The Bookwyrm's Review of Serpents Rising by Joe Jackson

 

Author: Joe Jackson

Length: 561 Pages/ 17 Hours, 5 Minutes (Audio)

Publisher: Aethon Books

Release Date: June 5, 2020

Narrator: Chelsea Stephens

Genre: Epic Fantasy

Series: Eve of Redemption, Book 3

Rating: 4.5/5 Stars

Amazon Link

Its always interesting to see where an author who has a multi-book arc is taking the series, especially when it's an extended series. At 11 books, I'd say Eve of Redemption qualifies as extended. When I started reading, I was wondering if this was kind of a placeholder book, or if it was moving the story arc along. I'm happy to say this is definitely a story mover, opening up new avenues of exploration for the characters, and challenging their knowledge of the world they live in.

PLOT SUMMARY

Picking up right after the events of the previous book, there is a bit of chaos in the ranks of the demon hunter's order, as it was discovered that quite a few syrinthian serpent people, servants of the demon king Sekassus, have infiltrated the order. Hatching a plan to expose them, they successfully draw them into the courtyard of the demon hunters compound in the city of Darkwind, and capture them. Kari, the new head of the demon hunter order, is weighing a journey to the underworld to help the priestess Danilynn rescue the daughter of a syrinthian high priestess she owed a debt to, and plans on using any intelligence gathered from those captured. 

After a lot of consultations to determine if its feasible, Kari decides to go, making a deal with one of Sekassus's rival demon kings, and they travel by magic to the underworld, only taking Kari, her sister-in-law Sonia, and the priestess Danilynn, as well as Kari's brother-in-law and her friend Eli. The women are to travel to Sekassus's kingdom from the underworlds capital city, since a group of women won't be accosted, being seen as harmless by the denizen's of that world. As they prepare to leave the underworld capital, they gain some much needed intelligence about the political situation, as well as how they need to proceed to get the young woman, named Sesasha, from the demon king. 

Proceeding through a path arranged for them, the party stops at a village they are guided to. The village is inhabited by mallasti, a hyena humanoid type of demon. This is where they start finding out that what Kari's order thought they knew about demons is completely wrong. Traveling with a young villager as their guide, they work their way towards Sekassus's kingdom, and along the way Sonia is learning to use her magic effectively from their guide, who's race is much more in tune with arcane power. 

Finally reaching Sekassus, they bargain for his prisoner, and Kari and the rest find out that their guide is the reason they can get her exchanged at all. When they have Sesasha, Sakassus shows how evil he truly is, shocking the entire party. As they leave to return to the capitol, they have a seven days grace period where they can't be harmed, but if they can't get out, they are subject to the whims of the king. 

What follows is a harrowing journey, as the Sekassus's forces try to delay the party, while Kari has to avoid killing the kings forces, invalidating their truce. Things come to a head at the border, where an unexpected attack comes from someone attached to Kari's deeds a few months earlier in Barcon. Barely escaping, they even add to their party, finding a lost elf from an earlier invasion of the underworld, and using his help to escape to the capitol.

Returning to the order, Kari takes Sesasha with her to meet the syrinthian prisoners, and Kari realizes Sesasha can be a huge source of help for them, since she is a high priestess of her people, who would happily turn on Sekassus. Taking Sesasha to the grave of her mother to commune with her spirit, Kari, along with a good part of her extended family, are attacked by someone who shouldn't exist, since he was killed by the king of the Gods. Returning part of the way home, Kari and a couple others travel to the temple that Kari, as Salvation's Dawn, is supposed to be able to open with certain keys. What they find there will change their plans going forward, exposing just how far behind they are of the forces arrayed against them. If they can't catch up, their world may be lost to them for good in fire and death.

CHARACTERS AND WORLD BUILDING

This series has to be one of the most character driven series I've ever read. While there's lots of action, strong plot and creative and expansive world building, it all revolves around the large cast of characters, with Kari Vanador as the focus. She has quickly become one of my favorite characters in fantasy. She's strong, well trained and determined to do right, but she can also be rash and caught by crushing self doubt, especially when it comes to her lack of formal education and the trauma of her childhood. She just really feels like a real person with the weight of the world on her shoulders. The secondary characters are so well written, they just fit seamlessly into the story. They are not cardboard cutouts, but well rounded characters in their own right, with strengths and weaknesses that really add to the story. The villains are well thought out, with their own motivations driving their actions, some in bewildering ways, but all seemingly for a purpose, and not just to advance the plot. I'm not sure I've ever read a better group of characters in any series.

The world building is strong once again, with the underworld added as a setting, and being not at all what I would have expected. Instead of a generic hellscape, we get a fully realized world that, while different than Citaria, is definitely a wide range of settings, as the kings realms are different from one another. When the history of this world is revealed, it really expands on what the demon hunters order doesn't know, but needs to find out if Citaria is to avoid the underworld's fate.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I have to say that this is an enjoyable read. It really takes some unexpected twists and turns, with the trip to the underworld really changing how the characters see their universe at large. I'm curious to see where these revelations lead. I think this series, which is now complete at 11 books, will appeal to a wide range of fantasy fans.