Book Review: ‘Serpent & Dove’ by Shelby Mahurin

Serpent & Dove is the first instalment of Shelby Mahurin’s fantasy trilogy of the same name.

The novel features a dual narrative. The first narrator we are introduced to is Lou, a thief and also a witch in hiding. She accidentally crosses paths with Reid, a respected Chasseur (or soldier) for the church who has dedicated his life to eliminating all witches. When Lou accidentally places Reid in a compromising position, the Archbishop demands that the pair wed to save Reid’s honour. Only the witch hunter as no idea who he has really married.

The 500+ page novel is very character driven. Mahurin takes her time in setting up her two protagonists – establishing their personalities, their likes and dislikes, their dreams and ambitions. Once Lou and Reid are forced into an unwanted marriage, we see them push back against each other as they find one another’s boundaries before the inevitable thawing in their relationship. Serpent & Dove features a strong enemies to lovers plotline. Because we spend so much time with these characters, when the shift does happen, it feels like a natural and believable change in both of them.

The fantasy world the story is set in is heavily inspired by historical France – most commonly seen in the names for items and buildings. While witches are mentioned throughout the novel their presence is only fully displayed in the final chapters. This meant that the story often reads as historical fiction rather than fantasy. While I can appreciate that Serpent & Dove does a great job with its locations and world building, I found the fantasy elements too subtle to the point where I sometimes forgot I was reading a fantasy novel at all. However this is purely my personal preference and not a fault of the book.

Although it is not the focus of the novel, Serpent & Dove does have an interesting magic system which focuses on balance. For example when Lou is trying to enter a vault to steal a ring, to break the lock she must offer up a part of herself to break in exchange (in this case her finger) in order to maintain that balance. Later when Lou is fighting two henchmen in an alley, she wants to blind them with magic but has to figure out a trade that won’t leave her equally blinded. This idea of magic having literal (and immediate) consequences was a clever one as it forced the witches, like Lou, to both be more creative in their problem-solving and face the dilemma of whether it was really worth using their magic in that moment.

I can’t deny that Serpent & Dove is a good novel, with strong character development and a slow burn romance that held my attention throughout…however it just wasn’t for me. Sadly I don’t think this will be series I’m likely to revisit.

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