Fifteen years ago, Liane’s America was shaken by a magical war between elves and Moon Demons that left many human cities in flames and many people turned into monsters. It’s mostly calmer now — but Liane’s crush Elise is turned into a cat-monster under suspicious circumstances, and then Liane herself is turned into a snake-armed girl under even more suspicious circumstances. As she investigates, … investigates, she uncovers terrible secrets behind the war — and is cursed to be transformed into a woeful shape if she reveals them. Can she save her country without sacrificing her humanity and personality?
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I was one of the early readers for Snake-Armed Girl: Bard Bloom sent me installments of it as it was written. After they finished it, they sent me the complete draft and asked me how I would improve it.
Before I re-read it, I told Bard, “I can suggest some wording changes and typo fixes, but I can’t improve on this story. It is perfect.”
After I’d been writing book reviews for a while, one of my friends observed that while my nominal scale was 1-10, the scale of actual ratings that I had used was 5-9, so you could map a 5 as “1 star” and 9 as “5 stars”. I told them, “There are books that rate below 5 that I do not finish and don’t write reviews for, and it’s possible for a book to be above 9, too: it just hasn’t happened with one I’ve reviewed yet.”
And I knew it was possible , because this book existed.
Snake-Armed Girl is my 10.
I have been waiting for years to recommend this book to everyone, and FINALLY I can.
I love this book without reservation. The way the story is put together is astonishing: it has turns that I never saw coming, and yet were perfectly foreshadowed in retrospect. The resolution is brilliant, and the denouement gorgeous and allowed to unfold at its own pace: no rushing from climax to “the end” here!
Some bullet points:
* This is a YA book with parents who are alive, intelligent, caring, and involved with the lives of their teenagers.
* In fact, the adults in Snake-Armed Girl are generally competent and often able to provide help and support in various ways for the challenges faced by the protagonist and her friends
* And yet the challenges for the teenagers are things they ultimately have to face themselves. When adults cannot help, it is always for excellent reasons that make sense in the context of the story. Nothing is contrived or forced.
* The antagonists in this story do terrible things for fascinating, often sympathetic reasons. Early in the story, those motives are so well-hidden that their actions seem utterly random and nonsensical, but when the whole puzzle is unveiled it is breathtaking to behold. You may find yourself hating the antagonists, but you will understand them.
* Liane, the protagonist, is absolutely wonderful. The story unfolds in the first person, and her voice is distinctive, charming, and witty. She makes light of serious problems in a way that makes them bearable without ever ignoring how serious they are. She handles the many problems the universe throws out her with just the right mix of brilliance and believable teenage “I have no idea what to do now AHHHHH”.
* The titular snake-arms are amazing too, with their own personalities that integrate with Liane’s and give her a unique and slightly alien perspective. I love how this is handled.
* There is a romantic subplot which is delightfully unlike the usual tropes of romance: it is not “these two characters are perfect for each other and belong together” so much as “these two characters are willing to do the work to make their relationship a strong, healthy, and positive force”. They have doubts and struggles. It feels very real.