Sofiya Pasternack
Mar 30, 20181 min
Updated: Aug 16, 2018
Title: The Serpent’s Secret
Author: Sayantani Dasgupta
Genre: Fantasy
Series: Kiranmala and the Kingdom Beyond #1
Blurb
MEET KIRANMALA:
INTERDIMENSIONAL DEMON SLAYER
(Only she doesn’t know it yet.)
On the morning of her twelfth birthday, Kiranmala is just a regular sixth grader living in Parsippany, New Jersey . . . until her parents mysteriously vanish and a drooling rakkhosh demon slams through her kitchen, determined to eat her alive. Turns out there might be some truth to her parents’ fantastical stories-like how Kiranmala is a real Indian princess and how she comes from a secret place not of this world.
To complicate matters, two crush-worthy princes ring her doorbell, insisting they’ve come to rescue her. Suddenly, Kiran is swept into another dimension full of magic, winged horses, moving maps, and annoying, talking birds. There she must solve riddles and battle demons all while avoiding the Serpent King of the underworld and the Rakkhoshi Queen in order to find her parents and basically save New Jersey, her entire world, and everything beyond it . . .
What I Liked
Kiran is a super cute character with attitude. The setup with her parents in New Jersey was great and foreshadowed just enough. And then when two princes with flying horses showed up? Fantastic. The princes were funny, complete opposites, and very endearing in different ways.
What I Would Have Liked to See
More of the final villain! He was great!
My Favorite
The rhyming demons!! So gross! So great!
TL;DR
Indian myth and folklore meets modern American middle schooler, and so much fun for middle grade readers!