Book Review: Be the Serpent by Seanan McGuire

About the Book

October Daye is finally something she never expected to be: married. All the trials and turmoils and terrors of a hero’s life have done very little to prepare her for the expectation that she will actually share her life with someone else, the good parts and the bad ones alike, not just allow them to dabble around the edges in the things she wants to share. But with an official break from hero duties from the Queen in the Mists, and her family wholly on board with this new version of “normal,” she’s doing her best to adjust.

It isn’t always easy, but she’s a hero, right? She’s done harder.

Until an old friend and ally turns out to have been an enemy in disguise for this entire time, and October’s brief respite turns into a battle for her life, her community, and everything she has ever believed to be true.

The debts of the Broken Ride are coming due, and whether she incurred them or not, she’s going to be the one who has to pay.

My Review

I’ve enjoyed this series since the beginning, and watching things come to such a total and complete head here was fascinating. You cannot fail to be impressed at the extensive world building and story building that led to this point. McGuire has done a fantastic job bringing her characters through ridiculous trials and tribulations that somehow never feel overblown even when objectively speaking they are. I am constantly amazed at her ability to keep finding new ways to torment poor Toby and her friends, as well as at their ability to manage the stressors with aplomb and style.

I wasn’t sure where she was going to go as a follow-up to the wedding story, and in a million years would never have guessed this is where things would head. Then again, once I read it, it felt like such a natural next step. There are only so many ways McGuire can keep ramping things up, and I think the way she delivered this magnificent punch to the head was cool and snarky and aggressive and out of this world – exactly as it needed to be in the context of the story arc by book 16.

With this book we’re getting into the really good stuff kids, here’s hoping she brings the next installment along very soon!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my obligation-free review copy.