Snake Books
Serpentia
(Frances Pauli)
I'll let you in on a secret: Serpentia is the reason I started a recommendations page in the first place. While this series has its problems like any other, Serpentia is still one of the most personally fascinating things I've read in a long time.
Serpentia is set in a fantasy world filled with various animal species who each live in their own societies. Some species have special abilities in this world, like snakes being able to use telekinesis thanks to a material called skymetal. The main character of Serpentia, Sookahr, is an architect, and it's his dream to one day build a new outpost for his home, the Burrow.
Sookahr is my favorite snake character in media - there's 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, too. I love following Soo's perspective, and getting to see all the choices and mistakes he makes as the series goes on makes him feel real and relatable in a way I don't get with many other characters even in other xenofic.
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.
Even with my praise, I do think the series has its share of problems, as mentioned near the beginning. The pacing during the later parts of books 2 and 3 feels rushed 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 being used to describe snakes every once in a while (such as "eyes being closed"). There are also several mistakes when it comes to color usage.
Regardless of any issues I've had, though, I love this series. Snake main characters are exceedingly rare in adult-oriented fiction, and books about entire societies of snakes are even harder to find. The fact that Serpentia has so many good messages at its core 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 absolute favorite niche series out there, 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. Every creature in the underground faces a growing threat, however, in the form of gigantic superpredators known as Titans.
KoJ contains intense 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 like there's some context you miss out on if you've only read KoJ like I have. The chapters that are currently out also contain the occasional spelling and grammar mistakes that'll have to be fixed 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 110 chapters at the time of editing (including the interludes). Once the story is complete, I imagine KoJ will be right below Serpentia in terms of my favorites in this category.
The Little Snake
(A.L. Kennedy)
The Little Snake is a short story about the life of a girl, Mary, and a special golden snake she meets in her garden one day named Lanmo.
The writing style of this one is very basic and intended for all ages, which reminded me immediately of Kate Dicamillo's books. Despite its simple approach, The Little Snake manages to be funny, sweet, and completely heartbreaking in only 132 pages. This may win the record for shortest book to ever make me cry, and the less I spoil about the story here, the better.
This book is completely inaccurate from a xenofiction point of view, as Lanmo does many un-snakelike things such as blinking. But when the end result is this, I don't care. Recommended for anyone who wants a touching short story about life, death, and love.
Length: 144 pages.
We Can't All Be Rattlesnakes
(Patrick Jennings)
Another quick book intended for all ages, similar to The Little Snake. This one isn't nearly as heartbreaking, but it most definitely is funnier. The whole thing got some good laughs out of me.
We Can't All Be Rattlesnakes happens to be one of those rare snake books that's told entirely from a snake's PoV - in this case a gopher snake titled "Crusher" by her human captor (a name she doesn't approve of). Despite being even shorter than The Little Snake, it also includes some great messages like taking care of yourself mixed in with the funny ones. I do wish this book had been longer, but we gotta take what we can get in this niche. Good stuff.
Length: 122 pages.
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 is the big snake we see on the cover: a Burmese python named Sherahi.
This book was likely an influence on Serpentia and We Can't All Be Rattlesnakes, as the snakes in Sandeagozu can 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 a group of fellow animal rejects known 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 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 too, such as Manu's "stars run blind" speech during a later part of the story. But the overall plot is very straightforward. By the final few chapters, the sense of the journey with Sherahi coming to an end hit me like a gut punch, 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 re-read it someday. I'd recommend this one most to fans of similar animal adventure stories like Watership Down or The Plague Dogs.
Length: 442 pages.
Cantor for Pearls
(MCA Hogarth)
This one doesn't fit the requirements for the list, but I wanted to include it anyway. 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 at all, as it's a straightforward 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 symbiotic relationship with sea serpents.
The bond between human and sea serpent in Cantor is fascinating to me. These two very different species 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 all the 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 perspective of the sea serpents themselves. Despite being called "sea serpents", too, the appearance of these creatures treads the line right between serpent and dragon. I may have put this book into the dragon category if the species had been named anything else.
If a society of people that have bonded with sea serpents sounds interesting to you, then I can highly recommend this book. Even if you're not invested 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. It's worth a read if you're interested in the basics of snake biology.