actual conflict of the book has been over for over 100 days… it’s still only been about 6 months. Why on earth should I have been concerned about a temporary marriage, that could be solidified at any point, running out, when everything in both books is resolved in like two months? It’s ridiculous. Why would you keep bringing it up??? Even if you stretched the timeline to the full year, it was still never a problem. Fucking absurd. Cut that too, nothing changes.

A River Enchanted feels like a fairytale, one carried by the breezes of the island, spread like gossip and around hearth fires. At first, it was hard to get invested, but the whimsical, magical world of spirits and enchantments drew me in. Despite that I found it somewhat lacking, and by the end I just felt both underwhelmed and kind of impressed. Impressed because romantasy doesn’t usually work at all for me, and A River Enchanted kind of did. What I didn’t like My biggest complaint was the lack of depth in some of the characters. Specifically, Adaira and Jack. Adaira felt a step or two removed from everything that was going on, despite being central to most of the story’s events. I can’t exactly put my finger on why, other than her character was never fully fleshed out. This also led to her relationship with Jack feeling shallow. (Which honestly, I didn’t really care that much about because I was more invested in the mystery than their relationship.) I also wish there was more emphasis on the mystery of the missing girls, while it was central to the plot, I never really felt like it was constructed well. The perpetrator and their motivations specifically also made very little sense to me. The major plot twist also felt unscary, and almost completely out of the blue. The fallout and the clan’s reaction to the plot twist I found very extreme, and unrealistic. Some of it is justified but not to that extent. Jack’s decision at the end also just did not make sense to me, based on what he had previously said, and what seemed to be his feelings. I do think some of this can be justified by raging emotions, but overall it completely went back on what a not insignificant part of the book was spent building, and on his previously established character. This book is also long. Which is by no means a bad thing, until you take into account that for a book of this size way more should have happened than actually did. There was a lot of padding, and it really bogged down the already slow pace. What I liked The world was by far the best part of the entire book. I loved the spirts, (even if it’s not the most original,) the way wind steals gossip, and the way secrets make enchantments. I didn’t realize until after that this was supposed to be kind of Scottish though, and I did not get any Scottish vibes. (In my head the plaids were like “woodcutter performative apple picking,” which admittedly is kind of strange, but that’s what I will forever picture them as.) Sidra was by far my favorite character, I loved her wisdom and patience. She is also the only one that had a character arch that I liked. I felt like Jack was supposed to have one, but I didn’t feel like he changed much. Torrin’s arch also fell flat, but again I can’t put my finger on why. Overview I’m… conflicted. I think my problems with this book revolve around it not being for me, not through any major flaw of the writing. I am pleasantly surprised because half of me expected to hate it despite the positive reviews. Instead, I came away kind of on the fence, because it has potential, I just didn’t like the execution. Would I recommend? If you love or are looking to get into fantasy/romantasy yes. But it’s also one of like three romantasy books I’ve read so I’m hardly an expert. I wouldn’t not recommend it, but nor am I going to go shouting if from the rooftops.