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Forgotten Realms: House of Serpents #1-3
House of Serpents
1. Venom's Taste: Venom's Taste is the first title in a new trilogy exploring the political intrigues of the yuan-ti race, the details of which have been little explored in previous Forgotten Realms products. Lisa Smedman will be penning the entire trilogy, which will affect many other storylines in the Forgotten Realms setting.
2. Viper's Kiss: Viper's Kiss is the second title in a new trilogy exploring the political intrigues of the yuan-ti race, the details of which have been little explored in previous Forgotten Realms products. Lisa Smedman will be penning the entire trilogy, which will affect many other storylines in the Forgotten Realms setting.
3. Vanity Brood: Medusanna, A priestess of terrifying power convinces the Se'sehen, A yuan-ti tribe from the distant jungles of Chult to serve her growing cult of Sseth, The merciless god of the serpent people who languishes in the foul plane of Smaragh.
Where a trapped and desperate Karell can only hope Arvin will find her before the House of Serpents Finally destroys their last hope for freedom.
2. Viper's Kiss: Viper's Kiss is the second title in a new trilogy exploring the political intrigues of the yuan-ti race, the details of which have been little explored in previous Forgotten Realms products. Lisa Smedman will be penning the entire trilogy, which will affect many other storylines in the Forgotten Realms setting.
3. Vanity Brood: Medusanna, A priestess of terrifying power convinces the Se'sehen, A yuan-ti tribe from the distant jungles of Chult to serve her growing cult of Sseth, The merciless god of the serpent people who languishes in the foul plane of Smaragh.
Where a trapped and desperate Karell can only hope Arvin will find her before the House of Serpents Finally destroys their last hope for freedom.
757 pages, Paperback
First published October 6, 2009
3 people are currently reading
130 people want to read
About the author
Lisa Smedman
79 books114 followersLisa was very much the tomboy growing up in Vancouver, British Columbia--playing in the woods behind her house, building tree forts, damming the creek, playing army with GI Joe dolls, swinging on ropes, playing flashlight tag, building models and go-carts (which she later rode down the street). She also liked reading science fiction novels from the 1940s, the Doc Savage series, and the Harriet the Spy books.
In 1984, she began her professional writing career, first as a journalist then as a fiction writer. She counts science fiction authors Connie Willis, Robert J. Sawyer, and H.G. Wells, and classic books such as Treasure Island, as influences.
Several of Lisa's short science fiction and fantasy stories have been published in various magazines and anthologies, and in 1993 she was named a finalist in the Writers of the Future contest for science fiction and fantasy writers. She has also had three of her one-act plays produced by a Vancouver theater group.
Lisa is the author of Extinction, one of several novels set in the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game’s Forgotten Realms universe. Released in 2004, Extinction made the New York Times bestseller list for hardcover fiction.
After authoring several science fiction and fantasy novels, Lisa recently turned her hand to children's books. From Boneshakers to Choppers (2007) explores the social history of motorcycles. Her interest in motorcycles goes way back--as a teenager, Lisa enjoyed trips up the British Columbia coast, riding pillion on friends' motorcycles. She later purchased her own bike, a 50cc machine, to get around town.
Lisa is one of the founders of Adventures Unlimited, a magazine providing scenarios and tips for role-playing games. She has written short fiction for the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game's Ravenloft and Dark Sun lines. She has also designed a number of adventures and gaming products for Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Cyberpunk, Immortal, Shatterzone, Millennium's End, and Deadlands. Her original games include Valhalla's Gate, a tabletop skirmish miniatures game drawn from Norse mythology and runic lore. An avid gamer, Lisa belongs to the Trumpeter Wargaming Club.
After working for more than 20 years as a journalist, Lisa now divides her time between writing fiction and contributing to the Vancouver Courier (she edits and writes the History's Lens column). Besides a diploma in journalism, she also has a degree in anthropology. She is fascinated by history and archaeology, particularly the Bronze Age. Her future plans include writing more historical fiction, alternative historical fantasy, and game tie-in novels. Lisa is also interested in building models and dioramas, and tabletop miniatures gaming.
She lives in Richmond, British Columbia, with her wife, their son, four cats, and two pugs.
In 1984, she began her professional writing career, first as a journalist then as a fiction writer. She counts science fiction authors Connie Willis, Robert J. Sawyer, and H.G. Wells, and classic books such as Treasure Island, as influences.
Several of Lisa's short science fiction and fantasy stories have been published in various magazines and anthologies, and in 1993 she was named a finalist in the Writers of the Future contest for science fiction and fantasy writers. She has also had three of her one-act plays produced by a Vancouver theater group.
Lisa is the author of Extinction, one of several novels set in the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game’s Forgotten Realms universe. Released in 2004, Extinction made the New York Times bestseller list for hardcover fiction.
After authoring several science fiction and fantasy novels, Lisa recently turned her hand to children's books. From Boneshakers to Choppers (2007) explores the social history of motorcycles. Her interest in motorcycles goes way back--as a teenager, Lisa enjoyed trips up the British Columbia coast, riding pillion on friends' motorcycles. She later purchased her own bike, a 50cc machine, to get around town.
Lisa is one of the founders of Adventures Unlimited, a magazine providing scenarios and tips for role-playing games. She has written short fiction for the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game's Ravenloft and Dark Sun lines. She has also designed a number of adventures and gaming products for Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Cyberpunk, Immortal, Shatterzone, Millennium's End, and Deadlands. Her original games include Valhalla's Gate, a tabletop skirmish miniatures game drawn from Norse mythology and runic lore. An avid gamer, Lisa belongs to the Trumpeter Wargaming Club.
After working for more than 20 years as a journalist, Lisa now divides her time between writing fiction and contributing to the Vancouver Courier (she edits and writes the History's Lens column). Besides a diploma in journalism, she also has a degree in anthropology. She is fascinated by history and archaeology, particularly the Bronze Age. Her future plans include writing more historical fiction, alternative historical fantasy, and game tie-in novels. Lisa is also interested in building models and dioramas, and tabletop miniatures gaming.
She lives in Richmond, British Columbia, with her wife, their son, four cats, and two pugs.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
October 5, 2020
As I read through the three novels collected in House of Serpents, I will rate and review them each individually, then rate and review the collected edition as a whole at the end.
Book One: Venom's Taste - 3 stars
I found the first novel here to be perfectly serviceable and likeable brand fantasy. Moving at a snappy pace, with a fairly interesting and fun main character, we get a neat story set in a world where snake-human hybrids rule.
Our main character, Arvin, is a rogue with a heart of gold who was orphaned at a young age and left a charm by his mother, which he continuously touches to bring himself luck. Arvin is part of the Guild, an underground network in the city of Hlondeth, and makes magical rope for Guild members, though he despises working under them. Our story begins when Arvin has a meeting with a fellow Guild member named Naulg, who is quickly swindled by someone he believes is an escort.
The escort knocks both Naulg and Arvin out, and they awaken to find themselves in the middle of a cult ritual. The pair are forced to drink a concoction alongside various other kidnappees, but Arvin escapes in a rowboat. Determined to free Naulg, whom Arvin considers his one friend, Arvin returns to the bar where he met Naulg and meets a snake-woman, a yuan-ti, named Zelia. Zelia reveals that she has planted a psychic mind-seed in Arvin's mind that will take him over in a week, and she will only remove it if Arvin helps her unravel the cult, known as the Pox.
This is the central conflict of the novel, and it makes for a fun, quick read. Overall, I recommend it to people who are just looking for a breezy, entertaining fantasy novel to read in a couple nights.
Book Two: Viper's Kiss - 3 stars
Viper's Kiss is a definite step above the previous novel. It has all of the fast pace and energy of Venom's Taste, with solid side characters added in to the mix.
Arvin has succeeded over Sybil, supposed avatar of the snake god Sseth, in her plan to put a puppet in power in Hlondeth. Now, he travels to a new barony: Sespech, where humans are not considered an oppressed minority to the serpentine yuan-ti. He has been sent by Tanju, his psion mentor, to find Glisena, the baron's daughter, who has gone missing.
On his journey, he meets Karrell (easily the best character in this book), a mysterious woman who has some sort of powers that Arvin cannot place the source of. He inadvertently runs into Zelia, the yuan-ti from the first novel, who believes him dead. The tension Zelia places on Arvin and the story itself is palpable and extremely well-done whenever her presence is felt, whether she's physically near Arvin or not. Arvin uncovers a vast, web-like conspiracy on the undercurrent of Sespech involving midwives, satyrs, and demonic forces, and it is quite the ride.
The one huge drawback to this story is a huge spoiler: , and is the biggest reason that I could not bring myself to give this novel four stars. It was simply too jarring, too big of a disappointment, and far too clearly done . This, frankly, was just unfortunate. EDIT:
Overall, though, I recommend Viper's Kiss to anyone who enjoyed the first novel. Smedman clearly knows how to tell a compelling, easy-to-digest story, and it only got better here.
Book Three: Vanity's Brood - 4 stars
Vanity's Brood is yet another step up, with even snappier pacing and more emotional stakes than either two prior novels.
Book Three begins about six months after the end of Viper's Kiss, with Karrell revealed to have survived in the plane of Smaragd, a demonic place filled with fire and acid, and trapped with the she-demon who Arvin accidentally dragged there with her. Arvin, meanwhile, still believes Karrell to be dead and has spent his time preparing his revenge, planning on killing Sybil through an elaborate scheme that utilises many of his developed psionic powers. (This, in point of fact, is one of the best parts of the novel and strengthens the series as a whole: Arvin, though far more powerful here than in the first book, still makes mistakes and doesn't have the full breadth of usage in mind magic. Therefore, he's still able to lose, is not an invulnerable psionic god, and this keeps the stakes relatively high.)
Arvin's scheme to kill Sybil fails, but he meets a dwarf named Pakal, who plans to find and destroy the Circled Serpent, an artifact with the ability to open a planar door to Smaragd. This artifact is absolutely the Mcguffin here but it works, because the Circled Serpent has an express purpose, and is not in itself vaguely powerful. Regardless, the race is on and each of the characters schemes and lies and tries to find their way into getting their hands on both pieces of the Circled Serpent. It's fascinating and quite the adventure.
I would recommend Vanity's Brood heartily to anyone who enjoyed the first two books.
Overall: House of Serpents - 4 stars
Despite the fact that, were I to take the average of each of my individual scores for these novels, I would end up with a 3.3 (which, of course, would round down to a 3), I found that the three tales told in House of Serpents are all the stronger when packaged together.
Seeing Arvin's journey from sharp rogue all the way to skilled--but not, thankfully, overpowered--psion was very fun to follow along. Additionally, because of the ease of reading Smedman's writing provides, each of these novels is a very breezy, quick, and fun read that feels almost episodic. When taken together, you almost get the feel of a really solid season of television packaged into a box set, or, perhaps, a better and more thought-out analogy.
To conclude, I'll simply state that anyone who has a love for Forgotten Realms novels will certainly find a very entertaining collection here. Anyone interested in starting into the Forgotten Realms would not find this a bad place to start, though there would definitely need to be some Googling of god and goddess names to garner some understanding of the names being bandied about at times.
Book One: Venom's Taste - 3 stars
I found the first novel here to be perfectly serviceable and likeable brand fantasy. Moving at a snappy pace, with a fairly interesting and fun main character, we get a neat story set in a world where snake-human hybrids rule.
Our main character, Arvin, is a rogue with a heart of gold who was orphaned at a young age and left a charm by his mother, which he continuously touches to bring himself luck. Arvin is part of the Guild, an underground network in the city of Hlondeth, and makes magical rope for Guild members, though he despises working under them. Our story begins when Arvin has a meeting with a fellow Guild member named Naulg, who is quickly swindled by someone he believes is an escort.
The escort knocks both Naulg and Arvin out, and they awaken to find themselves in the middle of a cult ritual. The pair are forced to drink a concoction alongside various other kidnappees, but Arvin escapes in a rowboat. Determined to free Naulg, whom Arvin considers his one friend, Arvin returns to the bar where he met Naulg and meets a snake-woman, a yuan-ti, named Zelia. Zelia reveals that she has planted a psychic mind-seed in Arvin's mind that will take him over in a week, and she will only remove it if Arvin helps her unravel the cult, known as the Pox.
This is the central conflict of the novel, and it makes for a fun, quick read. Overall, I recommend it to people who are just looking for a breezy, entertaining fantasy novel to read in a couple nights.
Book Two: Viper's Kiss - 3 stars
Viper's Kiss is a definite step above the previous novel. It has all of the fast pace and energy of Venom's Taste, with solid side characters added in to the mix.
Arvin has succeeded over Sybil, supposed avatar of the snake god Sseth, in her plan to put a puppet in power in Hlondeth. Now, he travels to a new barony: Sespech, where humans are not considered an oppressed minority to the serpentine yuan-ti. He has been sent by Tanju, his psion mentor, to find Glisena, the baron's daughter, who has gone missing.
On his journey, he meets Karrell (easily the best character in this book), a mysterious woman who has some sort of powers that Arvin cannot place the source of. He inadvertently runs into Zelia, the yuan-ti from the first novel, who believes him dead. The tension Zelia places on Arvin and the story itself is palpable and extremely well-done whenever her presence is felt, whether she's physically near Arvin or not. Arvin uncovers a vast, web-like conspiracy on the undercurrent of Sespech involving midwives, satyrs, and demonic forces, and it is quite the ride.
The one huge drawback to this story is a huge spoiler: , and is the biggest reason that I could not bring myself to give this novel four stars. It was simply too jarring, too big of a disappointment, and far too clearly done . This, frankly, was just unfortunate. EDIT:
Overall, though, I recommend Viper's Kiss to anyone who enjoyed the first novel. Smedman clearly knows how to tell a compelling, easy-to-digest story, and it only got better here.
Book Three: Vanity's Brood - 4 stars
Vanity's Brood is yet another step up, with even snappier pacing and more emotional stakes than either two prior novels.
Book Three begins about six months after the end of Viper's Kiss, with Karrell revealed to have survived in the plane of Smaragd, a demonic place filled with fire and acid, and trapped with the she-demon who Arvin accidentally dragged there with her. Arvin, meanwhile, still believes Karrell to be dead and has spent his time preparing his revenge, planning on killing Sybil through an elaborate scheme that utilises many of his developed psionic powers. (This, in point of fact, is one of the best parts of the novel and strengthens the series as a whole: Arvin, though far more powerful here than in the first book, still makes mistakes and doesn't have the full breadth of usage in mind magic. Therefore, he's still able to lose, is not an invulnerable psionic god, and this keeps the stakes relatively high.)
Arvin's scheme to kill Sybil fails, but he meets a dwarf named Pakal, who plans to find and destroy the Circled Serpent, an artifact with the ability to open a planar door to Smaragd. This artifact is absolutely the Mcguffin here but it works, because the Circled Serpent has an express purpose, and is not in itself vaguely powerful. Regardless, the race is on and each of the characters schemes and lies and tries to find their way into getting their hands on both pieces of the Circled Serpent. It's fascinating and quite the adventure.
I would recommend Vanity's Brood heartily to anyone who enjoyed the first two books.
Overall: House of Serpents - 4 stars
Despite the fact that, were I to take the average of each of my individual scores for these novels, I would end up with a 3.3 (which, of course, would round down to a 3), I found that the three tales told in House of Serpents are all the stronger when packaged together.
Seeing Arvin's journey from sharp rogue all the way to skilled--but not, thankfully, overpowered--psion was very fun to follow along. Additionally, because of the ease of reading Smedman's writing provides, each of these novels is a very breezy, quick, and fun read that feels almost episodic. When taken together, you almost get the feel of a really solid season of television packaged into a box set, or, perhaps, a better and more thought-out analogy.
To conclude, I'll simply state that anyone who has a love for Forgotten Realms novels will certainly find a very entertaining collection here. Anyone interested in starting into the Forgotten Realms would not find this a bad place to start, though there would definitely need to be some Googling of god and goddess names to garner some understanding of the names being bandied about at times.
December 23, 2023
”I have to tread carefully where yuan-ti are concerned. I can’t afford to ruffle any more scales.”
Ending 2023 with a monster of a book in Lisa Smedman’s House of Serpents which collects three of her Forgotten Realms novels, all set in the kingdoms of the serpent-folk, the treacherously decadent yuan-ti. It’s a good choice because as the humanoid races go, the yuan-ti with their unsavory reputation and penchant for spawning weirdly monstrous aberrations, are often criminally overlooked as D&D villains. Smedman dials in to the alienness of the snakes’ culture, breathing eerie life into the yuan-ti city-state of Hlondeth with its sinuous streets, green-glowing masonry, and serpent-inspired cuisine. One of the strong points of this series is its setting and antagonists who feel about as devious and deadly (and perversely interesting) as R.A. Salvadore’s drow.
From there, the gist of series is fairly straightforward fantasy fare, pitting protagonist rope-maker/thief Arvin against a cult of yuan-ti bent on bringing godly destruction to the lands of Faerûn. The first book, Venom’s Taste (★★★), introduces Arvin who starts off as a bit of a hypochondriac before being gifted with one of the D&D’s more controversial powers: psionics. Never really a favorite of mine – psions often unbalanced the role-playing game – Smedman surprisingly makes the mind powers work. However, despite some exceptional world-building, the plot – while far from bad – has its uneven spots. Arvin’s loyalty to Naulg, for example, never really feels earned and Arvin, in a kind of repeating pratfall, gets waylaid, knocked out, and captured a lot (which is a pet peeve of mine, because seriously, wouldn’t someone have just killed him?). That aside, the highlight of the book (and maybe the whole series) is the introduction of the villainous, yuan-ti femme fatale Zelia, who is devious and debauched in all the right ways.
The second book, Viper’s Kiss (★★★★), is my favorite of the trilogy. The plot is even more straightforward as Arvin is dispatched to a rival city to find a missing princess only to find himself uncomfortably mired in an increasingly scandalous political and occult affair. If not for an unfortunate lull toward the middle – with some very odd casting of centaurs and satyrs as bad guys and a rather weird moment where Arvin feeds the bodies of his foes to wolves – this would have been five stars. The chess match between characters is compelling and the final chapters tense and page-turning with a desperation and bloodiness that leans heavily toward horror – all with the shadow of the arch-villain Zelia hanging at the edges. This one was edgy and quite-a-bit more adult than many of the other Forgotten Realms books I’ve sampled.
The conclusion, Vanity’s Brood (★★★), is a satisfying conclusion to the trilogy. To her credit, Smedman starts this one off with fireworks, wasting no time as Arvin races to confront the yuan-ti cult that has been pulling strings across the previous two books. Zelia is scene-stealer early-on but, as in Viper’s Kiss, the book stumbles a little thereafter as Arvin once again gets whooped upside the head and knocked out cold a few too many times for it not to feel a little slapstick. Smedman redeems things, though, by the time of the final confrontation on the plane of Smaragd in an action-packed, high-stakes finale … before doubling-down for a final reckoning with Zelia. If anything, the last book in the trilogy felt like it needed a little more space for world-building. Karrell’s counter-group never gets much background and the struggle between the various yuan-ti gods drops a fairly significant shoe near the end of the third novel – and then just kind of leaves it there. Ultimately, it has little impact on Arvin’s story, but it’s a weird plot choice.
This one gets four stars in a case where the whole is way more than the sum of its parts. Mainlining an entire trilogy in one volume can feel like drinking from a fire hose, but instead of drowning, Smedman’s House of Serpents always kept my head above water, interested in what was coming next, and turning pages. Occasionally there might doldrums, but overall Smedman won me over with her clever treatment of psionic powers in the D&D setting, her characters, and gifting us a great villain that mixed sexy with skin crawl -- much like an actual serpent.
P.S. Finally, and I guess I have to mention it, there’s the ‘monster’ sex. Arvin getting to experience Zelia’s trysts from a feminine point-of-view is one thing, but jaw drop as he discovers exactly what kind of ‘equipment’ was needed to seduce Arvin’s missing princess in book two. With her father standing behind him! #caught
June 3, 2025
Overall a nice read. It starts out very lore-dumpy, feeling forced to put in the table-top DnD mechanics for psionics. But the second and third book pick up and are decent reads in their own right. A bit tropy, but if you're into the Forgotten Realms lore: worth it.
March 19, 2024
Unique perspective in a unique setting from the typical medieval england fantasy settings. Sense of pace and characters were quite enjoyable.
January 17, 2016
*Shudders* Sinister, dark, and creepy are few of the many words I would describe this book. There are many plots, many secrets, many different goings on that are just incredible! Part one Arvin is trying to solve the mystery of the Pox, a cult turning humans into freaks, but ends up being a slave to a yunti who wants to use him as a servant. Its a gross beginning and sad that his best friend ends up one of them and he has to kill him. Part 2 was my favorite considering that he is on a mission for a Lord to help find his missing daughter after she runs away because she is pregnant with a demon child. Lots of adventure and Arvin doesn't endure it alone. A half blood yan-ti Karell joins him on his quest. Part 3 starts out with Arvin on his own looking for someone that happened to disappear in part 2 that is really dear to him. He must find her and must venture into a place no human has ever gone.Its a really creepy story but it is really addicting.
August 18, 2014
I didn't finish every book but I finished the first one, but I doubt I'll keep reading it. Maybe, if I one day don't have anything to do with it. I just found it predictable, and boring, and it had everything that scared me.
I don't think Arvin learned anything after everything he went through.
I don't think he grew as a person or a "hero" if you could even classify as him.
He was too selfish, and didn't seem to have any good qualities about himself.
I didn't really get attached to any of the characters either.
I don't think Arvin learned anything after everything he went through.
I don't think he grew as a person or a "hero" if you could even classify as him.
He was too selfish, and didn't seem to have any good qualities about himself.
I didn't really get attached to any of the characters either.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews