A review by veryreaderie
Serpentine by Cindy Pon
4.0
A fantastic read. The setting was incredibly vibrant (I don't think you could read a Kingdom of Xia book without falling in love with the setting) and our heroine—the endlessly practical handmaiden Skybright, who occasionally turns into a snake-woman—was the perfect change of pace for a fantasy book. Her emotions were as genuine and compelling as a heroine's should be, but her loyalty and practicality stood out as just that bit different. An excerpt:
[[Nanny Bai gave a low chuckle. "You have always been practical to a fault."
Skybright kissed Nanny on the cheek before she left, wondering how practicality could ever be a fault.]]
This made me laugh, as Skybright's internal dialogue did tend to be pretty "well this is just how it has to be".
Other things to love: the concept of platonic jealousy explored without real judgement (what do you do when your best friend falls in love with someone, and you can feel that person slipping into territory that used to belong to just the two of you?), a sweet romance that would have been cliché if the 'telling you I don't care so you leave' ploy had worked, except it totally didn't and all is well (at least in that arena), SNAKE-WOMAN, mysterious immortal being whose morality is fairly questionable despite continuing benevolent acts. Skybright's dual identity as both a human girl and a monstrous predator was beautifully set down. The book suffered from occasional not-sure-where-this-is-going-ness (as in, the fantasy elements often seemed impossible to predict/random) but that doesn't matter very much in context of all there is to enjoy.
[[Nanny Bai gave a low chuckle. "You have always been practical to a fault."
Skybright kissed Nanny on the cheek before she left, wondering how practicality could ever be a fault.]]
This made me laugh, as Skybright's internal dialogue did tend to be pretty "well this is just how it has to be".
Other things to love: the concept of platonic jealousy explored without real judgement (what do you do when your best friend falls in love with someone, and you can feel that person slipping into territory that used to belong to just the two of you?), a sweet romance that would have been cliché if the 'telling you I don't care so you leave' ploy had worked, except it totally didn't and all is well (at least in that arena), SNAKE-WOMAN, mysterious immortal being whose morality is fairly questionable despite continuing benevolent acts. Skybright's dual identity as both a human girl and a monstrous predator was beautifully set down. The book suffered from occasional not-sure-where-this-is-going-ness (as in, the fantasy elements often seemed impossible to predict/random) but that doesn't matter very much in context of all there is to enjoy.