Thank you Interactive Press for this book in exchange for an honest review

Synopsis:

After twelve years trapped in the throat of a serpent, a girl escapes. She returns to her village naked with a monstrous snakeskin trailing behind her. One decision at a time,
she reclaims her life. Each character she encounters by land and sea—brute, healer, orphan, mystic, lover—reflects an unhealed aspect of herself and plots her recovery through symbolic milestones. Serpent’s Wake is intended for adults and young adults exploring how, once fractured, we may mend.

A tale that weaves around your heart in your darkest times…and points to the greatest lesson of all—that in suffering lies freedom.

Review:

After receiving this book I looked up the blurb and straight away my mind was filled with words.

Eaten by a snake? Awesome! Aussie writer! Yes please! Exciting!

I dove into this book reading to be amazed and intrigued. After all I adore aussie authors and I will support them as much as I can. However, this was not the book for me.

Lauren Daniel’s jumps right into the story starting with a young girl in her finest that ventures out of the house to explore only to be eaten by a snake and get trapped in its throat. Wicked right? I loved this. The idea was original and the description of what the character sees, feels and thinks, is intense. This part of the story lacked no detail and I knew right of the bat this was a story that I wanted to sit down and enjoy without interruptions.

However when our character escapes is when I started to question the book. A big letdown for me in this book is not one single character had a name. Not one. They were simply addressed as the girl, the barmaid, the captain, the stranger. It was all very odd. One example of this is below, note that it is shortened but pulled from the book:

The Captain muttered…

The barmaid crossed the street…

The doctor and his wife hurried down the stairs…

The doctor said..

The wife frowned…

I have never read a book where none of the characters weren’t named and honestly it did not sit well with me. Even writing this review and thinking about the characters is hard, they had no name to define themselves. Was this how the author wanted it? I’m not too sure. With the nameless characters I noticed that I needed more details about them to make them relatable, I needed to feel for them, to watch them grow as the story went on. I found that this booked needed more details about the characters or their movements or actions to make up for their lack of name. I needed to know more from them. It raised too many questions and doubt in my mind.

Example of this is when a stranger finds the girl in the words after she escapes from the snake and he recognised her, he knows and said he prayed for her. You prayed for a girl and you don’t know her name? You recognise the girl and you don’t know her name? You know this girls and you don’t know her name? This for me was too odd. Personally I remember the name of this kid from primary school who tripped me over. I didn’t like him. I didn’t pray for him. But I know him from a long time ago and I still know his name.

The story was definitely unique and interesting. I have never encountered a book like this before and it makes me curious to see what else the author has been up and what she will bring to the table next.

Rating: 3/5

ISBN: 9781925231694

Publisher: Interactive Press