The Serpent's Shadow

Elemental Masters

By: Mercedes Lackey

Narrated by: Michelle Ford

Length: 12 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

From the magical mysteries of India to the gaslit streets of Victorian London, Mercedes Lackey's unique departure from her Valdemar series follows a young woman doctor as she searches for the secret behind the sorcery in her blood.

Enchanted? Listen to more titles in the Elemental Masters Series.

©2002 Mercedes Lackey (P)2009 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Mercedes Lackey returns to form in The Serpent's Shadow...."This story takes place in the London of 1909, and is based on "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs." Lackey creates echoes of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, pays affectionate homage to Dorothy Sayers's Lord Peter Wimsey (who plays an important role under a thin disguise), and turns the dwarves into seven animal avatars who masquerade as pets of her Eurasian heroine, Maya." (Amazon.com review)

Fan from the Beginning

Would you listen to The Serpent's Shadow again? Why?

I read this book when it was first released about 11 years ago. My mother actually gave it to me as a gift. I was hooked and didn't even know that it was a part of a series until 5 years later. I've since listened to it and reread it at least 4 times. The heroine is absolutely wonderful with her strength and intelligence while maintaining her femininity and being a true heroine. The story is compelling and the character development is clear and well done. I have and will listen to this repeatedly.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Maya, of course!

Which character – as performed by Michelle Ford – was your favorite?

Again, Maya!

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Running from her past pursued by killers, beautiful half Indian Dr. Maya Witherspoon flees from her Indian roots to the foreign streets of London. An outsider and exotic magical presence catch the attention of the "White Lodge" magical masters of London. Soon Maya finds herself learning the ways of her fathers people and finding out new powers of her own attached to her animals she calls pets. With fast paced action, magic and even romance, Mercedes Lackey takes us on fantastic romp in early 20th century London.

Great Narrator, Good Fluff reading

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Possibly, if I knew they liked or thought they would like Mercedes Lackey. This is one of my favorites of hers, but she's a guilty pleasure - an author I feel I shouldn't enjoy as much as I do, and cannot really defend when someone criticizes the writing. But I enjoyed the narrator, and it's always fun to see new retellings of fairy tales, which is what the Elemental Masters series is.

Would you recommend The Serpent's Shadow to your friends? Why or why not?

Hmm.... well, see above. Although I am perhaps slightly more likely to recommend the book, as it allows for skimming sections that might not hold interest.

Which scene was your favorite?

That's actually a hard question to answer, as there's little moments all through... but I suppose, I enjoy Nory's healing. And the bit where a random man in the street tells someone else off for not respecting the doctor. Actually, every bit where one of the people whose respect she's earned demonstrates that respect. And her first encounter with Miss Smith is amusing. And knocking out... but perhaps I shouldn't give that away.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I suppose that depends entirely on what else was on offer. Did I enjoy listening, with no particular desire to stop? Yes. Was I particularly annoyed if interrupted? Only when the interruption was blaring football commentary.

Any additional comments?

I had forgotten just how much time Mercedes Lackey tends to give her villains' perspectives. It adds tension in a first read, but in subsequent reads I usually skim or entirely skip their parts. That's harder to do in an audiobook. It wasn't particularly overdone in this one, I suppose, although I still found myself skipping forward through Shivanni's first section. Which, admittedly, did set up plot details, but as I already knew the story I felt no desire to spend so much time on them. Also, this one does seem particularly outraged/preachy, in an odd way. I hadn't realized just how much of the text dwelt on how unfair ancient (to me) attitudes and marriage laws were... not that it's wrong that they were unfair, but I certainly hope it no longer has to be said today? At least not these particular wrongs in this particular context? And there is no attempt to relate it to anything outside of its own particular context, so... Anyway, when I read it, having Maya as part of the suffragette movement was just one more fun bit about the character, and her friend Amelia's enthusiasm a part of her character, but listening I realized that I must have been skimming - or at least speed-reading - bits of that too without realizing.

Great audio book!

Read the book a while back and loved it. I was so excited to find it again as an audio book and was very pleased with Michelle Ford's performance! Eager to continue the series.

I Could not get into the story!

19th century England stories for me have been, hit and miss. This story is a "miss". It was hard to get into it. I am not sure why, but I think some of it has to do with the Narrator and some with the story. I did not quite like the setting and the background story lacked "something". I can't quite put my finger on it.
When I Like a book, it grabs my attention it doesn't it let it go and I want to keep listening. I was very excited about listening to more books by Mercedes Lackey but this fell through the cracks. Disappointing!

Loved the Book!

I had read the book previously, and I was thoroughly enraptured during the reading of it. So very much fun.

Much better narrator than the original!

I first heard this as an audiobook on CD, and was not impressed. However, that was some years ago, and Audible re-recorded it with Michelle Ford reading, and it is a drastic improvement! Michelle does good voices with decent accents, and reads clearly. Compared to her, Erin Jones (the original reader) sounds like a computer with about as much feeling and differentiation of characters. The difference in readers radically changes the experience of the audiobook.

Regarding the story, it's an interesting retelling of Snow White set in London, 1909. Mercedes Lackey seems to enjoying telling stories of women at the turn off the century, experience the changing times and culture with the rise of the Suffragette Movement, the Spiritualist Movement, and other world events. The reworking of the fairytale is fun, though sometimes I begin to feel hit over the head with all the reiterations of how cruel the world is to women. Though historically accurate on a number of points, it's also an over-simplification at times, and from a storytelling perspective, it gets old after a while. I like this particular book in the Elemental Mages series better than some of the others in part because it also brings to light other populations that were victims of harsh prejudice, such add Eastern immigrants and the Irish.

To sum it up, if you enjoy retellings of fairytale with strong female characters and a touch of sweet romance, this is a good book for you.

Glitch

There was a bit around halfway through where it did the introduction again. The story continued on after that...it was just odd

Gods of Love And War

A Great Love of Belief s and Two Different Racial Men And Woman s Love And Magic.

I love this version better than snow white.

Lackey always has so much details in her stories without making it boring. I love her talent for making the day to day something I can't bear to put down even after I finish it.

Really loved this interpretation

At first I didn't know it was a retelling of a fairy tale, and I was just interested in the story. I only realized it when I wanted to find the next book in the series. So, that goes to show it was a good story without knowing that.