The Serpent Gates
27 Apr 2025 22:07![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
spiritsphereI read the Serpent Gates books a few weeks ago and liked them very much, so I thought I'd post about them here.
The first book, The Unspoken Name, follows Csorwe, a girl raised to be sacrificed by a cult that worships a god of death and destruction. She chooses to leave with a foreign wizard rather than be sacrificed. She then works for said wizard and helps him on his way to take back his place in the city he was exiled from.
The characters and the world are both interesting and built up nicely over the course of the book. I liked that the author left hints and details unexplained (helped by Csorwe's lack of curiosity). It makes later reveals more fun and rewards readers attentive to details.
My favorite character was, predictably, Belthandros Sethennai. Love that terrible man <3 Tal was a strong number two on my favorite list. He's truly an entertaining mess of a man.
The whole thing Sethennai, Tal, and Csorwe had going on was really fun. Tal and Csorwe hating each other and competing for Sethennai's attantion, Tal's one-sided feelings and ill-advised affair with his boss, and Sethennai failing to notice his two most loyal underlings are miserable because he doesn't really care about them beyond their usefulness to him. Amazing.
I think the book wrapped up nicely, with both Csorwe and Tal realising Sethennai's true nature and the fact that he'll never give them what they want from him, and choosing to leave him in the end. Csorwe kicking him in the balls is probably my favorite moment in the book. I love all of Sethennai's undignified moments, the fact that he's so powerful and high on himself makes the contrast really funny.
The second book, The Thousand Eyes, follows Shuthmili, Csorwe, and Tal starting a few years after Tal and Csorwe left Sethennai's service. Strange things are happening and ancient things are awakening, and soon there are more incarnations of Iriskavaal than Sethennai to deal with.
The plot in this book took a lot of fun twists and turns. I wanted more Sethennai and I got more Sethennai, good content too. My favorite moment was when he half-drowned in the lake. Tal unknowingly confessing to trying to impress him was also really funny. I really liked Sethennai and Tal's interactions in this book, especially in the last part. Sethennai's ending was about what I hoped for too, thank you author.
I also liked Tal and Tsereg's relationship, and I'm glad Tal finally found something better than Sethennai. Well, glad is the wrong word, I liked what they had going on after all, but good for Tal I guess.
There were some things that irked me, more so because I really liked the books. I guess my annoyance about things I don't like is proportional to how much I like something. Putting them at the bottom so people can stop reading if they want to avoid negativity. I know I sometimes hate when people complain about something I really like.
Book one
I wasn't that enthused by the romance plot in the last part, and I didn't like Shuthmili that much. Not for any real reason, she just didn't hit the mark with me.
I felt like Csorwe's complete lack of interest in and examination of Sethennai's strange reaction when getting the Reliquary was a bit unrealistic, I mean, I get she had other things to think about but really? She can think about how she expected things to be different, but she doesn't think of that at all?
I also felt like her taking Oranna along at the end was a bit strange, since I would expect her to be able to find a foreign state prison on her own. It might have been because Oranna cast a spell on her, but it wasn't clear from Csorwe's POV.
Book two
While the ending wasn't bad, especially when it comes to individual character arcs, I don't think the ending of this book came together as well as the first one.
My biggest problem is with the way the narrative dealt with incarnations. We spend most of the book being shown just how wrong incarnations can go, and Sethennai gives us some insight into why it came to be so, yet the book ends with two new incarnations and expects the reader to think this is perfectly fine? Shuthmili even dismisses Sethennai's words, claiming she will just suffer loss for eternity. As if she didn't choose to become a monster the moment she risked losing her girlfriend.
As for Tsereg, I feel like they should be more interesting as the incarnation of the Unspoken One, but the book basically just goes "The ancient scary god was just misunderstood and is just a cute innocent kid now, don't worry about it :)". I think that whole thing could have been done better.
I also felt like Tal's ending as the new Chancellor was weird for his character. I liked his relationship with Tsereg though, and how he realised what love actually meant.
Finally, Sethennai not being able to use magic anymore is fitting for his character arc and makes sense on a thematic level, but doesn't make logical sense. How did he open the gate without magic? Why can't he draw on Iriskavaal's power from the void, like Shuthmili did with Zinandour?
Anyway, nothing super important, just some personal opinions.
The first book, The Unspoken Name, follows Csorwe, a girl raised to be sacrificed by a cult that worships a god of death and destruction. She chooses to leave with a foreign wizard rather than be sacrificed. She then works for said wizard and helps him on his way to take back his place in the city he was exiled from.
The characters and the world are both interesting and built up nicely over the course of the book. I liked that the author left hints and details unexplained (helped by Csorwe's lack of curiosity). It makes later reveals more fun and rewards readers attentive to details.
My favorite character was, predictably, Belthandros Sethennai. Love that terrible man <3 Tal was a strong number two on my favorite list. He's truly an entertaining mess of a man.
The whole thing Sethennai, Tal, and Csorwe had going on was really fun. Tal and Csorwe hating each other and competing for Sethennai's attantion, Tal's one-sided feelings and ill-advised affair with his boss, and Sethennai failing to notice his two most loyal underlings are miserable because he doesn't really care about them beyond their usefulness to him. Amazing.
I think the book wrapped up nicely, with both Csorwe and Tal realising Sethennai's true nature and the fact that he'll never give them what they want from him, and choosing to leave him in the end. Csorwe kicking him in the balls is probably my favorite moment in the book. I love all of Sethennai's undignified moments, the fact that he's so powerful and high on himself makes the contrast really funny.
The second book, The Thousand Eyes, follows Shuthmili, Csorwe, and Tal starting a few years after Tal and Csorwe left Sethennai's service. Strange things are happening and ancient things are awakening, and soon there are more incarnations of Iriskavaal than Sethennai to deal with.
The plot in this book took a lot of fun twists and turns. I wanted more Sethennai and I got more Sethennai, good content too. My favorite moment was when he half-drowned in the lake. Tal unknowingly confessing to trying to impress him was also really funny. I really liked Sethennai and Tal's interactions in this book, especially in the last part. Sethennai's ending was about what I hoped for too, thank you author.
I also liked Tal and Tsereg's relationship, and I'm glad Tal finally found something better than Sethennai. Well, glad is the wrong word, I liked what they had going on after all, but good for Tal I guess.
There were some things that irked me, more so because I really liked the books. I guess my annoyance about things I don't like is proportional to how much I like something. Putting them at the bottom so people can stop reading if they want to avoid negativity. I know I sometimes hate when people complain about something I really like.
Some petty gripes
Book one
I wasn't that enthused by the romance plot in the last part, and I didn't like Shuthmili that much. Not for any real reason, she just didn't hit the mark with me.
I felt like Csorwe's complete lack of interest in and examination of Sethennai's strange reaction when getting the Reliquary was a bit unrealistic, I mean, I get she had other things to think about but really? She can think about how she expected things to be different, but she doesn't think of that at all?
I also felt like her taking Oranna along at the end was a bit strange, since I would expect her to be able to find a foreign state prison on her own. It might have been because Oranna cast a spell on her, but it wasn't clear from Csorwe's POV.
Book two
While the ending wasn't bad, especially when it comes to individual character arcs, I don't think the ending of this book came together as well as the first one.
My biggest problem is with the way the narrative dealt with incarnations. We spend most of the book being shown just how wrong incarnations can go, and Sethennai gives us some insight into why it came to be so, yet the book ends with two new incarnations and expects the reader to think this is perfectly fine? Shuthmili even dismisses Sethennai's words, claiming she will just suffer loss for eternity. As if she didn't choose to become a monster the moment she risked losing her girlfriend.
As for Tsereg, I feel like they should be more interesting as the incarnation of the Unspoken One, but the book basically just goes "The ancient scary god was just misunderstood and is just a cute innocent kid now, don't worry about it :)". I think that whole thing could have been done better.
I also felt like Tal's ending as the new Chancellor was weird for his character. I liked his relationship with Tsereg though, and how he realised what love actually meant.
Finally, Sethennai not being able to use magic anymore is fitting for his character arc and makes sense on a thematic level, but doesn't make logical sense. How did he open the gate without magic? Why can't he draw on Iriskavaal's power from the void, like Shuthmili did with Zinandour?
Anyway, nothing super important, just some personal opinions.