Review: didn't care for it
Rating: 1 out of 5
Date: 10 29, 2012
The Serpent Kings contains the germ of a good story opener.  It intrigues me with names similar to those in the Bible and an interesting conflict between dragons and a prophet of the creator.  Good world building enabled me to visualize the places pretty well, but the story line never engaged me.  The perspective bounces back and forth from first person to third person, which I found innovative but distracting.The opening of the book shifts rapidly between a number of characters and never forms a bond with any of them.  The too-frequent accounts of violent death and destruction felt sanitized and left me curiously detached--most likely from the lack of emotional involvement.  The detachment led to boredom, and I began to skim.  I followed the story line with ease by reading only the dialogue and a sentence or two from every every other paragraph, so I looked ahead to the ending to decide if I even wanted to finish the book.  The author ends the book with a "cliff hanger" designed to cause readers to rush out and purchase the next book.  I decline.