Book #2: Serpentine, by Cindy Pon

Somehow this is my first Cindy Pon book, which in hindsight seems like a mistake. Probably this happened because we didn't carry her books on the shelves at Chapters.

ANYWAY, Serpentine is several of my favourite things all in the same story. The main character, Skybright, is an orphan who is in service as a handmaid to Zhen Ni, a well-born girl. Though Zhen-Ni is entitled and a bit spoiled and occasionally thoughtless, she genuinely loves and cares about Skybright, as both girls deal with the problems inherent in becoming adults in their society.

Skybright's problems are not limited to the usual, though, as she manifests as a skin-changer, a demon in snake-girl form, while all around her the barrier between the living world and the dead one gets thinner and thinner.

There's lots to love about this, is what I'm getting at.