I received this book for free from in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
The Serpent in Heaven on November 15, 2022 Buy on Bookshop
#1 New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Charlaine Harris returns to her alternate history of the United States where magic is an acknowledged but despised power in this fourth installment of the Gunnie Rose series.
Felicia, Lizbeth Rose’s half-sister and a student at the Grigori Rasputin school in San Diego—capital of the Holy Russian Empire—is caught between her own secrets and powerful family struggles. As a granddaughter of Rasputin, she provides an essential service to the hemophiliac Tsar Alexei, providing him the blood transfusions that keep him alive. Felicia is treated like a nonentity at the bedside of the tsar, and at the school she's seen as a charity case with no magical ability. But when Felicia is snatched outside the school, the facts of her heritage begin to surface. Felicia turns out to be far more than the Russian-Mexican Lizbeth rescued. As Felicia’s history unravels and her true abilities become known, she becomes under attack from all directions. Only her courage will keep her alive.
I am not exactly a Charlaine Harris fan, but one would have to be dead to not have heard of her, and brain-dead at least to not acknowledge that she is an extremely popular writer. So when I was offered an opportunity to review this book, which is part of a series but features a new narrator, I decided that I would need to make room in my schedule.
As it turns out, I didn’t need much room, because I believe I finished this one in 3 or 4 days. That’s a pretty decent turn around since sometimes it can take a week or more for me to finish a book if it doesn’t capture my attention. I didn’t fall in love, but the alternate history of a broken USA and a still-living Russian royal family is certainly interesting. I know I missed out on some world-building by starting with this fourth book in the series, but not enough that I couldn’t tell what was going on.
I found the ending a bit anti-climatic, the big resolution tying up a little too neatly for my taste. It left me in an “Oh. Well, okay then,” kind of mood instead of wanting more. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but I did find it unexpected. It’ll be interesting to see if the narrative stays with Felicia in the next book or goes back to her half-sister Lizbeth’s point of view. I honestly think knowing that would affect my rating. If Felicia’s story is done for awhile, then I’d probably give this an additional half star.
If you’re already a fan of the series or the author, I recommend this book. If you’re not, I wouldn’t go out of my way to find it.
