A very inventive urban fantasy

Charlaine Harris mainly writes books which we classify as urban fantasy – her Sookie Stackhouse vampire novels are the best known of these and they are very well done. Recently she started a series of novels which I find more difficult to classify and The Serpent in Heaven is the fourth of these – I have read and enjoyed the other three.

These books are set in an alternate United States of America which is not in any way united. They take place in what would be the early part of the twentieth century. The USA has been split into a series of self-governing territories. The early books in the series had as their main character Lizbeth Rose who is a “gunnie” in the wild territory which now exists in the Southern half of the USA (mainly Texas). A “gunnie” is a security guard/bodyguard/cowboy who is hired by people for protection in an area which is essentially lawless. But in this new world magic users also exist and they are regarded with deep suspicion. In addition, one of the other territories is made up of, and ruled by, exiles from Russia who have brought with them the son of the dead tsar together with his haemophilia for which the only cure is a transfusion of blood from a descendent to Rasputin. This all sounds very complicated and more than a little mad but it makes sense when you read the books and it is all very inventive.

In this instalment the attention shifts to Lizbeth’s half-sister Felicia who is at boarding school in San Diego which is the heart of the Russian territory. She is highly regarded because she has Rasputin’s blood and is able to help to heal him but this also makes her a target for those wishing to overthrow the tsar and she is kidnapped and threatened in this story. To further complicate matters she has discovered that she has the ability to do magic and her mother’s family, who are Mexican, appear to want to contact her.

This is actually a great story of a young woman coming of age and beginning to learn her place in life and her own talents. I suspect that it would be totally incomprehensible to anyone who hasn’t read the books in order so I would encourage any lover of urban fantasy to do so. This is a highly inventive and original series but the author keeps the attention firmly on the characters which helps the reader to engage. She writes strong heroines who try to do their best in often difficult circumstances and with limited options. I am very much enjoying reading about Lizbeth and Felicia and I am looking forward to finding out what happens to them next and how the author resolves the situations that arise in this book.