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A review by ayah_reads
Serpent & Dove by Shelby Mahurin
adventurous
medium-paced
- Strong character development? No
2.5
wtwbwuegejej the way this book had SO MUCH POTENTIAL TO BE GOOD AND THEN JUST SUCKED SO BADLY.
Gahhhhhhhhhh first off the colonial allegories in this book are so unbelievably strong I have no idea why I've never seen this talked about.
The mortals stole the witches land, the witches' magic comes from their connection to the land and their ancestors, the church/Christianity is the major driving force behind the persecution of the witches (because they use religious narratives to further their own hatred and legitimatise their destruction and killing of witches), the differing views on historical events. If that's not western colonialism idk what is.
So to have Lou fall in love with Reid is literally like an Indigenous person falling in love with their coloniser. This is not enemies to lovers, this is an opressor/opressee dynamic.
It COULD have been a different dynamic if only Reid had fallen for Lou and Lou had not. Not only is it insta love, but it literally makes NO SENSE BECAUSE THERE WAS NO DEVELOPMENT ON REID'A BEHALF FOR HER TO FALL FOR HIM??? she says he's too good for her, deserves better and like WHERE ???? She literally would die to save him but to die and save her people no she won't do that ????? make it make sense !!! Also let's not forget all the sexist and patriarchal thinking he has towards her at the beginning, like hell she would actually fall for him.
I understand Lou not wanting to die because other innocent people will die but at least fight more for your people and don't BE OKAY WITH DYING FOR SOMEONE WHO HAS LITERALLY KILLED AND HUNTED YOUR PEOPLE.
I enjoyed the first 60ish% because I had this hope that maybeeeee things would turn our differently, but then in the last 30-40% of the book I realised where it was going and that I didn't care to continue with this series, and so it took me soooo long to finish.
~spoilers~
What makes it even more annoying and frustrating is that some of the plot is really interesting??
Lou being the Archbishop's child. Reid being the son of a witch (Madame Labelle was great) and the King. REID BEING THE FIRST MALE WITCH !!! WYEHWUEU the plot thickened towards the end and it would have been so interesting to see Reid go through this individual arc of unlearning his hate, and then we have Lou falling for him, you know an actual slow burn character development arc in which all three books are used to develop their relationship !!!!!!!
The magic system is also very cool and not something I've seen before in that way.
So overall, while I had some fun, I now feel like I need to cleanse my soul with a much much better book ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ will definitely not be continuing with this series!
Gahhhhhhhhhh first off the colonial allegories in this book are so unbelievably strong I have no idea why I've never seen this talked about.
The mortals stole the witches land, the witches' magic comes from their connection to the land and their ancestors, the church/Christianity is the major driving force behind the persecution of the witches (because they use religious narratives to further their own hatred and legitimatise their destruction and killing of witches), the differing views on historical events. If that's not western colonialism idk what is.
So to have Lou fall in love with Reid is literally like an Indigenous person falling in love with their coloniser. This is not enemies to lovers, this is an opressor/opressee dynamic.
It COULD have been a different dynamic if only Reid had fallen for Lou and Lou had not. Not only is it insta love, but it literally makes NO SENSE BECAUSE THERE WAS NO DEVELOPMENT ON REID'A BEHALF FOR HER TO FALL FOR HIM??? she says he's too good for her, deserves better and like WHERE ???? She literally would die to save him but to die and save her people no she won't do that ????? make it make sense !!! Also let's not forget all the sexist and patriarchal thinking he has towards her at the beginning, like hell she would actually fall for him.
I understand Lou not wanting to die because other innocent people will die but at least fight more for your people and don't BE OKAY WITH DYING FOR SOMEONE WHO HAS LITERALLY KILLED AND HUNTED YOUR PEOPLE.
I enjoyed the first 60ish% because I had this hope that maybeeeee things would turn our differently, but then in the last 30-40% of the book I realised where it was going and that I didn't care to continue with this series, and so it took me soooo long to finish.
~spoilers~
What makes it even more annoying and frustrating is that some of the plot is really interesting??
Lou being the Archbishop's child. Reid being the son of a witch (Madame Labelle was great) and the King. REID BEING THE FIRST MALE WITCH !!! WYEHWUEU the plot thickened towards the end and it would have been so interesting to see Reid go through this individual arc of unlearning his hate, and then we have Lou falling for him, you know an actual slow burn character development arc in which all three books are used to develop their relationship !!!!!!!
The magic system is also very cool and not something I've seen before in that way.
So overall, while I had some fun, I now feel like I need to cleanse my soul with a much much better book ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ will definitely not be continuing with this series!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Sexual harassment