In the Serpent's Wake
core novel 2022 Seraphina
Record
| First published | 2022 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 3.94 (1,765 ratings, collected 2026-08-19) |
| Page count | 503 |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780593487204 |
| Internal chronology | 5 |
Synopsis
In the Serpent's Wake finds Tess joining a scientific expedition sailing beyond a chain of southern islands to help her quigutl companion Pathka reach the legendary World Serpent he has spent the earlier book pursuing. The voyage brings Tess and her fellow travelers into contact with the effects of colonial aggression on the indigenous peoples of the islands they pass, complicating what begins as primarily a natural-history expedition with the moral weight of the empire that funds it. Related through multiple characters' perspectives rather than Tess's alone, the novel follows the expedition's progress toward the Serpent even as its members are forced to reckon with the human cost of the voyage's colonial backing.
Where it sits
- Universe: Seraphina
- Series: Seraphina core; position 5 of 5 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Rachel Hartman
Notes
- From the series record (Seraphina): Internal chronology (per the books' own settings, not publication order): Among Ghosts (2025) is set roughly a century before Seraphina (2012) in the same world of dragons-in-human-form and human/dragon diplomacy; Shadow Scale (2015) directly continues Seraphina; Tess of the Road (2018) and its own sequel In the Serpent's Wake (2022) are same-world companion novels following a different protagonist. Publication order differs from this internal order; both are recorded, following this project's standing convention for a settled, author-established chronology divergence.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings and are never conflated: a book's place in one says nothing about its place in the other.
- Publication order, within the series Seraphina: position 4 of 5: previous Tess of the Road (2018) · next Among Ghosts (2025)
- Internal chronology, within Seraphina: position 5 of 5: previous Tess of the Road (2018)
Sources
- Wikipedia: Rachel Hartman
- Wikipedia: Seraphina (novel)
- Wikipedia: Shadow Scale
- Wikipedia: Tess of the Road
- Wikipedia: Among Ghosts
- Rating-platform listing: In the Serpent's Wake
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Serpent%27s_Wake
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