Review: A Snake Among Swans, by Hannah Kaner

 

Tilde has always heard the whispers of the kithwood, the voices of her ancestors speaking through the mysterious forest of her homeland. But now both the kithwood and her kingdom are in danger. For Tilde is the only surviving heir of a conquered land. To unite the people and finally stop the bloodshed, she marries the aging warlord, King Liran. Her duty is to bind their nations and bear him a son.
But the swan king’s court is dangerous. Tilde is a threat to the claim of Liran’s older sons, who will do whatever it takes to remove her, to the princess Elise who has only ever known loyalty to her family, and to the priests who own them all. Yet none of them know that Tilde is a snake in their midst, with allies on her side and dark, forbidden power of her own. She wants her kingdom back, and she will sacrifice everything to claim it. For the queen to rise, the swans must fall.

​“I was past longing for death. I had chosen power. I was no martyr.”

Hannah Kaner's A Snake Among Swans is a powerful sapphic retelling of the fairytale The Wild Swans, filled with female rage and with reflections on the steep cost of survival and on the danger of organized religion. Brimming with intrigue and ferocious power struggles, this brutal tale doesn't shy away from many betrayals and from the triggering aspects one might expect from the story of a woman whose only expected job is to make a heir.

Tilde is a fantastic protagonist, hellbent on revenge for her conquered kingdom, a grey character in all her choices. The other main character,  Elise, is traumatized by her father's rule and her brothers' whims, who are left mostly unchecked as they vie for power of their own. Their slow dance as they begin to gravitate towards each other feels incredibly believable, and so does the inevitable conclusion of this first installment of what promises to be a great trilogy.

The vast constellation of characters surrounding the two protagonists is varied and well-developed; no one feels like a stand-in just to move the plot along, but each of them has their own reasons to act as they do, be it mosnstrous or not. Out of all the characters, Tilde's warrior handmaiden shines with her loyalty, while Elise's father is a powerful antagonist, utterly unpredictable.

The worldbuilding feels very authentic, aided by the lyrical prose. Tilde's tribe and powers are seemingly inspired by the druids, and the everpresent kithwood is both majestic and terrifying in its allure, a sort of protagonist in its own right. The book takes its time, but the slow pacing allows to really delve into the story.

A Snake Among Swans is an empowering tale.

✨ 5 stars