*ARC kindly given by @netgalley for my honest opinion.*

"The Serpent" by Sarah Fine is a captivating fantasy novel that immerses readers in a world of magic and intrigue. Fine's richly developed characters and intricate plot make for an engaging and satisfying read. With its blend of romance, adventure, and political intrigue, "The Serpent" is a must-read for fans of epic fantasy seeking a thrilling escape into a vividly imagined realm.

Sarah Fine’s novel The Serpent is the first book in an urban fantasy trilogy loosely inspired by tarot cards.

Ernestine “Ernie” Terwilliger is living a pretty average life. Looking after her eccentric mother takes work, but Ernie can handle it – right up until things go from “eccentric” to downright strange. One moment Ernie is picking up an unusual looking deck of cards and the next, she’s being stalked and threatened by a secretive group of immortal beings. Ones her mom seems to know an awful lot about…

In many ways, The Serpent is an average urban fantasy novel. Some elements of the world building are fun and refreshing, but Fine struggled with the execution. The combination of magical card decks and their associated animal familiars felt random and thrown together. I imagine that Fine will pull back the curtain on how it all fits together in the sequel but since I’m not planning on reading it, I’ll never know. Conceptually, the magical card deck is cool but if that’s the main draw, it’s been done better (see Jenn Stark’s Getting Wilde).

I can forgive somewhat muddled world building, but what really holds The Serpent back is its uninteresting characters. Ernie, her allies, and her enemies – they were all painfully average. Ernie is likeable, down on her luck, and powered by sarcasm. Her love interest Gabe is alluring and mysterious, with a cute Irish accent. Ernie’s family is, predictably, keeping secrets from her that will ultimately put them all in danger. Sound familiar? It should, because these characters could slot seamlessly into half of all urban fantasy stories. I’m not too proud to admit that I love a good character archetype or tropes – when they’re done well.

Unfortunately, The Serpent missed the mark for me.

Not typically a fan of 'tarot card' urban fantasy, but I LIKED the twist of she's using "new" cards, each having their own ..... powers? ANyway, I enjoyed this, thank you!

Sarah Fine is an author I've returned to a few times. I always seem to get sucked into her books and fall for her characters. She writes these stories whichare so original and they are written so well.

This time around she once more writes an original sorry around immortal dealers. They are people who hold a special deck of cards they weird to perform magic. It sounds weird and it is but oh so good. I definitely found I wanted to know more of the magic as I definitely found myself confused by the magic system in this but I always find that with Fine's books develop and explain the story as the series goes on so I look forward to that.

I admit Ernie didn't seem like a character I would like at first. She's sporty and driven (in some ways) and her biggest thing is dealing with her mother who needs mothering. I quickly learnt Ernie has the typical humour I come to expect from Fine heroines and quickly grew to like her. She was fun and made me smile.

I enjoyed the rest of the characters in this book too. I did wish there was more development to the two girls who were Ernie's best friends as they were at the start and then gone. I get why it happened but I do wish they'd had a greater role than flyby appearances. I liked all the different dealers in the book. They were morally ambiguous but they were interesting. Obviously my favourite dealer was Gabe who introduced Ernie to the dealer world and he was utterly charming. I can definitely see there being more of a past to him and I want to explore it further.

This was such a well written book. I powered through it in a day and I couldn't get enough.

The Serpent is the first volume in a new and unusual urban fantasy series. I have read plenty of stories in which Tarot cards played an important role, but not one in which the author created an entirely *new* set of cards with completely different powers. Kudos to Fine for coming up with something new.

Overall, I enjoyed The Serpent. Ernie and Gabe are great characters, and they have a hard road ahead for their happily ever after. The other Dealers were another matter: they were frightened, greedy, and self-interested -- even the few allies that Ernie and Gabe managed to attract. I *really* hope that Ernie is the key to completely reworking Dealer society.

My only complaint is that Fine often has to interrupt the action or dialogue to describe what a card looks like. It would have made more sense to include one or two small graphics at the beginning of the book with images of all the cards.

Recommended to urban fantasy fans, especially fans of Ilona Andrews, Annie Bellet, Rebecca Chastain, and Devon Monk.

Despite a beginning that was both a little slow and a little hard to get into, THE SERPENT was actually a pretty fresh and fun new urban fantasy/paranormal series opener. With a sorta-Tarot based magic system and pseudo animal familiars, Fine's new series is complex and interesting yes overwhelming.. but only long enough for our heroine to adjust to the same situations, and information, the reader is. The action is great, the cast of characters diverse and full of potential for future hijinks <b>and</b> conflict, and there's a romance brewing I quite like. Though I imagine we'll get strung along for a ride with a few obstacles to overcome. As one does.

"<I>I've never been in a duel where my opponent's first play was to throw a giant dildo at me.</I>"
"<b>We're all having a night of firsts, I guess.</b>"

This opener doesn't quite earn itself a four star rating though because of aforementioned beginning and the constant repetition and reference back to Ernie's Spartan training and ability to persevere, to utilize teamwork, was just way way overdone. I didn't need an every page reminder that she was part of this extracurricular group of badasses and could otherwise handle herself 'if not for extenuating magical circumstances'. She's not my favourite heroine but she has potential and the fun world building and magic system make up for a lot. Plus did I mention the romance..

Definitely glad I have book two to dive into. I want more.

When Ernie and her friends spend a night at the pub celebrating, she never could have imagined that her life was about to change. A chance encounter with a stranger and Ernie is thrust into the world of the Immortal Dealers - beings of power who use strange tarot-like cards to cast spells and influence the world. Suddenly they are turning up everywhere, demanding the return of stolen property and threatening her mother. When Ernie steals some cards from a dealer during an attack, she finds herself on the casting end of the Dealers and must contend with a terrible price - if she can't master the deck and reunite the cards, her life will be forfeit. Ernie has never been one to give up, but she'll first need to unravel the mystery of the decks, her absentee father and the Dealer Gabe, if she is to survive.

The premise and execution of this book was great. The magic system was interesting too. My only complaint was the heroine's name - I find it difficult to take a girl named Ernie seriously as each time I came across her name I kept picturing a muppet.

Promising start

Interesting start to a promising series. Liked the premise and looking forward to the characters growth

Would a flying dildo distract you?

This is the first in a series about a young woman who finds that she has the power to wield magic cards and joins in a fight to save her mother. In subsequent books we can assume she will try to find her father.

This is a young adult sort of book with tight abs, itchy yearnings but no fulfillment. A dildo does appear as a distraction in a fight, however.

Not good, not bad, this will be a satisfying book for younger readers or people new to fantasy.

I really wanted to love this book - and some aspects I did- because I need more series with magical cards like the Immortal Vegas series or the Arcana Chronicles. So when I saw this on Netgalley, naturally I leapt at the chance like Hugh Jackman in his wolverine movies.

So, you know, I was so freaking excited when I received it. At this point I had zero idea of who Sarah Fine was, so really didn’t know what to expect but I went in with full force.

Now, let’s get the elephant out of the way first. The first 18% of the book was pure torture for me. I hated the main character with a passion. She was supposed to be this caring, benevolent girl. Yeah, she took care of her mother, but that’s about it. She was such a narcissistic character in the beginning, literally on every page she was mad and jealous of her best friend. It took me forever to get past this part, I put the book down like five times before reaching somewhere around 20%. That’s when the good stuff starts.

Throughout the book I had a like/hate relationship with Ernie. She had good moments, funny comments, but she also had WTF-ARE-YOU-ON-ABOUT moments. She was definitely one of the weak links of the book, but I see the development in her character. I liked her learning process of card dealing and her weird but interesting combat style. She wasn’t a mary sue like OP character, she’s definitely a bit of a natural who has to learn a LOT before being a good Immortal Dealer, but she is decent.

So after the initial bad start, we slowly get to learn more about what the fudge is going on in this world, who are these so called Immortal Dealers and how they operate, what’s their purpose, etc. This, ladies and gentlemen, this world right here…. I ABSOLUTELY LOVED THIS. It was soooo creative and fresh. FUCKING FINALLY, something new. Yes, a few times it contradicts itself (either that or we see just one side of the story, I don’t know how deep this is going to go) but i really enjoyed it.

I aéready talked about Ernie, but there were several other characters, besides her two major players and some minor. The other two major ones were Gabe, the ally-friend-lover-maybetraitorwhoknows (you will know by the end, but I’m not telling!). He was an alright character with flashed out backstory, good motive, reasonable, but didn’t really do anything for me yet. The other one, the villain, Duncan was truly a son of a whore. Again, great backstory, questionable judgement, but too.. formulatic? He wants power, duh.
I liked the allies of both sides, they were fantastic supporting characters with interesting stories and unique characteristics.

I don’t know if the author likes to play video games, mainly RPGs or strategy card games or some board games but sheesh, the card dealing system, the rules of the decks, the various types of card (offence, defense, augment, etc) and the card battles were SPOT ON. I felt like I’m fucking Gambit or Twisted Fate. I don’t know why *I* felt like that considering i didn’t do anything except reading, but i was beyond hyped!

The overall story was good, nothing exceptional but a good start for a series. I don’t see a big picture, yet. I have some theory but i don’t think it’s going to be such a grandiose series with big twists and mysteries like the best UF series out there, but still it could be entertaining and frankly, that’s enough for me right now.

Sarah Fine has definitely enough imagination and great writing style for a fantastic Urban Fantasy series, however she needs to learn to write compelling characters and a little bit more layered stories. I will be keeping up with this one because everything I loved about it but I hope she can improve on the character development and storytelling.

Ebook/ARC/Fantasy: I got this book from NetGalley in lieu of an honest review. When I saw all the four and five star reviews, I thought I'd try it. I struggled through this book. I was disjointed and didn't seem to know what it wanted to do. Plot points can out of nowhere and I thought maybe it was foreshadowing another aspect of the book. The book was basically a bad game of Pokemon or Magic. The whole setup of the book at the beginning didn't peak my interest, and again, I struggled through stupid fight scenes where no non-magical people (muggles) ever passed by. The continuity of the book was disjointed with fight scenes going on for pages. I hated the people around Ernie. She was okay when she wasn't making stupid decisions.

The Serpent is a highly unique and interesting read. I enjoyed the plot a lot. This book had a highly convoluted plot that seems to get more twisted up with every chapter. The story is loaded with action that will keep you wanting to read.

The characters weren't as fleshed out as I would have liked, but they were still quite interesting. I am looking forward to the second book!

It tool me a while to get round to reading this as the title didn't represent the story. However now that I have started I really liked it and the characters are well rounded with a string female lead. The plot is original concept and plenty of twists to keep you interested. Looking forward to book 2

Ernestine Philomena Dixon Terwilliger or Ernie for short is just trying to live her life. Taking care of her hapless mother since her father left them years ago, is the excuse she gives for why she's never left her hometown. Her quiet life is suddenly uprooted when two men show up at her mothers antique store asking about an item they both insists she has. A diamondback rattlesnake, a deck of cards, and a psychotic man are just the beginning of the crazy Ernie will face to save those she loves.

I was torn between three and four stars for this book. I ultimately settled on four, although I often felt like I couldn't finish the book. It was lines like "Quit acting like you're Socrates in a ponytail and just give me the answers, would you?" that kept me reading. She was gifted with amazing abilities via the cards she had, but she often acted like she didn't know which way was up. She kept doing or saying stupid things that made me doubt she was capable of the power she now wielded.

I enjoyed Gabe and Minh but some of the other side characters felt like they didn't really have a place or purpose other than the fact that they were needed to balance the characters on the other side.

This book had great potential to be an amazing story. I've never read a book with magical cards before and even though I felt a bit like I was reading D&D fan fiction, I enjoyed the idea. I'm always excited to find something I've never read before, however, I feel like I've read this main character too many times. She doesn't know what hides behind the real world and she's thrust in the middle of a secret battle between two factions (good vs evil). She fumbles through, thinking she knows best and making a mess out of the situation, until she miraculously saves the world. Perhaps I just prefer to my heroines to be strong and capable from the beginning, even if she makes mistakes she saves herself in the end. But she doesn't need the hero, she just likes having him around. I have hope that the second book follows that idea and runs with it.

In the end I enjoyed it enough to give it four stars, even if it felt more like a three at times. It was an interesting plot and the characters have potential to be great. Magic cards, spirit animals, and a mystery to solve, I'll be sure to give the second book a chance.


Thank you to Netgalley for a copy of this book. The opinions in this review are my own.

I’ve read a few different Sarah Fine books, they are fun and I always like the romance. I mean, I liked Sarah Fine back when I was reading the Guards of the Shadowlands books and I have liked the stuff she’s come out with lately (and I know there are two series of hers I’ve still not finished!) so I was excited for The Serpent coming out.

I was completely right to be excited. This first book in The Immortal Dealers books was amazing. Her books aren’t ground-breaking but they almost always suck me in and keep me happy reading. I don’t know why I don’t talk about Sarah Fine’s books more because I love them. I may just have to start reading them all again because I know I need to finish the Reliquary books and I’ve only read one Servants of Fate books and that’s a shame.

This time around it’s a duology (I think) whilst she usually has trilogies, but that just means more fun in fewer books, I’m cool with that because I’m more likely to finish them then. The Immortal Dealer books are original, I don’t think I’ve seen a magic system revolving around cards since Cardcaptor, and I don’t even remember what that was about! It was unique and very well thought out, it was impressive, really. It’s often difficult to create a unique and interesting magic system so I definitely appreciated that in this. I do wish there was further explanation to the magic system, though, but considering Ernie is learning about the cards right along with us it makes sense why there wasn’t further explanation to it all. Fingers crossed the next book explains further, especially as there was going to be an interesting development between Ernie and the sexy mystery stranger, Gabe, who helps her out. I am down for that.

That’s the other part which worked for me was the characters. I was a little wary going in, Ernie didn't seem like a character I would like at first. She's sporty and driven (in some ways) and her biggest thing is dealing with her mother who needs mothering. I quickly learnt Ernie has the typical humour I come to expect from Fine heroines and quickly grew to like her. She was fun and made me smile. She was funny, with a dry sense of humour and I just liked her. I admit, her sportiness and practicality made me wary at first, but we soon got past that. And there is Gabe, the guide to the Immortal Dealers for Ernie, he was a real charmer. I admit Sarah Fine’s books can seem a little formulaic if I broke it down to the bare bones, but I don’t even care. Gabe is the old hand at all things and the bad boy with the backstory and I loved it. I adored him and his Irish accent and his cute little things to make sure Ernie’s ok without revealing too much. The two of them were adorable together and I’ll have no one bad mouth them.

I really enjoyed this book, a one-day binge read is always a good sign for a book and that’s exactly what I did. I will be buying myself my own copy soon enough and I predict some rereading of Sarah Fine because I like her books and I can’t believe I forgot that fact!

I like the fact that Ernie doesn’t become a magical expert overnight as it seems to happen in A LOT of other books where people find themselves having abilities. Also that she learns the rules as she goes. All the characters are interesting as well, along with the world building and plot, which kept my interest.

Let’s not forget the Spartan race training is the reason she is so athletic. Didn’t even know that was a thing but I like that she isn’t just randomly athletically inclined. Got left with a lot of questions that I hope get addressed in the next book, which I fully intend to read!

* I voluntarily reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book from Netgalley. I was not compensated for my review, and I was not required to write a positive review. The opinion expressed here is my own.*

~~Reviewed by Danae~~

Mrs. Fine, I love your book, I can’t wait to read more from this series. It was a wonderful experience reading this book and it was one that I am loving as I re-read this book over and over. I have one thing that I will say that was a bit off-putting, the amount of explanation that had to be done before actually getting into the more exciting things in the book. Having your fans help name the characters in the book is a great thing. It is something that I have seen increasingly more authors that I love to read do on their pages. I believe that is a fun way to get your fans involved.

Ernestine, “Ernie” as her friends call her has been through a lot of misfortune in her life and it seems that she is going to be stuck in her hometown of Ashville, North Carolina taking care of her mother since her father is not in the picture. She sees her friends going off to the other side of the country. At the farewell for her friend, there are things that come into play helping “Ernie” become the woman that she is towards the end of the book. Can “Ernie” make the plays that she needs to play to stay alive? Or, are the nay-sayers right and she will be dead when all is said and done?

Gabriel is someone who knows what Ernie’s mom is hiding but can he convince her to give them to him so that he can keep them safe? Will the ones that are looking to do nothing, but cause harm and chaos beat him to the hidden objects he seeks? He has lived a long time and has been through a great deal but when he meets “Ernie” something about how much she is willing to endure to get her mother back to her has him sticking around to see if she is the real deal.

Sarah Fine is back y’all!!! The Serpent, her new novel and first in The Immortal Dealers series, reminded me of all the reasons I fell in love with Fine’s writing in the first place. It’s got angst, fully fleshed and believable characters, a plot that only continues to thicken as you read, and an explosive ending. Seriously if you are a fan of urban fantasy, I highly recommend you grab a copy of this book ASAP!

Now that my fangirling is over 😉 on to the review!

Ernestine, the Broken Heroine
Ernestine “Ernie” Terwilliger is your average woman, working a dead end job she happens to enjoy and putting her life on hold because of her aging mother. There is SO much more to Ernie than that simple explanation. At the start of the story, Ernie’s roommate and best friend is leaving, having taken a job across the country. One thing you should know about her is that she has a complex about people leaving. Her father left when she was young and never returned. It makes getting close to people for her hard. So with Julie leaving, Ernie is contemplating leaving too, but she worries about her mother.

The day after Julie’s going away party, Ernie goes to check on her mother and the man she met the night before is there with her frazzled mother. Basically this starts Ernie’s journey down the rabbit hole so to speak. I can’t talk about Ernie without mentioning how she handles the reveal of the paranormal world that surrounds her. She doesn’t even bat an eye. Sure she wants to curl in a ball and give up a few times, but she doesn’t! In fact she embraces it which I have to give her credit for. I’d have been on the floor.

The Immortal Dealers
So this is the part of the review that I’m probably going to do a terrible job on. Why? Two reasons: I don’t want to spoil anything AND there’s just no way I’m going to do it justice. The Immortal Dealers, the series namesake, is the main plot and main focus of this book. Ernie is accidentally dragged into this paranormal world that resembles a cross between a pokeman game and tarot cards. No joke!

Here’s the premise. Each dealer was given a deck of cards, ruled by a spirit animal, by a mysterious figure known as the Forger. The cards give the dealer specific powers/tools/advantages. They can deceive, manipulate, create mirages, conjure cars or money….you get the picture. AND the sprit animals live as a tattoo on their arms and can come forth and fight with them. I seriously loved diving head first into this world with Ernie. Sarah Fine did a fantastic job of setting up this world!

Ok so Ernie gets her hands on a partial deck, in particular the Diamondback deck. Duncan who is the dealer of that deck is ruthless and will do whatever it takes to make his deck whole again. Unfortunately for Ernie there’s no going back. She either has to make the deck whole and become a dealer herself OR die. That just isn’t an option for our heroine so fight it is.

The Kestrel (and those other dealers)
The Kestrel, also known as Gabe, is the man that Ernie met in the bar and also happens to be after Duncan. Because their needs align, they team up. I love Gabe! He reminds me of Malachi from Guards of the Shadowlands so not only did I fall for him immediately, I totally ship him with Ernie. He’s a steady presence for her. He keeps a level head, and watching (well, erhm…reading) how he fights, well I can see why the other dealers defer to and trust in him.

I loved meeting the other dealers/minor characters in the book as well. My favorite was Minh, the Pot-Bellied Pig. No joke! His spirit animal was a giant pig 😆

In Conclusion
The Serpent was everything I’ve come to expect from Sarah Fine and more! I’ll admit I was hesitant. I didn’t enjoy (and even DNFed) Mosaic which has a similar urban fantasy feel to it. However I was pleasantly surprised and blown away by the first The Immortal Dealers and I cannot wait for October and The Guardian. I NEED more Ernie and Legs!! If you enjoy urban fantasy, don’t hesitate. Get a copy ASAP. It doesn’t disappoint!

For me, this book kind of gave Urban Fantasy a kick start. It took a deck of tarot cards and created a world around them. It was so well developed you could feel the whole thing coming together. Ernie really has to grow up and trust Gabe in order to save not only herself and her family but also the world. I look forward to the next book in this new and exciting series.

I received a copy of The Serpent (The Immortal Dealers, Book 1) by Sarah Fine from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Being a fiction/fantasy fan, I was intrigued by the summary of The Serpent and potential for world building it promised initially and am happy to report that the author, Sarah Fine, did not disappoint. I found her novel to be a fun, engrossing read overall. The plot was fresh and different than most of what you can find today (always good thing). Plus, I had never heard of the author and had no preconceived notions or expectations prior to receiving from NetGalley, so I was pleasantly surprised to be hooked so swiftly.

I liked the pacing and really liked the protagonist, Ernie Terwilliger, as well as the secondary characters and her interactions with them. Regarding pacing: the story moved along and was not bogged down by tons of (unnecessary) flowery descriptions. The story had some really likeable characters - but even the not-so-likeable characters were well written, as well as an interesting plot that kept me reading.

The plot takes a partial deck of cards and pulls Ernie Terwilliger into the battle for her life with the Immortal Dealers (think a big, bad group of supernatural card sharks). Ernie has to learn the rules fast and think + react quickly to save herself and her loved ones.

All in all, I would definitely recommend this book to others. As for me, I'll be searching for more novels by Sarah Fine and hopefully will be engrossed in her other works soon!