Dark Serpent (Kylie Chan, HarperVoyager)

This is the first book in Kylie Chan’s ‘Celestial Battle’ trilogy, which combines martial arts and magic, although it is the seventh book in an ongoing story that began in 2006 with White Tiger. It picks up the story after the events of the ‘Journey to Wudang’ trilogy and features the same characters. While I imagine it is possible to read this book without having read the others, I would personally direct anyone showing an interest to White Tiger. Like the other books in this cycle, the setting is a contemporary world where the gods and magic of Chinese legend are real and still interact with humanity. In this book Chan also adds some new elements from Celtic mythology, with some fairly nasty results for her characters. She also continues her recent habit of providing references and some very interesting research notes as an appendix. For those already caught up in the series, this book has plenty to offer, with Chan beginning to position her characters in preparation for a decisive battle between Xuan Wu, who protects the Celestial Realm, and the Demon King, who threatens to destroy and enslave all the Heavenly and Earthly Realms. The magical origins of Emma Donahoe, Xuan Wu’s mortal lover, are also revealed. Like the earlier books, there are some quite dark elements in this story, which makes these books more suitable for older teens and adults. (Read the interview here.)

Stefen Brazulaitis is the owner of Stefen’s Books in Perth

Books+Publishing pre-publication reviews are supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund.

Category: Reviews