Tender, honest, moving, and lyrical . Zentner is the real thing . - Benjamin Alire Sáenz, winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction and Printz Honor winner

An Indie Next List Selection

Zentner does an excellent job in creating empathetic characters , especially his protagonist Carver, a budding writer whose first-person account of his plight is artful evidence of his talent.- Booklist , Starred

Racial tensions, spoiled reputations, and broken homes all play roles in an often raw meditation on grief and the futility of entertaining what-ifs when faced with awful, irreversible events.- Publishers Weekly , Starred

[E]xquisite and tragic . - Shelf Awareness, Starred

[A] novel full of wisdom . - Kirkus

[The] kind of intelligent, intense, and life-affirming tale that will resonate with teens seeking depth and honesty. - SLJ

An organic, frequently raw narrative. - Horn Book

Tissues not optional. - The Bulletin

Praise for Jeff Zentner's The Serpent King

A New York Times Notable Book An Amazon Best Book of the Year A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year A BuzzFeed Best YA Book of the Year A William C. Morris Award Finalist An Indie Next List Top Ten Selection A Paste Magazine and popcrush.com Most Anticipated YA Book of the Year A Publishers Weekly Spring 2016 Flying Start

Move over, John Green ; Zentner is coming for you. -The New York Public Library

Will fill the infinite space that was left in your chest after you finished The Perks of Being a Wallflower . -BookRiot.com

A story about friendship, family and forgiveness, it's as funny and witty as it is utterly heartbreaking . -PasteMagazine.com

A brutally honest portrayal of teen life . . . [and] a love letter to the South from a man who really understands it. -Mashable.com

Zentner's great achievement - particularly impressive for a first novel - is to make us believe three such different people could be friends. He also manages to blend a dank, oppressive, Flannery O'Connor-esque sense of place with humor and optimism .... I adored all three of these characters and the way they talked to and loved one another . - New York Times Book Review