Title: In The Serpent’s Wake
Series: Tess of The Road #2
Author: Rachel Hartman
Genre: YA Fantasy
Release Date: 1 February 2022
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Hello fellow booklovers and welcome to my stop on the TBR and Beyond blog tour for the thought provoking and visually evocative sequel to Rachel Hartman’s YA Fantasy series Tess of The Road, In The Serpent’s Wake. Today I’ll be sharing with you my review and favourite quotes.
I also wanted to say a huge thank you to TBR and Beyond Tours and Penguin Randomhouse/Underlined for providing me with an e-arc.
You can also find the rest of the Tour Schedule down below
Synopsis
From the critically acclaimed and bestselling author of Seraphina comes a piercing new fantasy adventure that champions our resilience and humility. MIND OF THE WORLD, OPEN YOUR EYES.
At the bottom of the world lies a Serpent, the last of its kind. Finding the Serpent will change lives.
Tess is a girl on a mission to save a friend. Spira is a dragon seeking a new identity. Marga is a woman staking her claim on a man’s world. Jacomo is a priest searching for his soul.
There are those who would give their lives to keep it hidden. And those who would destroy it.
But the only people who will truly find the Serpent are those who have awakened to the world around them—with eyes open to the wondrous, the terrible, and the just.
Review
Tess’s thought provoking and deeply emotional journey continues in this compelling continuation to the Tess of The Road, that sees Tess trading the road for the open seas as she tries to save a friend whilst taking on a world changing mission, to find the world serpent—a mission many would rather not succeed.
Picking up immediately after the events of Tess of The Road, where Tess has finally begun to come to terms with her past,learning to heal from the terrible and traumatic experiences she’s endured.
With Rachel Hartman’s skilfull and evocative writing front and centre we are treated to an unflinching (and deeply emotional) social commentary on our own world via hard hitting topics such as political unrest, racism, genocide, colonisation, white saviourism, misogny and sexual assault. The fact that we can find soo many direct correlations to our own society in terms of geopolitical issues, adds a depth of realism and poignancy that helped me truly connect with several of the characters.
Tess, our deeply flawed protagonist with a heart of gold has come a long way from the angry girl we originally met in Tess of The Road and I for one am super happy about it, though the trauma of her past (rape) still plays quite a large role in her personal arc which some people may find upsetting or triggering.
However given how much more expansive this is compared to the previous book, I did feel Tess’ story did get a little lost in amongst soo many intersecting storylines, though it did give us a chance to explore the backstories of several others in including Spira, who we briefly met in one of Tess’ flashback scenes (they were one of Will of Affle’s rivals.)
Marga, I feel comes across as the second most prominent character (besides Tess) and her POV heavily relies on the juxtaposition between her and Tess.
personally I just didn’t gel with Marga, who’s willing neutrality despite witnessing so much injustice did irk me a little—and though she did slowly begin to realise how wrong her perspective was and I did start to warm up to her, I still don’t feel her character arc is finished—I’d love to see alot more of Marga in future books (I’d love to see her get her own spinoff series.)
Though I have to say my absolute favourite characters had to be the Quigutl (a smart lizard like species distantly related to dragons) duo Pathka and Kikiu who appear in some of my favourite scenes. Their unique brand of philosophy and frank truth telling made me laugh more than once and their relationship with one another was much less hostile than in Tess of The Road, Id love to see more of these two in future.
Overall, this is a deeply moving and hard hitting YA fantasy that’s perfect for fans of slower, more detailed and character driven fantasy fiction.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ /5.
Favourite Quotes
1. “Tess was awakened by Kikiu getting up to hunt rats… the hatchling could have extricated herself from their “nest” without bothering Tess, but for some reason she’d preferred to crawl right over Tess’s face.”
2. “It was good-looking but fragile—like your face,” Kikiu crowed from above. “It was expensive but a waste—like your face!”
3. “I don’t accept that,” said the countess… It must be nice to be a countess, seeing only the clear, pure essence you want to see, and never the messy, complicated slob in front of you.” —Tess
4.“The sabak wasn’t the only creature he was feeding… Pathka was in the tank as well, cheerfully accepting fish “Hello, Teth!” Pathka cried, wagging his head spines. “So this is where you’ve been hiding” “Not hiding,” said Pathka. “It’s not our fault you never visit.”
5.“‘Swords are more honest than words,’ Master Tacques used to say. ‘Show me a man’s riposte, and I will show you his soul.’ ”“You know that’s poetic nonsense,” said Fozu, gently extricating himself.”
6.“there’s more than one way a story can end, even with destiny in it. Your life is still yours, whatever they told you.”—Kluit
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