I loved this! A beautiful story about a young prince falling in love with a boy, not realising this boy is actually a snake spirit the prince is hunting, believing this will cure his sick mother. I fell in love with the characters in this story and the twists throughout were gripping and had me reading more and more to find out what happened! The love story was beautiful and I especially loved how the entire story was wrapped up at the end. I would love to read more by this author!

Legend of the White Snake is a beautifully written, queer romance steeped in Japanese folklore.

The characterisations in this were perfect! I adored Xian and Zhen; watching their relationship was such a joy. I also loved seeing Zhen and Qing’s dynamic; their protectiveness and the differences in their previous forms created additional depth to the understanding of each character.

Magically immersive world that would captivate any reader. I would highly recommend this to lovers of Asian mythology and queer fantasy romance.

I’d requested an advanced copy of this book from an interest to read more fantasy novels with elements from Chinese legends, mythology and history – particularly with LGBTQIA+ representation. Plus, the stunning cover art was a great motivator and added bonus!

As a queer retelling of the titular Chinese legend, the interactions between the two protagonists Xian and Zhen took centre stage and their dynamic was delightfully sweet and amusing. Although relying a little bit on instant attraction, the light-hearted moments between the two were incredibly addictive. I found myself wishing for more of those intimate, everyday interactions to deepen their connection and better justify some of their feelings and actions. Especially as the side character banter was just fantastic.

The beginning of the book does start out as more of an introduction to Chinese history and its customs. Whilst I appreciated the clear knowledge and research involved, the information did feel awkwardly shoehorned in at times which detracted from the immersion (e.g. having a character ‘casually’ bring up how food is preserved in the time-period). However, this level of context means it would be suitable as an introduction to danmei and xianxia fiction. The balance of gritty action to more sedate moments also improves as you read further.

If it wasn’t for the sexual content/allusions (although it is a closed-door romance), the narrative style along with the plot, characters and humour would lead me to recommend this to the younger side of YA. I’d suggest this title for fans of Marvellous Light (Freya Marske) or Reforged (Seth Haddon) for their LGBTQIA+ rep, fantasy settings, the relationship development and the balance of serious to light-hearted elements.

Many thanks to Netgalley, Sher Lee and Macmillan Children's Books for providing me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book. This review is available on both Netgalley and Storygraph.

As a huge fan of danmei, I went into this with very high expectations and they were not quite met, which was unfortunate, that being said, I definitely had a good time reading this story, though certain aspects of the plot fell to the waste side to prop up the romance lol .


Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

I received an ARC e-book of this from Net Galley. The following review are my own thoughts, and haven't been influenced by the author, the publisher and/or Net Galley.

This is a great story to fall into. I loved how the world was built around the characters, and how real it all felt. The weaving of the Chinese myths, of the historical information of the time all entwined with characters who the reader rooted for. Every character was distinct. I didn't get confused over who was who, because by their words and actions alone, they were easily identifiable. And who was the protagonist, the one pulling the strings and evil... I never guessed. Not until the two main characters (Prince Xian and Zhen were dual narrators) figured it out and my jaw dropped.

This is the slightly weak point of the novel. I didn't feel there had been enough hints. There were enough that it all came together, and the reader could see how that remained true to what was known about the protagonist, but I thought there should have been a few more. Maybe it's just me.

I would highly recommend this: for the love story; for the myths and legends of China, for the surrounding characters who pushed and gave way to Zhen and Xian. It didn't feel as though the plot was driving the story, and the characters were simply being pulled along. Everything was well-paced. Everything was fleshed out.

3 Stars.

I knew nothing about The Legend of the White Snake before reading it, nor the traditional tale it was based on, but I absolutely loved it. The love story between the two main characters is sweet (and very mildly spicy), but the overarching story is also intriguing and I didn’t see a few of the twists coming.
Shen was a beautiful character who I rooted for since his first appearance, and found myself waiting for his POV chapters.
I cried at the end - which is pretty rare - and I would absolutely read another book by this author. If you enjoy BL, I would highly recommend giving this a chance.

Thanks to Netgalley, Sher Lee, Macmillan Children’s Books/First Ink for the ARC

Legend of the White Snake is a fast paced, wonderfully written tale full of loveable characters, shocking betrayal and a whole lot of angst. It was a thrill filled ride with a few twists that took me by surprise.

Xian, Feng, Zhen & Qing are fantastic characters, with wonderful personalities and the banter between the two sets of friends really cements their long-standing relationships and make their friendships all the more believable. Lee also crafted really great fight scenes, everything was detailed enough to picture clearly whilst reading without being too heavy on the description. A certain festival was a real highlight in the book and took me by surprise as well! I found this a really easy read and the pages just flew by.

I can't wait to read more of Lee's work in the future.

Thanks to Netgalley & Macmillan for the arc!

When Prince Xian was a boy, a white snake bit his mother and condemned her to a slow, painful death. The only known cure is an antidote created from the rare white snake itself. Desperate, Xian is determined to capture one and cure his mother. When he encounters an enigmatic but beautiful stable boy named Zhen, the two are immediately drawn to each other. But Zhen might just be the human embodiment of the white snake Xian is hunting, and as their feelings grow deeper, will the truth about Zhen’s identity tear them apart?

I was super excited to read this and it turned out to be a beautiful and skilful queer reworking of the traditional Chinese folktale in which a snake spirit transforms into a boy and hides his true identity after falling for a headstrong prince.

This enchanting YA fantasy is brimming with romance, secrets and adventure with several twists and turns to the narrative along the way. I absolutely loved the main characters of Zhen and Xian as well as side characters Qing and Feng and their varied friendships and relationahips. I was engrossed from start to finish in this engaging and well crafted story and definitely recommend it.

A very easy 4.5 stars - rounded up to 5 for Netgalley.

Many thanks to Netgalley, First Ink Books and author Sher Lee for a review copy!

Oh my god this book had me in floods of tears, gripping the edge of my seat and screaming with joy. It was absolutely perfect and I cannot convey how much I enjoyed it!

Zhen is a White Snake spirit, able to take on the form of a human and a snake at will. Xian is a prince, whose mother was attacked by a white snake and is slowly dying from the poison. He has vowed to hunt and find a snake like the one who attacked her and find a cure… but when the Oracle directs him to Changle, all he finds is a beautiful stable boy with whom he falls in love. That stable boy is Zhen, and what follows is a beautiful rollercoaster story of betrayal, duty and most of all, love.

Zhen and Xian are just perfect characters who I fell in love with instantly. Zhen is loyal and intelligent and just trying to do right by Xian and his sister, fellow Snake Spirit, Qing. Xian is torn up over his mother’s illness and determined to save her at all costs. Their relationship is just perfection, even though the emotions this book put me through were intense.

I loved the lore and history in this book - the story was beautifully told and I learned so much about ancient Chinese folklore and culture. It absolutely drew me in and made me feel like I was there by the Lakes and in the Palaces.

Read Legend of the White Snake for:
✨ Human Prince x Snake Spirit
✨ Chinese folklore and storytelling
✨ Characters who you fall in love with
✨ Soulmates always find their way back
✨ Doing anything to save your mother
✨ Magic, shapeshifting
✨ Betrayal, suspense, so many emotions
✨ The most perfect ending imaginable

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for a copy of this gorgeous book. It’s available on 15th October 2024 ✨🐍

I didn't know what to expect from this book but I actually really liked it!!! I really enjoyed the two main characters and the plotline was easy to follow. I would definitely read from this author in the future.

I'm sad to say this is 3 stars and is a rounded up 3. Queer romance retelling of a Chinese legend, absolutely filled to the brim with Chinese culture the author clearly loves to share, it should have ticked all the boxes I had and some I didn't.

I had three issues that were unfortunately big issues in my opinion: pacing, character depiction and inconsistencies with regards to the culture and language.

-Pacing-
Unfortunately, the pacing was a bit problematic. It jumps around fast, the characters are rushed through time when it's not a huge amount of time to begin with. The whole story takes place over like 2-3 weeks, with a sprinkle of time either side. Their relationship, and the side romance we glimpse as well, just felt so rushed as a result. The character development for certain other characters, like Deng, seemed abrupt and like a blip in what could otherwise have been an endearing redemption arc. The book was 352 pages but a whole lot of nothing much happens for much of it before suddenly our MCs are shouting their love and throwing themselves in front of swords for one another. That's before touching on the conflicts and resolutions that happens in such speedy and underwhelming ways.

-Characters-
Partly because of the pacing, the characters fell flat. Let's start with Xian. There was so much telling the reader about him and his family in quite poor ways. "My father doesn't trust people unless he has known them for many years, but I can see why he made you his adviser after knowing you for only a relatively short while." This was wholly unnecessary, it felt out of place for the scene and it added nothing to Xian or his parent's personalities. Who would think the Emperor would just trust people blindly? Xian is also boy crazy, how do we know? He ignored temple rituals because "his mind would drift to how he would sneak out to the meet the latest boy who had caught his eye." Was there not a better way this could have been depicted or commented on? A conversation between him and bestie/bodyguard about how different he seems to be with Zhen?

Moving onto Zhen who was just...dull. He's a snake that wanted to be a human and then lived as a human for seven years. Then somewhere recently in that rescues another snake, Qing, and now they're on a qi balancing adventure. There could have been a lot more done with that. I wish we could have spent more time with these two. First to see what Zhen got up to before Qing was rescued and also it could have been so good to see Qing learning whatever it was that Zhen spent seven years learning about to fit in. Apparently it was not tea. I'm unclear how long these two were together before we meet them in the book, but long enough for Qing not to have seen a tavern I guess.

Feng was just a vehicle to show distrust in Zhen, this weird and largely unimportant interest with Qing and be besties with Xian. Again, there is an issue with how information about a character is delivered. He asks, "How can he defend you if anything happens?" Then we get a quick summary that his father was the general and "had been teaching his firstborn son martial arts when he was a child." Which is good to know, I guess, but it's just casually dropped into the book like a side note.

I don't even care about Fahai and Hei Xing.

All of this did confirm that I hate the character motivation monologue when a plan goes wrong.

-Language and culture-
I would never, ever claim to be an expert on Chinese language and culture. I will say I spent six years working in a Chinese office that focused on language and culture courses for non-Chinese students, so I feel like that does give me a bit of leg to stand on when I say there were inconsistencies in this.

Focusing on the language - Sometimes we got Pinyin (Chinese words with their tones in English letters). Sometimes we got characters first then Pinyin then a translation. Sometimes we got the character with the translation and no Pinyin. Sometimes we just got the characters and nothing else. The lantern illuminating a flag with the character 酒 doesn't mean anything until Qing gives it context by saying 'I've never been inside a tavern.' Xian's mother writing 王 doesn't mean anything unless you know the character's meaning. I don't understand what made somethings worth having in English, some in Pinyin, some in characters and some with all three.

The culture -Somethings like the Dragon Boat Festival are described in detail, And multiple times. There is the first introduction about the festival, how it's celebrated and what is eaten. Then there is a fair amount about the food specific for the festival and how all the concubines/consorts prepared it vs Xian's mother. Later there is the legend behind the festival that Xian tells Qing. I love Dragon Boat Festival so I think this wasn't a bad thing because it introduced the festival to readers who may not know about it. My issue is I'm not sure the total level of detail was relevant where it was introduced or that the wider context of it couldn't have been added as a glossary or appendix or something.
Meanwhile, five-clawed dragons are remarked upon more than once but the relevance of this, and the number five generally, aren't expanded on at any point. It would have been easy enough to do, especially since the five arches and the king only being the one allowed to enter through the centre is mentioned. A short sentence after description of the robe with "nine five-clawed dragons" would have been easy to explain that five-clawed dragons were only allowed to be used by the emperor/king would have explained why the detail was important enough to remark on in the text. Same with five guards, five story buildings, five arches etc.
We got explanations and definitions for things like palanquins, ferghana horses, gates facing different directions and plum rain but not all the language points that may or may not have been in Pinyin or characters only and not the full presence of cultural points that were important enough to mention more than once in the story.

Also I have to mention the most unnecessary sentence I've seen in a book: Unlike lizards, Zhen didn't have feet to help him ascent vertically.
Now, I realise this is YA. Maybe not everyone will know what a palanquin is but I am very certain everyone knows what a snake is and no one would sit there reading that scene and ask 'I wonder why the snake didn't have feet to climb up the tree with.'

I'm glad to see this worked for other people. As much as I wanted to like it, it didn't work for me.

Super enjoyable. Soft, loving queer romance + beautiful weaving of mythology and history + great fantasy worldbuilding = what's not to love?

I’d like to start off by thanking netgalley and the publisher, for granting me a free e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

This was an okay read for me. Sadly not more than that. While the beautiful cover and interesting premise had me really intrigued, the actual story ended up feeling very flat to me.

I feel like the characters weren’t fleshed out enough for me to really care about them. For instance I would’ve loved to hear more about Zhen and Qing their backstories. Some many interesting details were left out in my opinion, which all made it feel quite rushed.

The relationship between Xian and Zhen was extremely insta-love aswell, which definitely added to the story feeling rushed. Would’ve loved if the two atleast had a little bit more time to get to know each other (and more time for us readers to get to know THEM).

Overall I still really enjoyed the world building (and the story overall!!) but I just wish we’d gotten a few more details.

Legend of the White Snake is an excellent fantasy debut from Sher Lee, this is a Chinese mythology retelling of sorts, following Xu Xian as he embarks on a quest to find the white snake, which he believes will help cure his sickly mother. However, the white snake he is searching for appears to be closer than he originally thought.

This book was fun to read, fast paced, typical world building you would expect from a YA novel - it focused more on the MCs and side characters, and ultimately the plot. Sher Lee has developed her characters beautifully, the relationship between Zhen and Xu Xian develops very quickly, their connection is very instant (so if you don't like the insta love trope, maybe this one isn't for you) but I feel like this compliments the pace of the story very well. I felt as though I was reading a C-Drama (in the best possible way).

I'm not overly familiar with The Legend of The White Snake, but I did understand exactly what was going on and I don't think it's a factor to consider before reading the book. I did devour this one in one sitting, once I started I just couldn't put it down. There are so many wonderful, witty moment's between MCs (I have tabbed my book within an inch of it's life) and I felt totally captivated by this book.

I went through so many emotions reading TLOTWS, the last few chapters destroyed me (no spoilers here), Xu Xian and Zhen will forever live in my heart from now on.

A gorgeous fantasy debut from Sher Lee, one of my favourite books to publish this year.

Legend of the Snake is a a wonderfully unique YA romantacy filled with humour and heart.

Wrought with stunning imagery and profound messaging, the evident adoration and respect of Chinese culture by the author jumps of the page and is the highlight of this book.

The cast of characters (and their unique bonds to one another) paired with a magical tale made this a book I read in just two settings.

Nonetheless, despite having everything going for it I an stuck at 3 stars due to the the glaring problems with the pacing. Between Zhen and Xian's jumping romance, to the sudden leaps in the plot; I often found myself feeling like I had missed a chapter or two and had been granted the resolution whilst missing a lot of the work that makes the resolution meaningful.

Whilst Zhen and Xian had great chemistry from the get-go and a lot of wonderful elements, the frankly odd pacing left me feeling like I'd been cheated, missing some of the key stages of them as a pairing and falling in love.

It was very much a 0 or 100 situation.

So whilst the story and characters have the potential to be incredible, and the cultural aspects shine through the page, this book ended as a middle-ground where I simply couldn't be convinced of the characters feelings.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan for this E-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.5⭐️

Sher Lee' debut Fake Dates and Mooncakes was one of my favourite reads of 2023, so I was super excited when she reached out to ask if I'd like an early copy of her fantasy debut! Whilst I did have a fun time reading this book, I admit it didn't quite live up to my expectations.

I think the concept of this book is really good and this could've easily been a 5⭐️ read, but I don't think it was executed as well as it could have been. I started very strong, with a hooking premise, interesting plot, and likeable protagonists, but from the moment Xian and Zhen meet, the plot seems to disappear and the focus is solely on their almost insta-love relationship. Whilst I did like their initial meeting, and could get behind their initial connection, I felt their romance rushed too suddenly into a relationship, and was based more on physical attraction than a deeper connection. Insta-love style relationships are an issue I have quite often with romantasy books (they're not a personal preference of mine), so that did hamper my enjoyment. I did like their relationship more towards the end, but I wish it had been developed more. The individual character development was stronger, but still not as developed as I would like. I did still really like Xian and Zhen as characters and became attached to them both (especially Zhen though, he was my favourite).

I think this book as a whole was quite underdeveloped. The plot got lost a bit and sidelined too much for the romance, and relationships with side characters felt less emotional as we didn't get to know said characters and their connections well enough. There were some interesting themes that I was hoping would be explored more - particularly the differing power dynamics between characters, which was touched on a few times but never in quite enough depth - which I think would've worked better if this book was a lot longer. This also impacted the ending reveals (though I do think these were quite well-crafted reveals and twists that made sense and were satisfying in the plotline) which made them feel somewhat sudden. Whilst this book is a standalone, I personally think it would've worked much better either as a much longer book, or as a duology. This would've, in my opinion, given more time to expand upon the world and magic-system (which were both very interesting, but underutilised) and develop and explore characters and their relationships. The second half of this book (after a big reveal) was quite rushed, but it felt much stronger to me in terms of plot and relationships (I enjoyed Xian and Zhen's romance much more in the second half. I admit to being nearly in tears by the ending chapters and the epilogue because I had become so much more invested and attached to the characters!

It sounds like I'm being really harsh on this book, but I did really enjoy my time reading it (it is most certainly hooking and exciting and I did not want to put it down!) and will probably be buying a physical copy when it releases next month, I just think there was a lot of potential that wasn't fully explored. I do still think this book is good, and do recommend checking it out! I think this was a promising start from Sher Lee in the world of fantasy, and I am excited to see what she will do next!

As an avid reader of Chinese danmei, I was curious to see a queer YA romantasy book published in the traditional way (meaning, not originally being a serialised webnovel that only later on with growing popularity gets a physical edition like most danmei) that had some similarities to some of the danmei I read in translation from the Chinese - such as a fantastical historical xianxia setting, copious mythological references and a complex love story between two male characters who face a lot of challenges that threaten to divide them. I found this to be quite enjoyable, though I wished in some parts for more elaboration. I think this would have worked better as a series in order to go into more details with the storyline and the character development. This is often the best solution for fantasy, and as I couldn't help but draw some comparisons to danmei (which famously has very long stories!) I felt like it was lacking some depth

This is exactly what it says on the tin—a xianxia YA romantasy (ignore the comparison to Dark Heir, that's not what you're getting here). I thought this was well-executed in general. The pacing was really good, with drama at the right moments to keep it all flowing nicely. A lot happens in the last 25%, and it did feel a bit rushed, but not enough to be bothersome.

I've seen some reviews call the relationship between Xian and Zhen insta-love, and while I agree that they very quickly developed feelings for each other, it read more like insta-lust to me, personally. I really liked the beats of the romance. It's sweet and fun, lies and betrayal notwithstanding.

The side characters are also a highlight. The relationship between Qing and Zhen, and Xian and Feng, kind of mirror each other, in that both are found family at its core. The budding romance between Qing and Feng was really cute, too.

I'm not familiar with the original myth, so I have no idea how big of a departure this retelling is, but it gave me exactly what I was expecting, and I had a lot of fun reading it.

I discovered the wonderful world of danmei earlier this year thanks to my friends, and know only a little bit of the legend of the white snake this story was based off of, so I was so excited to read a novel that would give me danmei vibes! I really enjoyed all the story beats and themes with family, duty, equilibrium, and a lot of the characters here too. I also have to say that I really enjoy Sher Lee's writing style here because this book was just so easy to consume and gobble up!!

And Sher also did a great job with taking the original story and making it into a super cute YA queer retelling with a lot of heart. There were some twists and turns I didn't expect in the story overall, which made this even more fun!!

Xian and Zhen were so adorable together and their dynamic & journey was so fun to read. On top of that, their individual character development was well-explored too. The pacing worked out really nicely for a standalone, and while I greedily wish we got some more, I think things would've been too drawn out for the worse if it did.

A really great YA danmei-like standalone experience!

I love this book, it was such a great read. I enjoyed the characters and the story. The pacing was good and didn’t feel dragged out, and I found the concept very interesting to read.