A Snake Among Swans (The Wing and the Ways, #1)
About the book
Author: Hannah Kaner
Publisher: Harper Voyager
More info:
The StoryGraph | Goodreads
Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the review.
Buy and support indie bookstores (+ I earn a small commission):
Bookshop.org (print or ebook) | Libro.fm (audio)
My review
I was a big fan of Hannah Kaner’s Godkiller trilogy, so when I saw she was starting a new fantasy series (and that Samantha Shannon loved it), I knew I had to give it a try. I’m so glad I did; this is VERY different from Godkiller (Kaner has range, y’all), but just as impressive if not more.
Until I went clicking around Kaner’s website to learn where she lives, I didn’t know that A Snake Among Swans is actually a feminist retelling of the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale “The Wild Swans” from the evil stepmother’s perspective. (I wasn’t familiar with that story, so off to its Wikipedia page I went.) Now I gift this knowledge unto you, dear reader, because it enhanced my reading experience A TON.
The book is about a young woman named Tilde, who is the daughter of the (female) king of the Merogia clan. She was there the night years ago when the Swan King and his army violently conquered her people. So she agrees to marry the king — become the barbarian bride, if you will — with the intention of killing him on her wedding night. But her mother convinces her that it would be better revenge to bide her time until she can take the whole kingdom down from the inside. Meanwhile, her people’s sacred but dangerous kithwood forest is literally calling to her, and Princess Elise is not at all what she expected.
Some things that I enjoyed but may not work for everyone: There is certainly a solid plot here, but it is primarily a political fantasy novel. There is more plotting and scheming and conversations overheard through secret doors than action sequences (although of course there are some). If you need consistently fast pacing, this may not be the book for you. There’s also a lot of worldbuilding, including places, titles, ethnicities, and more to learn from scratch. I was glad I started out tandem reading this before switching exclusively to audio once I had my bearings.
But if that sounds like your cup of tea, I highly recommend it. There is so much here about the tragedy and folly of imperialism and the rage of oppressed people, plus the cages of all kinds that women get trapped in. It’s a delicious “support women’s wrongs” kind of book, with an angry, morally grey, vengeful protagonist to swoon over. Plus, it’s wonderfully sapphic. The ending is electric; I will absolutely be reading the next one.
I’d recommend this one to readers who loved The Priory of the Orange Tree for its sprawling world and political nature, even though there are fewer “traditional” fantasy elements like dragons.
Content and trigger warnings
War, violence, death
Imperialism
Marital rape
Pregnancy and miscarriage
Suicide (discussed)
Self-harm
