SNAKECHARM

This sequel to Hawksong (2003) lacks its predecessor’s romance. Zane Cobriana has married hawk shapeshifter Danica, who’s now pregnant. His joy is tempered by worry: will the hawks and serpiente accept their half-breed child as ruler? Danica’s ill from her pregnancy with a cold-blooded cobra child. Worse, the powerful, snooty falcons threaten both kingdoms—they’re inexplicably related to the snakes but not to other birds. When ancient Syfka arrives, she demands the return of a falcon fugitive. It seems that disguised falcons, fleeing the wrath of their despotic government, are hiding throughout the hawk lands. Danica’s erstwhile lover is the runaway son of Syfka herself. As Zane battles improbable plot twists to rescue his people from diplomatic awkwardness, he finds a solution to hawk/serpiente racism: he forms a progressive colony for those who have no objections to mingling. Danica fades conveniently into the background, along with the question of what a half-hawk/half-cobra baby actually is. Mawkish goth characterization and improbable magic; for Atwater-Rhodes fans only. (Fantasy. 13-15)