The Serpent King

Three narrators deliver the alternating voices of three protagonists. Lydia, Dill, and Travis are graduating seniors who have supported each other through the challenges of school, home, and rural living. Ariadne Meyers renders the wit and confidence of Lydia, a fashionista blogger who is eager to depart for college. Michael Crouch portrays Dill's disguised passion for Lydia and barely constrained disgust for his snake-handling preacher father who's been imprisoned for child pornography. Ethan Sawyer contrasts Travis's gentle, dreamy nature with the menacing tone of his demeaning father. All the narrators deliver nuanced, engaging depictions, which strengthen as the characters grow and their relationships evolve. Listeners will be engrossed by their disturbing stories. S.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine

Starred review from December 14, 2015
Forrestville, Tenn., named after Ku Klux Klan founder Nathan Bedford Forrest, isn’t exactly a welcome place for slightly ouside-the-mainstream folks like friends Dillard, Lydia, and Travis. Dill is a high school senior whose snake-handling preacher father is currently incarcerated; Lydia, a successful fashion blogger, plans on attending NYU after graduation; and Travis, large of body and gentle of soul, loses himself (and the pain of his father’s physical and emotional abuse) in a fantasy series called Bloodfall. While Dill finds comfort and beauty in music, Travis’s innate kindness belies his circumstances, and Lydia’s incandescent, gleefully offbeat personality draws them together. As the novel, Zentner’s debut, builds to a shocking act of violence that shatters the friends’ world, this sepia-toned portrait of small-town life serves as a moving testament to love, loyalty, faith, and reaching through the darkness to find light and hope. Zentner explores difficult themes head on—including the desire to escape the sins of the father and the fragility of happiness—while tempering them with the saving grace of enduring friendship. Ages 14–up. Agent: Charlie Olsen, Inkwell Management.