The Serpent Mage
In this sequel to THE INFINITY CONCERTO Michael Perrin, a teenage poet returns to contemporary Los Angeles hoping to lead a normal life. But his time trapped in the dangerous faerie land of the Sidhe has left him with magical skills and a mystery to solve. The Song of Power still hangs in the air, strange bodies have been discovered in a nearby hotel, and an ancient creature calls to Michael from the waters of Scotland.
Worlds are falling apart. An apprentice needs training. Could an unfinished symphony save the world and create a lasting peace between humans and the Sidhe?-Goodreads
Title: The Serpent Mage
Series: Sons of Earth and Power #2
Author: Greg Bear
Page Count: 343
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 3.75/5.0
Date Read: February 28th, 2024
Opening
The journey that is Songs of Earth and Power began in October of 2022 when our buddy read group decided to read book one The Infinity Concerto that month. A couple of us have wanted to read the second part of the duology for sometime now. We've had it on our tentative TBR for a few months and we finally buckled down and got it done in the second half of February. The Serpent Mage by Greg Bear is just as wildly fantastic as book one was. I'll get to my takes on book two shortly. But I wanted to briefly mention the "Afterward" chapter to finish this book and series. Greg Bear may seemed like an odd fellow but his brain is extremely imaginative to say the least.
Pacing
The pacing of book two seemed to start off a bit slow. The way the first book went I didn't expect the first quarter of this book to seem more like a vintage mystery type of story. The vintage probably comes more simply from the time this book was read and the world the author was familiar with. Once things started to feel more like book one though I really started getting into it. I will say that the Kindle version I had did not do Greg Bear justice as it was riddled with editing errors. The three of us reading this compared and two of us were both seeing the same issues while the third was reading a different version and did not see any of these same issues. (My version was Kindle by Open Road Media Sci-Fi & Fantasy, published April 1, 2014). I'd recommend avoiding this version.
World Building
The world building is one of two strong aspects of The Serpent Mage. As previously mentioned the author's imagination is vast and so is the world he has put together in this duology. We spent a bit more time within a more familiar Earth than we did in book one. But then this world is turned on it's head as the lines begin to blur between worlds. Several areas and cultures are revisited in book two which were introduced back in the first. I wasn't sure where the end of this one was going to end up with probably 20% to go but I think it was a satisfying ending when all is said and done.
Character Development
The character development was the other strong aspect. The character arc of Michael Perrin was as grand as the worlds he lives in. We see some baby steps early on as Michael tries to come to grips with the Earth he has returned to. It doesn't take long before he begins to learn his potential and that's when the story really begins to take off. There were some great supporting characters as well including our antagonists. Both the Iso and Serpent Mage parts of book two were very interesting. The character of Kristine and the connection explained in the "Afterward" chapter were very unique as well.
Closing
All in all I'm glad that we read this duology. I'm not sure if Greg Bear is my usual style and whether I'll look to read more of his work. It's just very trippy and over the top. I honestly think to myself if reading a book on acid, this is the type of world I'd envision. Now keep in mind these books were originally published in the 80's. I'm not sure when the author actually wrote them but it might not be too far off when those types of recreational drugs were still fairly common place.
If you're looking for something to read that is off the charts with fantastical imaginations, this might be just what you're looking for.
Scoring
Pacing 3.5 / 5.0
Worldbuilding 4.0 / 5.0
Character Development 4.0 / 5.0
