Review: Sisters Of The Snake, Sasha Nanua, Sarena Nanua

Sisters of the Snake is a lovely young adult fantasy with identical twins switching places…Read on to hear my thoughts on the book!

Sisters of the Snake by Sasha Nanua, Sarena Nanua
Published by HarperTeen on June 15, 2021
Genres: fantasy, young adult
Format: ARC
Source: Harper Collins INTL
Buy on Book Depository, Wordery, Barnes & Noble, Publisher, Bookshop, Blackwell's
Goodreads

A lost princess. A dark puppet master. And a race against time—before all is lost.
Princess Rani longs for a chance to escape her gilded cage and prove herself. Ria is a street urchin, stealing just to keep herself alive.
When these two lives collide, everything turns on its head: because Ria and Rani, orphan and royal, are unmistakably identical.
A deal is struck to switch places—but danger lurks in both worlds, and to save their home, thief and princess must work together. Or watch it all fall into ruin.
Deadly magic, hidden temples, and dark prophecies: Sisters of the Snake is an action-packed, immersive fantasy that will thrill fans of The Crown’s Game and The Tiger at Midnight.

I received this book for free from Harper Collins INTL in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

☂️ TRIGGER WARNINGS:

violence, child abuse, torture, murder, death of a parent (before the book starts), emotional manipulation, poisoning, snakes.

☂️ DIVERSITY: South Asian cast of characters.

There are no spoilers in this review.

This blog post contains affiliate links. If you buy something on my recommendation, I will receive a small commission. Purchasing via these links will not cost you any extra and will help me cover the costs of book blogging. You will find more info on my privacy policy and disclaimer pages. Thank you!

I ENJOYED…

☂️

• Sisters of the Snake is about two identical twins discovering the other’s existence. Ria’s an orphan and a thief, trying to survive every single day. Rani’s a princess, used to the palace life and a stranger to anything outside of its walls. When they discover each others’ existence, they decide to switch places…
• I was so excited to read Sisters of the Snake. Let’s face it, this synopsis sounds so very good and I was eager to have great siblings relationship, exciting Parent-Trap kind of shenanigans and more. If some elements of the book were fantastic, others were a little bit of a disappointment. I’ll get into that later, though.
• One of my favorite thing about the book was, thankfully, the characters. You know me, if I can’t get on board with them, I can’t get on board with the book, at all. I loved Ria and Rani so much, though and both of their journey through the book were great to follow.
  • Ria’s the thief thrown into the palace life. I loved how she learned about her family as she went on, loved her curiosity and was rooting for her to find out more about her roots, too.
  • Rani’s the princess, discovering the outside world for the first time and getting on an impossible quest. I think Rani was my favorite of the two. It was so great to see her thrown out of her comfort zone, getting to know Ria’s friends, growing more confident in her quest as she went on.
• One of the best qualities of Sisters of the Snake is how entertaining it is. After a bit of a rocky start for me -more on that later, I found that I wasn’t bored once and kept on edge with the twists and turns. The alternating chapters and POV made me keep on reading, too!
• I really liked the world-building and felt like it had a lot of potential, too! Set in an Indian-inspired fictional setting, the authors paints us a vivid picture of the palace, the food (oh, especially all the food), the bustling markets and more and I really loved it. Though, I have to admit… if you’re terrified of snakes, read with caution because there are a lot.
• No spoilers here, but I really liked the villain, especially how their intentions were developed. It felt like a real, three-dimensional villain and we could deeply understand where they came from and why they did what they did. I loved that!

I HARD A HARD TIME WITH…

☂️

• For a story where sisters are so important, I felt a little frustrated, at times. The switch between the two happened pretty quickly and, in the end, I didn’t get as many interactions between the sisters during the story. Something that, let’s face it, frustrated me a little bit. I wanted even more sister bonding!
• I also have to admit that it took me a little while to get into the story. It’s probably just a personal thing, but I wasn’t as immersed into the world as I wish I were at the beginning of the book.
• There were some details about the story that ended up bugging me a little bit, plot-wise. I felt like there were some inconsistencies and some things I just didn’t… quite get.

OVERALL

☂️

If you’re looking for a great fantasy read, I recommend Sisters of the Snake. Even if I had some personal frustrations with the story, I still found it really entertaining overall and recommend it for fans of the genre!

FINAL RATING : 3 drops!

📌 Pin the book review of Sisters of the Snake, by Sasha & Sarena Nanua on Pinterest!

Did you read Sisters of the Snake or do you want to? Do you have any recommendations of great young adult fantasy you’ve read and loved? Let me know in comments!

Twitter ☂️ Bookstagram ☂️Goodreads ☂️ Bloglovin’ ☂️ Support the blog