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A review by rheah
The Spy and Her Serpent by Maria Ying
challenging
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
The Spy and Her Serpent has been described by one of the authors on Twitter as :
👩❤️💋👩 t4t
🗡️ knife lesbian vs. knuckle lesbian
🔎 mistaken identities
🍦 pear and blue cheese ice cream
😭 ruminations on the terrifying violence of self actualization
👮♀️ ACAB
So let me go back on those elements:
•t4t : both Dallas and Olesya are trans women and lesbians. This novel truly does t4t justice as their transness is an element that brings the characters closer and help them connect in a way that they couldn't have with a cis woman
•knife vs knuckle: which also took the form of knife femme and knuckle butch. THIS BOOKS UNDERSTOOD BUTCHES SO WELL I LOVE YOU. That's one of the best butch/femme romances I've read because it GETS it. The care, the seduction, the relationship between the butches, I loved it
•mistaken identity: truly does honour this trope with a side of revenge driven enemies to lovers
•pear and blue cheese ice cream: wtf was that horror, this book truly takes place in a parallel universe (that one sentence about the French 5th Republic falling did not escape my French eyes)
•ruminations on the terrifying violence of self actualization: this book has so much to say about identity omg
•ACAB: the MCs are trans women of colour and there's a scene of police brutality in the first third of the book. Also this is a theme of the book and is integral to the plot
Overall, the Spy and her Serpent is an amazing crime romance ( okay it's also my first) with all the scenes I expected to see (taking care of your injured lover, going apeshit over her getting hurt, etc) which truly understands its MCs and their transness, their lesbianism, and their desires.
The writing was solid, despite one or two awkard sentences where the authors used adjectives instead of "she" everywhere but I have one sentence in mind about a "bulky American" and "a -insert adjective I forgot- American" which was a bit clunky. There were some parts that I really loved in the writing so it's not one sentence that is going to ruin your enjoyment.
👩❤️💋👩 t4t
🗡️ knife lesbian vs. knuckle lesbian
🔎 mistaken identities
🍦 pear and blue cheese ice cream
😭 ruminations on the terrifying violence of self actualization
👮♀️ ACAB
So let me go back on those elements:
•t4t : both Dallas and Olesya are trans women and lesbians. This novel truly does t4t justice as their transness is an element that brings the characters closer and help them connect in a way that they couldn't have with a cis woman
•knife vs knuckle: which also took the form of knife femme and knuckle butch. THIS BOOKS UNDERSTOOD BUTCHES SO WELL I LOVE YOU. That's one of the best butch/femme romances I've read because it GETS it. The care, the seduction, the relationship between the butches, I loved it
•mistaken identity: truly does honour this trope with a side of revenge driven enemies to lovers
•pear and blue cheese ice cream: wtf was that horror, this book truly takes place in a parallel universe (that one sentence about the French 5th Republic falling did not escape my French eyes)
•ruminations on the terrifying violence of self actualization: this book has so much to say about identity omg
•ACAB: the MCs are trans women of colour and there's a scene of police brutality in the first third of the book. Also this is a theme of the book and is integral to the plot
Overall, the Spy and her Serpent is an amazing crime romance ( okay it's also my first) with all the scenes I expected to see (taking care of your injured lover, going apeshit over her getting hurt, etc) which truly understands its MCs and their transness, their lesbianism, and their desires.
The writing was solid, despite one or two awkard sentences where the authors used adjectives instead of "she" everywhere but I have one sentence in mind about a "bulky American" and "a -insert adjective I forgot- American" which was a bit clunky. There were some parts that I really loved in the writing so it's not one sentence that is going to ruin your enjoyment.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence