A Snake Among Swans

by Hannah Kaner

A dark and propulsive new epic fantasy from the #1 Sunday Times bestselling author of the Fallen Gods trilogy. An intricate tale of warring kingdoms, female rage and a wild magic that refuses to be tamed.

“Death is come to take you home, death of blood and thorn and bone…”

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.

Genres: Fantasy, Adult, Queer, Lesbian, LGBT, Fiction, Romantasy

Kindle Edition

Expected publication July 30, 2026

About the author

Hannah has her heart in Scotland and her roots in the north of England.

Hannah’s trade has always been story telling. From creating and unravelling mysteries in Northumberland with her mates, to annoying the hell out of her supervisors at the University of Cambridge by insisting on comparing Terry Pratchett to Charles Dickens, and studying narrative theory in video games.

 They grudgingly (or joyfully?) gave her a 1st Class degree in English.

​She puts the desire to communicate and challenge into her work in the technology sector, specialising in creating digital tools for hard to reach communities.

Hannah loves the histories and mythologies shared through our cultural histories, the stories we tell ourselves about being human. She also likes stabby swords and angry women.

​

Reviews

[katie 🌙]

didn’t even read the description before adding to tbr if nobody got me I know hannah kaner got me

[Marie]

New Hannah Kaner book this year??! 🥹😍

[Vanessa Hermanns]

First and foremost, a huge thank you to Harper Voyager/Harper Collins for the ARC! Receiving one genuinely makes my entire day. I walk around buzzing with excitement like I’ve just been handed something precious. Which is exactly why it stings so much when a DNF happens.

All the cry face emojis. Every single one.

I DNF’d A Snake Among Swans at 36%, and I genuinely tried to push through, but it just wasn’t for me. The writing feels a little dry, which isn’t my usual vibe. I am also a girl who simply cannot function without a magic system. It’s a need. A requirement. Non-negotiable terms of my reading contract.

The world building is relatively robust, but the story leans heavily into politics, and that particular flavor of political intrigue just didn’t land for me. I love an arranged marriage trope, like, genuinely, give me all of it, but unfortunately this one fell flat.

The sapphic romance subplot had such a promising setup and I was rooting for it, but I wasn’t connected enough to the characters to really invest in where it was going. That disconnect was probably the final nail.

Also, there are a LOT of people to keep track of. Brothers, sisters, cousins, staff, priests, my head was spinning trying to sort out who was who and why I should care about any of them.

This one just wasn’t for me, but I hope it finds its readers, especially those who love politics-heavy fantasy and don’t require a magic system to feel at home in a world.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley for the e-ARC!

A Snake Among Swans is so good that I didn't even realise it was a fairytale retelling until the last chapter of the book. Hannah Kaner's Instagram promises HOTD season 1 meets Princess Monokoke, and it was blurbed by Samantha Shannon, so expectations were set very high, and this book does not disappoint. It is astonishingly different from Godkiller, and reads more like Game of Thrones, or Daughter of the Forest than anything else published recently. This is not a light read -it is unflinching, deliciously gory, and full of gorgeous medieval fashion. (God I love a cotehardie.) The myriad of characters and allegiances made my brain work hard to keep up with everything in the best way possible. I will be anxiously awaiting the next one.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you Net Galley for an Arc of A Snake Among Swans. I was very excited for his book, Hannah Kaner is an instant buy author for me.

My first thoughts are that I wish I could have had a physical copy so I could easily reference the map and dramatis personae. This book is very intricate and it really helped having those references on who is who and where territories are. It is difficult in the begining keeping track of how this world is built but if you push through it does get easier and you will be captivated. I also hope to use the audiobook to help pronounce some of the names because this world is intricate. Next I enjoyed how much the book references and pulls in aspects of The Wild Swans fairy tale. The religion, the mention of swan lines, the royal family and 13 children. The writing is beautiful and mesmerizing. The world is fantastic and there is a lot of political intrigue. A conquering nation who is bringing the world under one rule and our FMC Tilde is offered as a bride to form a truce and save her people. This book is very heavy because war is going on, but it pulls you in and you become immersed into the politics, the intrigue, and the rooting for a rebellion. But be warned in war there is always sacrifices that must be made and this book is not for the faint of heart. There is a lot of sabotage and so many political maneuverings that keep you on the edge of your seat.


Elise-

She is the daughter of the Swan King. Elise seems quiet and a caretaker for her brothers. She has been relegated to the side lines by her family and now is being pulled out to be a companion to her new stepmother. She has to bite her tongue in so many situations, but I can feel how much it costs her and when she erupts it will be glorious. Her brothers are ruthless and they underestimate Elise because she is a female and has been ignored by her father and not offered the same education and standing as her brothers.

Tilde- She is strong, brave, and has experienced much loss in her life. It has hardened her and made her headstrong into plotting against the King. Her anger is felt, but now that she is married to the Swan King she has to be strategic and cunning. She has to watch as her people continue to be mistreated and she is in the middle of a nest of hissing and biting swans. One wrong move and she will go down with her people.

The romance in this book to me was a small part compared to the plot and what else is going on in the book which I enjoyed and appreciated. It felt like a tease right now and hopefully in more books the romance will grow and blossom, but this was the perfect start to their story. Right now it is a forbidden teasing of want between Elise and Tilde. The attraction, small touches, and stolen moments make you want them to be together, but to overcome being married to a king and a kings daughter is going to be a challenge and I can’t wait to see what happens.

That ending!!! I have my mouth on the floor. What a cliff hanger and what is going to happen. I need book 2 now. Stunning, perfection, I loved it so much!

[Mac (bookwyrm_mac) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley, Avon, and Harper Voyager for the opportunity to read and review an early copy of this book!

A Snake Among Swans was a tough read for me for a few reasons. From the blurb I expected the kithwood and wild magic to have more of a place within this story, but there’s hardly any fantasy aspect to this at all. It’s very much about court politics, which I don’t usually enjoy. It’s hard for endless conversations and paranoia to keep my interest.

Unfortunately I didn’t find the main characters particularly likeable, which also contributed to my difficulty getting through this. There are very strong themes of misogyny and religious extremism. This story is also very graphically gory and over-the-top violent. I’m sure some people will enjoy this book, but for all of these reasons, this just wasn’t my cup of tea.

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

Review of advanced copy received from Netgalley

I was excited to receive this as an arc. I love political plot lines and the scheming. However, after the first couple of chapters I had to force myself to keep reading. Everyone loves “feminine rage” however, this type was nowhere near rage but actual abuse.

The chapters go between Tilde & Elise’s POV and while I enjoyed them in the beginning by the end, I felt less for them by all the choices they made. I liked Elise better as a character but over all I think this just wasn’t the read for me as the characters and political plot line fell flat.

Big thanks to Netgalley & the Author for providing this advanced reader copy in exchange for my review. All thoughts and honest opinions are my own.

[Heather Pacella · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

The clans of Merogia are under siege by the conquering Cynghal king, who will stop at nothing to claim their lands, slaughtering and burning and pillaging all that stands between him and growing his empire. Tuathilde, last remaining child of the King of Ardwen, knows the danger of this king more than most - he has killed her siblings and her father, and will now stop at nothing to claim her lands and raze the sacred and powerful kithwood that houses the spirits of her people’s ancestors. Desperate to save her mother and her lands, she agrees to marry the king and bear him a son and successor, whose mixed lineage will ensure that all of Merola will fall in line under the Swan King’s rule.

Tilde’s plans to kill the king and avenge her people are quickly thwarted when she realizes the might of the empire she is up against. However, waiting for revenge has its own dangers - the Swan King has a violent temper and an ailing mind, and his sons will stop at nothing to eliminate Tilde before she can give birth to an heir to supplant them. Even more dangerous is Tilde’s attraction to the king’s loyal and faithful daughter Elise. As her scheming begins to take shape, Tilde soon realizes that to seize power and be the snake that destroys the swan, she may be forced to sacrifice more than she bargained for.

A Snake Among Swans is a fantastic start to a new epic fantasy trilogy by Hannah Kaner. My thoughts on various aspects of the story are given below.

*World-building/Plot: The world-building here was *extensive*. In addition to each unique region of Merogia, there are also the Galen and Cynghal nations, as well as additional territories beyond that are hinted at (pro tip: the map at the beginning of the book is super useful!). The author did a great job here at making each of these places feel different, developing various customs and cultures for each while also detailing their extensive histories, especially with each other. Because of this, the plot feels especially rich - the reader understands exactly how dangerous Tilde’s situation is when she becomes queen, as well as the extensive perils she must navigate as she becomes further involved in the court and its various machinations. The magic systems in the book (both the Cynghal blood magic and the Merogian Ways) are incredibly interesting and original. Though they were used sparingly throughout the story, it was often with devastating effect, and I am really excited to see them expanded upon in the next book in the series.

*Character Development: The characters in this story are truly special. The weaving of both Tilde and Elise’s POVs did a fantastic job at displaying two women caught on opposite sides of an oppressive, patriarchal regime that seeks to exploit women for all they’re worth while treating them like dirt. The dual POVs also allowed these themes (colonization, misogyny, religious persecution, etc.) to be explored with a deftness that is often missing in other books that explore these topics. The romance between Tilde and Elise is tragic, as both realize that, no matter what their feelings are for each other, each will continue to prioritize outcomes that will damage their relationship with each other. Outside of the central romance, the explorations of each of the different sons within Elise’s family (and their relationships with the women in their lives) was also fantastic - it really showed how young boys are also failed by a patriarchal society.

*Pacing/Writing Style: The pacing is definitely slow - though Tilde initially imagines herself killing the king right after their wedding ceremony, going out in a blaze of glory and freeing her people, she quickly realizes that that will never come to be. Instead, she must play the long game to bring down the Cynghal empire, replacing her dreams of bloody revenge with fraught political schemings and machinations. Because of that, her plans unfold gradually and carefully. However, this results in an absolutely explosive ending, and it seems like the action and pacing will definitely pick up in the next book. Hannah Kaner’s writing here was beautiful, and really added an emotional depth to the political events that made the slow buildup more than worth it.

I highly recommend A Snake Among Swans for anyone looking for an epic fantasy chock-full of political intrigue and feminine rage. I could definitely see this series being adapted into a prestige cable television show a la Game of Thrones - so if that’s your vibe, definitely check it out!

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Voyager for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

[ValkyrieRuna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Where to even start, I absolutely loved this book! Trust me when I say I do not compare A Snake Among Swans to Game of Thrones lightly, but between the political machinations, court intrigue, religious oppression, deadly battles for line of succession, and royal houses with animals as their sigils, this had me feeling super nostalgic and absolutely salivating. If you loved ASOIAF, The Poet Empress, or Daughter of the Empire this will be right up your alley!

"Do not cut off the swan's head and call it vengeance while its poison seeps out. Pluck out its feathers, silence its beak, destroy its nest and set a snake on its young. This is not a hunt, Tilde. This must be a massacre."

Tilde is the last daughter of King Rivani and the conquered kingdom of Merogia. She willing offers herself up as a prospective bride to The infamous Swan King Liran, her kingdom's enemy and conqueror (also a man three times her age). Elise, King Liran's last daughter, is not prepared for enigmatic Tilde to come into her life - a woman who embodies everything she is not: bold, proud, outspoken and a heathen descendant of the kithwood's clans that once harnessed the blasphemous wild magic.

"True victory does not rest on a win or a loss. True victory is to be able to play again."

I am an absolute glutton for political fantasy, but to find out this also had sapphic representation? SAY LESS. If you're not one for a heavy dose of romance, know that the romance here is a subplot and far from the main focus. This world you're about to dive into is brutal, and we have characters that will do anything to claw their way into staying alive. This is definitely one of those stories that pushes each character to the "how far are you willing to go?" territory, and I love the chance of watching them make those sometimes heart wrenching decisions. The pacing kept me eagerly flipping through the pages. I could not put this one down, and when I did have to put it down I was thinking about what was going to happen next.

I loved the magic system. Too often I find fantasy stories opt for soft magic systems that don't have a cost for using magic, which makes everything seem incredible easy / low stakes. Not so in ASAS, the magic here has a devastating cost - one that makes the users second guess if the payoff is worth it.

The cast of characters is quite large, but we only get two POVs - Elise and Tilde. I found myself wishing we had a more POVs like in Game of Thrones just so I could keep everyone straight. The first several chapters I found myself rereading paragraphs to try and make sure I fully understood what was happening and who everyone was because Kaner does not hold your hand when it comes to this. There are also several unnecessarily similar character / place names (ie: Cynghal, Cynefel) that I definitely had to pay attention to. The Swan King has a ton of sons from his late wife, but sometimes I had a hard time remembering who was who. Each son has his own coat of arms / color, but I wish there had either been less sons to keep track of or we spent more time seeing each one apart from his brothers.

I was woman enough to be their figurehead, but too much a girl to merit their respect.

Last but not least, the amount of feminine pain and rage this explores is enough for any reader to feast on. It was incredible to follow two POVs from opposite sides, completely different personalities, as they both slowly unraveled all they thought they knew. I loved watching as both of them worked to find their strength and power while fighting all the ways the world wants to grind them into dust just for being a woman.

But this was where Cynghal noblewomen existed, behind closed doors they could not hold against visitors, in rooms they did not own.

It's been two days since I've finished this, and I am mourning the loss of this world already. I will absolutely be keeping my eyes peeled for any details on Book 2 and eagerly devouring it as soon as it's available!

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Voyager for this ARC! Opinions, as always, are my own.

[Elle · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Snake Among Swans is the first in a new fantasy trilogy from Hannah Kaner. I adored Godkiller, and despite that trilogy have a stronger start than a finish, Kissen still remains a favourite protagonist/heroine and I think of the story and its world often. I was so excited to hear of a new series and to be granted an advanced reader copy. I was so sure that this novel was an auto-buy for me. Sadly I never enjoyed this novel past the first two or three chapters once it became clear that 'feminine rage' actually meant 'female abuse and oppression and rape all the time'. There was no joy in this novel. There was no one heroic like Kissen, there was no found family to bring kindness and warmth into a cruel world. There was just cruelty. It felt like watching Game Of Thrones if someone had removed all the scenes about men, and all the powerful or finding-their-own-power women, and just left all the scenes were women are beaten, humiliated, raped, and living under constant looming threat of every single man around them. For me, this wound up being a depressing and exhausting read.

In the last two chapters, it becomes apparent that this is a fairytale retelling. I also wish that hadn't been kept such a secret either, because it's a massive genre change right at the end and if you know the fairytale in question, you know everything has to flip at this point and became a very different type of story and no longer about the main protagonist of book one. I also have absolutely no desire for the 'new' protagonist of the fairytale to succeed, so. That's a choice.

This novel is technically well written. The worldbuilding is detailed and well thought-out -- it's great, apart from how I hate the major chosen aspects of it (normalised oppression of women; evil Church rules all and forcibly encourages the colonisation of more and more 'heathen' kingdoms). The author does a fantastic job at building the overwhelming, ever-present threat of normalised, unpunished violence against women. That's just not anything I want to read for such a long time (~95% of the book)--and if the blurb had been more honest about that, I would have avoided the book or at least known after the first quarter (when I failed to emotionally attach to either protagonist) that I wasn't going to find anything to keep me invested and could have put it down early.

It also never felt like the author was making any kind of point about violence or oppression or colonisers, unlike several other fantasy novels with 'dark' themes and violence (like this year's amazing The Poet Empress, or last year's coloniser rebellion To Bargain With Mortals). The invading king and his family are just pure war-mongering, backstabbing evil, the Church is evil, colonisers are sort-of evil but maybe a very few of them are okay, and sometimes it's fine to work with known backstabbers you despise if you have a greater common enemy. I wasn't left feeling like any interesting points had been made or thought-provoking questions had been asked by the novel and it's hyper-violence. Just 'royal family bad, oppression culture bad, becoming even worse in order to beat them is ok'.

I'm sure many readers will like this. It's going to depend greatly on your personal comfort level with violence against women. Also slightly on how long you can tolerate a reactive protagonist with no real agency who keeps failing so badly at 'playing the long game'. (Bish has never heard of the long game, or of politics, or of not constantly breaking the laws of her oppressors 😭 It takes her over half the book to realise that she shouldn't keep interrupting the men, after being told in chapter 1 or 3 that women in her new husband's kingdom are expected to hold their tongues and not speak unless asked. Advice? Laws? What are those? 😭 )

You might be able to tell I didn't wind up liking the characters. There's not a lot to grab onto. Most characters are still one-note tropes by the end. Tilde and Elise are the only ones allowed to change, but their changes aren't necessarily good. I liked both of them more at the start and then lost good feelings for them as they both continued to choose stupid actions for too long, Elise more wilfully so than Tilde.

I'm glad for everyone who liked the book, and I'm glad for the author to keep publishing, but I'll be skipping the rest of this trilogy and waiting to see if her next offering veers closer back to Godkiller, which had fun, joy, female and queer empowerment, a LGBTQ+ positive world, and more complex, interesting characters. I miss having a world and characters that feel worth fighting for.


Rating: 3 stars -- Technically high quality, but the constant oppression and hyper-violence were not for me.

[Risa]

DNF at 24% (Read through Chapter 11)


I think someone looking to read an epic fantasy that features political intrigue, a magical forest, and sapphic rep may enjoy this one.

I love all those things mentioned above. However, there were too many fantasy terms and names for my personal liking, and I had a hard time keeping track of them all.

In addition, I found a lot of this book to be boring. Aside from one action scene in the forest, hardly anything had happened by the time I stopped reading. And considering I read nearly a quarter of the book (i.e. over 100 pages), I feel like something exciting should’ve happened by that point.


Anyway, I’m sure this book will find its audience. It just isn’t for me.




NOTES I TOOK WHILE READING:


⁃ Oh no—there’s a glossary. And it’s a list of characters… Hopefully that doesn’t mean it’ll be hard to keep track of who is who.


⁃ So I’ve read through chapter 4 (12% into the eARC), and I’m not particularly excited by the story thus far.

⁃ The positives is that the writing is pretty good, and there’s is sapphic rep in here (Tilde seems to like women; and given Elise is going to become her friend, I’m guessing that they will fall in love).

⁃ Other than that though, it doesn’t feel particularly special; it reads like most tradition royal fantasy stories. Obviously Tilde wants to kill the king of the enemy nation, but her mother convinces her to bear him a son first (after wedding the man that is three times her elder). Then Princess Elise wants more freedom like her brothers and to be accepted by her father, who has tasked her with befriending Tilde when she arrives.

⁃ Have I read this exact story before? No. But nothing about it is standing out to me yet.

⁃ (Also, the kingdom of the swan coming together with the kingdom of the snake—the animal concepts just feel silly to me, I don’t know why.)

⁃ There are also a lot of characters to keep track of already. And while I appreciate that a glossary was provided, I personally prefer a book where I do not have to keep flipping to the beginning to remember who is who.



⁃ So they just had the bandits attack their carriage on the way, with Tilde and co inside. It was a fine action scene. But I’m still not in love with this story.


⁃ I’ve reached 20% in the eARC (read through chapter 9), and I still feel like I’m waiting for the plot to actually start. Like sure, with that bandit attack something finally happened. But that’s happened in 88 pages. I need more.

⁃ But Tilde has finally arrived at the palace (castle?). So hopefully things will get interesting once she meets Princess Elise.

⁃ I’ve now read through chapter 11. Chapter 11 is where Elise and Tilde met for the first time (which was a prickly meeting as expected). It was fine, but I’m still bored. So I’m doing to tap out here (24% into the eARC, page 111 out of 455).

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the book that all those books about feminine rage and morally gray protagonists want to be: full of fury and longing to right injustice, but also grounded in reality and knowing that just killing one person isn't enough to take down an unjust system. Tilde starts off thinking that she'll kill the Swan King Liran as soon as she can, but she's quickly disabused of this plan by her mother, who makes her see that if she truly loves her people, there's a much harder path for her to walk.

"Do not cut off the swan's head and call it vengeance while its poison seeps out," she said, holding me so hard it almost hurt. "Pluck out its feathers, silence its beak, destroy its nest and set a snake on its young. This is not a hunt, Tilde. This must be a massacre."

And walk it she does, sacrificing and going to dark depths, all for the sake of true victory, because as one of her reluctant allies tells her "True victory does not rest on a win or loss. True victory is to be able to play again." You may not agree with all of Tilde's actions, but you will certainly understand it, even as she learns the truth about her own people and the wild blood magic they wield.

At the same time, we have Elise, the forgotten swan princess, who tries so, so hard to be good and obedient, but you see the savvy, wild, brilliant girl pressing beneath the gray facade.

She had a wildness in her like her brothers, but had she not learned to press it down? The things she was good at, swordplay, archery, weaving, the things she was bad at, letters, kind word,s good thoughts, good faith, she pushed it all inside the shell of her heart. Sometimes, it cracked open, it moved in her. This bird in the egg, this inhabitation.

And meeting Tilde is both the making and the end of Elise--she at last understands her own desires and has an outlet for her longings for freedom and to just be who she is, but at the same time, the world they are in is not kind and even if Tilde was not Elise's father's new queen, they are part of enemy nations, and love cannot save them.

The worldbuilding of this book is beautiful and dark, packed with dark magic from both nations--from the blood magic of the swans to the wild sacrifice based magic of the woods, this is a nation divided, made even more so by the fact that the swan king is aging and his five sons are restless. If you like internal court struggles and political plotting, this book has all of it, full of poisons, dastardly plots, and murder.

It is a mark of strength for this novel that Isen's death was so sad--on the one hand, he's the brutal murderer of Tilde's two older siblings. On the other, he's Elise's favorite brother, the only one who sort of bothers to protect her.

I loved the ending of this novel, and I cannot wait to see what happens next. In the meanwhile, I'll be reading all of Hannah Kaner's backlist!

[Amelia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Few quick points from the get go before I expand- this book had way too many characters, way too many parties fighting for what seemed to be the same thing but at the same time not, too many people named similar things. There’s too many different sides to choose, its all just too much to understand. I myself am not a fan of when books have a sort of glossary or dictionary of definitions and explanations before the story itself begins, I think stories are much better when information is included and described during the story when it is needed. I as a reader am not about to read a 5 page dictionary of who everyone is, who their grandmother is, what their color of clothes mean and so on. I should be learning that during the story.
Anyway… I loved the story at the heart of this book, a story of revolution, of war. of betrayal. of an incompetent mad (?) king, of a magical wood that speaks to magical people.
Tilde is a strong, beyond strong, woman, sent away from her home to marry the King Liran, to hopefully take down the kingdom from the inside, to bring the rights of her people back, to get their land back, to end whatever power hungry, land hungry mess is going on in the palace.
King Liran has about five sons (?) honestly they are hard to keep track of, but all of them have their own ambitions and their own guard, each represented by a different colour. There are also about 4 nations King Liran has taken over, his Cynghal nation has taken over, the main ones being Merogian where Tilde is from (the nation with the magical forest) and Galen.
I am actually getting a headache trying to remember all this.
Cynghal is a nation of the Swan, I think that is a religious thing, the whole thing is that the King is the closest thing to the swan so he is the messenger of the swan, then something about a wing, the swans wing? So basically everything the king says is true and right because it is basically gods words?
Hold on I am going to copy and paste this because I am losing my will.
God is the Wing, the Wing is the swan, the swan is the king, the King is the father, the father is my lord.
Last quick point: I am happy to say this book is actually sapphic! Tilde has a girlfriend in the beginning and then is linked with Elise for the majority of the book! Much better than the previous series for sapphic representation!
This review sucks I am so sorry, girl I tried, know that the story is actually good, just complicated. Please I promise the story is actually good, The ending was also good, good thinking, Amelia approved endin, very smart. I will probably read the next one!

[Faiz · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 rounded up.

A book for anyone who has ever said “we need more evil lesbians”. This book follows Tilde who goes on a journey from naive victim to ruthless usurper and her love interest Elise who is a colonizer in a gilded cage who’s journey makes her realize she’s in a cage at all. This books set the stage for a very promising series.

The weakest part of this book is unfortunately the beginning due to needing to set up this epic fantasy universe and put our players on the chess table. This is mainly what makes this a 4.5 for me instead of a solid 5. However, once Elise and Tilde meet, I couldn’t put it down. Tilde and Elise are the ultimate culture clash. Tilde is from an oppressed feminist pagan culture where women are empowered and being gay is as natural as heterosexuality. Elise is the daughter of her colonizer being taught all about “true religion” and its own fictional version of manifest destiny against those dirty barbarians. The reflections of colonialism and religious imperialism are undeniable. It’s curious about how colonialism manifests in the colonized from the assimilators to the betrayers to the rebels. Only time (or, two more books) will tell who gets the last laugh. But my thought is, like everything this book does, it won’t be a perfectly clean victory. Politics, after all, is just a thousand little chess pieces you try to turn advantageous, like our dear Tilde does.

Of course, there’s also the elephant in the room. Feminism. It is as terrible to be a woman in this world as it is in real life. Both of our leads are victims of explicit patriarchal violence. There are some descriptions of physical abuse and references to rape, but Kaner is purposeful in keeping the rape off-page. Tilde and Elise have very different approaches to victimhood. Where Tilde resents her oppressors and dreams of killing them, Elise believes they must be right. Elise is a great take of victims of familial and religious abuse because she so desperately loves all of her abusers. She’s also a great take on how privileged victims can still benefit from the system, because she’s living in the wealth of her male family’s colonialism and she’s still completely ignorant about Tilde’s culture. Just as Tilde becomes an oppressor in her own right over her serfs despite facing patriarchal violence from her husband and in-laws and has some class privilege over her own people (which is why she's the one picked to be queen). These victims aren’t perfect, and that’s awesome. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this first book for “female rage”, but this is absolutely a story where women get the last laugh. I have high hopes for where this will go!

[Jensen McCorkel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating 3.5

This is not an adventurous, escapist fantasy. It is a story about conquest, identity, inherited fury, and the terrifying intimacy of loving someone connected to the very system that shattered your people. The novel feels steeped in memory and sharpened by grief, its prose lush and venomous, politically intimate, and emotionally unrelenting.

The worldbuilding leans more toward symbolic, mythic fantasy than dense, encyclopedia-style lore. Kaner constructs the setting through atmosphere, religion, politics, and inherited magic rather than exhaustive exposition. At its center is a living forest saturated with ancestral memory and spiritual power. The trees preserve the voices of the dead, and bloodlines matter because descendants can hear and commune with those spirits, making the magic feel ancient, organic, and inseparable from land, history, and grief. At the same time, the magic system remains relatively soft rather than heavily rule-bound, which gives it an unpredictable, consuming quality. Nature here is not gentle; it remembers violence.

Character development is the novel’s greatest strength. The plot and world exist largely to pressure the characters into becoming harsher, more politically dangerous, and emotionally conflicted versions of themselves. Tensions between duty and truth, loyalty and disillusionment, give the relationships both emotional and political gravity at once. The politics never feel abstract because the empire’s violence is deeply personal: it has absorbed families, marriages, identities, and entire cultures into itself. That makes the court intrigue feel sharper and more emotionally devastating. Kaner seems particularly interested in how systems of power reshape people psychologically, eroding certainty while forcing characters to negotiate who they are becoming.

With that said, the magic system remains soft and loosely defined, so readers who prefer rigid, rule-based magic may find the kithwood magic somewhat abstract. Likewise, the political fantasy framework itself is fairly familiar, but execution is what ultimately matters and Hannah Kaner delivers. The novel’s lyrical writing, thematic cohesion, and emotional intensity give it a depth and richness that transcend the familiarity of its premise.

Overall, A Snake Among Swans is a slow-burning, atmosphere-heavy fantasy that favors emotional decay over spectacle. For readers drawn to fantasy that feels lush, bitter, intimate, and politically charged, Kaner delivers a story that is both haunting and emotionally resonant.

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the political intrigue and social maneuvering throughout this book. Watching Tilde slowly work her way into the royal family and navigate all the court politics was honestly the highlight for me. The tension came less from action and more from conversations, manipulation, and strategy, which I found super engaging.

Tilde herself was such an interesting character to follow. I liked seeing how adaptable and calculating she could be depending on who she was talking to and what situation she found herself in. There’s this constant underlying tension of wondering how far she’s willing to go and whether everything she’s built might eventually come crashing down around her.

I also liked that the story focused more on ambition, influence, and survival within court dynamics rather than making the romance the entire focus. The sapphic romance subplot had a really promising setup, but I just wasn’t emotionally connected enough to the characters for the romance itself to completely work out for me. In saying that though, I actually didn’t mind it staying more in the background because the political side of the story was what kept me the most invested anyway.

I will say there are A LOT of characters introduced throughout the story. Brothers, sisters, cousins, priests, staff members… my head was SPINNING at times trying to remember who was who and why they were important 😭 THANK GOODNESS the author included a character guide at the beginning showing everyone’s titles, positions, and relationships to one another because I was constantly flipping back to it throughout the book.

Also, what it is with fantasy books and their royal hunts?? I've started to notice how frequently royal hunts and boars are used as a narrative setup for tragedy or major character deaths. Honestly, at this point it almost feels like a recurring plot device across the genre, so much so that these particular scenes are starting to feel predictable for me. It happens in this book, and I couldn't help but feel annoyed and frustrated rather than feeling sad for the character.

Overall, this was such an entertaining read and I’d definitely recommend it if you enjoy court politics, social climbing, scheming FMCs, and stories where the tension comes more from manipulation and strategy than nonstop action.
Thank you to Avon and Harper Voyager & Netgalley for this eARC! All opinions are my own.

[Abby · Rating 5 out of 5]

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
MY BLOG

A Snake Among Swans felt, exactly as advertised, the most like House of the Dragon season 1 to me - political maneuvering, shifting alliances, women trapped within a patriarchal system, and characters slowly hardening under the weight of power and survival. Add in a sentient magical forest and a stronger religious presence, and I was hooked immediately.

The king is dying, and everyone is circling for power - the new queen, the king’s six sons, the church - all trying to position themselves before the kingdom fractures apart. There are a lot of moving pieces and characters to follow, but the political maneuvering was so addictive - it was political chess. Every conversation feels loaded, every alliance matters. I will echo what others have said, though: there are a lot of brothers to keep track of.

Tilde’s character arc was easily my favorite part of the book. She enters the story wanting revenge and wanting it fast, but slowly realizes that if she truly wants to destroy the people and systems that hurt her people, she has to learn how to survive within them first. Watching her grow from angry and reactive into someone intelligent, strategic, and genuinely dangerous was SO satisfying. She is truly morally gray too - making difficult, selfish, sometimes cruel choices that always felt grounded in survival and ambition.

Elise, the king’s daughter, reminded me a lot of Alicent Hightower. She starts out kind, dutiful, and loyal, but her circumstances slowly force her into becoming sharper, more political, and more ruthless in order to survive. Through both women, we see how little value this society places on women beyond marriage, childbirth, and political usefulness. The feminine rage running through this story is very much on par with HOTD season 1.

One thing I really appreciated was how immersive the world felt without massive info dumps. The religions, histories, court politics, and different cultures unfold naturally as the story progresses, which made the world feel lived-in instead of explained at me.

I flew through this. The pacing never dragged for me, the tension stayed high the entire time, and I already know this is going to end up as one of my favorite fantasy reads of the year.

[Jackie · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolute standout I am obsessed and devastated I will have to wait to jump into the next book.

After a devastating war tore apart her family and kingdom Tilde finds herself offered up to the enemy King as his new bride. Navigating a political atmosphere is a deadly game of chess where she can trust very few of the pieces and has much more to lose than any other player. With the King’s remaining daughter as a potential ally she offered friendship but Elise, so used to being lost to the background, is curious and from that finds the strength she needs to stand even when the world wishes to keep her on her knees.

Such a great book with the many layers of betrayal and walking on a tightrope of political shifts and uprisings. Tilde is a formidable enemy with a lot at stake playing her rule as dutiful queen and dancing around those who can recognize her as the snake she is and I loved every second. Elise is a perfect foil for her coming from a kingdom where women have less opportunity to do anything but produce heirs she is tempted to embrace the strength within her the closer she gets to the “sin” of Tilde. Together they are a well balanced pair but at odds I fear they may be each other’s worst enemy.

The romance in this is soft and an undercurrent to the rest of the plot. There is a lot of good moments between the two but for the most part they are two women standing side by side waiting to seize the opportunity to take their rightful place as the men around them fight amongst themselves. There are whispers in the trees as old magic is put against that of religion and those who twist gospel to their benefit and hunger for power but when the magic is unleashed you can’t help but fear what damage could be done if one is willing to pay the price.

I loved this series and I know there is so much that can happen as it continues and I am both nervous and excited to see the fallout of the choices made and what can happen when fighting for power matters more than fighting for love.

** special thanks to the publishers and netgalley for providing an arc in exchange for a fair and honest review.**

[Tina Liu · Rating 4 out of 5]

First of all, I absolutely loved the Fallen Gods series, so I was incredibly excited and grateful to receive an ARC of this book. Unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy this one quite as much as I loved the Fallen Gods books.

Tilda is the sole surviving heir of a conquered kingdom, forced into marriage with the conquering king. At court, she is surrounded by suspicion and hostility — the princes and courtiers despise her, and some even attempt to kill her. The only person who seems willing to befriend her is Princess Elise, the overlooked and lonely daughter of the former king.

What I loved most was the twisted relationship between the two female leads. Their bond is never simply love or hate, enemy or lover. For both of them, love is precious, but family obligations and responsibilities matter even more. That conflict adds a great deal of tension and emotional complexity to their relationship.

The fantasy setting itself felt a bit generic at times: conquerors versus the conquered, swans versus snakes. There are also a huge number of characters, many of whom are not included in the character list and only appear briefly throughout the story, making them difficult to keep track of. The first half of the book is also fairly slow, focusing mostly on introducing the large cast and showing Tilda’s suffering and naivety as she adjusts to life in the Swan court. I really had to push myself through those sections. Fortunately, the second half picks up significantly and becomes much more engaging.

The writing, however, is still very strong. Like the Fallen Gods series, this book contains several truly powerful moments that stayed with me.

Overall, I’d give this 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4. I’d recommend it to readers who enjoy political fantasy plots and don’t mind keeping track of a large cast of characters.

Thanks to NetGalley, Harper Voyager, and Hannah Kaner for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

[Fuecoco · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Snake Among Swans by Hannah Kaner …

The short of it? “A Snake Among Swans” is a harrowing epic fantasy, deeply dark and unforgiving, unforgettable, and unrelenting. Comparisons to GRRM’s A Song of Ice and Fire are well deserved: “A Snake Among Swans” blends elements of political intrigue, horror, female rage, religious persecution, and ancient magic masterfully. Representation of sapphic and trans characters is brilliantly inclusive.

Kaner’s haunting, evocative prose breathes life into a horrific fantasy world, told from the perspectives of two female protagonists: Tilde - a witch of the Kithwood and the last surviving heir of a wild rebel kingdom, sold by her mother so that she may wed a tyrant-king and bear his child to unite the realm. She must hide her magical ties to the Kithwood lest the priesthood burn her alive. And Elise - the tyrant-king’s forgotten daughter, often isolated to her tower, a ghost among the living, and dangerously naive in a vicious and unrelenting court of cut-throat Swan princes. She still grieves for her mother’s death when she is assigned to orient the new Queen Tilde to the Swan court.

This isn’t just a review for “A Snake Among Swans.” This is also a love letter. I will be mending from this book hangover likely for the rest of my life. “A Snake Among Swans” just became my favorite book of all time. I highly recommend this to anyone who wants to read a female villain protagonist.

A caution to readers: this book is not for the faint of heart. “A Snake Among Swans” is ruthlessly grim and Hannah Kaner does not spare the reader details of the evil nature of some human beings. If you are sensitive to themes of coercion, intimidation, death, sacrifice of innocents, or physical/sexual abuse, this one is not for you.

Thank you to Hannah Kaner, NetGalley, and Harper Voyager for the advanced copy I received in exchange for an honest review.

[Carolynne Horstmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you so much to NetGalley for the e-copy of A Snake Among Swans.

I both absolutely loved and was horrified by some of the things in this book. This book is an absolutely amazing political read in a fantasy/medieval setting. We follow two strong women who grow into themselves in this book: King Tuathilde (Tilde), and Princess Elise. King Tilde is a young woman, who tries to marry King Liran, her oppressor to kill him, but soon learns that this is the easy but unsuccessful way to defeat her enemies. So King Tilde, becomes Queen Tilde and follows the oppressive religion of the Wing, to join the politics of her husbands empire, and to somehow help her people alongside her lady's maids Marolyn, and Hadiah. Princess Elise, already follows the Wing, and has folded her self so far inward to appease the subservient role women play that she does not truly know who or what she wants. One of the only things Elise knows is the Wing and her Father, King Liran, who is both her father and the figurehead of the Wing. Princess Elise is one of 13 children, of which there were 3 girls including Elise, but at the beginning of the story Elise is the only one left. In relation to this, she and everyone else is punishing her for something. After the death of her mother, King Liran puts Elise in charge of helping Tilde into her role as a wife of the wing, and in doing so pushes Elise further into the complications of court life. This book has so much feminine rage, and I love it for that. However, this book also has morally grey characters, and some content triggers, the ones that I would heavily note are: SA (on-page, but not in-depth), death, torture (past actions), drugging/ roofying one of the main characters, pregnancy, and loss of pregnancy.

[Alex Riley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A dark, political intrigue fantasy meets fairy tale retelling. There was a time that readers got "tired" of Game of Thrones style cutthroat political intrigue, or maybe it was just publishing gaslighting us with shifting trends. And yet, grimdark political fantasy seems evergreen, especially when we look at various spinoffs from the Game of Thrones franchise that are still going strong.

This title should satisfy readers of that genre. It has a dark, oppressive world, theme of "power corrupts", a robust cast of characters, a web of schemes, shifting alliances and betrayals, a sprawling pseudo-medieval fantasy world, a sympathetic underdog protagonist who nonetheless has to choose between staying a victim and fighting fire with fire while getting her hands dirtier and dirtier in the process, ancient mysterious magic, and as a bonus, a side of sapphic yearning.

The book doesn't take an easy way out, neither with the brutality and the costs of power struggle, nor with making the worldbuilding shallower for the sake of "accessibility". This is clearly one for the fans of classic epic fantasy where a map and a glossary is a delicious morsel rather than a deterrent. It's firmly a series opener, it doesn't stand alone, it ends on a cliffhanger, but that's the room epic fantasy requires to spin the full tale.

4 stars personally for me, because it read a bit like stock old school pseudo-medieval fantasy with powerhungry royals, bigoted oppressive church, super misogynistic world, shock value violence, same old we've read in spades 10-20 years ago. But it'll be a treat for readers who mourn the decline of grimdark epic fantasy and lack of new releases in this vein. It is so back.

[Melissa (bookishmelissa) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you so much to Edelweiss and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Basically, if Samantha Shannon blurbs it I will read it because I swear her recommendations have never steered me wrong. A Snake Among Swans is no exception to this because the way this book grabbed me and didn’t let me go until the very last page! I devoured this book. (But also… It devoured me.)

Think Game of Thrones meets dark, political fantasy fairytale retelling full of forbidden magic, feminine rage, and a cunning badass main character who sets out to destroy the patriarchy by manipulating them to destroy themselves from within and you have A Snake Among Swans. But it’s also so much more! There’s a secondary main character with her own incredible journey of disassembling some serious religious and patriarchal trauma that I don’t even feel like we got to fully scratch the surface of just yet… Due to the ending! (The way I need to know what happens next right now!)

Tilde and Elise have both taken their places as some of my all time favorite characters.

Beyond them there is a massive cast of some seriously morally grey and downright villainous characters. When I say this book gets dark, I mean it gets dark and earned every single trigger warning that the author has provided on her Instagram. So, be sure to check those out before you dive into this one.

A Snake Among Swans is one my all time favorite reads of this year so far, and I will be eagerly awaiting the sequel. Not to mention I believe I’ve found another author who I want to consume every single one of their books because wow Hannah Kaner knocked it out of the park with this one.

[Abbi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received an e-book ARC from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for a review.

I don't even know what to write in this review, I'm that overwhelmed by how amazing this book is. When I was reading it, I was immersed in this intense, fascinating world of power and politics, and when I wasn't reading it, I was thinking about it.

Kaner's world-building is second to none, and this new book shows that the Fallen Gods trilogy was not a fluke. Her worlds have tremendous depth and breadth, and in A Snake Among the Swans, we are introduced to a people and a world torn apart by war and politics. Tilde sacrifices herself in a political marriage to the brutal, aging king. But this is not a story of love or even of magic (though bits of both appear), it is a story of power and who wields it.

Being set in the king's household, with the multiple sons (and one daughter, Elise), priests, dukes, soldiers and so on, there's a lot going on and a lot of moving parts. I appreciated Kaner including the glossary of who's who at the start of the book. The characters are intricately drawn, despite there being so many, and I appreciated the focus on detail.

It's definitely a dark book, from the deep rage in Tilde to the blood magic of the druidim to the many deaths (both self-sacrifice and murder) throughout. But it never got dark just for the sake of being gruesome, everything tied into the politics and power maneuvering of all the characters.

I can't wait for this series to continue!

[Kianna · Rating 5 out of 5]

While swans rise through war and conquest, held in the tenuous throes victory, a snake stirs. Tilde worships the woods, wishes to take out the kingdom hurting her people swiftly and gracelessly. Elise instead worships the Wings, a religion that holds to rigid standards and uplifts her father, the king, as sovereign in faith and rule. These two forces intertwine in a tale of political machinations and brutality post-conquest. Who will come out on top? Only time will tell...

The beginning of this book felt like a fledgling trying to find its wings. Tilde's shortsighted goal is shifted to one of much longer term, leading her to struggle greatly. She takes her time finding her place amongst the swans, but when she does she is crafty and quickly brands herself as dangerous within the minds of the reader but less so amongst the swans. Elise felt a little less compelling in this story beyond humanizing the swans some in her expression of the kingdom's cruelty to its own. She lives a hard life amongst a family that sees no function to her in a society that relegated women to lesser roles. This book certainly took its time but became a deeply political story that enraptured me entirely. It invoked deep feelings within me, which was incredibly thrilling! I can't recommend this enough for anyone fond of somewhat troubling political tales that enjoy a slower plot.

𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘬 𝘧𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘴𝘺 • 𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘴𝘺 • 𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘢𝘭-𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘥 • 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 • 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 • 𝘥𝘶𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘰𝘷

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Dawn Serra · Rating 4 out of 5]

For fantasy lovers who love complex peoples, families, and political intrigue, this book will be a welcome addition to their library. A Snake Among Swans by Hannah Kaner is a rich tapestry of shifting allegiances amid clashes of faith and sword.

What would you be willing to sacrifice for the larger good? At what point does the larger good become an excuse for the very violence and abuse a people resist? What if in fighting monsters you have to become one?

Kaner explores these questions and the fickle god that is power.

I can see why some people may not finish the story as with many fantasy books you do need to keep reading even when certain names, lands, and traditions are beyond your understanding. Keep the faith, as it were, that things will come into focus as a world is being built. Because so much goes unspoken when power and death are on the line in unstable kingdoms, the reader is left in the dark alongside certain characters. But given time, the tapestry begins to reveal itself and something interesting and heartbreaking emerges.

This is a story where almost none of the characters are likeable, and yet I found the twists and turns interesting enough to keep me reading. I wanted more spice between certain characters, more of the wood-magic, more of the suffering of men and more cunning and care between the women... but on that last wish, the story itself answers the question of the violence of patriarchy and church.

So grateful to Netgalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for the advanced reader copy so that I could dive in early.

[Bookjunky · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recieved an ARC of A Snake Among Swans through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A Snake Among Swans is about power, family, and loyalty. A brutal and bloodthirsty king, losing his grip on reality. A family, held together by fear and greed. Loyalty to a bloody legacy, and loyalty to a bloodline.

Kaner's writing is beautifully lyrical at times. She shines in the dark and eerie, writing with such a creeping sense of horror that I had to turn a light on in the dead of night.

Her characters are complex and she builds such a compelling arc for them that you become fully invested. Her debut trilogy, The Fallen Gods, showed her potential, but A Snake Among Swans clinches it.

I really enjoyed the dualing POV's-

Tilde- the last heir of a throne destroyed by The Swan King, and the last hope of her people. She barters her blood and her body in a desperate bid to become the snake among the swans, to save her people from eradication and reclaim her throne.

Elise- a princess, forgotten by her father, dismissed by her brothers, and living in the shadow of ghosts. She is charged with the keeping of her father's new bride, but isn't prepared for snake dressed in swan feathers.

ASAS shows how thin the line between love and hate truly is, how easily a kingdom can be destroyed from the inside out, and how quickly love can turn to poison. This is definitely another rung in the ladder for Kaner on her climb to the top.

[Annabelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was drawn to this book because I really enjoyed the author's Fallen Gods trilogy. The story is different but the writing style is familiar. It took me a few chapters to fully get immersed in the tale, the world building and the central characters. There is quite a bit of court politics and a fair amount of characters to keep track of while following all of the machinations. The story is told from two points of view, Tilde and Elise. Tilde is the heir of a conquered land and offers herself as a bride-prize to the conquering king. Elise is the king's daughter, a barely noticed adult child in a land where men rule. The book is slow at first, with little action, just understanding the plotting and politics. I think it was more than halfway through when the romance really blossomed and the magic in this world was revealed. I enjoy the way that the author build's atmosphere but for readers who want immediate fast-paced action, dramatic romance, complex magic systems, and don't enjoy political chicanery, this might be a difficult story to get into. For me, this was an interesting opener into a new series and I am eager to see what comes next.
I received access to this eARC thru NetGalley (for which I want to thank NetGalley and the publisher, Avon and Harper Voyager) for an honest review. The opinion expressed here is my own.

[Meredith D · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5⭐️
Thanks to Harper Collins and NetGalley for the earc!

This is my first book of Kaner’s and I was not sure what to expect. We have a young woman, Tilde that agrees to be married off to the king that conquered her lands six years prior. But she agreed so that she can kill him. You also have the daughter of the king, Elise, who is mistreated by her family and simply wants to get away to a monastery and live out her days as a devout follower of the Swan.

What you get in this book is a dark story of rage, magic, betrayal, death, and the price of love versus power. I wouldn’t say this is a romance at all, there is also some adult scenes that are deeply tragic and sad.

I did like that this didn’t really end happily? It felt more real this way and I appreciate that. I also like that while there is magic, it has a high cost and can take more than it gives. This magi’s also had little knowledge left on it, and that was interesting as well.

This book really made me think about how history really is determined by the victor and what is it about (any) religion that makes its followers feel that it must be pushed on everyone else. Wars are fought over religion all the time and if everyone was simply allowed to believe what they want so many deaths and civilizations could have been saved. Such a good tie to real life with this part of the story.

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a fan of Kaner’s Fallen Gods trilogy, I was elated to be approved for A Snake Among Swans. If you’re a fan of the dynamic between characters in HBO’s adaptation of House of Dragon this is for you! This book is all political intrigue, high stakes, blood and forest magic, with its world-building tied together through the very emotionally and beautifully written POVs of Tilde and Elise (who both are echoes of Rhaenyra and Alicent from HoD!) While slow in the beginning, Kaner lays the necessary groundwork to build the tensions between a large cast of multi-faceted characters as they all scrabble for power with an ailing tyrant king on the throne—tensions and motivations that will lend well to the succeeding books of this series as the swan court, and its empire, threatens to crumble. Once the plot picked up, I couldn’t put it down! As this court begins to unravel, Kaner injects the themes of: freedom (and the cost of it), choice vs. obedience, faith and religion, and love. A Snake Among Swans is definitely worth the read, even if fantasy centered on court politics isn’t your thing! I highly recommend you pick up a copy.

Thank you to Net Galley and HarperVoyager for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.