In the Coils of the Snake (The Hollow Kingdom Trilogy, … (2024)

In the Coils of the Snake, the third book in THE HOLLOW KINGDOM YA fantasy trilogy, is about a human girl, Miranda, who is Matilda’s daughter (Matilda being a minor character in the prior two books in this series). Miranda has grown up in the underground goblin kingdom, but when there's an upheaval there, with her long-planned marriage to the goblin king going south, she leaves. Wandering around at loose ends and suicidally depressed, she's found and snagged up by Kir, the elf lord, who sees her as a useful pawn for his plans ... and perhaps as something more.

Coils takes place maybe 40 years after the first book, The Hollow Kingdom, but most of the original characters from Kingdom are still around, and it’s fun to see what’s happened to them. You need to have read at least The Hollow Kingdom for Coils of the Snake to make any sense at all, and preferably the second book, Close Kin, as well.

This book is more enjoyable to read than the second one, with less harshness and more beauty, love and hope. But Clare Dunkle is still working her theme of life and love sometimes being brutal and hard, and how often people hurt each other even when they're trying to do the right thing.

Miranda is a much more frustrating heroine to read about, and to try to sympathize with, than is Kate, the main character in the first book. She spends most of the book feeling sorry for herself, so much that at one point so much that she's about to commit suicide when the goblin king tells her he needs to marry someone else, even though their relationship was more affectionate than romantic. Also, both of the other main characters, Catspaw (the goblin lord) and Kir (the elf lord), had incredibly stubborn moments when I really wanted to give them each a swift kick in the rear, although I get that it's hard for proud rulers to alter their world views. Dunkle did a good job of making their interactions seem realistic.

This trilogy has imaginative and very well thought-out worldbuilding, with an in-depth look at the magical goblin and elf kingdoms, hiding among humans. I really enjoyed the insights into goblin and elvish cultures, as viewed through Dunkle's eyes. Highly recommended, though not always easy reading.

I enjoyed In the Coils of the Snake much better than Close Kin. I’m not quite sure why. Maybe the heavy-handed message of the second book about marriage and babies didn’t seem quite so prevalent. But then again, maybe I just ignored it this time. lol
I do that.

Of course, The Hollow Kingdom will always be my favorite. I almost think Dunkle shouldn’t have made this a trilogy, because the first book was perfect by itself. Dunkle likes to take the theme (never judge a book by its cover) and turn it around and around and then back again. If the first book made the reader reconsider the ugly myth and lore surrounding Goblins, this book twisted things around again, by maybe suggesting the Goblins aren’t always that great either.

Yet to do this flip-flop, Dunkle had to kill off Marak (the Goblin King) because he was simply too clever. Marak would never have made the mistakes his son makes when it comes to the Elves. So for plot purposes, Catspaw becomes the villain, yet he’s not really evil. He’s just a numpty. Consequently, it’s hard to get all worked up and worried about him. Not to mention, it’s hard to root for a numpty.

I did appreciate seeing the other side of the Elves though. Their different viewpoint was a lovely counterbalance to the other books. Although, Dunkle doesn’t love the Elves like she does the Goblins. While there were all kinds of Goblin characters I grew to know and love, this wasn’t the same with the Elves.

In the end, I have to say, I really like Dunkle’s simple and direct prose, and I love how she captures a different time period. I’ll definitely read more of her books.

***1/2

Thanks for the buddy read, Jeannette!

2.5 stars. Disappointing, because I loved book 1, The Hollow Kingdom (my review. However, despite some interesting and captivating scenes, this is a boring YA fantasy-romance. More romance than fantasy, actually. Best were the opening chapters, with a longish yawn in the middle and a wordy info dump about ancient elvish history bogging down what could have been a much stronger finish.

Not enough happens. Little to marvel at and fret over. I wanted some captivating tension. I wanted acts of heroic daring-do. At least some epic love.

Instead, it's poor pitiful Miranda, sad and sometimes mad (not mad enough). And poor scared Arianna, hiding, always hiding from her new husband, Catspaw. She can magically feel people's thoughts but not enough to discern an evil intent to mutilate and disfigure from...a harmless intent to cuddle and kiss. (Huh?) Add to these stirring characters some immature posturing between the newly crowned Goblin King and the mysterious Elf Lord, and -- hey presto! -- The Coils of the Snake (no snake, beyond a mini-scene with Charm, from book 1).

At the beginning of this final book in the trilogy, Marak the Goblin King of book 1 is dying (sob). I was intent on that entire scene, down in the darkest crypt, especially how Marak and his beloved Kate interacted, and the notion of meting out your strength in minutes and seconds, then lying down to peacefully sleep (echoes of Thanatopsis). Well done! A great beginning!

But as the story plays out, Seylen becomes the unsung hero, even though he is a secondary character. I found no primary character to adore. Not even Catspaw. Just not enough time with him, for one, and his characterization was uneven. I liked Nir, but ditto. (Dunkle made the same mistake in book 2, creating two romantic relationships, and dedicating insufficient attention to each one.)

This is primarily Miranda's story. Despite growing up with Marak's fatherly love for her -- or because of it, in some sense -- she is a desperately needy 17-year-old girl. Her childhood was no picnic. Far from it. At 17, just when she thinks life is looking up, she endures two more heartrending losses. Miranda rebounds by falling for a father figure, someone to replace her beloved Marak -- a MUCH older "man" (based on the text, I infer that he is 40-ish).

Note: The needy heroine engaged in self-mutilation (little cuts) to gain a sense of control during her miserable childhood, and thinks about cutting herself (and killing herself) when her world falls apart AGAIN as a young adult. However, she eventually decides to forevermore scorn such cowardly acts.

Problems with this series as a whole: 1) Kidnapping is an accepted practice; such forced marriages work via Stockholm Syndrome effects. 2) The author created a false dichotomy where beauty is synonymous with weakness and laziness, and ugliness is synonymous with strength and hard work. This bit of nonsense is only minimally addressed, mainly by Miranda. 3) Humans need sunlight, or extra helpings of vitamin D.

I do like these covers. The rich, sometimes earthy tones aptly reflect the individual themes of the books, in my opinion. Plus the style of artwork keeps the characters sort of dreamy and vague and I am therefore free to go on picturing them however I please and that is always a good thing. In the Coils of the Snake continues the story of the goblin court and its longtime enemies the "we're one step ahead of extinction" elves. This third and final volume in the Hollow Kingdom trilogy takes place thirty years after Close Kin and begins with the unthinkable.

Marak is dead. *sob*

And as if that isn't enough, we find out that all these years he has been secretly grooming a young human girl to be his son Catspaw's bride when he passes the crown to him. The girl, Miranda, is now living in the hollow hill with them and is utterly bereft now that her one friend (and father-figure) is gone and she is expected to take up the mantle of queen to a young and inexperienced king. Her fragmented life becomes further complicated when, on the eve of their wedding, Catspaw puts her aside in favor of a young elf of impeccable pedigree. The move is without malice, as Catspaw faces a stalemate with the elf lord Nir. Nir offers the young Arianna as part of a peace treaty between his people and the goblins. When Miranda finds out her entire purpose in life no longer exists, she refuses Catspaw's offer of sanctuary and runs away. Right into the clutches of the elf lord, who finds her a very useful sort of hostage indeed.

This book held everything I hoped for the conclusion of the trilogy. The story splits its time between Miranda and the elves and Catspaw's difficulties wrangling his elf bride and his attempts to subvert Nir's plans. I wasn't as attached to Catspaw as I was his father (Marak was The Top), so I was not as invested in his story. But Miranda was a lovely, sympathetic character and it was a pleasure to watch her find a place where she felt at home at last. I was also glad to finally find a truly noble elf in Nir, after the painfully vicious and unhappy band in Close Kin. And I had to smile at how frivolous the goblins thought the elves and with what disgust and horror the elves, in turn, viewed the goblins. In the Coils of the Snake also, rather notably, has a proper ending, perfect for the book itself and for the trilogy as a whole.

1.5/5

notes on two problematic things:
one: female protagonist, miranda relies on male counterpart (whether it be a friend or father figure) for her happiness. she defines herself dependent on males (due to her own family, marak, but also herself). it remains this way till the end, with no change in her nor does she gain much on self-confidence.

two: miranca inflicts injuries dunkle mentions it a couple of times on herself when she's
(a) lonely,
(b) waiting for marek to shower her with attention and heal her,
(c) both.
okay, got it ... but why didn't dunkle touch upon this issue further? this is a young adult book, as such i'd have hoped that the aspect of miranda participating in self-mutilation would have been addressed at least in the end. what happens? will she continue to inflict injuries or not? does she at least seek help? the reader has no way of knowing.

read abigail's review

Lowering the number of stars because, even more than the first two books in this series, the characters in this book are missing something. Okay, Stockholm Syndrome is a thing, but this consistently? Nobody seems to mind that women are complete pawns (though Miranda does get in a nice rant, before she completely loses her personality to the elves). The women just fall in love with their kidnappers and see no need to change their world. Grr. This was a bad time to read this book, as Catspaw's insensitivity was bothering me even more than usual.

(Slight spoiler: you just tell the woman who's been raised thinking she's going to marry you, and actually wants to marry you, sorry, I'm marrying somebody else tonight, and then think you can just ask her to come back? I mean, that's way worse than most of the things characters do in stupid romance novels, and her reaction is more justified than most reactions of that sort.)

The third and final entry in Dunkle's Hollow Kingdom Trilogy, In the Coils of the Snake follows the story of Miranda, one of the human twins brought back to the goblin kingdom by Emily in Close Kin. Raised as a wife for Catspaw, the future Marak, Miranda's entire life is thrown into chaos by the arrival of the mysterious elf lord, Nir. Cast off by one powerful leader, Miranda soon finds herself the captive of another...

This was essentially the story of the return of the elves to their forest - something I had hoped for since the first title in the series - and I enjoyed that aspect of it immensely, finding Nir an engrossing character. But I continued to feel some ethical qualms about the "captured bride" theme that permeates the series. In the first title,

I liked this one better than Close Kin, despite my disappointment at the relative absence of familiar characters.

Miranda has been raised in the human world, but ever since she was a child she has been groomed by Marak to become the human wife of his son, Catspaw. But when Catspaw, now the Goblin King, discovers a that a living, civilized group of elves has returned to their old territory, he cannot pass up the opportunity to arrange a truce in exchange for an elf wife. Suddenly robbed of her destiny, Miranda flees the goblin world and runs straight into Nir, the new elf lord, who magically binds her to him for reasons even he doesn't understand.

In some ways this is more slowly paced than Close Kin, but the story is tighter, and the political wranglings of the goblins and elves are fraught with tension. Dunkle does a better job here, I felt, handling the issue of captive brides; we learn some of the history of the practice, and the ways in which it has been both the savior and the downfall of both the goblins and the elves. Which still doesn't address the issue of how eventually all the women in the books happily settle down into their new life, but it's a start, and it also serves to emphasize that the goblins and elves are not humans dressed up in pretty clothes or ugly costumes.

The last book in the Hollow Kingdom trilogy and I wasn’t disappointed. First off, this is the first book without an overly gruesome prologue. Which I’m almost sad about since I felt bound to continue reading the others to discover the reason for such horridness. This prologue begins with our beloved Marak getting ready to pass away and leave his kingdom to his son – not as gruesome and to tell you the truth not as intriguing either but still good.

Back to the story: Old Marak has been raising a human girl, Miranda, to become the bride of his son for her entire life a fact which has left her ostracized from humans her entire life. Miranda has faced cruelty, disappointment and is now ready to finally take her place as the new Marak’s bride – only the arrival of a new and powerful elf turns her entire world upside down and she is caught between two strong rulers who both believe she belongs to them.

This was the most emotionally developed of all three books in my opinion. There was so much love, loss, humor and growth that I couldn’t stop reading. I wasn’t sure how she would make the ending work out and to my amazement, I was completely happy with all that occurred. Such a great series I would recommend to anyone.

This little section had me in stitches. This is when Miranda (a human) is trying to explain to Hunter (an elf) why she is reading a book – Robinson Crusoe:

Hunter was astounded. “You’re learning the history of a man who didn’t exist?” he demanded. “Why would you bother to do that?”
“Because it’s interesting,” said Miranda. “When I think about his troubles, I forget mine for a while.”
“You want imaginary troubles to forget real troubles?” asked Hunter. “I don’t have to read a big long chronicle for that. I’ll just imagine I have a stomachache.”
He rolled around on the floor, moaning and holding his middle. Miranda was disgusted. She headed back to her room to enjoy her book in peace. Hunter sat up laughing as she passed.
“Wait! My stomachache’s gone!” he exclaimed. “I feel wonderful.” But she marched up the stairs without looking at him. “She’s mad at me,” he sighed. “Now we’ll never find out what happened to the man who didn’t exist.”

I really wanted to like the final book in this trilogy, but almost everything about it just rubbed me the wrong way. I felt like everything Miranda did was ridiculous. She isn't going to marry the king, so she decides to kill herself, she gets kidnapped and is placed under a spell that makes her obey literally everything the elf king says, and she's only a little miffed about it. They also put her under a spell so that she can never see then sun again, although she's talked about how much she misses it, and it barely seems to phase her. About four seconds and two conversations later, and she is completely ready to marry the elf king, why? Because he is so damn pretty. Miranda pales in comparison to the heroine of the first book, Kate. I was intensely annoyed by almost everyone. It just wasn't for me.

Certain things about this book bother me, Goblins and elves are two societies who can't survive without hurting others. The goblin king or the elvish king has to have a bride that in not of their race. They can only marry when their magic has matured, which is in their 40s, so there is almost always a huge age gap between the kings and their wives, The elves spend their lives in the dark, and the Goblins underground, Seems like Dunkle has gone out of her way to make it suck for the brides.

Aside from that this is a really creative and somewhat original series, I liked the details that Dunkle has packed inside the series, about the elvish history and goblin history, their customs etc. I Have always thought that the only books worth revisiting are those which are full of details.

You know those romances where everything would be fine if they just talked to each other? This is like that, except it's a political situation, not a romance. Which is worse because it affects so many people.

And this probably followed too many characters. I was more interested in updates on the old characters than the new characters. Did add some nice worldbuilding stuff.

It was fine.

In this series, the first book (The Hollow Kingdom) was definitely my favorite. Although we did get a small cameo from my favorite character, the snake, I thought they would play a larger role in this novel from its title. Overall, I liked this story. It was a bit slow going at the beginning (and middle if I'm being honest) but the ending was satisfying and provided answers to all the questions.

I've read this book more times then I really know, and each time I just love it more and more. Nir makes me swoon, and the other characters are very engaging as well. I love the plot twists in this one as well. A must read! (the other two books are phenomenal as well) :)

When I first read the series, the only ones available at my library were the first book in the trilogy and this one. I obviously didn't read them in the correct order but they were still engaging to my young mind. Not knowing English that well to grasp much from the first book, this one definitely caught my attention. I was thinking this was going to take place in the Goblin world as it did the first one so I was rather surprised it had to do with the elves! The only other elves I knew were from the film The Lord of the Rings, so you can bet I imagined my elves in that light. Aside from my young girl's mussings, I happened to borrow this book from the library, and then when I left the country I wanted to read this again and it took me eternities to find an online store where they had a hard cover copy. It remained as much as I remembered it when I was younger so I was very glad that the second or third or fourth reading of this book remained as fresh as when I did the first time. In fact, I always found something new each time I re read this book (I practically know the dialogue haha). Storywise, I'm not so sure it would be deemed for young kids, more like teenagers.

We start off with the death of Marak, the wise, playful goblin king from the first novel. It's surprisingly not that sad the way he dies, for he kind of had it planned, but the effect his death had on his subjects and his family was definitely shown. Miranda, our heroine, is this naive young girl that was raised to be a King's Wife, she was groomed for it, she was basically made for a King. Everyone, including herself, knows she was to marry Marak's son and future King Catspaw, so when the time comes for her to do so, they encounter elves wanting to formally greet the goblins. This makes things difficult seeing as Nir, the elf lord has promised Catspaw a bride, or an elf of high blood. Little did he know Nir's own magic was trying to get rid of the young girl as it did his first wife. I'm not going to spoil it anymore there, but basically Miranda runs away knowing she was left as a second choice bride for one of Catspaw's subjects when she knew she was raised to become a King's Wife and nothing else. Nir stumbles upon her as she's contemplating suicide, thinking there was nothing for her in either of the world's she was raised in (she's a human in case the point was missed). Nir doesn't tell her his 'nefarious' plans for her, but he feels reassured that he's saving her from her own silly plans of killing herself and takes her captive and claims her as one of his people.

This was probably one of the first books that I've ever read with romance in a fantasy setting, and perhaps that's why I have this book in high esteem. I would continue reading this book when I'm stuck and have a need of a good book fix.... but then this is my opinion, I'm sure others have their own books they always go back to read when they're in a stump.

Okay, so, I admit that I was very reluctant and disappointed to find out that Marak dies- Not actually spoilers, because it's in the description, and the first chapter of the book.

Til's daughter, Miranda, is raised from birth to become the next King's Wife. Marak is her father figure, and the only person in her life who seemed to truly care about her. But when Marak dies shortly after Miranda is introduced to goblin society, her world begins its crashing descent around her ears.
Catspaw, her fiancé, finds out that the elves are back, and not just some savage, rag-tag group, but all the elves together, under one leader.
For the sake of a truce, that leader offers an elf bride to the as-of-yet unmarried Goblin King. Catspaw is faced with a decision that will change Miranda's world, one way or another.

I liked it. Even though I hadn't been pleased with the idea that the main character was someone who hadn't existed until now, I really enjoyed the story.
After a while, I started to see parallels to Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker in Catspaw and Miranda's relationship. Mainly because, they are all lovey dovey, kissy-kissy, but all of a sudden they are calling each other "brother" and "sister". Like, no. Don't do that.
I did feel like issues were resolved too easily/quickly, but I still liked it, over all.

Edit (7/15/17):
I will admit that it is a bit juvenile, but I'm still rather endeared to it, and I can still like it despite the immaturity.

I enjoyed this final book of the trilogy the most. I'm still a little unsettled about the whole capturing-brides-against-their-will issue that is a prevalent theme in these stories. Also, the other-worldly societies depicted are a little too male dominating than I prefer, but then again, I'm a modern girl and these novels are set in the 1800's (although I don't think Elizabeth Bennet would let herself be pushed around as much as the heroines in these novels are). I'm used to Tolkien's elves, so it was a bit of an adjustment to get used to this author's ideas of what elves are (which, aside for beauty, is pretty much the exact opposite). That said, I did enjoy the interplay of the different races - between goblins and elves, and I thought that it was well done. Probably the best written book of the three.

2.5 stars, not as bad as the second book in this trilogy but definitely not good.

This book overall felt boring. There was a lot of repetition of several elements from the second book, certain things were explained a bit too much and the characters were dull.
Were the second book was all about finding brides, this one is all about trying to let these brides accept their fate (of a forced marriage). Miranda showed promise but once she concluded that her captor was handsome and she fell in love with him (even though he forced her to do a lot of stuff and she didn't really know him at all) it became a lost cause.
The ending was kinda interesting but too sweet for my taste and couldn't safe the book for me.

My advice: read book 1 (which is a fun read) and then stop. Consider it a standalone, not a series.

I liked this book a lot! The pages just kept turning. I'm still annoyed by the fact that King's brides (and often others') are stolen/forced/captive and the author can make that all ok by having them fall in love with their captors...Kate, Irina, Sable, Miranda, even Arianna is on her way. Amazing how everything turns out so perfectly. Then again, what do I want? Scott Westerfeld's less-than-perfect endings?
Setting all that aside, I really liked the book. Thank goodness the elves redeemed themselves from that first horrible depiction in book two, Close Kin.

How have I missed this trilogy for so long? I wish I had read it while I was still teaching so I could have pushed it in my classroom because it's more than just a good story. The women in the books all live in cultures that deprive them of their power, yet the each of the characters manages find her own way. Is it the best way? I don't know: good discussion starter. The books also deal with themes of beauty, different cultural ideas, cultural clashes and misunderstandings, and personal identity. It's marked YA, but would be fine for younger readers.

A return to the world of the Hollow Kingdom. This one shows more of elvish society, but not the pitiful tribal life of elves featured in Close Kin, the more traditional and rich culture thought to have been lost at the death of the last elf king. As it turns out, there is a lost heir to the elvish throne, and he comes into his own during events of this book.

I wanted to like this one as much as the others, but I can’t. The characters are much flatter and the world-building feels thinner. The usual theme of bride-snatching continues, but this time it’s elves doing the snatching! I thought it was a little odd that elvish women can procreate with other races, but elvish men can’t, the only exception is the elf king. I suppose that’s just a drop in the bucket of odd things in this series.

This book is different from the first two in that I strongly dislike one of the protagonists, Marak Catspaw. I may be biased because I loved his father, and he had to die for Catspaw to become king. Catspaw does not have even a tenth the charm of Marak Horsehair, I very much missed him. I was also upset by Til becoming a villain! Why would the author make that choice? Well, OK, this author makes a lot of choices I don’t agree with, but this one was a sour note for me. Miranda doesn’t have as strong a presence as Kate, Sable, or Emily.

I thought it was kind of funny how simple and sneaky the elf king’s wedding is compared to that of the goblin king. It’s a good contrast between the two cultures.

I haven’t read this one in a while, and I don’t remember much details about the plot, unlike the other two. I’ll leave it at three stars unless I do a re-read.

This book was....messy. I just kept reading out of curiosity, and not because I cared much about the characters. I have left doing that at the beginning of the book. I felt that we never really got to know the characters well. But it was completely unpredictable, so I suppose there's that,

All in all, this wasn't bad.

Arianna needed more page time!! What a travesty!
On this reread, I ended up liking the third book the least. The world-building was still excellent, but the pacing felt a bit wonky. I'm also partial to goblins, so Ash irked me. Haha

I’m so damn livid.

Listen, I adore the first book in the series more than I can express. This week I read its two sequels for the first time. And I’m pissed.

Because the writing’s absolutely phenomenal with characters worth adoring, but I’m fuming about the choices the characters made in this one. Which, I suppose, is a sign of effective writing, that I feel so deeply and ardently about these decisions the characters have to make.

The nub and gist of my review for In the Coils of the Snake is that the characters make stupid-ass decisions that none of them REALLY want, ultimately bringing them more heartbreak than the so-called closure, but Dunkle writes so strongly and so well that I have to give it five stars, regardless of how much I disagree with the ending. I would cut off my nose in order to write like she does.

Okay, okay. The rest of the review isn’t as much organised as more of a collection of personal outrage and sorrow, and therefore can be dismissed. But OKAY

LISTEN

The first two books had a single protagonist and had a clear beginning, middle, and end. Hollow Kingdom is Kate’s story. Close Kin is Seylin’s. I suspect In the Coils of the Snake is supposed to be Miranda’s, but Miranda has little opportunity to act like a protagonist—for example, knowing what’s going on to some degree or having agency. I recognise that her lack of agency is pivotal, but it doesn’t make her a driving force in her own story.

This story really isn’t about anyone. It’s more about the conflict and cultural differences between goblins and elves, which we already learnt most of in the previous book. I love the worldbuilding; it’s a lot of brand new ideas in a world of literary repetition. My issue is that very quickly, the reader is told to forget its stalwart affinity for the goblins and hold the elves in equal value.

The last book was spent showing us a particular group of elves as misogynistic, manipulative bullies, and while we understand that this group doesn’t represent the race as a whole, this book does not spend time building our trust with the new elves we are introduced to. Ash manipulates and causes Miranda to distrust him throughout the whole book, save for the last chapter.

Ash has given Miranda no reason to love him, really, but she does. I admit sudden, intense love working throughout the background before being announced worked effectively for me in the previous two books, but I couldn’t find it believable here, as, once again, Ash hasn’t exactly done anything worth loving.

The thing that absolutely wrenches my heart in two is that Ash takes Miranda’s name away. He doesn’t like what the name Miranda means, and so he calls her the elvish word for fox, since she has red hair. From my perspective, that’s just cruel. She’s away from the culture she’s familiar with, in a group of people whose language she doesn’t speak, and then he takes her name away. It made me think of Spirited Away, when Chihiro’s name is changed to Sen so long as she lives in the bathhouse. It makes me feel terribly lonely. It’s further stripping her of her identity. And throughout the entire book, even at the end, she’s still referred to in the narrative as Miranda, which implies that she still thinks of herself as Miranda. It makes my heart hurt.

The elf wife who gets traded to Catspaw, Arianna. She gets cut out of the book about halfway through. We haven’t spent enough time with her to care too much, but it still left me with an odd feeling. I bring up Arianna to bring up one thing Catspaw says to her: he tells her about Miranda one night, when she’s too scared to look at him. And he talks about how she was his fiancée, how they liked each other very much, and how they actually wanted to get married. It’s a brief paragraph meant to assure Arianna that he’s very much not a monster and in fact desirable. It does nothing for her, but it hurt me more than anything in the whole book.

I haven’t read any reviews or anything else about this book, as I’ve come straight from finishing it to this website, but I am probably in minority of people who wanted Catspaw and Miranda to marry each other. The whole book, save for Miranda once she decides she loves Ash towards the end, they ache for each other so tenderly and powerfully that I genuinely cried onto this book. Because everyone’s doing stuff they don’t want to and just have to wallow in sorrow and frustration. I think Miranda and Catspaw would have been very happy together, but I understand in a narrative sense that it may be too similar to the first book of the series. I also get that Dunkle wanted to redeem the elves and bring them closer to peace with the goblins, and it’s done well, at a realistic pace with logical steps. I just—I just do not think Ash has been honest, tender, or authentic with Miranda, as he manipulates her until the last chapter. They don’t exactly talk to each other, either, as it takes him months to figure out humans can’t see in the dark.

And then in the second-to-last chapter, Miranda and Catspaw suddenly refer to themselves as brother and sister?!!? Even though they kissed, loved each other, and are Distinctly Not Related and Have Never Lived Together in the Same House. Catspaw is Marak’s son, the king, having lived underground his whole life. Miranda lives in Hallow Hill with Marak visiting her for most of her life, up until when Marak takes her underground to eventually be married to Catspaw. And we, the audience, are just supposed to be okay with this. A very Luke/Leia solution, except that Luke and Leia were ACTUAL siblings.

But anyway. Written beautifully. Flawlessly, even. Can’t remember the last time I felt more anguish for characters. I love this world Dunkle has built. Feels so alive and thriving. Different but homey. And she got me to feel to the stretches of sorrow for these characters making decisions theoretically for the good of their kingdoms, so even though I don’t like Ash, the book is worth five stars.

Wait, one more thing. I just don’t like the thrall that Ash has over other elves. Just don’t care for that at all. Minor detail. Doesn’t matter. But Kate didn’t deserve that, and Sable DEFINITELY didn’t deserve that.

Don’t get me wrong. I love this book. It just makes me hurt.

I skipped the re-read of volume II of the Hollow Kingdom trilogy (Close Kin). I recalled enough of the storyline from perusing the opening pages to know that I didn't want to re-read the horrors of Sable's experience as an elf, nor endure the love-struck travails of Seylin and Emily. So to the third book I skipped.

In the Coils of the Snake features a new heroine, Miranda. I thought Dunkle added some pretty heavy themes to Miranda's background: she's been mistreated (verbally abused) by her mother and she intentionally hurt herself so that Marak (her stand-in father figure) would take notice and heal her. She's a pitiable character, thrown into pitiable circumstances. She's been raised to be Catspaw's wife (which I find just slightly creepy), but when Marak chooses an elf bride instead, she's left out in the cold.

Dunkle continues her rather preachy, thinly-veiled discourse about the pitfalls of ethno-centrism. I didn't think it made for a very interesting plot. The first book in the trilogy is the most accessible, and I still recommend it as a stand-alone. Unless, of course, you like such heavy themes in your pleasure reading.

I love this series. Books one and three are the strongest (book two spends the first half meandering before getting back to the plot), and I’m amazed at how much world-building and detail Dunkle can pack into such short books. I wish there were more (alas, she’s made it clear on her website there are no more to come and no movie ever). My only critique for book three is that I wish she’d spent more time building the relationship between Miranda and Nir. It happened a bit fast amidst all the other forces at work in the story. Book one is still probably my favorite, but there’s nothing quite as satisfying as re-reading a book you loved when you were young and finding it can still keep you reading late into the night.

Also, minor point—the covers of these books stink. The font, the artwork, everything. It’s my literary wish that all three could get a face lift!

The first two books in the trilogy are much better in my opinion. I did not really care for any of the characters in this one. Most of them seemed like self-serving egomaniacs or spineless wimps. I will likely never read this again, though The Hollow Kingdom is highly recommended.

I liked the story well enough, but, my gosh, that Nir is an idiot. I agree with the goblins about how stupid the elves are. Then he dragged Miranda into it, and she changed from a strong young woman to a simpering useless mess.
I have to like the characters to like a book.

This final book in the trilogy still left me craving more stories set in this world. I really enjoyed this series. They are REALLY quick reads and are great stories. Recommend.

The first book is still my favorite, but this was a good end to the series.