I really wanted to like this book. As someone who is Chinese, it’s already hard enough getting my hands on a Chinese-inspired fantasy, and to see someone who looks like me be a heroine in the books. I picked up this book with anticipation, hoping or it to be good.
It was… all right.
Serpentine is obviously inspired by the folktale, Madam White Snake, which so many white readers missed because of the lack of familiarity with Chinese folklore. Instead of riffing off the legend wholesale, Pon gives her own twist, focusing on the strong female friendships and crafting a bildungsroman. It opens with Skybright, an orphan who is handmaiden to Zhen Ni, her mistress. While Zhen Ni grapples with her reluctance to get married, Skybright has problems of her own because she finds out that she can change into a snake.
After Zhen Ni’s mother discovers that her daughter is a lesbian, Zhen Ni runs away, with Skybright chasing after her. Both their fates intertwine, and Skybright has to choose between the relationships she has with her friends (and potential boyfriend) or choose to find out who she really is.
While the summary seems great, the writing is nothing to shout about. Pon wastes time and precious chapters with Skybright dilly dallying with going into the forest and to find out who she is. The lesbian relationship bogged the plot down and felt like it was added in to make the book more edgy. I liked the issues that Skybright’s love interest, Kai Sen faced, like how he has to choose between being an ascetic monk or to succumb to mortal desires, but these were glossed over in favour of inserting more romantic moments to please the reader. Stone coming in at the last minute to “resolve” the conflict by saying that the prophecy had been misinterpreted seemed like a cop out to me, and reflected its sloppy world building.
I really wanted to like this book, but I felt bereft after reading it as so much more could be done. (This book, is, however, far better than Silver Phoenix, which suffers from poor editing.) Even though I want to know what happens next, I wouldn’t read the sequel until I’m done with the books I would rather read.
4/10