When I received a review copy of The Serpent Bride, Book One in the DarkGlass Mountain saga by Sara Douglass, I was a bit apprehensive of the large book with 627 pages. But the chapters are extremely short, and it’s very easy reading. And I was hooked on the story by chapter one.

Orphaned at a young age, Ishbel is now the archpriestess for the Order of the Coil. Their serpent god orders Ishbel to marry King Maximilian of Escator, but she is reluctant. Maxmilian, too, is told to marry Ishbel in order to usher in the Lord of Elcho Falling. But there is an ominous presence at work as well. There are those preparing for the evil Kanubai’s return. And they are willing to stop at nothing to ensure he awakens.

With many gods and beings with supernatural powers, this story has plenty of unexpected twists. And there are a vast amount of characters, which amazingly are easy to keep track of because of Douglass’ in depth character development for each of them.

This is no happy little fairy tale. Most of the characters have gone through tremendous hardships and heartaches. As in The Fellowship of the Ring, The Serpent Bride ends with a mild cliffhanger, leaving me anxious to read the sequel. This was a wonderful, magical story where I found myself completely drawn into the story and characters. If you love high fantasy, check out this and other novels by Sara Douglass.

The Serpent Bride is available for preorder on Amazon, and will be released on May 22nd.


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