I was organizing my books and I came across my copy of Serpent and Dove, which I read last year during the initial stages of quarantine — and I just need to rant about just how bad the book is. I’ll probably make separate post that go more in depth, but I felt like getting these thoughts out seeing as I didn’t have a Tumblr at the time! But this is another book that was hyped, and I indulged. And boy was it so not worth it’s hype.
The prose in this novel was nerve-racking. The description were so repetitive something I noticed from the first page. There was always this emphasis on the mouth with the characters always, always smirking. The story was poorly written. The descriptions were also lacking and this world was properly explored beyond being medieval (maybe?) France.
[2] The Plot + World-building
The plot of this novel was so contrived, and the pacing was weird. The world building? What world building?It’s just a vague French fantasy world. Like the dynamic between the witches, the religion, and the church were so undeveloped and most of it made no sense whatsoever. And the inclusion of real-world religion was jarring considering there are actually real-world examples of Christianity to draw from. Instead, this story poorly execute an integration of Christian lore and whatever-the-hell this world is supposed to be. Also, this world was very claustrophobic, meaning there isn’t any feeling of expansion, that the world exist beyond what’s directly happening.
The revelation of both Lou and Reid’s percentage held no emotional weight and were so cliche. And it just honestly didn’t even matter? Nor did it make any sense when you consider how the events of the story take place. The plot was dull, with the chain of events coming off as boring. I nearly wanted to skim, but each scene was as dull as the other. The exposition dump that ensued was done in such poor taste and was up there with the exposition dump of R/hysand explaining why he abused F/eyre from ACOMAF. And it was in the form of a...play? In the middle of town? The witches are not explored enough to be that interesting, and the magic system was also lacking. The climax of this story was sooo bad. The fact that one of the many dull, cardboard characters literally gets up and starts singing this obscene song and it’s suppose to work. It was so ridiculous. The two main characters were intolerable. Reid and pretty much the entire church being comically unknowing and villainous and the witches being the same way. Reid was so hateful with no seeming reason other than “witches are bad.” Lou was even more intolerable. Like she’s suppose to come of as charismatic but she ends up being just obnoxious. The villain(s)? Horrible. Each of them were just evil with the most cliche of backgrounds. I don’t even remember the mother of archbishop’s name (do they even have one?).
Oh God. The romance was an even weaker element of this story. It develops way to fast, to start. Reid’s animosity over witches is an integral part of his initial character development, but it honestly doesn’t take him long before he caves. And it’s not organically done like Helnik. The world is so undeveloped that the hate either seems so childish or just annoyingly naive. Both the church and the witches — or any of the two romantic leads have no nuance. None. I never felt like there was any stake in their romance, and I was not convinced of their love. [1] There was this inclusion of a novel Reid was reading which was so on the nose, a physically cringed. [2] nothing actually happens between them that was honestly romantically, most of the time Lou is just an exposition dump. I hate when one romantic partner’s only appeal is that their different because there isn’t any real actual reason those two belong to them. By the end of this story, the romance didn’t even seem real, their reactions are so forced. And this is considering the fact that Reid already had a love interest —who as far as this first book goes —wasn’t really a bad person. She’s literally just a regular girl, but I guess being a normal girl just isn’t okay. And Reid’s feelings for her just change (I think? I’m remembering this stuff off the dome). And there’s no development on why.
I will make a separate post for some of these themes just because I have a lot to say about them, but here’s some very problematic things in this story.
Lou’s comments towards Ansel:
Okay, so Ansel is established as a young kid, and he pretty much acts like it. He’s sixteen, but naive and unknowing because of the environment his grown up in. But, Lou — who I think is like 18/19 constantly makes sexually comments towards him, despite the fact that he’s totally a minor, and the story goes out it’s way to describe him as this childish person, yet Lou constantly bothers him. I was very uncomfortable by this and I’m not sure why the hell the editors didn’t catch this. The way it’s framed is just not good at all.
Sigh...we have once again, the black best friend trope. And you want to know what the back characters name is?
Coco. Her name is Coco. Y’all, I just want white authors to know this is very ugly. I’m tired of black woman in YA/NA having no other personality other than protecting their white friends. Guys, if you’re gonna do this, just make the character white. Because honestly, the black best friend trope in media has had very negative effects on black women as far as representation goes. It’s tiring, because every white authors default is to make the minuscule black representation in the same role. I’m tired. I don’t like it. It’s so prominent and I honestly feel like it’s getting worse. I don’t see it getting better. And these are the books getting hyped, there’s so many diverse books out there with beautiful stories and great diversity YET these are the books being heralded by book tube and bookstagram for their “diversity” or “great storylines.”
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