Review for Sisters of the Snake: Classic Twin Switch Melts Cold Hearts

After a short hiatus filled with an eventful move, two train trips, a broken dishwasher, new tattoo, head cold, and countless trips to the hardware store, I’m finally back and writing again! For the one or two people who tune into these reviews, I hope this lives up to my previous ones as I haven’t flexed the writing muscles in a little too long.

That said, during the stressful, busy times of weeks past, I did manage to finish a few novels that were honestly a little massive with worlds of detail to pay attention to. So, with a bit of a pat on my own back for having the mental capacity to keep everything straight in my brain, I’ll dive into the new, exciting world of Abai written by Sarena and Sasha Nanua: Sisters of the Snake.

The premise of this Young Adult story is a classic of two worlds colliding as though fate itself has decided to suddenly crash into the lives of these girls who were never intended to meet. Secret twins, Rani lives her life as who she thinks is the only daughter of the Raja of Abai, King Natesh, and Queen Maneet, and Ria lives as their biggest secret: the daughter they gave up and abandoned in an orphanage far away from the kingdom.

Immediately, this world opens into a world of heat, not only in the natural weather, but also in the way that one of the principal characters, Ria, is consistently surrounded by the heat of thievery. From the temperature of the food that she must steal to survive, to the quickened pace of her heart during the lift, and even the sweat dripping from her body as she runs to some form of safety. Ria’s life is characterized by forlorn memories, dashing escapes, weird magical glitches, and only thinking ahead to the next scheme; until the Raja’s conscription list has her name on it.

Rani, on the other hand, sees her entire future before her, down to the life partner chosen for her and the reign that will be passed down to her by her father after he wins the 100-year war that has been in a truce until now. All doors are shut to her both figuratively and literally. She may have the same snake magic that her family’s genealogy has bestowed for centuries, but without the freedom to explore, it has always felt limited. Together, the two of them are the perfect mixture of mystery and intrigue as they fall into each other’s lives and commit to, in my opinion, one of the best twin tropes: the switch.

The aftermath of the switch is where the real heart of the story lies: where the Nanua sisters deeply delve into what each sister looks like beyond their physical attributes. This character journey is probably my favourite aspect of the story; how the authors weave in unique thinking and learning patterns with innate morals and powers that differ between the twins. Rani and Ria are incredibly similar, yet also so different which is such an excellent reflection of real life that gives the story a realness that grounds the readers amidst all the snake and memory magic.

Throughout the story, it’s clear that though both Ria and Rani start with cold exteriors, the eventual swarming of emotions within them, matched with the climate surrounding them, starts to thaw them out. Doubtless taking inspiration from the authors’ own relationship as twins, there is a deep sense of purpose beyond the story to not only share their experiences as twin sisters, but as young women authors as well. The story follows a beautiful path with great detail and excellent world-building that allows the reader to feel easily lost in the heat and intrigue.

However, there are a few issues I have with the novel. As much as I loved how the twins delve into each other’s characters, it was quite clear that each sister’s chapters could have been books on their own. As much as I am aware that this is a young adult novel that needs a little more detail, I think that the book may have benefited from a little more collaboration between the two stories to edit down the novel by quite a few pages. Five hundred pages felt much longer than it needed to be and could’ve been narrowed down with more concise writing and a real consideration of what each scene means to the story or audience.

Further, for as long as the novel was, the ending felt incredibly rushed and too easy. I think this may have been the point to an extent, especially considering the epilogue, but my gut feeling tells me that there should have been more to the ending. The climax of the story felt so close to the end that the rest may have been cut to keep the novel under 500 pages.

That said, aside from some egregious heteronormativity, this story is still an exciting one that I suspect many young people will find their identity in. Sarena and Sasha Nanua have proved themselves upcoming titans of the YA universe and I will definitely by reading the upcoming exciting sequel to Sisters of the Snake, Daughters of the Dawn, set to be released by Harper Teen in June of 2022!