Book Review | Legend of the White Snake by Sher Lee

Today’s review is for Legend of the White Snake by Sher Lee, firmly a second favourite book from a favourite author!

Sher’s debut was last year with Fake Dates and Mooncakes, a book that firmly embedded itself into my heart and meant more to me than I can even say on here.

FDAM was a contemporary YA story, and Legend of the White Snake is Sher’s romantasy debut. Some of my favourite elements of FDAM carry across into Legend of the White Snake, including writing that pulls you in to the world and found family (big yay!) but read on for my full review!

About the Book

Title: Legend of the White Snake
Author: Sher Lee
Publisher: First Ink
Release Date: October 17th 2024
Pages: 352
Source: e-arc provided by the author/publisher (this in no way affects my review which is honest and unbiased)
Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Synopsis

A snake spirit transforms into a boy and must hide his true identity after falling for a headstrong prince in this lush, romantasy retelling of the traditional Chinese folktale, Legend of the White Snake, by Sher Lee. Gorgeous cover design by Kuri Huang.

When Prince Xian was a boy, a white snake bit his mother and condemned her to a slow, painful death. The only known cure is an antidote created from the rare white snake itself. Desperate and determined, Xian is determined to capture one and cure his mother.

Soon, Xian encounters an enigmatic but beautiful stable boy named Zhen, and the two are immediately drawn to each other. But Zhen might just be the human embodiment of the white snake Xian is hunting, and as their feelings grow deeper, will the truth about Zhen’s identity tear them apart?

Review

Legend of the White Snake starts with one of our main characters, Xian, on a quest to find a white snake, in an attempt to cure his mother. Said character is the son of the king and his most-beloved courtesan, and he once held the key to saving his mother literally in the palm of his hand, until a certain white snake came along and… did what snakes typically will do, by swallowing it.

Fast forward a few years and the aforementioned white snake is a spirit, mostly walking around on two feet as a [very handsome] human boy, called Zhen. He’s actually so beautiful that he manages to catch the eye of our prince, whilst Prince Xian is on his mission to capture the white snake that took the pearl, as a way of finding a different cure for his mother.

As Xian has no idea about Zhen’s true identity, he chooses Zhen for an important role while he’s away from home, which leads to some tension but many more adorable moments as their relationship blossoms. The only unfortunate thing is that Zhen realises fairly quickly that the boy he’s beginning to care for is the same person he stole from the pearl from.

In addition to our main two characters, we have a supporting cast that is mostly exceptionally endearing also! The biggest stand out for me was Qing, Zhen’s “sister” who is a fellow snake spirit he’s saved. She’s headstrong and her sisterly love for Zhen is plain for anyone to see, so it was a treat whenever they interacted! Second shout out goes to Xian’s bodyguard, and I’d love to see more of each of their stories in the future somehow!

But, as for our adorable Xian and Zhen, their story was beautiful. Heart-wrenching at times, and I absolutely cried a lot towards the latter end of the book! Overall though I just really enjoyed this again and I’d recommend it for anyone who enjoys fantasy stories based off legends, myths and/or fairytales!