luce (cry baby)'s Reviews > River Mumma

3 ½ stars (rounded up)

Great start, meandering middle, satisfying conclusion. Percy Jackson by way of Neil Gaiman, Zalika Reid-Benta's River Mumma is a short yet compelling urban fantasy novel inspired by Jamaican folklore that explores the importance of ancestral ties in the modern world.

Set in Toronto, our main character is Alicia who is very much going through a quarter-life crisis after finishing grad school. she's now 'stuck' in a retail job she neither likes nor is particularly gifted at, and tends to isolate herself from others. Alicia's humdrum existence is brought to a halt by River Mumma, a Jamaican water deity, who appears to Alicia and tasks her with a time-sensitive quest: Alicia has 24 hours to find River Mumma's missing comb. Much like Percy Jackson, Alicia is not alone in her quest. By her side is Heaven, who is very knowledgable in Jamaican folklore, and Mars, whose participation in this possibly life-endangering adventure is reluctant at best. I really liked the banter and friendship between Alicia, Heaven, and Mars, and I also found Alicia's current 'predicament' (feeling lost after finishing grad school, unsatisfied but unable to leave the world of retail), all too relatable. The fantasy elements and the various 'obstacles' that present themselves along the way to finding the comb were imaginative and engrossing. What I did find repetitive and somewhat of a 'filler' were the scenes featuring these flashbacks into Alicia's ancestors. I just thought that they detracted momentum from Alicia's 'present'. Maybe I would have preferred it if these flashbacks weren't so samey, both in their vocabulary and imagery, and I would have felt more of a connection if, like in Reid-Benta's previous novel, the focus had been on her more immediate family (her mother and so on). Still, I did find River Mumma to be a captivating read that succeeds in imbuing a contemporary coming-of-age tale with folklore.