The story is complex and deep, but difficult to follow. The language is flowery and poetic, the characters complex and ever changing/growing.

I am such a fan of Rachel Hartman and I was really excited to see this sequel to Tess of the Road. My reading experience with this was pretty similar to that one - it took me a little bit of time to get into it, but once I was in, I was in. Tess Dombegh is back, and this time she's on an expedition to find another world serpent - this one in a polar location - to help her friend Pathka (a quigtl, a dragon-like creature that's not quite a dragon). She is confronted on the journey by not only a major enemy from her past, but also by the impact of imperialism and settler colonialism on the archipelagos she visits on her way to the pole. Hartman does a good job of highlighting the ways in which the colonists from Tess' world have wreaked havoc on the ways of life of the people indigenous to these islands, while also showing Tess' clumsy attempts to make amends, which quickly edge into white savior territory. A very engaging adventure story, with a lot to reflect on in terms of indigenous knowledge, colonialism, racism, and personal growth.

In the Serpent's Wake
by Rachel Hartman
A Review by Jamilla @LandsAwayBooks on Wordpress.

MIND OF THE WORLD,
OPEN YOUR EYES.
 
I have to admit I was drawn in by both the cover and this line in the description…so it wasn’t until I was near half way through that I realized that I was reading a sequel!

However, I think that I understood quite well enough! Seems like it’s only a sequel because it’s set in the same world, and follows a few of the same characters. Either way, the world felt familiar, even in it’s vastness and anything with dragons are enough to catch my eye!

The story tackled the wrongness of colonialism, and how it rips people from their home, language and rights and seeks uniformity even as it’s treating you as less than. It also tackled ‘white saviourism’ which I feel is such a blindsight in fiction where the theme of a special outsider saving some seemingly helpless group is the norm.

All in all, a pretty fascinating novel, with characters so beautifully flawed that they seemed so human.

I think fans of Tess of the Road will love this follow up!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC.

Ahoy there mateys. I starting reading this book believing that it was a new series by Rachel Hartman. I didn't realize that it was a sequel to Tess which I didn't love. This is my fault as I should have realized. So this book was not for me. Other readers loved Tess though. I am grateful for the review copy. Arrr!

This book is sort of a sequel to TESS OF THE ROAD in that one its stars is Tess Dombegh who is on a journey to save a friend. She's traveling with her brother-in-law Jacomo who was studying to be a priest but left before he took his vows.

Tess and Jacomo have joined the expedition to the pole started by Margarethe, Countess Mardou, who is a naturalist. She's taken Tess as a mentee and Jacomo as her spiritual adviser. Tess joined this expedition both as a spy for her queen and in order to bring her friend quigutl Pathka to the hidden serpent at the end of the world in the hopes of healing it.

The Countess's expedition is in a race with a dragon expedition led by Spira, a dragon Tess wronged in the past and with whom Tess would like to make amends. Spira is also a character in search of more than the serpent.

Along the way, Tess sees all sorts of injustices that she would like to be able to right and finds herself in the middle of a war as natives of the lands she visits try to overthrow their invading overlords. Tess very reluctantly reconnects with the man who raped her and left her pregnant when she was fourteen. He's now engaged to the Countess until his death at the hands/flippers of creatures who aren't supposed to exist.

The story is told from multiple viewpoints and is framed in a larger story told by the Mind of the World. I enjoyed this story. It was a successful coming of age story for a lot of the characters. I think I would have appreciated it even more if I had read TESS OF THE ROAD more recently, but the prologue in verse did sort of summarize the first book. I loved the idea that stories are personalized to those who tell them and that stories told can lead to unintended consequences.

Brava, Rachel Hartman! Brava!

In the Serpent’s Wake picks up immediately where Tess and the Road left off. Tess and her companions set out on an ocean voyage to find the Polar Serpent, priorly believed to be a myth, and find themselves immersed in political unrest as Nynish colonizers harm and suppress the peoples of the Archipelagos.

In the Serpent’s Wake is thought-provoking and approaches many different tough subjects with care. Racism, colonialism, religion, gender, and recovery all come into sharp focus as the characters try to figure out what is the right thing to do. The characters fumble and fail, because good intentions do not always have a positive outcome, and the characters learn and try again.

I absolutely loved this book. While it wasn’t fast paced and isn’t the type of book one would binge-read in a few sittings, I was excited every time I got to sit down and read it. In the Serpent’s Wake is an excellent book for mature teens who are interested in adding social justice to their fantasy adventures.

I reviewed this book on my Goodreads page.

This book was highly anticipated for me. However, the multiple perspectives, long wait for the sequel, and many characters made it a difficult read. I would enjoy it if I was able to re-read the first one and the Serephina series, but I simply don't have the time.

I really loved Tess of the Road and have been eagerly anticipating the sequel for years. When I started this ARC, I was scared that it would be hard for me to get into the book, simply because of the length and my sudden aversion to long books, but I fell into this world so easily. In the Serpent’s Wake expands Tess’s journey to the people she becomes close to.

Now on Countess Marga‘s expedition, Tess and Jacomo find themselves at a loss for words as they traverse through various islands under Ninysh colonialization. They’re in search of the Polar Serpent, racing against a dragon expedition, with Spira on it, to find it first. Along the way, they traverse various islands under Ninysh occupation and learn more about the native people’s culture and stories.

This book opened up the world in more ways than one. For one thing, it is no longer just Tess’s story, although she still has more ways in which to grow. We get more points-of-view from various characters, sometimes often, like Marga, and sometimes just once, like Kikiu. The main cast also dock on different islands throughout their journey, and we learn more about the people whom the Ninysh are actively persecuting.

I wasn’t expecting this book to tackle colonialization and white saviorism, which I think was well done…to a certain extent, but more on that later. The Ninysh have colonized various island peoples, whom they’ve collectively called the “Pelaguese” despite each island’s peoples being distinct. In the Serpent’s Wake touches on how this grouping, in addition to renaming the islands, cities, and artifacts, are another way to kill the native peoples, if only in spirit and not literally (although there are mentions of genocide).

Tess and Jacomo see the obvious persecution of the native people on each island and attempt to help in whatever way they can, particularly Tess. This becomes a whole white saviorism thing, where Tess tries to do what she thinks is best but neglects to think realistically. I liked how the narrative called out Tess and her plans, how she doesn’t think about the fact that the native people shouldn’t have to leave the island, their home, and how some would rather continue to live there than have to leave their history. Amidst all this, she has to face her unresolved feelings toward Will when he makes an unexpected feelings; Jacomo, in his attempt to help Tess, also oversteps and fails to understand what, exactly, Tess needs from him.

Meanwhile, throughout all of this, Marga glosses over all this violence and racism to maintain her family’s stance on political neutrality. However, over time, she does realize that she’s pushed her feelings of horror down for far too long. In their chapters, Spira struggles with their gender, at first believing that any attempt to identify as one way is a human expression but later realizing that they can express themselves however they want.

There’s obviously more in this book; it’s very long and I’d have to spoil certain things to talk about some more of it so I can’t really touch on everything that I want to. I will say that, as much as I appreciated how this book approached white saviorism and colonialism, at a certain point, I just started to feel a bit weird about it all. Don’t get me wrong, I do think these stories are necessary, but what exactly does it mean from a white author about a lot of white characters?

Tess, while meaning well, makes a lot of fumbles toward the people of color in this story, and I know that was part of the white saviorism realization but at some point, I was like, why am I reading this? Also, the ending felt a bit sudden and not what we were building up to from the beginning, although I don’t necessarily think it was bad.

Another aspect of the book that I can’t speak for but wanted to bring up: Marga is biracial, Ninysh and Porphyrian, and I feel like this was partially glossed over until the very end. I’m not biracial, so my opinions are not formed out of a similar mindset, but I thought it would’ve been more interesting to examine how she adheres to her family’s neutrality to fit in more because she is obviously brown, which I feel was subtext. TThe summary mentions how she's a woman "staking her claim on a man's world," which I feel like, in addition to the book itself, neglects to bring up how she is a woman of color staking her claim on a white man's world. This just added to my feelings that I somewhat detailed above, so I did feel a bit strange in a way that I can’t fully describe.

In the Serpent’s Wake was an interesting expanding of the world we first saw in Seraphina. For the most part, I thought the characterizations and journeys were good although I did have some issues in other areas. If you liked Tess of the Road, I think you’ll enjoy this sequel!

Wanderer, seeker, and want-to-be helper, Tess is back. With her promise to Pathka driving her forward, Tess continues her journey. With political unrest causing relentless expansion, Tess and her friends, Marga and Spira, must figure out how they fit into the scheme of things. Meanwhile, White-coded Ninysh’s expansion might just threaten the lands of darker-skinned inhabitants of the island nations. Will Tess fulfill her promise? Told through the different points of view, themes of history and how it shapes you are prevalent throughout the novel. The characters are likable and true to the characters created in book one. Without taking away from the fair paced narrative, Hartman’s inclusive world also addresses questions of sovereignty, colonization, religion, and gender in a thought-provoking way. With a satisfying conclusion, readers who enjoyed the first novel or who enjoy lengthier fantasy in the series will likely enjoy this one. However, due to the nature of the series, this series must be read in order. 4 stars, 12 and up

Another great installment from the incomparable author of Seraphina (if you haven't read that one, go read it now!). I love Ms. Hartman's writing, her world-building and characterization is so intricate and talented, yet you never feel bogged down by the details. If you are looking for your next fantasy fix that has friendships and relationships between characters that are not perfect but are relatable, then pick this one up. I really enjoyed it and will always read anything by this very talented author.

The first book in this duology, Tess of the Road, is the best of the Southlands series of books. This follow up, which we waited four years for, has a lot of the elements that made the first one great, with a widening of focus and new plotlines that could act as a commentary on our own world and its geopolitical issues. It also has additional point-of-view characters, who provide new and fascinating perspectives on events and people. There are some events included that I really could have done without, and feel, at best, conflicted about.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. All of the opinions given are my own and have been given nothing for my review.
#IntheSerpentsWake

In the Serpent's Wake is a brilliant follow up to Tess of the Road, and further cements Rachel Hartman as one of the best YA fantasy authors currently in the business. This book picks up directly after the end of Tess of the Road, following Tess, Pathka, and Jacomo as they embark on a sea voyage with the Countess Marga on a mission to find the Polar serpent. Along the way they will have to grapple with a rival dragon expedition, unrest in the islands, and indigenous tribes who have their own feelings about who should be allowed access to the serpent.

While the voyage serves as a framework for this book, the real story is about colonialism, restitution, and confronting the blindness frequently brought on by privilege. Tess frequently finds herself adrift with the islanders, wanting desperately to be helpful but continually failing to see how her actions will be perceived. Meanwhile Marga is slowly forced to recognize that the scientific neutrality she has embraced for her whole life has blinded her to the realities of the world she inhabits.

This book deals with some very difficult and uncomfortable issues. The depiction of colonists dealing with native peoples is brutal and realistic, made even more so by the fact that Hartman's natives are fully fleshed out people who come from a variety of cultures. There is continued fallout from Tess's past with Will, including confrontations with the dragon Spira, and the realization that Tess's own perception of Will is not shared by those around her.

I don't want to give too many details away, because this book is better experienced as it is. It is difficult, lovely, and full of fully realized flawed characters. The ending leaves me uncertain as to whether there will be a third Tess book. I hope so, as there are still issues for Tess to confront in order to bring more closure to her story, but if the series were to end here it would still be well worth your time.

Recommended for fans of Tamora Pierce and Kristin Cashore.