Sssssssay hello to the Year of the Snake

Inspired by the same Chinese folktale as Sister Snake, this adorable, heart-wrenching YA romance is the romantasy debut of Sher Lee, author of the beloved Fake Dates and Mooncakes. When Prince Xian was a boy, a white snake bit his mother, condemning her to a slow, painful death. The only antidote is from the rare white snake itself, and Xian is determined to find one. When his journey leads him to a beautiful, mysterious boy named Zhen, the two are instantly drawn to each other—but what will happen if Xian discovers that Zhen is the snake in human form?

Can't wait for Sunrise on the Reaping? We can't, either. Do as we do and prep by relistening to the earlier books in the series, including Suzanne Collins’s most recent hit, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. The twisty story of Lucy Gray, Coriolanus Snow, and the 10th annual Hunger Games has plenty of shiver-inducing snake action, from the snake Lucy drops down a rival’s dress to the nefarious machinations of Dr. Volumnia Gaul. Santino Fontana gives an appropriately devilish performance.

This beautiful speculative teen fantasy by acclaimed author Darcie Little Badger combines Indigenous folktales and a contemporary, tech-driven story in the most singular way. The story involves parallel worlds: In ours, Nina is a Lipan girl investigating a mysterious story told by her grandmother Rosita. In the reflecting world, Oli is a cottonmouth snake person, a shifter who travels to the human world with an ancient toad, two coyote sisters, and a hawk. Narrated by two acclaimed Native American performers, Kinsale Hueston and Shaun Taylor-Corbett, this magical coming-of-age story underlines the deep connection between humans and animals.

If you have little ones, you know Julia Donaldson is the biggest celebrity on this list—the Gruffalo author recently surpassed J. K. Rowling as Britain’s bestselling author by volume! Interestingly, her most famous creation was inspired by a Chinese folktale called “The Fox that Borrows the Terror of a Tiger.” For the Year of the Snake, though, we'd be remiss not to recommend The Snake Who Came to Stay, the utterly charming story of a girl who sets up a pets’ holiday home for the summer, only to find that chaos ensues. Read by none other than Olivia Colman, this is a short and sweet snake listen for the whole family.

Carissa Broadbent's hit romantasy series, Crowns of Nyaxia, kicks off with a fang. The Serpent and the Wings of Night follows Oraya, the adopted human daughter of the Nightborn vampire king Vincent. Her only chance of surviving this world is to enter the Kejari, a legendary tournament held by the goddess of death, where she is forced to make an uneasy alliance with the ruthless yet alluring vampire Raihn. “Little serpent” Oraya must shed her humanity to come into her power and win the tournament—just as a snake sheds its skin to grow. Amanda Leigh Cobb gives a seductive performance.

Once you notice how many snakes have slithered their way onto book covers, you can’t unsee them. Leigh Bardugo’s bestselling Ninth House is one of the most prominent examples, but snakes add more to the story than just aesthetics. The creature’s rich symbolism applies directly to main character Alex Stern, whose dark past and cunning, sometimes violent tendencies lead her to see herself as a snake. She’s at Yale courtesy of mysterious benefactors who instruct her to monitor the university’s secret societies, one of whom, Book and Snake, specializes in necromancy. Dark, occult, and oozing with juicy, complex characters, Ninth House features delicious dual narration by Lauren Fortgang and Michael David Axtell.

Kenneth Arant’s hit LitRPG series follows Albert, a loving father who’s lived a good life of few regrets. But when a meddling god digs into his afterlife, Albert is reincarnated as a snake, and he’ll have to survive the dangers of the legendary World Tree for the next 300 years. It’s a world full of magical evolutions, monstrous deer, sassy elves, and epic battles, all narrated to perfection by beloved authorrator Travis Baldree. Ophidiophobes needn’t worry, assures Audible listener Bella, who says, “I always passed this title up because I don’t like snakes. Then I sampled it and was hooked. I bought it, and three books down the line, I was loving and cheering on the snake guy!”

This action-packed creature horror from sci-fi author Michael Cole is one wild ride. Dr. Hugh Meyer believes he has created a miracle. From the DNA of ancient Arctic creatures, Dr. Meyer genetically engineers a remarkable new sea species with untold medical potential: serpentem vectem cel—the serpent eel. But when the beast escapes, making its way to coastal Spiral Bay as its body and appetite grow in leaps and bounds, all hell breaks loose. With gripping narration by Tom Beyer, this rip-roaring story puts listeners right in the belly of the beast.

Winner of the 1978 Hugo Award and the 1979 Nebula Award for Best Novel, Vonda McIntyre's Dreamsnake is a post-apocalyptic sci-fi classic. In a near-future Earth, the healer Snake travels the blasted landscape with her three serpents, whose venom provides powerful medicines. Mist and Sand are genetically modified vipers of terrestrial origin, but Grass, the powerful alien dreamsnake, comes from another world. When the dreamsnake is killed, Snake’s powers as a healer are all but lost. Her only hope of finding another lies in a treacherous journey to far-off Center City, where Snake faces dangers in the quest to help her people.

From inimitable classicist and comedian Natalie Haynes comes this epic author-narrated novel about the life of Medusa, longlisted for the 2023 Women’s Prize for Fiction. The only mortal in a family of gods, Medusa is the youngest of the Gorgon sisters, different from the beginning. But when the sea god Poseidon assaults Medusa in Athene’s temple, Athene punishes the young woman instead (oh, the time-honored injustice), turning her hair into writhing snakes and cursing her with a gaze that turns living creatures to stone. As Stone Blind examines the nature of monstrosity and why certain creatures get tagged as evil, you can’t help feeling snakes would appreciate this one as well.

While not entirely focused on snakes, Bill Bryson’s Down Under is too beloved not to include. This humorous love letter to Australia notes, “It has more things that will kill you than anywhere else. Of the world’s ten most poisonous snakes, all are Australian.” And while Bryson tends to exaggerate for comic effect, he also provides facts that could come in handy, such as the expert tip that “Most snakes don’t want to hurt you. If you’re out in the bush and a snake comes along, just stop dead and let it slide over your shoes.” While Bryson hilariously decides he could never follow this advice, it’s worth remembering that most snakes don’t want to harm people and will usually choose human avoidance. Stay safe out there, Bill!