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." Disillusioned by her own kind, the white snake longed to be human, and although her sister was satisfied with their way of life, the green snake "would try anything once." In the year 815, the green snake procured "lotus seeds... capable of bestowing human form and ageless immortality." After 800 years in self-cultivation, the sisters finally transitioned in 1615. The white snake named herself Bai Suzhen. The green snake eventually chose Emerald.
Fast forward to now. Wealthy Su lives in Singapore, and she's long realized that "conformity makes for excellent camouflage." Restless Emerald is currently living off sugar daddies in New York City. When an encounter with her latest makes news headlines--Central Park, NYPD, gunshots--Google Alerts pings Su's phone and she's on the next flight to JFK. As fraught as their sororal reunion is, Emerald nevertheless agrees to go back to Singapore with Su. The pair haven't lived together since 1868, and sharing the same space is not going to have a happy ending... although it might inspire much-needed new beginnings.
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 admits to having "had so much fun writing Sister Snake it might be criminal." Her readers will undoubtedly feel the same. --Terry Hong