The Serpent King

by Jeff Zentner

Named to ten BEST OF THE YEAR lists and selected as a William C. Morris Award Winner,The Serpent King is the critically acclaimed, much-beloved story of three teens who find themselves--and each other--while on the cusp of graduating from high school with hopes of leaving their small-town behind. Perfect for fans of John Green's Turtles All the Way Down.

"Move over, John Green; Zentner is coming for you." —The New York Public Library

“Will fill the infinite space that was left in your chest after you finished The Perks of Being a Wallflower.” —BookRiot.com 
 
Dill isn't the most popular kid at his rural Tennessee high school. After his father fell from grace in a public scandal that reverberated throughout their small town, Dill became a target. Fortunately, his two fellow misfits and best friends, Travis and Lydia, have his back. 

But as they begin their senior year, Dill feels the coils of his future tightening around him. His only escapes are music and his secret feelings for Lydia--neither of which he is brave enough to share. Graduation feels more like an ending to Dill than a beginning. But even before then, he must cope with another ending--one that will rock his life to the core.
 
Debut novelist Jeff Zentner provides an unblinking and at times comic view of the hard realities of growing up in the Bible belt, and an intimate look at the struggles to find one’s true self in the wreckage of the past.

“A story about friendship, family and forgiveness, it’s as funny and witty as it is utterly heartbreaking.” —PasteMagazine.com

“A brutally honest portrayal of teen life . . . [and] a love letter to the South from a man who really understands it.” —Mashable.com

“I adored all three of these characters and the way they talked to and loved one another.”—New York Times

• ISBN10: 0553524038
• ISBN13: 9780553524031
• Publish Date: 8 March 2016 (first published 3 March 2016)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 8 February 2021
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Crown Books for Young Readers
• Format: Hardcover (Library Binding)
• Pages: 384
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780553524031

Reviews

[Amber (The Literary Phoenix)]

The Serpent King is a story about young love, about loss, and about growing up and finding your path in the world. It's a novel that has received a lot of love and a lot of hype. I can see why people love it so much - it has that same tragic feel that John Green excels at. I can definitely see where this book would have a place in peoples' hearts, even if it was just a so/so read for me.

One of my biggest issues with this one is the plot - or, rather, the scattered around lack of one. I never quite knew where we were going as I listened, and I felt like I was always waiting for the next turn to see if that pointed me in the right direction. There were a lot of little subplots - two romances, a death, emotional and physical abuse in families. Zentner took on a lot all at once with The Serpent King, and as a result, we are all over the place. It feels like a year in the life of these characters, where we start on the first day of school, finish on summer vacation, and only one of them has grown a little.

The characters are well enough written. I liked Travis a lot - he reminded me of an ex I'm still fond of - and I think that the variety in personalities was well-done. Outside of the POV characters, subcharacters started to blend together. Lydia's New York friends jus felt like annoying interruptions, and the miscellany of mothers blurred.

The writing style itself was slow and steady, and there's nothing wrong with that. I think that Zentner did a good job capturing his voices and offered the right amount of suspense, detail, and surprise. I have no complaints about his delivery, per se, just about the lack of clear direction and that unsatisfied feeling at the end.

I would continue to recommend The Serpent King to people - in fact, I think my brother would like it - but it's not the sort of novel I am going to personally add to myself. I think it's worth a read, though, and it's a short enough book to be an easy weekend read from the library.

3.5 stars

[liz089]

Woow.. this novel was something else !! I was completely taken in by this one and finished it the same day. I LOVED IT.

It was a very emotional read for me, my mood changed with the MC's. When they were down, I was down, when they were happy, I was happy. And yes, I cried, MULTIPLE TIMES.
This novel has a bit of a dark ambiance that put me in a sad mood.. But it was totally worth it.

All three of the MC's had their own problems, but they made each other stronger and relied on one other. They had such a strong friendship, even though they were very different, they fit perfect in their imperfection, like a little band of misfits.

I have a hard time putting down in words what this book did to me.. but it was such a strong and powerful novel. It had an impact. I would recommend this book to everyone, it is really worth taking your time for.

[Stephanie]

The writing is solid, the characters are interesting, but I felt like I was meandering through this book of repetitious conversations about Dill being upset about Lydia leaving for college. I kind of wanted more of Dill's relationship with his dad, tbqh.

[anne]

good book for seniors making future choices

[Joséphine]

Initial thoughts: The Serpent King surprised me. When the cover was first released last year, I expected it to be science fiction. Only when reviews started popping up did it register that it's a work of contemporary fiction. The font and the title sure had me fooled. A couple of days ago I was looking for an audiobook of a book I don't already own, and decided to give The Serpent King a go. I didn't pay much attention to the synopsis and neither did I expect to be punched quite so hard in the gut. This is quite a story of survival, independence, relationships and personal beliefs among three best friends. It hurt so much but also offered hope and optimism about the future as a salve.

[Bianca]

You are you and you are magnificent and brilliant and talented. You’re not your grandfather. You’re not your father. Their serpents are not your serpents. Their poison is not your poison. Their darkness is not your darkness. Not even their name is your name.

— About how we should not let our limitations dictate how our lives would play out. First half was mehhh, but the second half's heartbreakingly good.

[Leah]

SO this was an interesting read- I didn't love it, love it, but I didn't hate it, either. It was perhaps a bit too religious for me, though it wasn't exactly Christian fiction, but it does seem to run through the book, and as someone who doesn't really have an opinion either way, I generally prefer my fiction without it.

However I did really like the friendship between Dill, Lydia and Travis. Travis, in particular, warmed my little heart, the way he lost himself in his fantasy world. He was someone after my very own heart, because there is nothing better than losing yourself in a book (or a really, really good series).

There was a bit of a twist towards the end that genuinely left me surprised and mildly annoyed, because I didn't see it coming, and I hate not seeing things coming, and there were definitely a few tears in that last third of the book.

It was also nice to see loving, caring parents, in the shape of Lydia's mom and dad. How refreshing for a YA novel. I'm definitely undecided on this one. There were bits I liked, and there were bits I didn't.

[girlinthepages]

My first Emery Lord read was When We Collided, so the bar for not only expectations, but for creativity and eccentricity as well, was set extremely high. You can imagine my shock when I then immediately after read The Start of Me and You, which while a cute contemporary, felt almost as though it was written by a completely different author. The...tameness...of it compared to When We Collided was shocking. While a romance, the novel focused heavily on female friendships (to varying degrees of success...some of them were great, and some of the girls felt a bit like stereotypes). While fluffy, the undercurrent of the story hinged on a rather morbid, traumatic experience, with Paige having experienced a loss in her past that has overshadowed her high school social and emotional growth. However, though it felt a little young to me, The Start of Me and You did have some sweet moments with depth and had a warm, feel good conclusion that provided the perfect amount of closure for Paige's story.

Overall: A sweet, quick read that has a some swoon-worthy moments over a refreshingly realistic love interest. This review was originally posted on Girl in the Pages

[Sam@WLABB]

I've made books my life because they let me escape this world of cruelty and savagery.

This is one of those books. It is just one of those books, that hits every emotion, and does it in the best way possible. I will not lie, I have tears in my eyes as I type this review, but I forgive Zentner for many reasons.

And if you're going to live, you might as well do painful, brave, and beautiful things.

1. Our MCs all had some sort of baggage. Physical abuse, mental abuse, poverty, social ostracism -- things were tough, especially for Dill and Travis, but Zentner gave them this beautiful friendship. He gave them some wonderful experiences, that would become wonderful memories. He gave them some successes to counter balance their failures, and with that, he gave me hope for these characters.

Now his life had the sun and the soil to keep growing.

2. Each MC is so special. They were so well developed, and I loved each one of them. I soared when they succeeded, and my heart ached when they suffered a loss.

I am tired of watching the world grind up gentle people.

3. I can forgive the "big event", because I knew it was necessary for this story.

4. There is drama, but there is lots of humor. I laughed and smiled quite often. I cried too, but I cried for both the losses suffered and the successes celebrated.

You can't live with your heart locked up in a safe.

There is something really special about this book that cannot be properly expressed with words. The story, the characters, the dialog -- I just loved it all.