Tencendor is no more, destroyed along with the Star Gate, and StarMan Axis SunSoar has left this world for the afterlife. Not all of Tencendor is lost though, and Axis' father, StarDrifter, now wingless, lives on in Coroleas, embittered and withdrawn. But nothing is forever.

In the Outlands a girls family dies of the plague, and the villagers, frightened of the possibility of infection, barricade the house, trapping the young girl with her dead family. Going slowly insane, she wills herself dead, only to be saved by a stranger, but not until after the corpses have started whispering to her. The stranger is a priest of the Coil, a religion despised by many for its practising of the reading of entrails, cut from the belly of a human victim while still alive.

Isaiah, the Tyrant of Isembaard, needs a friend, and needs to keep his generals from ideas of mutiny. Isaiah pulls Axis from the afterlife, a feat designed to improve his image and at the same time begin a chain of events required to restore the Lord of Elcho Falling and avert disaster. Axis finds it hard to reconcile the thoughtful Isaiah and his desire to attack the northern regions, once home of many of Axis' subjects.

The girl, Ishbel, has become a woman, indeed, the archpriestess of the Coil, and now must face leaving the Serpent Nest and marry Maximilian, the king of a small country impoverished and vulnerable. She brings much with her, but will he find out about her secret past? Will Maximilian be able to overcome his seventeen years of imprisonment in the gloam mines to share with another human? Why is the Serpent god demanding this of Ishbel?

Behind all of this lays Darkglass Mountain, a forbidding structure that has risen out of the plain after its destruction, and carries within it an evil that is bent on destruction.

In this return to the world of Axis SunSoar a lot is happening, and there is mystery aplenty. Nearly every page leaves you wondering what will happen next, and how, or even if, the threads of this story will bind together. Sara Douglass deftly works her magic carrying the reader through despair, fear and hope on an emotional ride that leaves you wanting more.

THE SERPENT BRIDE is the first book of the Darkglass Mountain series, and it sets the stage for an impending battle between the forces that created life and those intent on destroying it. Unafraid of big themes, Sara Douglass has, I believe, reached a new pinnacle in her career. This is bold, big, and sweeping. The next book is already on my to be read list as soon as it hits the streets.

There seems to be a lot of fantasy being written these days, but I always find myself coming back to Sara Douglass time and again, and there is probably no better example of why than THE SERPENT BRIDE.

THE SERPENT BRIDE follows on from THE AXIS TRILOGY (Battle Axe, Enchanter and Star Man) and THE WAYFARER REDEMPTION (Sinner, Pilgrim and Crusader), however it is possible to read it as a standalone series. Enough of the back story is explained to provide context without getting in the way if you have read the previous series. All three series share the same world and many of the same characters but are distinct in their own right. Other series include THE CRUCIBLE (The Nameless Day, The Wounded Hawk and The Crippled Angel) and THE TROY GAME (Hades' Daughter, God's Concubine, Darkwitch Rising and Druid's Sword).