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House of Earth and Blood meets The Witch’s Heart in Rebecca Ross’s brilliant first adult fantasy, set on the magical isle of Cadence where two childhood enemies must team up to discover why girls are going missing from their clan.
(from Goodreads)
What a beautiful, enchanting novel. I was mesmerized by the prose, the world building, the characters, and the story.
I am not familiar with Rebecca Ross, and I understand that this is her first adult fantasy. I will say that parts of this felt a little like a YA fantasy (like the relationship between Jack and Adaira), but the characters are older and some of the issues they deal with are more adult. A River Enchanted was a fast paced, exciting, and lovely read.
Jack Tammerlaine, a bard, has no idea why has has been summoned back to his home on the magical isle of Cadence, by Laird, it seems. He returns home to find that some of the isle’s young girls have gone missing, and his old nemesis, Adaira, is hoping he can help her with his music in summoning the spirits to find out what has happened to them.
This reads a bit like a Scottish fairy-tale. I was mesmerized by the story and couldn’t put it down, wanting to know more about the spirits, what happened to the girls, and about the conflict between the Breccan’s and the Tammerlaine’s. The characters were interesting and I liked most of them. I loved the reading of Jack’s discoveries, of Torin and Sidra’s inner conflicts, of Adaira’s struggle to initiate peace and make the best decisions as heiress for her clan, and I adored Jack and Frae’s relationship. I also appreciate that this novel had romance but was not dominated by it. Also, I was not expecting one of the revelations towards the end, which was a pleasant surprise. My only qualm is that now I will have to wait until the next installation is available.
This is set for publication in the US on February 15, 2022. Preorder Here
Special thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers for this ARC in exchange for an honest review
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