*Thank you to NetGalley & Hachette Australia & New Zealand for providing a digital copy to review*

I started this not long after finishing Spice Road so I still remembered how it ended which was great as this book starts with the characters in the same spot.

One of the first things I noticed while reading is that we now see more of Taha’s perspective. However, I found it harder to read his chapters as they were in third person while Imani’s were first person. It just felt disjointed to me and it felt like you still couldn’t get close to Taha, like he was holding the reader at arm's length.

This is a long book and the plot felt both slow and fast at the same time. I presumed that certain adventures the characters went on would take longer but they ended up being only one or two chapters long. However, the characters really did a lot of traveling in this book and at times it just felt like a lot.

Aside from that, I enjoyed learning more about Qayn and how connected he is to the Sahir as well as everyone else finding out the true history of their home and their ancestors. Imani & Qayn’s relationship changes in this book and I’m interested to see what happens as Taha still holds feelings for Imani.

Imani swore to protect her home from the monsters roaming the desert but now an even worse enemy threatens her home. The enemy marches south with their stolen magic so it will only be a matter of time before the invasion begins. Their only chance of survival is a dangerous alliance with a dginni king.
If Imani journeys with him on a quest beyond the sands to restore his lost powers he promises to summon a supernatural army to save her people. One wrong move could cost her her life and the lives of everyone she loves. But one may find that there is more than meets the eye when crossing the Serpent Sea and betrayal cuts deeper than any dagger.

As beautifully written and engaging as the first instalment to the series. You watch as characters grow and change, as alliances shift and move like the changing sands of the desert and secrets long buried come to light that will change the world. You know betrayal could be round the corner from any of the characters but you didn’t know how deep it would cut until your amidst the chaos yourself. An engaging plot, nuanced and flawed characters and a magical world that will leave you longing for a cup of tea, pun intended.

𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐇𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞 𝐀𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐚 | 𝐇𝐨𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐝𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐝𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐩𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐒𝐞𝐚 𝐛𝐲 𝐌𝐚𝐢𝐲𝐚 𝐈𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐡𝐢𝐦

Huge thank you to Hachette Australia and Netgalley for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a really great follow up to Spice Road! The story was engaging, the characters grew and changed even more, and we got to see sides to them we hadn’t seen before.

The plot in this one is consistently exciting and awful and genuinely had me on the edge of my seat. I kept having to remind myself to slow down because I kept skipping over sentences in my eagerness to find out what happened next.

Qayn is my absolute favourite and I really loved what this book did with him. Honestly I just love him so much and he gained so much more depth and intrigue in this book.

This book has so many complex characters. The inclusion of characters like Ulric, Skerrick and Bayek really made this story so much more rich and layered.

I honestly think this series could be 5 stars for me without the love triangle? I just hate them so much. But regardless, I am really enjoying this series and I can’t wait for the last book.

So excited to have read this book as an arc. Having read the first book spice Road and collecting numerous editions of it because it was my favourite read of 2023, I patiently waited for serpent to be announced.

I was so excited and I was not disappointed at all. Maya you have excited me and I thoroughly enjoy reading this absolutely gorgeous conclusion to this amazing duet

The romance. The action. I even cried a little bit. 😂

I love this book so much. And have already bought a finished copy to read it again.

Imani needs to save her people from an invasion - and needs to restore Qayn's stolen powers to summon an army to save Sahir. They must go on a journey to find the jewels needed to restore his power, but the path is a dangerous one, where one wrong move may cost her her life and her people.

Serpent Sea was a real journey - in a sense of the characters' physical journey across their world but also the fact that I just had no idea who to trust throughout this story. I was second guessing everyone's motives. It was fantastically written.

I love the expansion of the world and that we got to meet more characters and see more parts of the world. The world of The Spice Road series it definitely one of my main focus points for me, and one of the reasons why I loved the first book so much.

I love this series so much so far, and it's an amazing adventure that we go on with Imani, Qayn, Taha and the gang!

Thank you to Hachette Australia for an e-arc of Serpent Sea, all opinions are my own.

Maiya Ibrahim's 'Serpent Sea' is notably slower than in the first book, but this allows for an expanded exploration of the world. The narrative takes its time, but truly explores more of the world.

I'm not a huge fan of love triangles--particularly when very firm and ongoing--however, that is more personal taste.

The family dynamics truly shine here, with the bond between the three siblings standing out as one of the story's strongest aspects (and certainly realistic of true siblings).

The inclusion of dual points of view in this one was also a nice surprise, adding dimension across the narrative.

Thank you to NetGalley, Hachette Australia & New Zealand, Hodderscape, and Maiya Ibrahim for sending me this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Siblings, Imani, Altheer and Amira, along with captured Taha and his cousin Rezi, plus Taha's falcon, were heading out of the city, desperate to escape. But Harrowlander soldiers spotted them, and their escape was foiled. Taken to their king, who was gleeful with their capture, he and the Harrowlanders continued rampaging through city after city, pillaging and murdering anyone who didn't yield control. The spice magic was their greatest weapon, and as King Glaedric obtained more of it, his power grew. But the powerful djinni, Qayn, was with Imani and the others, and the plan was to find and gain the crown with the jewels intact, which was stolen from Qayn millenia ago, so his power was returned.

Crossing the serpent sea was a danger in itself, but they needed to do it to get to where the crown was housed - on Prince Kendric's head. The challenge which was set was a fight to the death - was Imani confident enough in her skills to join the fight? And who would be her partner? Treachery and terror followed them around - would they survive to see the saving of their land?

Serpent Sea is the 2nd in The Spice Road Trilogy by Aussie author Maiya Ibrahim and it was awe-inspiring; as brilliant as the first in the series. Over 500 pages long, it took me awhile, but the pages sped by. Filled with power, magic and plenty of human responses, I highly recommend this, and book 1, to fans of the genre - and I'm looking forward very much to #3.

With thanks to NetGalley & Hachette AU for my digital ARC to read and review.

This novel was a rollercoaster and stressed me out - in a good way!

We return to Imani, Qayn and Taha's battle across the sands and sea to save their home. Imani and Taha risk losing their home to invaders and they both have different ideas of how to do this.

While I loved Imani in the first novel, I'd say Taha's journey was the most intriguing and heartbreaking in this second novel. We get more exploration of his complicated relationship with his father (and for Imani of course). When Taha was captured, the descriptions and storyline of his capture were haunting and (I assume) based on various real-life events. It was harrowing and realistic and I appreciate what the author was doing. Taha's experiences and development were the highlight for me. Again, I love Imani but in comparison, her development felt slower and Taha's had complexity which I enjoyed.

The plot was fast-paced and in hindsight, I realised that so much was covered in this novel. I enjoyed all the additional world-building and development of the magic system and knowledge we got. However, I thought at times it was a little bit too much, the whole book felt like it was giving me a lot of world-building, constantly and I felt fatigued after a while. In saying so, when I read the ending I think I can understand why there is a lot of development.

In the end, while one villainous King is defeated another magical enemy rises and I am already looking forward to the next instalment of this series! I enjoyed this second novel more than the first novel so I am excited to see where the rest of this series goes.