Amanda Lee Koe's sophomore novel, Sister Snake, is a deliciously provocative examination of female agency, with startling, serpentine bite. Once upon a time in Hangzhou, China, a white krait and a green viper became "sworn sisters" after the latter nursed the former back to health from "unspeakable violence." After 800 years in self-cultivation, the sisters finally transitioned into human form in 1615. The white snake named herself Bai (for white) Suzhen (because it sounded like an honorable scholar poet's virtuous wife). The green snake eventually chose Emerald. Now, wealthy Su lives in Singapore while restless Emerald is currently living off sugar daddies in New York City. When an encounter with her latest makes news headlines, Google Alerts pings Su's phone and she's on the next flight to JFK.
Koe (Delayed Rays of a Star) is a fabulously subversive, snarkily insightful writer with an extraordinarily keen eye for contemporary human observations. In her acknowledgements, Koe cites China's ancient folktale "Legend of the White Snake" and the 1993 film Green Snake as setting her "imagination on fire." She also admits to having "had so much fun writing Sister Snake it might be criminal." Her readers will undoubtedly feel the same.