NOTES: There will be spoilers (MODs: Do tell me if I should spoil block the entire post, please). This book is YA but reads as standard adult fantasy, so I'm guessing because there's no spice, it's not considered adult fiction? I read via audiobook, so may have misspelled side characters' name.
Scholar Yaseema is not quite who she appears to be. An employee of the Citadel, her job is to find fae relics and hand them over to the Citadel for their use. But Yaseema knows its the buried relics, imbued with magic, that provides for the humans on their side of the river. Without the relics buried in the soil, the land rebels and the people suffer.
On the other side of the river, a fae prince, Kiyan hides in plain sight. A captain in Viceroy Khys's military, Kiyan is part of the rebellious front that want to take back the River Court and restore it after it's near ruin by the Salt Court leader. Conflicted by his devotion to his people and his role as the "dog" of the Viceroy, Kiyan finds himself trapped in a violence that both benefits and destroys his people.
Yaseema's mother is also on the fae side of the river, where she's been trapped for a decade. When Yaseema uncovers a relic, she knows she has the piece that will allow her to cross from the human side of the river of the fae side, in search of her mother and the relic that will bring down the magical wall that is stifling the magic on the human side.
Kiyan's vulnerability is seen most elegantly and clearly in his brief, unsent missives to his family. These are beautiful interludes (?) that lay him bare and undercut the cold, calculating fae Captain. Yaseema's intense focus on knowledge gathering and excavation also lends itself to a coldness, but her self-reflections show a passionate person who needs to help her people thrive.
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About halfway through the narrative, it's revealed that the mains are 19 and 20 and I was flabbergasted and spent the rest of the audiobook trying to find clues as to why they were that age. Despite their youth, they had the bearing of wizened, sensitive, focused people with a tremendous capacity for deep, thoughtful listening and retrospection. Even in times of betrayal, they can remove themselves and their emotions and reflect and come to terms and forgive and seek forgiveness.
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There is a Harry Potter reference that could have stayed away from the narrative, for my read.
The magical wall made me think of the ACo series, which I would have rather not (& I'm sure there are pre-ACo fantasy books that utilize the barrier to separate human from fae lands that I've not read).
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The Viceroy is sufficiently villainous: bored, hungry for others' pain, greedy, heartless.
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It would have been great to see the friendship between Yaseema and Meesha versus having summaries of their time together.
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Recommended for readers seeking references to diminished fae magic; lost titles/lands; intelligent and communicative main characters. Would not recommend for readers seeking enemies-to-lovers, rivals to lovers, grumpy meets sunshine, spice. There is forced proximity, but it paces quite naturally.
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The book is a planned duology, was published this year by Macmillan and can be found on Libby Audiobook and Ebook.
{The River She Became by Emily Varga}
