Serpentine is set in the same world as Cindy Pon’s other series, The Kingdom of Xia. However, as I’ve never read those, I can’t comment as to whether the events there have anything to do with the ones in this novel. I really enjoyed this novel though, it’s a quick read that uses the under-utilized fantasy resource of Chinese legends and mythology as it’s base. For this alone, it is well worth the read.
Skybright is the head handmaiden to the youngest daughter of a wealthy merchant family, Zhen Ni. The two girls were raised together and despite the difference in their stations, they are best friends. The two girls are mischievous, with Zhen Ni instigating the majority of their scrapes, which would make sense given that in general Skybright is the one who would probably get in trouble when they’re caught. However, one night, Skybright wakes up with a strange heat coursing through her body and when she looks down she discovers that her lower half has transformed into that of a serpent. Zhen Ni, also starts keeping a secret of her own around the same time and the two girls are emotionally separated. Things come to a head as an opening in the gates of hell has allowed the demons and undead normally kept there to escape and wreck havoc upon the kingdom. As Skybright wrestles with her demon nature and tries to find her place in the world her mistress is desperately searching for her lover in a world that has gone to hell.
This book is worth it for the depiction of female friendship alone. Despite the rather forced nature of their friendship, and I think Pon is aware of it and does somewhat address it, the two girls are good friends and their love for each other is what drives a good part of the plotting. The book also explores romantic love, Skybright has two different suitors, kind of, and Zhen Ni’s romance is one that is slightly under-represented in YA literature. All in all, it’s really excellent.
One minor thing that bothered me are the linguistic choices that Pon makes in the novel. For example, her naming conventions: Zhen Ni’s name is Chinese in origin, whereas Skybright and a good number of the other female servants, have a translated name. I found it just a little jarring though it does serve to distinguish the wealthy from the poor. My problem is that it doesn’t make sense to translate one name but not the other. For example, in western fairy tale tradition we don’t tell the tale of Lettuce when Rapunzel is translated into English, but that’s what it feels like Pon is doing here. Like I said, it’s minor but it is kind of weird.
Highly recommended.