Snake-Eater by T. Kingfisher – Review

Published: December 1, 2025

Publisher: 47North

Series: N/A

Genre: Fantasy, Horror

Pages: 267 (Kindle)

My Rating: 4 Stars

Synopsis:
From New York Times bestselling and Hugo Award–winning author T. Kingfisher comes an enthralling contemporary fantasy seeped in horror about a woman trying to escape her past by moving to the remote US desert—only to find herself beholden to the wrath of a vengeful god.

With only a few dollars to her name and her beloved dog Copper by her side, Selena flees her past in the city to claim her late aunt’s house in the desert town of Quartz Creek. The scorpions and spiders are better than what she left behind.

Because in Quartz Creek, there’s a strange beauty to everything, from the landscape to new friends, and more blue sky than Selena’s ever seen. But something lurks beneath the surface. Like the desert gods and spirits lingering outside Selena’s house at night, keeping watch. Mostly benevolent, says her neighbor Grandma Billy. That doesn’t ease the prickly sense that one of them watches too closely and wants something from Selena she can’t begin to imagine. And when Selena’s search for answers leads her to journal entries that her aunt left behind, she discovers a sinister truth about her new home: It’s the haunting grounds of an ancient god known simply as “Snake-Eater,” who her late aunt made a promise to that remains unfulfilled.

Snake-Eater has taken a liking to Selena, an obsession of sorts that turns sinister. And now that Selena is the new owner of his home, he’s hell-bent on collecting everything he’s owed.

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I always love picking up a new T. Kingfisher book and this one was so delightfully weird! Snake-Eater is what I would describe as cozy horror-lite. There are some strange supernatural elements that intrigued my fantasy loving self and it was just unsettling enough that I think horror is an appropriate label, though horror-lite. It’s also cozy in my opinion thanks to the wonderful community in which it’s set, the new friendships, and of course, Copper the dog. 

Snake-Eater follows Selena, a woman who has just left her abusive ex and fled to the tiny Arizona town of Quartz Creek, where she hopes to stay with her aunt for a while. Unfortunately, her aunt passed away within the last year, but the mayor offers to let Selena stay in her aunt’s house until she can figure out what she’d like to do next. Quartz Creek is a dying town, so there’s an abundance of empty buildings and new blood is always welcome. Though Selena hates to feel like she’s a burden and isn’t pulling her weight, she stays. And continues to stay even though she insists it won’t be forever. 

The horror comes in when Selena finds that there are local gods, or native spirits that tend to show themselves. Many are beneficial, like the little squash god that appears through a thin spot in the garden to tend the plants. Some are not so friendly, like Snake-Eater, who embodies a roadrunner and not the Wile E. Coyote kind of roadrunner either. Real roadrunners are nasty pieces of work and Snake-Eater has ties to Selena’s aunt that may carry over to her simply by her staying in the same house. 

Snake-Eater was a strange story that I couldn’t put down. I love the use of the small local deities. I love the shotgun-wielding Grandma Billy who loves to flirt with the handsome tourists that come to town. I love Father Aguirre, who is a remarkably practical priest and recognizes the local spirits thanks to his own life experience and freely hands out a stiff drink in trying times. Even the setting was a nice change of pace from what I’ve been reading lately. The desert southwest has its own brand of magic and this book definitely gave me the travel itch once again! 

Snake-Eater was another solid read from T. Kingfisher, and I would definitely recommend it if you’re a fan of her other horror works. This might be a nice book to check out if you like her fantasy works, but would like to dip your toe in the waters of the horror genre because, like I said, it’s not particularly scary.