The Serpent's Shadow
core novel 2001 The Elemental Masters
Record
| First published | 2001 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 4.04 (11,522 ratings, collected 2026-09-12) |
| Page count | 394 |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780756400613 |
| Internal chronology | 2 |
Synopsis
A reimagining of Snow White, The Serpent's Shadow follows Maya Witherspoon, a half-Indian, half-British physician trained in both Western medicine and her mother's magical traditions. After her parents are killed under mysterious circumstances in India, Maya flees to Edwardian London to start a medical practice among the city's poor, only to find herself hunted by the same dark magical force responsible for her parents' deaths. Isolated and without allies familiar with English magic, she must master unfamiliar Elemental traditions and find trustworthy practitioners willing to help her survive assassination attempts by a rival sorceress determined to finish what she started in India, while Maya tries to maintain her medical work and independence in a society wary of a woman in her position.
Where it sits
- Universe: The Elemental Masters
- Series: The Elemental Masters core; position 2 of 21 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Mercedes Lackey
Notes
- From the series record (The Elemental Masters): Loosely connected fairy-tale retellings unified by a shared elemental-magic system rather than a continuous cast.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings, but they resolve to the exact same sequence for this book, so one combined line is shown instead of two identical ones.
- Reading order, within the series The Elemental Masters: position 2 of 21: previous The Fire Rose (1995) · next The Gates of Sleep (2002)
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercedes_Lackey
- https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/290832/the-serpents-shadow-by-mercedes-lackey/
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