Serpent and Dove by Shelby Mahurin is an interesting social commentary on religious, social and gender inequalities whilst being an easy and pleasant read.
“There are some things that can't be changed with words. Some things have to be seen. They have to be felt.”
Date Published: September 2019
Date Read: May 2020
Synopsis taken from Goodreads:
Two years ago, Louise le Blanc fled her coven and took shelter in the city of Cesarine, forsaking all magic and living off whatever she could steal. There, witches like Lou are hunted. They are feared. And they are burned.
Sworn to the Church as a Chasseur, Reid Diggory has lived his life by one principle: thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. His path was never meant to cross with Lou's, but a wicked stunt forces them into an impossible union—holy matrimony.
The war between witches and Church is an ancient one, and Lou's most dangerous enemies bring a fate worse than fire. Unable to ignore her growing feelings, yet powerless to change what she is, a choice must be made.
And love makes fools of us all.
After continuously seeing this book hyped all over Instagram these last couple of weeks, I decided to give it a read. And like most books, this book sounded like everything I love and enjoy. A strong female protagonist, my all-time favourite trope of enemies to lovers and conflict in morals. However, whilst all elements that make a good book was there, I still felt as if something was missing. After talking to a variety of people, I managed to establish my problem. I struggled to believe the relationship between Lou and Ried - and that for me is why I cannot fully love the book.
Whilst I know others didn't enjoy the extreme religious themes that dominated the plot and setting - I thought there was an interesting and subtle social commentary towards contemporary issues. Whilst there was a strong misogynistic vibe that annoyed me because I am a low-key introverted feminist, the religious ideology presented here paralleled extremist religious ideologies still seen today. This allowed for a very interesting analysis of the themes and ideas presented here.
And whilst the intense themes presented here allow for an interesting discussion, I felt I could not fully engage the plot due to the depth of the relationship.
In my opinion, to pull off an effective enemy to lovers trope, I think that there needs to be an in-between stage from enemies to lovers. A tolerable stage in which trust and respect are built between the two characters. I did not see this in Serpent & Dove. Instead, I got told that Ried "could come to love her" in one chapter and then two chapters later Reid admits his love to Lou. And further to this, in terms of timeline, only a couple of days had passed further proving the lack of depth in the relationship.
I do not want to discourage people from reading it as it is a thoroughly good book with an interesting plotline and evidential character development I just struggled to get an idea of a truthful relationship.
J xo
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