ABALONE AND THE SNAKE GODDESS, Chinese-inflected fantasy novel with promise

ABALONE AND THE SNAKE GODDESS
CHRISTINE LI
Inanna Media (non-affiliate Amazon link)
$5.99 ebook edition, available now

Rating: 3.75* of five

The Publisher Says: Once a promising magician, Abalone has lost everything: her love, her voice, and her soul. For thirteen years, she hides behind the high walls of Jiankang, the imperial capital of ancient China, consumed by grief and silence. But one fateful new moon night, she crafts a forbidden love spell and calls upon the fiery magic of the dark Snake Goddess.

This powerful goddess, however, has plans of her own. Guided by ancient forces, Abalone must leave her sanctuary and journey into the wild swamps and treacherous mountains beyond the city. There, among the last rebellious heirs of shamanic tribes, she begins her true path: to reclaim her soul and fulfill her destiny.

When a young girl is stolen by ruthless hands, Abalone must decide whether to risk everything—again—and confront the shadows of a forgotten past.

Abalone and the Snake Goddess is a poetic and haunting tale of love, magic, and the dark, transformative journey of the soul. Perfect for readers of mythical fantasy, Chinese folklore, and stories of resilient heroines.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.

My Review: It's the Year of the Snake, and Satan only knows it's a very China-heavy news cycle with the AI-development wars going on. I'm always down for a history- and mythology-inflected story. Make all these things come together and voilà! The perfect time to review this book has arrived.

The first half of the story is about Abalone, our PoV, and her severely circumscribed world. The worldbuilding here is...patchy...it's not particularly cohesive as we come to know the people who hate Abalone, how the husband she loves loves her not, and how the resolution of that truly devastating problem comes to Abalone's attention. There are exactly no "why"s in this story.

That's when the conflicts kick off, the goddess who has the power to help her reveals the cost of asking for divine intervention, and what the stakes for the world are going to be no matter what she does.

Frankly this feels as though I'm reading part two of far longer story and I really need part one to get me to invest emotional energy into this character's worldview. The cultural stuff is very interesting, the ideas around divinity are fun to think through as events transpire, the atmospherics of the setting worked very well for me. If there's a part one, I'll gladly read it.

I think Abalone, as presented here, is not enough of a character to make me warble my fool lungs out about the read. It's okay, and has moments of genuine excitement; but it lacks that most helpful of things, a solidly investable main character, needed for me to shove it at you demanding you read it now.

Pity...it almost got all four stars.