Gods & Monsters (Serpent & Dove Trilogy Book Three)

I try hard to make myself wait for the paperback to come out because $20 for a hardcover is a lot. But I couldn’t resist reading Shelby Mahurin’s Gods & Monsters as soon as it came out, book three of the Serpent & Dove trilogy, a fantasy YA about a witch and witch hunter falling in love and trying to save the world together. (You can read my review for book one, Serpent & Dove, here, or review of book two, Blood & Honey, here.)

The book lives up to the previous two’s hype, with a final showdown worthy of the trilogy and a thousand plot twists in the road to get there (don’t ever mess with Lou!). The pacing is perfect despite it being a longer book, and everything falls into place.

All of Mahurin’s characters are well executed, but the characterization of Célie in particular has stark improvements compared to the other two books. She has a good portion of page time in this one, which helps the reader explore the depths of a young female who is no one’s damsel. Her contribution to the climax will shock readers for years to come.

Mahurin takes a risk in cutting her story in half and having a Reid heavy first portion and a Lou heavy second portion. Considering that Lou’s mother is the big antagonist of the trilogy, it paid off. When Lou finally clashes with Morgane, every reader can feel her dread.

That epilogue stung my heart a little, but it’s really sweet. Quite an ending that surpasses its predecessors.

“Where you [Reid] go, I [Lou] will go. Where you stay, I will stay. // She’d whispered the words to me like a prayer. And I still felt them. I felt each one. … I couldn’t soothe this ache. I couldn’t right this wrong. In all likelihood, we’d both burn at sunset. // But I could hold her.”

Recommended for anyone who’s had to fight to survive and thought that was the closest to living they could get. (It isn’t.)

--Grace Nask