Seraphina

The oldest of my three younger sisters loves books as much as I do, but doesn't have nearly as much time to read (b/c reasons). Fortunately, I know her well enough to keep recs to what I know she'll love, so she can make the best use of the time she does have, not begrudging me my surplus of time---b/c otherwise, who would weed out the mediocre books?The most recent book I knew she'd love is this one, but I was rereading it before Shadow Scale is released next month, and I couldn't remember if she'd already read it (b/c my memory is crap), so the day after I finished it:Me: Hey, did you ever read Seraphina?Sister: Sarah-what?Me: Se-ra-phin-a. It came out like 5(ish) years ago. It's about this girl who's a half-dragon---Sister: Ooohhh . . . I wanna be a dragon.Me: Half dragon.Sister: Or a half dragon.Me: Would you really want to be a dragon?Sister: Depends . . . Would I lay eggs, or have normal babies?Me: Eggs if you were a dragon, babies if you were half dragon.Sister: Then I want to be a dragon.Me: o.OSister: Whatever, being a dragon would be awesome. Flying around, breathing fire, hoarding treasure---Me: Actually, the dragon leader guy outlawed hoarding treasure, so now they hoard knowledge.Sister: So I get to hoard books?!Me: Yep.Sister: Could it be any more perfect?NO. No, it could not.As I said previously, Seraphina (the MC, not the title) is a half dragon. As such, she belongs no where and to no one. Yes, there has been a tentative peace between the two races for the past fourty years, but humans are notorious for hating that which frightens them, and these dragons are rather Vulcan-like in their views on pesky emotions.Vulcans don't marry outside of their species (unless political reasons *squints at Spock, Sr.*), and they definitely don't marry for love.Neither do dragons.And humans are so horrified by the concept that they have half a dozen Saints encouraging medieval reactions to any cross-species dalliances. BUT they're not too worried about it, b/c like that would happen anyway---everyone knows they should be killing the dragons (b/c dragons).So Seraphina lives a solitary existence, in constant fear of discovery.That sounds rather morose, doesn't it?Without undermining the relevant points being made, I will tell you that it absolutely isn't.In fact, it's quietly hilarious. When Seraphina begins coming into her half dragon-ness as a preteen, she begins to have seizures brought on by strange visions of even stranger creatures she's never seen before. He uncle, on the dragon (or saar) side, asks that her father hand over the reins of her education:"To you," sneered my father. "And what will you do with her? She can't go two hours without these infernal visions giving her seizures.""We could work on that, to start. We saar have techniques for taming a rebellious brain." Orma tapped his own forehead, and then tapped it again as if the sensation intrigued him.Why had it never struck me how deeply peculiar he was?"And once he has those reins:"He answered even my most impudent questions. Yes, dragons could smell colors under the right circumstances. Yes, it was a terrible idea to transform into a saarantras right after eating an aurochs."Saarantras is a dragon's human form, so you can see why it would be a bad idea to downsize so dramatically after aurochs consumption. *snorts*So the plot is fantastic. What about the characters?ALSO fantastic.My favorite after Seraphina herself is Lars, a blond giant, a foreigner, and a fellow musician. I would love him for his (not-so-vaguely German) accent alone:"Lars glowered defensively, as if he anticipated a scolding or a profession of love. Yes, that was it: he thought I meant to proposition him. He wore a closed expression, as if rehearsing a speech in his head, a way to let me down gently after I stripped off all my clothes. Sorry, Seraphina, I dondt like grausleiner thet can put their voices in my headt."Orma, the dragon uncle, is wonderful as well. He gradually changes from the typical rude and insensitive dragon, to a . . . less rude and insensitive dragon. *snickers* Both versions are highly entertaining:“I’m attracting small children,” Orma muttered, twisting his hat in his hands. “Shoo it away, will you?”And when he allows himself to feel the things he's so long denied, he is helpless to express them:“Who will kiss you? Who will rock you to sleep?" His voice was slow, drowsy."You never did," I said, trying to tease him. "You were more father to me than my father, but you never did that.""Someone should. Someone should love you. I will bite him if he will not."And finally, the princess, who is a bizarre yet winsome, combination of oblivious and ridiculous:"Two Knights came to the castle today!" She could barely contain herself; her hands fluttered about like two excitable small birds . . . "They claim to have spotted a rogue dragon, flying around the countryside in its natural shape! Isn't that awful?"Awful enough to have her grinning ear to ear. She was a strange little princess."While still somehow managing to be highly intelligent, and on occasion even wise.Ultimately, Seraphina is one of those books that never really goes away. Along with Poison Study , it was one of the first YA fantasy books that I read and loved as an adult, so once again, I was worried about whether or not it would live up to my memories . . .I should not have been. It was every bit as clever and amusing, as pertinent and thought-provoking, and as lovely and bittersweet as I remembered. Highly recommended.

"I remember being born. In fact, I remember a time before that. There was no light, but there was music: joints creaking, blood rushing, the heart's staccato lullaby, a rich symphony of indigestion. Sound enfolded me, and I was safe. Then my world split open, and I was thrust into a cold and silent brightness. I tried to fill the emptiness with my screams, but the space was too vast. I raged, but there was no going back."I knew I'd love Seraphina from the first page. Any author that could describe the birthing process with such eloquence was worth reading. Not since Daughter of Smoke and Bone has the language of a novel enthralled me like this. I lost myself in this story. Every page I read felt like a treat, and the grace of Rachael's words is really just the tip of the iceberg in what makes the story so great.Seraphina was born different. Her perceptions are keener than other children's, and her mind works in ways few can fully understand. Music is her entire universe. She has a host of people living in her head, clamoring to be heard, and secrets locked away in a box within her mind, ready to burst forth and destroy her. She blacks out periodically, over taken by memories not her own. She is lonely, sad, brilliant, and brave.She is pulled into the murder investigation of a dead prince by proxy of her extensive knowledge of dragons. She's one of the few humans to be tutored by a dragon, and as such she knows more of their kind than most.Joining her in this investigation is Prince Lucien. He's the captain of the queen's guard, and responsible for investigating his relative's death. He is intelligent, obsessed with mystery, and few things escape his notice. The synopsis depicts him as "dangerously perceptive" and I find this an apt description. He reminds me a bit of Sherlock Homes. He's the type of investigator that goes onto the scene of a crime and can tell you what kind of shoes the villain was wearing, how much he weighed, and what he had for dinner that night. His perception is a gift and a terrible danger to Seraphina who has so many secrets to keep. He sees her, even the parts she tries to hide, and who does not yearn to be truly seen and understood? Despite the danger his clear sightedness poses (or maybe because of it) they form a friendship. They are cut from the same cloth in many ways, and more similar in spirit than either of them knows.Rachel Hartman took a bold step in writing Lucien and Seraphina the way she did. They are both highly intellectual, much more so than I'm used to seeing in fantasy novels. It's difficult to write cerebral characters and make them loveable. I think readers connect more easily with passionate, brazen personalities. But Rachel created two characters that live more in their minds than their hearts, and made them sympathetic and loveable. I adored both Seraphina and Lucien. I connected with them, admired them, and cared for them.The romance in this novel builds slowly and with great intensity, but it is tempered by duty. Both Seraphina and her love have too much honor to throw themselves into a wild romance, especially when the price of such a connection would be so high. There is no insta love to be found here. Instead we have feelings that build realistically, and love that is founded on mutual respect and trust. Despite its more cautious pace, this romance was suitably swoon worthy and left me fanning myself more than once.At its heart, this is a mystery story. It's about uncovering the lies surrounding the prince's murder, and the secrets that live in the hearts of each of the characters. On a deeper level, it's about learning acceptance of oneself and others, and seeing the beauty in all things.For nitpicks, Seraphina is a high fantasy novel which means there's a good portion in the beginning of the book dedicated to world building. The language of the story, while beautiful may also not appeal to some. Spending paragraphs describing the how a kiss can be like flying towards heaven might drive you up a wall.However if you are a fan of epic fantasy, and love the poetry of the written word, I think you will adore this novel. It's a magnificent story, with top notch world building, likeable characters, and a surprising and exciting plot. It's easily one of my favorite novels of the year."If I could keep a single moment for all time, that would be the one. I became the very air; I was full of stars. I was the soaring spaces between the spires of the cathedral, the solemn breath of chimneys, a whispered prayer upon the winter wind. I was silence, and I was music, one clear transcendent chord rising toward Heaven. I believed, then, that I would have risen bodily into the sky but for the anchor of his hand in my hair and his round soft perfect mouth. No Heaven but this! I thought, and I knew that it was true to a standard even St. Clare could not have argued."

I found this novel to be utterly breathtaking. It's clear that Hartman has a real talent for world building - Goredd was described in such detail that I felt as though I was actually there. I also loved her take on dragon lore. Although her dragons did remind me of Vulcans, they were a breath of fresh air to the high fantasy genre and fantastically memorable.The characters were also brilliant. Phina was a fantastically strong character - making up for her lack of physical strength with intelligence and wit. The secondary cast was also well fleshed out. My personal favourites were Princess Glisselda and Orma as they seemed to get the most development as the story progressed. I was only really disappointed by the lack of Phina's father - he only appeared a few times and seemed to go through an entire story arc off page.So, why the missing star?Well, Seraphina was an very dense novel and sometimes the heavy world building seemed to get in the way of the plot. The first half of the story dragged a bit for me as the murder mystery did not really pick up until halfway through the book. Also, some aspects of the story took too long to be explained. I was really confused by the mind garden at first as it seemed to spring from nowhere and did not get a rational explanation for quite a long time.Secondly, I did not buy into the romance between Phina and Kiggs. Although there were vague hints that Phina had a crush on him, his reciprocation came out of nowhere, mere pages from the end of the novel, and really did not have any impact on the novel at all. I felt that this could have been left out and the story would have lost nothing.But, gripes aside, I really did like this novel and would recommend it to any fantasy fans.

I really enjoyed Seraphina even though I was not sure what to expect when I picked it up largely at random.The book is concerned with the intrigues between people, dragons and those caught part way between. The author manages to make the kingdoms and the dragons feel fresh and something different which was great and I enjoyed finding out more about their world and the history. The author does a great job of dropping in all sorts of intriguing details that created a really rich world but without bogging the book down in lots of backstory and explanation.The politics and intriguing did feel a bit simplistic and the closeness of Seraphina to the royal family did seem a bit contrived but I didn't mind because the story flowed along so well and I loved the characters.Generally the book was very readable and engaging although there were a few moments where I found the writing style seemed ever so slight off, especially in the first few chapters, but that did not spoil my enjoyment of the book.As a first person narrative, the book stands or falls on whether Seraphina is a character who can carry the story. I think that she's a great character, well written who develops plausibly and in a way that makes you like her more. The joy for me in the story comes from her interactions with others and how that slowly reveals more about them. I particularly love Orma and the his interesting journey to becoming a hero and revealing what drives him. It would have been nice to have learnt more about some of the characters and for them to have the opportunity to grow more but that was really because they were interesting enough for me to want to know more.I hope that there are further books planned and I look forward to reading them.

This was a very entertaining fantasy novel. It's described as a YA book and clearly marketed at a female audience, but don't be fooled into thinking it's a lightweight romance. Although there is a romantic subplot (and there's nothing wrong with that)the main emphasis is on court intrigue and the uneasy diplomatic relations between a state of dragons (who can appear human) and a state of humans.The world was very well-developed, from its pantheon of saints to its holidays and ceremonies, not to mention the history of the war and eventual truce with the dragons. If anything, I think this could have been emphasised even more. The author had clearly created an extremely detailed world in her head, and at times, it felt as though she could have indulged her fantasy geek side.The dragons were great. They're not a fantasy creature that I'm usually particularly fond of, but the shapeshifting into humans element gave them an interesting extra dimension. In their true form, dragons are incapable of emotion, and they are not supposed to indulge in feelings when they are in human shape. This results in some amusing moments, as most dragons are utterly socially awkward, and some touching ones, when the emotions inevitably start to kick in.The heroine was also well done. She was strong and entertaining. She was a little overly perfect at some times and a little too self-loathing at other points, but on the whole, really worked for me.The plot was clever and elaborate and fast-moving. There were just two false notes for me. Firstly, the ending seemed rather rushed, especially after all the build up that had gone into it. Secondly, I didn't really like the romance, partly because I never felt that much chemistry for the couple or love for the love interest, partly because the idea of going after a man who is already engaged to a very sympathetic character left me a bit uncomfortable (or maybe that's just the soon to be married bit of me talking!)So not a perfect book, but definitely one I'd recommend, and I'm looking forward to the sequel. I hope it's got even more world-building and politics and perhaps less of the heroine feeling sorry for herself.

Very interesting depiction of the dragon folk in this, great consideration has been put into how intelligent dragons would live, although in other respects there seem to be some holes in the story, it is never explained quite how dragons shape-shift (especially how they get rid of a huge chunk of their mass when doing so) and the dragons seem to have a mindset somewhat like... vulcans, cold and logical, although almost sociopathic in some ways, I realise this is based on the idea of the cold blooded reptilian mind but at times it seems a little far fetched. The idea that they have to restrain themselves while human is especially interesting, the idea that they have to learn to use a new body and new brain, but it still begs the question of just how that change is made in a world that seems otherwise devoid of actual supernatural or magic.Aside from that though, the characters seem, well, like people, they are relateable, and the dragons, while far fetched in some ways, are definitely dragons and not just humans in reptilian form. I think a thorough review would spoil too many plot points so I'll just say that this is a book I would recommend and I am looking forward to the sequel.

I see I wasn't the only person who bought this book despite having reservations about dragon-based fantasy novels. There's no need - the dragons are essentially shape-shifters. Interestingly, the author allows more human characteristics to creep into dragons' personalities when in their human form, so you end up with a Venn diagram of humans, dragons and human-dragon in the middle.Much of the plot focusses on the fear that the humans have of human/dragon half bloods. This is, shall we say, a little unfortunate for our heroine.There are two things in particular that single this book out from the norm. Firstly, the quality of the writing. As others have said, this particularly shines in the author's descriptions of music. Secondly, the romantic element, which is handled with a subtlety and deftness rarely seen these days. Hartman's characters do not fall at the opposite sex's feet two seconds after they've met, and hurrah for that. Of course, the writing quality is what facilitates that, too.I guess this book has been placed in YA for convenience for modern readers, but that undersells this book. It is an excellent example of modern fantasy and suitable for all reasonably proficient readers of any age.