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A review by jurassicreads
The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner
4.0
I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Dill, Lydia, and Travis lead 3 very different lives, but they all intertwine in Forrestville, Tennessee. Dill is the stigmatized son of a preacher serving jail time. Lydia is a fashion blogger running toward a future at NYU to pursue her dreams. Travis is a science fiction junkie who works in his alcoholic father’s lumberyard when he’s not in school. All three have their own pains, although 2 of which clearly have more to worry about. Lydia has the advantage of a slightly upper-middle class family to support her leaving her home town, meanwhile Dill and Travis are standoffish about making much more of their life beyond what they already know.
As someone from a small town in New Hampshire, I can see that Zentner spent quite a bit of town in the rural south that influenced his writing of this novel. He captures the sense of escape there is of getting out, even if it’s just to the mall or a faraway grocery store. There’s something empty about the expanse of time there is when you’re traveling on the highway, and he manages to capture the multitude of thoughts that can cross your mind when you take these trips. In general, the town of Forrestville has been developed beautifully by our author. Sometimes without having to spew out details, the scenes are set up nicely with our 3 main characters.
I did not expect to find myself so emotionally invested in these characters and the sadness that surrounds them. My main genre is science fiction, so I wasn’t 100% thrilled to read a YA fiction… but this blew things out of the water. There is an astounding sense of modernity to the characters in this book – Dill using YouTube, Lydia with her fashion blog – and I appreciated it greatly. In a time when EVERYONE knows about YouTube, and most about blogging, it seemed pretty appropriate that these people are not only aware of these tools, but using them to their advantage.
Zentner does a good job of telling this story from three different points of view while simultaneously keeping a semi-omnipresent POV. These three friends have known each other for years, so although they don’t know every single thought the other has, it is easier for them to infer some things that aren’t said outright, making the different POVs slightly fluid.
This book perfectly captures the sense of loss high school students have around graduating and leaving high school, sometimes to stay a ‘townie’ and sometimes to pursue greater things in other cities. The connection these characters have with one another is very true to life and will pull at your heartstrings (this one definitely had me crying in public).
Dill, Lydia, and Travis lead 3 very different lives, but they all intertwine in Forrestville, Tennessee. Dill is the stigmatized son of a preacher serving jail time. Lydia is a fashion blogger running toward a future at NYU to pursue her dreams. Travis is a science fiction junkie who works in his alcoholic father’s lumberyard when he’s not in school. All three have their own pains, although 2 of which clearly have more to worry about. Lydia has the advantage of a slightly upper-middle class family to support her leaving her home town, meanwhile Dill and Travis are standoffish about making much more of their life beyond what they already know.
As someone from a small town in New Hampshire, I can see that Zentner spent quite a bit of town in the rural south that influenced his writing of this novel. He captures the sense of escape there is of getting out, even if it’s just to the mall or a faraway grocery store. There’s something empty about the expanse of time there is when you’re traveling on the highway, and he manages to capture the multitude of thoughts that can cross your mind when you take these trips. In general, the town of Forrestville has been developed beautifully by our author. Sometimes without having to spew out details, the scenes are set up nicely with our 3 main characters.
I did not expect to find myself so emotionally invested in these characters and the sadness that surrounds them. My main genre is science fiction, so I wasn’t 100% thrilled to read a YA fiction… but this blew things out of the water. There is an astounding sense of modernity to the characters in this book – Dill using YouTube, Lydia with her fashion blog – and I appreciated it greatly. In a time when EVERYONE knows about YouTube, and most about blogging, it seemed pretty appropriate that these people are not only aware of these tools, but using them to their advantage.
Zentner does a good job of telling this story from three different points of view while simultaneously keeping a semi-omnipresent POV. These three friends have known each other for years, so although they don’t know every single thought the other has, it is easier for them to infer some things that aren’t said outright, making the different POVs slightly fluid.
This book perfectly captures the sense of loss high school students have around graduating and leaving high school, sometimes to stay a ‘townie’ and sometimes to pursue greater things in other cities. The connection these characters have with one another is very true to life and will pull at your heartstrings (this one definitely had me crying in public).