Author: Shelby Mahurin
Publisher: HarperTeen
Date published: September 2019
Genre: Fiction, young adult, fantasy, romance
Pages: 519
Rating: 5/5
Bound as one to love, honor, or burn.
Two years ago, Louise le Blanc fled her coven and took shelter in the city of Cesarine, forsaking all magic and living off whatever she could steal. There, witches like Lou are hunted. They are feared. And they are burned.
Sworn to the Church as a Chasseur, Reid Diggory has lived his life by one principle: thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. His path was never meant to cross with Lou's, but a wicked stunt forces them into an impossible union—holy matrimony.
The war between witches and Church is an ancient one, and Lou's most dangerous enemies bring a fate worse than fire. Unable to ignore her growing feelings, yet powerless to change what she is, a choice must be made.
And love makes fools of us all.
Two years ago, Louise le Blanc fled her coven and took shelter in the city of Cesarine, forsaking all magic and living off whatever she could steal. There, witches like Lou are hunted. They are feared. And they are burned.
Sworn to the Church as a Chasseur, Reid Diggory has lived his life by one principle: thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. His path was never meant to cross with Lou's, but a wicked stunt forces them into an impossible union—holy matrimony.
The war between witches and Church is an ancient one, and Lou's most dangerous enemies bring a fate worse than fire. Unable to ignore her growing feelings, yet powerless to change what she is, a choice must be made.
And love makes fools of us all.
- From Goodreads.
One thing that made Serpent & Dove really enjoyable to read for me was the dual perspectives. Lou and Reid both had distinct voices and interesting points of view and I found myself looking forward to each character's perspective, what happened in their point of view, and what each character thought about what had happend in the other's point of view.
Something else that worked well in the story was how information about the world and about backstories of characters was fed to the reader gradually over time. There were no sudden large amounts of exposition all at once, while there was still enough information for me to not be lost or confused, and the dual perspective helped to slowly layer up information over time as each character knew slightly different levels of information to the other.
I also loved the magic system and how the rules of it worked. I found it easy to follow what was happening when magic was used and was also intrigued to learn more about it and the distinctions between the different kinds of witchcraft.
I really liked Lou and Reid, and even though they both had flaws and a lot to learn, I found them both really loveable and I enjoyed following along on their journey and seeing their character development over the course of the book. They both learnt a lot and it was great to see how they began to love and care for each other despite the difficulties between them. The chemistry and tension between them was written really well and the build up of the romance was really exciting and fun to read.
The climax of the action at the end of the book was very thrilling to read and I think the gradual reveal of plot twists were planned out very well and made for a great storyline that was very enjoyable to read. I am really excited to find out what will happen in the next book in the series, how Lou and Reid's story will continue and how their characters will continue to develop.
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