Lime Cultivist
Snake Books
Serpentia
(Frances Pauli)
I'll let you in on a secret: Serpentia is the reason I started up a recommendations page in the first place. While this series has its problems like any other, Serpentia is still one of the most personally interesting things I've read in a long time.
Serpentia is set in a fantasy world filled with various animal species that each live in their own unique societies. Some species have special abilities in this world, like snakes being able to use telekinesis thanks to the skymetal bands they're gifted with. The main character of Serpentia, Sookahr, is an architect, and it's his dream to one day build the newest outpost for his home, the Burrow.
Sookahr is my favorite snake character in media - no question about that. As of right now, the only real competition is the main snake from Kin of Jormungandr. The Serpentia books contain themes about freedom and slavery, heroes and ego, and identity and belonging, and seeing these themes applied to a society of snakes is something I never though I would read, but it gives the whole series an appropriate sense of weight and purpose. Being a more modern story, Serpentia also touches on gender (specifically relating to eggs and egg-mothers) in such a thoughtful and wonderful way, and I don't think I'll ever forget the way this was handled. I love following Sookahr's perspective, and seeing all the choices he makes as the series goes on.
Aside from Soo, Serpentia has a number of other great characters: Kwirk, Viirlahn, Lohmeer, Teerahl, Evander, and of course Fluffy. Most animal fantasy I've read features humans to some degree, but Serpentia is one of those rare worlds that's entirely human-free, and this makes me love it even more.
Although I've given plenty of praise to Serpentia, I do think the series has its problems, as mentioned near the beginning. The pacing and events during the later parts of books 2 and 3 feel off at times, and I think the current ending of the series is anticlimactic. The xenofiction side of Serpentia's writing contains some oddities as well, such as inaccurate words sometimes being used to describe snakes (such as "eyes being closed"). There are also several mistakes when it comes to color.
Overall, regardless of its issues, I love this series. Snake main characters are exceedingly rare in fiction, and books about entire societies of snakes are even harder to find. The fact that Serpentia has so many good messages behind it is just icing on the cake, and these books have filled a hole in my snaky little heart that I didn't know was there before. This is one of my very favorite niche series, and I'll be sure to come back and update this page when the rest of the books are released.
Length: 268 pages (Disbanded), 399 pages (Freedom Ring), 323 pages (Full Circlet). The author has said that she plans to write 3 more books in the future.
Kin of Jormungandr
(Joroboros)
KoJ is set in a strange underground world full of spatial distortions, where an unnamed snake lives among various other animals. Some of these animals possess superpowers, and the snake itself can change its size at will. All these creatures face a growing threat, however, in the form of gigantic superpredators known as Titans.
KoJ contains tense battle scenes, a great main character, and one very lovable and special little bat named Scia. Our main snake (whose name I won't spoil) has gone through a solid character arc so far, and I can sympathize with a lot of its thoughts and motivations as it explores and grows both physically and emotionally during its travels.
My biggest problem with KoJ is that the worldbuilding and environmental storytelling can be vague and confusing at times. The author of this story is also writing another series called Young Flame at the same time as this one. Both series are set in the same universe, and although they're advertised as separate works, I feel as though there's some context missing if you've only read KoJ like I have. The chapters that are currently out also contain the occasional spelling and grammar issues that'll have to be ironed out later.
This series is still being written as of now, and is updated on Royal Road once every week or so. It's up to 98 chapters at the time of writing (including the interludes). Once the story is complete, I imagine KoJ will be right beneath Serpentia in terms of my favorites from this category, as long as it keeps up its current pace.
Sandeagozu
(Janann V. Jenner)
Sandeagozu is an animal adventure story from the 80s that switches between several different perspectives, both animal and human. The main character of the novel, however, is the big snake we see on the cover: a Burmese python named Sherahi.
This book was likely an influence on Serpentia, as the snakes in Sandeagozu have the ability to communicate telepathically. Some snakes with especially strong powers can even influence the minds of others, and Sherahi uses these powers to help her as she travels alongside her fellow animal rejects, known collectively as "the culls". Their destination is the mythical land of "Sandeagozu" (the San Diego Zoo).
While Sandeagozu isn’t the most in-depth story in terms of its messaging and characters, this book does have a great sense of adventure to it, and it really makes you root for the animals to escape. The book does occasionally touch on deeper subjects, such as Manu's "stars run blind" speech during a later part of the story, but overall the plot is straightforward. By the final few chapters, the sense of the journey with Sherahi coming to an end hit me in the gut, and while I wouldn't put this on the same level as Serpentia or KoJ, I did enjoy my time with Sandeagozu. I know I’ll be back to read it again someday. I'd recommend this one most to fans of similar animal adventure stories such as Watership Down or The Plague Dogs.
Length: 442 pages.
Cantor for Pearls
(MCA Hogarth)
This one doesn't really fit the requirements for the list, but I wanted to include it anyways. MCA Hogarth is my favorite author, and I think all her books, including Cantor for Pearls, deserve more recognition.
Cantor is the 2nd book in a two part series called Twin Kingdoms. The first book, Thief of Songs, didn't interest me much, as it's largely a romance story. But Cantor for Pearls did something different that immediately caught my attention. In this book, a society of people living along the coastline have formed a type of symbiotic relationship with sea serpents.
The bond between human and sea serpent in Cantor is downright fascinating to me. The two very different species in this book swim with each other, dive, and share various rituals and traditions, and all of this is done in a way that makes them feel like one big, wonderful family. It's one of my favorite settings in any of Jaguar's books, and that's saying a lot given how many excellent worlds she's created!
The reason Cantor doesn't meets the requirements for this list is due to the book's human main characters: Amet and Always Falling. These two are interesting characters in their own right, and I like seeing how their relationship changes over the course of the story, but there are no chapters told from the perspectives of the sea serpents themselves. Despite being called "sea serpents", too, the appearance of these creatures treads the line between serpent and dragon. I may have put this book into the dragon category, if the species had been named anything different.
If a society of people that have bonded with sea serpents sounds good to you, then I can highly recommend this book. Even if you're not particularly interested in Thief of Songs, I still consider it worth a read for the context it gives to Cantor for Pearls.
Length: 234 pages.
Honorable Mention:
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The King Snake (Allan Eckert) - A simple story about the life of a kingsnake. Very short, and not much to say in terms of characters or themes, but this one is worth a read if you're interested in the basics of snake biology.