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Serpentia #2
Freedom Ring
Sometimes the hardest part of being the hero is knowing when not to…
Sookahr has been cast out, forced to live in exile while the Burrow’s corruption continues. He’s determined to stop the crimes of his people, so when an encounter with the terrifying rebel rodents brings him an unexpected ally, his quest begins anew.
From the great nursery tower to the heart of the darkest jungle, Sookahr and his friends seek a path to justice, pursued by the viper general who wants nothing more than to see him dead.
His dreams whisper to him of freedom, his heart longs for Virrlahn, and the whole of Serpentia is threaded through with oppression, subjugation, and war.
Winner of the 2021 Coyotl Award for Best Novel
Dive into the latest Serepentia adventure!
Sookahr has been cast out, forced to live in exile while the Burrow’s corruption continues. He’s determined to stop the crimes of his people, so when an encounter with the terrifying rebel rodents brings him an unexpected ally, his quest begins anew.
From the great nursery tower to the heart of the darkest jungle, Sookahr and his friends seek a path to justice, pursued by the viper general who wants nothing more than to see him dead.
His dreams whisper to him of freedom, his heart longs for Virrlahn, and the whole of Serpentia is threaded through with oppression, subjugation, and war.
Winner of the 2021 Coyotl Award for Best Novel
Dive into the latest Serepentia adventure!
Kindle Edition
Published February 12, 2021
1 person is currently reading
16 people want to read
About the author
Frances Pauli
141 books65 followersFrances Pauli writes books about animals, hybrids, aliens, shifters, and occasionally ordinary humans. She tends to cross genre boundaries, but hovers around fantasy and science fiction with romantic tendencies.
Her work has won four Leo awards, two Coyotl awards, and has been nominated for an Ursa Major award.
She lives in Washington State with her family, a small menagerie, and far too many houseplants.
Her work has won four Leo awards, two Coyotl awards, and has been nominated for an Ursa Major award.
She lives in Washington State with her family, a small menagerie, and far too many houseplants.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
April 5, 2022
An excellent sequel, exactly what it should be -- both a follow-up and building to higher levels, revealing more about the world and raising the stakes for all the characters involved.
August 3, 2022
My true rating: 4.5 stars
The worldbuilding gets an A+
Just being in Serpentia and the City of Tongues is enough to make me love this book. The cultures of serpents and lizards are SO well established, and yet there's still so much more I want to learn about their societies! This series deserves so much more attention.
Writing
Flows very well, just as in Book 1; I don't have any trouble with the descriptions of settings or how serpents, lizards, and mice interact with each other, nor do my eyes glaze over with too many details. It's impressive, really, because the anatomical differences from humans have to be accounted for and used appropriately within the bounds of the created fantasy civilization.
Characters
I love Lohmeer and Teerahl, and in this book they get to show some of their sweet side! They're my favorites, but Sookahr is an interesting protagonist as well; it was good to see him questioning his own hero complex, even if those thoughts were presented a bit heavy-handed at times.
Surprisingly, I liked the prickly new character Kahriil, too: she brought some much-needed tension to the story, and adds another dimension to the Burrow's messed-up politics.
And I know I'll just love the kid-who-is-not-named-"Fluffy" in Book 3. Already melting hearts being so adorable.
Plot
Honestly on the slow side for the majority of the time, but the last 25% really opens up both character arcs and the overarching plot. We're reaching new levels. There's a lot of pent-up resentment surfacing, and the question of what true justice is, is woven throughout. The thing with the egg-mothers and the pythos, as well as the true nature of the band was super intriguing. The politics really make you wonder about what's happening in our real human world too... So I'm pretty invested in the endgame for all of Sookahr and company's efforts.
Onward.
Not much exploration of the Burrow this time, but the Nursery has sure become a verrry interesting place. I can't wait to see how things go down between the rebels, egg-mothers, and the Burrow in the next volume. Serpentia is now definitely up there in terms of my list of favorite series.
The worldbuilding gets an A+
Just being in Serpentia and the City of Tongues is enough to make me love this book. The cultures of serpents and lizards are SO well established, and yet there's still so much more I want to learn about their societies! This series deserves so much more attention.
Writing
Flows very well, just as in Book 1; I don't have any trouble with the descriptions of settings or how serpents, lizards, and mice interact with each other, nor do my eyes glaze over with too many details. It's impressive, really, because the anatomical differences from humans have to be accounted for and used appropriately within the bounds of the created fantasy civilization.
Characters
I love Lohmeer and Teerahl, and in this book they get to show some of their sweet side! They're my favorites, but Sookahr is an interesting protagonist as well; it was good to see him questioning his own hero complex, even if those thoughts were presented a bit heavy-handed at times.
Surprisingly, I liked the prickly new character Kahriil, too: she brought some much-needed tension to the story, and adds another dimension to the Burrow's messed-up politics.
And I know I'll just love the kid-who-is-not-named-"Fluffy" in Book 3. Already melting hearts being so adorable.
Plot
Honestly on the slow side for the majority of the time, but the last 25% really opens up both character arcs and the overarching plot. We're reaching new levels. There's a lot of pent-up resentment surfacing, and the question of what true justice is, is woven throughout. The thing with the egg-mothers and the pythos, as well as the true nature of the band was super intriguing. The politics really make you wonder about what's happening in our real human world too... So I'm pretty invested in the endgame for all of Sookahr and company's efforts.
Onward.
Not much exploration of the Burrow this time, but the Nursery has sure become a verrry interesting place. I can't wait to see how things go down between the rebels, egg-mothers, and the Burrow in the next volume. Serpentia is now definitely up there in terms of my list of favorite series.
April 24, 2023
This is the second in the ‘Serpentia’ series, following on from ‘Disbanded’. Sookahr is now an exile, living in the wilds beyond the Burrow, but he longs to do something about the injustice of the society he’s left behind. So, with the aid of some allies including his former slave, Kwirk, he sets out to try and change things, starting with the nursery.
There is some deviation from the first book here. In ‘Disbanded’, the word Aspis seemed to mean the ruling class in general, but now it seems to mean elapids specifically (despite Aspis being a viper genus!). When it’s stated that all pythons and vipers have heat pits (which is not true, incidentally), Sookahr reacts as though this ability is something he had no knowledge of – yet another snake used its heat sense to guide him during the first book.
In addition, the author sometimes seems to forget that she’s writing about snakes, not people. For example, a snake would not “march” or “waltz” anywhere – they don’t have legs! Nor would they refer to being “spurred on” or describe something as “razor sharp”, since they would never have invented spurs or razors. There are a couple of factual errors too, such as Sookahr mentioning opening his eyes (snakes’ eyes are always open), Kwirk saying of snakes that “they can’t see colour at all” (which is not the case), and snakes of different species and even families being able to breed with each other.
There are also some grammatical and spelling mistakes, such as “meddle” in place of “mettle”, “formerly” in place of “formally”, and “snuggly” in place of “snugly”. The opening quote of speech is often in a different font to the closing quote, and there are occasional gaps in the text that shouldn’t be there. These aren’t huge problems, but they are mild irritations that you can’t help noticing, throwing you out of the story.
On the whole, this isn’t a bad sequel if you can get past the various errors, but I did find it a bit slow-moving at times, with a fair portion of it feeling like padding. I enjoyed the story, though I couldn't help thinking how much better it could have been if it were factually accurate and written from a more thoroughly serpentine point of view. If you liked the first book, you’ll probably like this.
There is some deviation from the first book here. In ‘Disbanded’, the word Aspis seemed to mean the ruling class in general, but now it seems to mean elapids specifically (despite Aspis being a viper genus!). When it’s stated that all pythons and vipers have heat pits (which is not true, incidentally), Sookahr reacts as though this ability is something he had no knowledge of – yet another snake used its heat sense to guide him during the first book.
In addition, the author sometimes seems to forget that she’s writing about snakes, not people. For example, a snake would not “march” or “waltz” anywhere – they don’t have legs! Nor would they refer to being “spurred on” or describe something as “razor sharp”, since they would never have invented spurs or razors. There are a couple of factual errors too, such as Sookahr mentioning opening his eyes (snakes’ eyes are always open), Kwirk saying of snakes that “they can’t see colour at all” (which is not the case), and snakes of different species and even families being able to breed with each other.
There are also some grammatical and spelling mistakes, such as “meddle” in place of “mettle”, “formerly” in place of “formally”, and “snuggly” in place of “snugly”. The opening quote of speech is often in a different font to the closing quote, and there are occasional gaps in the text that shouldn’t be there. These aren’t huge problems, but they are mild irritations that you can’t help noticing, throwing you out of the story.
On the whole, this isn’t a bad sequel if you can get past the various errors, but I did find it a bit slow-moving at times, with a fair portion of it feeling like padding. I enjoyed the story, though I couldn't help thinking how much better it could have been if it were factually accurate and written from a more thoroughly serpentine point of view. If you liked the first book, you’ll probably like this.
April 6, 2021
I think I enjoyed this second book in the series a little more even than the first. This book, now that all the world-building is out of the way, is able to delve a lot more into the already interesting political and sociological discussions introduced by the first.
The protagonist, Sookhar, puts it upon himself to try saving everyone from an oppressive and abusive society, and this is treated in a very realistic way--there's a pretty brutal examination in here of the concept of a hero, including thoughts given to those people the hero thinks it's his job (and his alone) to save. The way this is eventually resolved I found particularly original and clever. My only criticism, if I can even call it that, is that some bad stuff happens to our cute snake and mouse heroes, and I don't like seeing bad things happen to cute snakes and mice.
Yes I will be reading every subsequent book in this series.
The protagonist, Sookhar, puts it upon himself to try saving everyone from an oppressive and abusive society, and this is treated in a very realistic way--there's a pretty brutal examination in here of the concept of a hero, including thoughts given to those people the hero thinks it's his job (and his alone) to save. The way this is eventually resolved I found particularly original and clever. My only criticism, if I can even call it that, is that some bad stuff happens to our cute snake and mouse heroes, and I don't like seeing bad things happen to cute snakes and mice.
Yes I will be reading every subsequent book in this series.
August 14, 2021
A really enjoyable follow-up to book 1. The main character continues to be really interesting, and it's great to see how his relationship with those around him evolve over the story.
There were some occasional word choices that I didn't think suited the character (I'm pretty sure there was a mis-step used on occasion - given the main character is a snake, this seemed a little odd phrasing).
But for that, there wasn't much that I found amiss about this book at all. A great read.
Definitely recommend for those who like non-human protagonists.
There were some occasional word choices that I didn't think suited the character (I'm pretty sure there was a mis-step used on occasion - given the main character is a snake, this seemed a little odd phrasing).
But for that, there wasn't much that I found amiss about this book at all. A great read.
Definitely recommend for those who like non-human protagonists.
May 9, 2023
I was spellbound by the rich world of reptiles and rodents in Book 1 and the followup did not disappoint, expanding the universe to include the creepy lizards of the City of Tongues. A book about friends and family and how complicated they can be, where nobody is all good or all bad (except possibly the terrifying snake general).
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews