The Serpent's Shadow

This was an engaging historical fantasy with echoes of the fairy tale Snow White.

Dr. Maya Witherspoon was born and raised in India. Her father was a British doctor. Her mother a Brahmin who gave up her family and caste to marry him. She was also a practicing magician and assisted by aspects of Hindu gods. However, she didn't teach her daughter how to use magic saying that her daughter's magic came from her father's tradition.

After her parents' deaths - her mother's from cholera and her father's from the bite of a krait - Maya gathered up her household and fled to London. It was 1909 and Maya had to deal with a variety of prejudices due to her desire to practice medicine and her mixed heritage. She finds a job in a hospital and a free show more clinic and also establishes a practice working with women from the theatrical world and demi-monde where she teaches birth control and specializes in "female complaints".

But her enemy - her mother's sister who practices dark magic - has followed her and wants to consume Maya's power and get revenge on the British who invaded her country.

Maya's untutored magic has drawn the attention of the Elemental Masters in London and Paul Scott, former sea captain, current merchant, and Water Master, is sent to see if Maya is a danger. Despite the Master's prejudice against female Elemental Masters, Paul is determined to teach her what she needs to know about her magical abilities.

With her aunt getting closer to finding her, Maya needs to get control of her Earth Master abilities. She also falls in love with Paul.

The worldbuilding here was excellent. I loved the combination of Western and Hindu magic. I also enjoyed the combination of 1909 women's suffrage and magic. The characters were fascinating and well-rounded. The writing is lyrical and descriptive.

This was a reread for me. I first read it near its publication date in 2001 when I was automatically buying and reading everything by Mercedes Lackey. It is also the first in a series that has grown to sixteen books, many of which are inspired by fairy tales. show less

This is the first Mercedes Lackey book that I've read, and I was pleasantly surprised. For some reason, I had the impression that her books would be heavy on the sex and light on plot, but not so! (At least not in this example). The story of Dr. Maya Witherspoon’s escape from enemies in her homeland India and her new life in England was a retelling of Snow White. The story was far enough from the fairy tale to make it quite refreshing. Also, I was actually interested in the feminist parts of the text. I generally dislike axe-grinding in my novels and thus avoid anything that seems remotely feminist. However, this feminism was not so much axe-grinding as educational. I learned a lot about actual problems that were suffered by women in show more the setting of the story…and it managed to educate me without sounding whiny. It was very well handled! show less

East meets West

This is a re-read of one of the first Elemental Masters books I had read by Mercedes Lackey. What fun to revisit such beloved, familiar characters.

I love how the story mixes the lush, exotic smells and colors of Colonial India with the grit and despair of working class England. And still manages to tell the truth about the prejudicial and cruel caste systems in India as well as the severity of the separation of the monied classes in England.

The Serpent's Shadow is a wonderfully written tale weaving together two societies, two religions and two cultures. Every character is relatable.

Dr. Maya Witherspoon, half East Indian and half British has lived most of her 26 years being rejected by both of her parents cultures. But she show more is no wilting female; she comes to London after her mother dies, and, against all odds, achieves certification to work as a doctor.

Maya faces many obstacles, including prejudice, discrimination, a growing knowledge of her own magical power and the looming threat of losing her life to an unknown magical enemy.

It was lovely to visit Maya's world again. And to witness the power of good triumphing over evil. This, and most of Mercedes Lackey's books are well worth a second read. show less

Fantasy seems almost entirely split between contemporary Urban Fantasy like Hamilton or the author's own Diana Tregarde novels or High Fantasy in a pseudo-medieval setting such as Tolkien or the author's own Valdemar books. So it was refreshing to read a fantasy set in Edwardian times, and a lot of the pleasure of this novel was how well it evoked that historical milieu.

You don't often see heroines that hail from India either, and Maya, half-English and half-Indian, is a very appealing heroine, one who as a female doctor in those times has had to struggle to gain respect in her profession given her ethnicity and gender. I would have enjoyed following her even in a purely historical novel, but I did like Lackey's magical world here very show more much. Original, interesting, well-thought out and I liked how the author adapted the Snow White legend in such a way as to not make the plot predictable. An enjoyable, fun read. show less

While this is touted as the first book in the Elemental Masters series, the real first book in this series is the 'Fire Rose', so if you are going to read this book, you definitely want to check out the other one. You can read that book before or after this one, it doesn't matter as the two are not too closely tied together.

This is overall an entertaining book. It brings magic into this world in a subtle way, almost like Harry Potter except magic works differently in the Elemental Masters universe that Lackey has created. It's also a fun retelling of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, but be forewarned, the author took great liberties with the original story, so some things will be quite different than what you might think for a show more retelling of the classic tale. I like that the character of Maya is not some simpering princess, but a competent and able physician who digs out a place for herself and also finds the time to help poor people. Overall a decent and likeable character, though the 'Prince Charming' bit in this book is a bit obvious. Still, overall a good book. show less

Maya Witherspoon is the daughter of a British military officer and physician, and a Brahmin woman of a high-ranking family. Raised in the British Raj, educated as a physician by her father and then at the University of Delhi, she is nevertheless adrift when her parents both die, not far apart, in natural-seeming yet unlikely circumstances. She packs up her possessions, the Indian servants who are like family to her, and her mother's pets, and leaves India for London.

1909 London is not an easy world for a half-caste female physician, but it's better than being alone in India confronting an unknown enemy, and Maya creates a niche for herself. She sells her jewelry to buy and renovate a house to be her home and her medical office for show more receiving private clients, manages to be approved to practice at St.Mary's Hospital, and donates her time to a charity clinic in the Fleet. Her self-protecting magics do eventually attract the attention of the White Lodge, but they quickly decide she is not a threat and can be left in peace.

Then bodies start turning up. Bodies that have been squeezed and crushed to death. And they're all men who served with the British Army in India.

There are attempts to crack Maya's defenses on her home. One of her mother's "pets," an eagle owl, finds a nefarious watcher and attacks and drives him off. A medical school failure, nephew of the head of the hospital where Maya works, makes himself her personal nemesis.

As danger closes in and her real enemy gets closer and closer, Maya and her friends, including water master and former sea captain Peter Scott, gather their resources to fight and defeat the looming darkness over London.

This is a good, light read, a rather free adaptation of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, and includes an entertaining Peter Wimsey knockoff, another water master who's a friend of Peter Scott.

Good summer reading.

I borrowed this book from a friend. show less

{Second of 17 Elemental Masters series ; fantasy, urban fantasy, parallel Earth, magic, Overdrive, NLB} (2001)

(The library I borrowed this book from has it listed as the first in the series, possibly because The Fire Rose was written several years before this and was apparently published by a different publisher.)

Set in Edwardian London on a parallel Earth where magic exists; Maya is a half Indian, half English female doctor and has had to fight hard for her rights in a male dominated world. She grew up in India but both her parents died and, after discovering that her family had an enemy who commanded dark magic, Maya fled to London where she overcame the odds to be registered as a doctor and continue practicing medicine. She has magic show more of her own, too, but has never been taught so her inexpertly crafted shields attract the attention of the Exeter Club where the (upper class, English, male) Elemental Masters of magic, who defend the country, gather. But Maya's unknown enemy has followed her to London and has another agenda - which deeply concerns the Exeter Club.

This was a decent adventure, not absolutely gripping at the beginning though it picked up towards the end. I think the London setting was to allow elements like suffragettes, class hierarchy and the prejudice against women in exclusively male enclaves of society to be worked into the story. I read this many years ago, close to when it was first written but I didn't continue with the series (since most of it hadn't been published yet) and I was curious as to how it turned out. I plan to continue with The Gates of Sleep anon.

Apparently each book in this series is a riff on different fairy tales. This story is supposed to evoke Snow White although I didn't really see that.

February 2022
3.5 show less