REVIEW: "City of Serpents" by Christina Baehr

About the Book...

*Title: City of Serpents

*Author: Christina Baehr

*Genre: Cozy historical fantasy (with dragons and a touch of romance)

*Series: Book #4 of the 5-book series The Secrets of Ormdale {See review for book #1 here, review for book #2 here, and review for #3 here!}

*Recommend for: ages 15/16+

My Personal Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

📖Synopsis

Edith is ready for the mad scientist and the snake-infested laboratory, but is she ready to admit she needs a little help from her friends?

Edith is convinced that Janushek's former employer, the mysterious Doctor Farley, holds the key to an antidote for dragon venom—her only hope to free the man she loves. Her ruse to obtain it leads her to London's shadowy East End and a plot as sensational as one of her own detective novels.

As Edith goes deeper into a city far more serpentine than she ever dreamed, she begins to question what Farley is really searching for . . . and if the cost to save Simon might be more than she can pay.

Book 4 of The Secrets of Ormdale takes Edith from the heights of London society to its darkest slums, where unexpected dragons follow and her survival lies not in her hands, but in the hands of her friends.

💭My Thoughts 

*Taking a moment to catch my breath as I hastily buy the fifth book*

Oh my. What a ride.

I stayed up later than I care to admit reading this. It was fascinating and fast-paced and action-packed and all the twists and reveals left me gasping left and right. And the cliffhanger? *Wild hyperventilation* Needless to say, I was quite desperate to read the next book immediately.

First off, if "mad scientist" vibes, a slightly creepy laboratory, snakes and such are not your cup of tea, this book may not be your thing. However, I personally found it very riveting and enjoyable. And as I have recently read Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the little nods to that classic in this book were super fun.

Whereas the first and second books of this series were more cozy, the third book and this fourth one have much more adventure and suspense, which I have really enjoyed, and so I am interested to learn which side the fifth book leans towards. This book certainly kept me on my toes and kept me awake enough to stay up well past my bedtime. 😉

I really missed… *a certain character* in this book, and while I have confidence that Edith will get him/her back (Being vague for spoilers), I was quite sad about not seeing that character for the entire book 😔

For the first time in the series, I was a little frustrated at a few decisions Edith made, but I suppose no one is perfect, and she still remains a character I dearly love.

Something that I didn’t really expect going into this series was that there would be so many incredibly beautiful moments in this book that absolutely touched me! While these books are not technically Christian fiction, you can definitely tell that the author is a Christian, and some of the elements, messages, lessons, thoughts, etc. were so moving and quite frankly, a couple particular parts made me want to cry.

Overall, I highly enjoyed this read for so many different reasons and simply can’t wait to continue the series. I am loving the beautiful writing, the unique, twisty, riveting storyline, the historical details and dragons, the fleshed out, memorable characters and character arcs, the lovely slow burn romance, and the beautiful relational messages hidden in the pages of these books. Still would recommend the series to many different readers!

Note: Read the author’s note at the end!!

⚠️Content notes

At the beginning of the book, there is an author's note on content that shares the following: “Content warnings: In this adventure, our heroine spends some time in a slightly creepy laboratory. There are non-detailed scenes of needles and blood tests, one of them unwilling as a character is briefly drugged. And (if the title wasn't warning enough) in two scenes, there are snakes.” 

Other broad content notes: 

Mentions of Jews, Gentiles, antisemitism & Jews being treated worse than others; mentions of illegitimate children; no language stronger than “dashed”, “where the dickens”, “give a fig”, “idiot” & phrases like “Heaven knows” & “God help me.” Also the polish oath “Cholera!” is said multiple times; mentions of curses & spells (not actual); a mention of opium dens; a mention of a brothel; lots of snakes & other reptiles, a slightly creepy laboratory, a quite creepy “mad scientist” character, drug testing on people and deaths from that, being drugged (semi-detailed), blood transfusions, and overall some “scarier” elements, though nothing too gruesome or disturbing; Edith has some flashbacks and PTSD like thoughts from events in the prior book. 

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Bookishly yours, 

Lottie M.