Sonderbooks Book Review of In the Coils of the Snake

Reviewed May 12, 2005.
Henry Holt and Company, New York, 2005. 231 pages.
Available at Sembach Library (J MCN F DUN).
SonderbooksStand-out 2005 (#1, Young Adult Fantasy Fiction)

I had the privilege of getting to read a review copy of the third bookin Clare B. Dunkle’s Hollow Kingdom Trilogy, and since it is alreadyavailable to preorder on Amazon.com, I’m going to go ahead and post myreview.

The book opens with the death of Marak, the goblin king, seen throughthe eyes of Miranda, a girl he brought up to be the perfect wife forhis son. However, the day before her destiny is about to befulfilled, the goblins are contacted by a group of elves with an offerthat disrupts all theirplans.

Goblins and elves have long been enemies. Can these two groupsmanage to get along? It turns out that Miranda is a key to thatrelationship, along with Arianna, a young woman of the elves. Canthey learn tosee through the eyes of the other?

I think my personal favorite may still be the first of the trilogybecause of its love story, but I think that In the Coils of theSnake isthe most beautifully crafted of the three books. In it, ClareDunkleties together the threads she has woven of goblin and elvishhistory. She continues with the powerful theme of clashing cultures and learningto see the world through the eyes of another.

There are many parts of this book where the story is told instead ofshown, but it fits in beautifully, as the book has all the resonancesof a folktale, of a storytelling. We feel that this is an ancient andpowerfultale of what might have really happened to the goblins and the elves.

Reviews of other books by Clare B. Dunkle:
The Hollow Kingdom (Book 1)
Close Kin (Book 2)
By These Ten Bones
The Sky Inside
The House of Dead Maids
Hope and Other Luxuries
Elena Vanishing

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Book Reviews by Sondra Eklund

******In the Coils of the Snake*

Book III in The Hollow Kingdom Trilogy

by Clare B. Dunkle