zia_c's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
I think I'm in love with the fmc. Must be her "i-don't-give-a-fuck" attitude toward everything. As for the mmc, he's sweet but aside from that i don't see no personality.
The plot is good but it's kinda confusing for me. There's no time reference and not much detail about the world. I don't even know the mmc's age.. lol.
Either way, I enjoyed reading it. The ending wasn't satisfactory nor was the 3rd part of the book but anyway. I'm rating this book on fmc alone.
It's been a very long time since I've found a fmc with a spine and a impressive mouth( not like that).
I don't know if I'll continue the series. I've got what I wanted and I can kinda see where the story's going so imma put in down for now. Reason is the YA writing style. The writing is beautiful and engaging, no doubt, but I still kinda not completely connect with it.
The story is good and I think those who enjoy YA will really like it.
The plot is good but it's kinda confusing for me. There's no time reference and not much detail about the world. I don't even know the mmc's age.. lol.
Either way, I enjoyed reading it. The ending wasn't satisfactory nor was the 3rd part of the book but anyway. I'm rating this book on fmc alone.
It's been a very long time since I've found a fmc with a spine and a impressive mouth( not like that).
I don't know if I'll continue the series. I've got what I wanted and I can kinda see where the story's going so imma put in down for now. Reason is the YA writing style. The writing is beautiful and engaging, no doubt, but I still kinda not completely connect with it.
The story is good and I think those who enjoy YA will really like it.
Graphic: Sexism, Violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, and Vomit
Moderate: Sexual content and Infidelity
rinku's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
When I started reading Serpent & Dove, I was convinced that I would give it two or even one star. The beginning was so cliché and ridiculous, the characters unlikable, and the world flat. This first impression changed while reading and towards the end, I started to enjoy this novel.
Other reviews mention this as well, but the set-up for the story is so ridiculous. The witch Lou and the witch hunter Reid are forced to married because of an absurd moment: Reid is trying to catch Lou after she stole something in a theatre. Of course, it comes to a fight, and they fall in front of the curtain and the whole theatre, half-naked. For Reid to restore his honour, he’s forced by the bishop to marry Lou, just how she’s forced to this if she wants to live. There were some other moments in the story that were just over the top like this.
Other things especially annoyed me, like this overdone twist that . I was frustrated as well by this “characters get interrupted before they can tell important things”-cliché.
Spoiler
certain characters are secretly related to each other. This is the case with Lou being the child of the witch queen(?) and the bishop and Reid being the child of Madame Labelle and the king. I really hate this kind of plot twistBut like I’ve mentioned, the story gets way more interesting and dramatic towards the end, since the fantasy aspect starts to play a bigger role: .
Spoiler
Lou’s mom is able to kidnap her daughter and wants to sacrifice her, leaving Reid and his friends with no other choice than saving her. The finale was so dramatic with Lou almost dying, Madame Labelle actually dying and the reveal that Reid can use magic as wellI furthermore had some problems with the world. Christianity plays a huge part in the world which is a bit weird considering that this is a high fantasy novel? Besides this, there was barely any world building that we get the name of the city that the story takes place only after the first half. I generally liked the French influences in the settings, but those are rarely described, just like the magic system.
The writing style was okay, I guess. It tried too much to be “adult” aka using many swear words and making sexual references all the time but in comparison, the humour is so juvenile. This is apparently often the case with these novels that are marketed as YA but are NA in reality – looking at you, From Blood and Ash. Capslock is also used for screaming which I never like.
Talking about sexual references, those are constantly only made between men and women. It was annoying how much alleged differences between men and women are emphasized and how they say about Lou that she “fights like a man” or that she has “a name of a man”. The story acts like it’s against patriarchy but stuff like this keeps the patriarchy alive. Of course, there are only male witch hunters as well.
It took me some time to get warm with the characters, even though they are quite vividly described. Lou annoyed me at the beginning, and I hated Reid, his anger issues and possessiveness towards Lou. Later, the characters changed positively changed, and I even started to like the shipping since the romance is written well, besides this cliché question-answer-thing to get to know each other. It’s funny how she doesn’t care what others think of her, but he does so a lot. What bothered me though was this implied crush of Coco on Ansel who’s still underage.
I’m really curious to read the next book in the Serpent & Dove series because from what I’ve seen, it’s supposedly worse than the first book.
Graphic: Blood, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, and Violence
Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Murder, and Toxic relationship
owlishly_reading's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Blood, Cursing, and Violence
Moderate: Child abuse and Emotional abuse
Minor: Vomit, Infidelity, Genocide, and Death of parent
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