The Serpent King

11.4.16 edit: The end of 2016 is rapidly approaching, and will it comes my mental recap of all the books I had the opportunity to read this year. And my mind keeps on coming back to this book. It is, by far, the best book I have read this year. And upon reviewing my review, I have come to the conclusion that no matter how hard I try, I will never be able to comprehend the right string of words to express how important this story is to me. The Serpent King is the first book I have ever read where I see my problems reflected into a character. I've read many contemporary books that deal with important life-altering issues, ranging from mental health to sexuality to physical impairment. This is the first, and only book, I have ever read that deals with a character's struggle with religion. Which, not to get to personal, is the main struggle I have in my life. I can count on one hand the number of times I have actually cried in a book. In fact, I can give you a quantitative number. Twice. This is one of them. This book is by far the most underrated book I know of.


4.5/5 stars“People are born and die. Seasons change. Rivers flow to the sea. Earth circles the sun and the moon circles Earth. Everything whirring and spinning toward something. And I get to be part of it for a little while, the way I get to watch a train for a minute or two, and then it's gone.”

Something about this book had me intrigued. Perhaps it was the title. Perhaps it was because I knew this story was a coming of age novel with a male protagonist, and for some reason I adore those kind of books. It must have been one of those reasons, as I knew almost nothing about the plot. I don't know, but I've seen it a few times here and there and I just had to read it. One day I noticed it on sale on Kindle for $2.99 and I didn't even hesitate to buy it. Finally, I had my chance to read it, to know what it was all about, and I sat down and read it.

The Serpent King is the story of three friends who fail to fit in with their small southern town. There's Dill, a musician who struggles with religion. Travis, a fantasy fanboy who struggles with an abusive father. And Lydia, a fashion blogger who struggles to stay put in their small town. Each character has to find their way in life and forge their own destiny, learn that what they think they have planned in their life might not be what the future holds.

With a personal library full of fantasy and cheesy contemporary books, it's rare for me to connect to much in a book. I read to escape reality, that I usually don't seek out books that remind me of my own life. Yet, this book was almost refreshing. I connected with Dill's battle to understand his religious beliefs. I connected with Travis's love for fantasy books and the way his friends and family didn't understand it. And I connected with Lydia's desire to go far off to college and leave her past behind her.

This book had it's faults, some details felt unrealistic and the ending seem to drag on a little, but I found this story to be beyond beautiful and heartbreaking, and one I'd recommend to anyone.

Dit boek stond al sinds 2016 ongelezen in mijn kast, toen ik het had ontvangen in de Owlcrate van maart van dat jaar. Van in het begin al trok het boek mij niet echt aan. Contemporary is zo niet echt mijn genre, dus ondanks het feit dat het boek enorm goeie recensies kreeg, kon ik me er nooit echt voor enthousiasmeren. Dit jaar probeer ik echter wat meer van mijn gekochte boeken ook te lezen, dus was het hoog tijd om deze toch eens een kans te geven.

Ondanks mijn initiële tegenzin, zoog het boek me snel binnen. Op het eerste zicht gebeurt er niet veel. We volgen 3 tieners in hun dagelijkse beslommeringen en ik kon me noch met het perspectief, noch met hun leefomgeving identificeren. Toch was ik geboeid en gedreven om verder te lezen.
De omstandigheden en latere gebeurtenissen raakten uiteindelijk ook een emotionele snaar.

Dus geheel tegen mijn verwachtingen in heb ik dit boek alsnog graag gelezen. Ik vroeg me wel bij tijden af of de personages en hun gedrag wel realistisch waren, maar dan bedacht ik met dat het zich in Amerika afspeelt en niks daar te vreemd is, haha.
Achteraf las ik wel een aantal kritieken naar de auteur toe, net over die representatie, maar ik heb dit na overwegen toch besloten niet mee te nemen in mijn beoordeling van het boek. Mijn sterbeoordeling reflecteert alleen mijn persoonlijk plezier bij het lezen.

So many tears! A great story with lovely characters. I hated Lydia at first but then I realized I hated her because I was that snobby kid who desperately wanted out of her shitty small town and it took me far too long to realize how hard that is for a lot of people. Also I connected with a senseless teen death which I thought was handled very well.

I want to hug this book in hopes of maybe, possibly hugging the main characters in this story. I loved these characters fiercely and didn't want their story to end and need to know that everything is going to be ok with them.
This is definitely one of my favorite YA reads this year. My #3 YA read for 2016!