ARC Review: Tess of the Road by Rachel Hartman

Title: Tess of the Road Written by: Rachel Hartman Published: February 27, 2018 by Random House Books for Young Readers (Amazon / Goodreads) Synopsis: In the medieval kingdom of Goredd, women are expected to be ladies, men are their protectors, and dragons get to be whomever they want. Tess, stubbornly, is a troublemaker. You can't make a scene at your sister's wedding and break a relative's nose with one punch (no matter how pompous he is) and not suffer the consequences. As her family plans to send her to a nunnery, Tess yanks on her boots and sets out on a journey across the Southlands, alone and pretending to be a boy. Where Tess is headed is a mystery, even to her. So when she runs into an old friend, it's a stroke of luck. This friend is a quigutl--a subspecies of dragon--who gives her both a purpose and protection on the road. But Tess is guarding a troubling secret. Her tumultuous past is a heavy burden to carry, and the memories she's tried to forget threaten to expose her to the world in more ways than one

*** I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest opinion. This fact has not changed my opinion. ***

I loved the Seraphina series and I was so excited to jump back into this world and see more of Goredd and the larger world of this series. And while that aspect of the book was great, I didn't love the book as much as I expected.

I will say however that I did love the characters, especially the main character. I remember with the Seraphina series I loved the secondary characters but didn't totally love the main character. Here it was the other way around. Tess is an amazing main character. Unlike Seraphina, she was incredibly sympathetic. She had been through a lot in her life and it's definitely not all good. When we first meet her she's not really coping with it very well. As the book develops and we learn more about what happened, we watch Tess come to terms with it and move past her tragic past. It makes her a resilient and likeable character. There were a few secondary characters I did like, including Pathka. Pathka is Tess's best friend and a quigutl, which is basically a small dragon. And Pathka's daughter Kiriku was also really interesting. In case you are wondering, you do get to check back in with Seraphina and a few other characters from that series. If I had read it more recently I may have remembered a few more.

I also really loved the world of this series. In Tess of the Road it will come as no surprise that you get to see more of the world as Tess takes us on the road. A lot of the book is spent in other kingdoms including Samsam and Ninys. I loved being able to see those kingdoms and interact with their citizens. And while the religious aspect of the book was as important as it was in the two previous books it is still a part of it. We even get to see more religious orders and more of their practitioners. I really love that about this series. It makes it feel more like an old school fantasy or even like historical fiction for that reason.

But we can't walk about the world of this book without talking about dragons. In this book it wasn't about the traditional dragons or even half dragons like in the first two books. Here we have the quigutl. They are such interesting creatures. They are sort of like small and spiky dragons. But they also have their own language, culture, and behaviors. I really loved learning about them and seeing them interactions with each other and the larger world. There is more to it than that, more fantasy creatures than that, but I don't want to give too much away. It was a great addition to the world and really expanded things in a complex and interesting way.

My biggest frustration with this book however was with the plot. I'm a big plot driven reader so having a good plot is very important to me. I was expecting a book with some mystery and adventure, but I got very little of both. This book was much more of a travel story, which as you may know if you are a longtime follower of this blog isn't something that I ever really enjoy. To me a travel story isn't enough of a plot, it's a means to an end not an actual story. Luckily there was more to it than that  though. This was much more of a character-driven story which actually pretty interesting but I still kind of wanted more. I think perhaps because this was a long book. It took kind of a long time for me to get into the book and as the book developed I wasn't as hooked as I hoped. I think that the plot here just wasn't my kind of thing. But I still enjoyed it.

On the whole this was an interesting and unique Young Adult Fantasy. It had a fascinating world full of fantastical creatures and likable and complex characters with engaging develop. I just think the plot wasn't what I was hoping for and it just didn't blow me away.

I give Tess of the Road by Rachel Hartman 8 out of 10 stars

Buy/Borrow/Bypass: Borrow. If you liked Seraphina then you should definitely check this book out. It's a good return to the world that you fell for in this series. But even if you haven't read that series and you are looking for a fantasy travel adventure pick this up.

Have you read Tess of the Road? What did you think? Leave me a comment with your thoughts. Thanks for stopping by and HAPPY READING!

ARC Review: Shadow Scale by Rachel Hartman

*** This is a sequel and the review may contain spoilers for book one. If you have not read Seraphina proceed with caution. ***

Title: Shadow Scale Series: Seraphina #2 Author: Rachel Hartman Published: March 10, 2015 by Random House (Amazon / Goodreads) Synopsis: Seraphina took the literary world by storm with 8 starred reviews and numerous “Best of” lists. At last, her eagerly awaited sequel has arrived—and with it comes an epic battle between humans and dragons.  The kingdom of Goredd: a world where humans and dragons share life with an uneasy balance, and those few who are both human and dragon must hide the truth. Seraphina is one of these, part girl, part dragon, who is reluctantly drawn into the politics of her world. When war breaks out between the dragons and humans, she must travel the lands to find those like herself—for she has an inexplicable connection to all of them, and together they will be able to fight the dragons in powerful, magical ways. As Seraphina gathers this motley crew, she is pursued by humans who want to stop her. But the most terrifying is another half dragon, who can creep into people’s minds and take them over. Until now, Seraphina has kept her mind safe from intruders, but that also means she’s held back her own gift. It is time to make a choice: Cling to the safety of her old life, or embrace a powerful new destiny?

*** I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher (thank you Random House) in exchange for an honest review. This fact has not changed my opinion. ***

I really enjoyed Seraphina and when and the world of dragons that Rachel Hartman created so I was excited for the next installment in the series. And while Shadow Scale is quite different from Seraphina I enjoyed it just as much. It further explores the world and takes us for a much more action-packed ride.

One of the things I liked most about Seraphina was the world that was created. It's so obviously Medieval-inspired, combining elements of the history, religion, and society with thrilling elements of fantasy. Being the second book in the series Shadow Scale does what sequels always do and takes us through the larger world. So in Seraphina we stayed in Goredd but in Shadow Scale we got to travel to many of the other lands in this world. And because of this aspect of the book it didn't read as much like historical fiction. This one felt much more like a traditional epic fantasy. You guys know I don't like travel monologues, and despite the fact that it did feel like it went on for a little longer than I would have liked, here it kind of worked. The world was bigger and the stakes were higher. It was really interesting to see each place and experience their unique culture, particularly how they interacted and viewed dragons. I enjoyed the further exploration into the world of this series.

And we can't talk about this world without talking about the fantastical element of it, dragons. We also got to learn so much more about them in Shadow Scale. One of the places we get to explore is the dragon homeland, which was so cool to see. We also get to learn more about some dragon technology, science, and medicine. The cold logic of the dragons is of course a huge part of their characters and we really get to see that here. But the real exploration in this book is about the half-dragons, or ityassari, like Seraphina. We get to meet the rest of the ityassari in Seraphina's garden and they are all so unique and interesting. Each of them have their own story and powers.

All the humans, dragons, and ityassari we meet however meant that there was a truly gigantic cast of characters in this book. The characters were not my favorite part of Seraphina, many of them did not make a very good impression and so it was hard to connect with them. The sheer amount of characters made that even more difficult in Shadow Scale. However, some old characters like Kiggs, Glasselda, and Abdo who I liked in the first book grew on me even more and I ended up really rooting for them and in turn Seraphina. But there were just too many characters here and it was difficult to keep them all straight. The one newish character who I did really enjoy however was the antagonist. I don't really want to tell you about them because that would ruin things, but I will say, if you thought the dragon Imlann was bad, you have no idea. This antagonist is truly diabolical and the interactions between them and Seraphina was fantastic!

I've already eluded to it with mentions in the world and with the antagonist but I truly enjoyed the plot of this book. It was much more thrilling than Seraphina, which was more of a mystery/procedural. The general plot of Shadow Scale is more of an epic fantasy kind of plot. The way Seraphina left off, war is on the horizon. Seraphina is tasked with finding a weapon or rather tactic to fight the dragons that only she can acquire, hence the search through the countryside. Shadow Scale didn't quite have the same emotional depth and exploration of race relationships as the first book but it did have the same kind of plotting where little things end up becoming a big deal as the book develops. And with Shadow Scale, those little things were moments from both books. Moments that couldn't possibly be connected but were. Throughout most of the book I would have said that there was a real disconnect between the two storylines but they ended up coming full circle in the end. And boy what an exciting ending that was. Shadow Scale was incredibly action-packed and despite the fact that it was quite long, it was never dull.

On the whole Shadow Scale was an action-packed sequel to a serious full of mystery and an intriguing fantasy world. I really enjoyed being taken for a ride (on a dragon?) and while the ending was satisfying I kind of hope there is more. I would be sad to see this series go.

I give Shadow Scale by Rachel Hartman 8.5 out of 10

Buy/Borrow/Bypass: Buy/Borrow. I would definitely recommend this one more to fans of traditional fantasy. The high-stakes action and exploration of the larger world made it feel less like Historical Fiction. SO if you like Seraphina even a little then pick up this next installment and be ready to be taken on a thrilling adventure. It may be a bit of an investment at over 600 pages but it's worth it.

Have you read Shadow Scale? What did you think? Leave me a comment with your thoughts. Thanks for stopping by and HAPPY READING!

Book Review: Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

Title: Seraphina Series: Seraphina #1 Author: Rachel Hartman Published: July 10, 2012 by Random House (Amazon / Goodreads ) Synopsis: In her New York Times bestselling and Morris Award-winning debut, Rachel Hartman introduces mathematical dragons in an alternative-medieval world to fantasy and science-fiction readers of all ages. Eragon-author Christopher Paolini calls them, "Some of the most interesting dragons I've read in fantasy." Four decades of peace have done little to ease the mistrust between humans and dragons in the kingdom of Goredd. Folding themselves into human shape, dragons attend court as ambassadors, and lend their rational, mathematical minds to universities as scholars and teachers. As the treaty's anniversary draws near, however, tensions are high. Seraphina Dombegh has reason to fear both sides. An unusually gifted musician, she joins the court just as a member of the royal family is murdered—in suspiciously draconian fashion. Seraphina is drawn into the investigation, partnering with the captain of the Queen's Guard, the dangerously perceptive Prince Lucian Kiggs. While they begin to uncover hints of a sinister plot to destroy the peace, Seraphina struggles to protect her own secret, the secret behind her musical gift, one so terrible that its discovery could mean her very life

I had heard some really great things about Seraphina and everything about it screamed "me book." So despite being late to the party I decided to pick it up in anticipation of the sequel coming out next week and I was not disappointed. Seraphina is an interesting and complex high fantasy novel with a really intriguing world rooted in reality but with some truly fantastical elements.

One of my favorite things about this book was the world that Rachel Hartman created. A lot of fantasy uses influences from Medieval history and with Seraphina it was very evident. You can tell that Hartman did a lot of research about different aspects of Medieval society. A lot of the book centered around those historical elements. From the court structure to the influence of religion and saints it felt a lot like historical fiction. As a fan of both genres I really appreciated that in this book. But that was just the beginning of the world, it is fantasy after all and we got lots of creative and fantastical element. It felt a lot like some of the historical fantasy novels that I love, and like all good historical fantasy it took something known and added the unknown and fantastical. In the case of this book, that was dragons.

I haven't read a lot of books about dragons. I've read books with dragons but not about dragons. So I can't say much about the originality of the concept and world of dragons that the author created but I found it totally fascinating. The dragons here can take human form, but they still take on very reptilian qualities especially in terms of their personality. They are cold and can't relate to human emotions. They are more logical and better suited to being scholars and diplomats. They have a very rigid society and harsh rules for lawbreakers. I read an interview in the back of the book where Rachel said she did a lot of research on reptiles and their kind of social structures and behaviors which I found really cool. It was just one more example about how despite being completely fantastical, even the dragons were rooted in reality. I found the dragons to be really fascinated and I loved learning about them throughout the book.

I'm kind of glad I had had seen some other reviews of this book, good and bad, because I was prepared for less epic fantasy and more mystery. And I'm not sure if the book was overly-complicated, not complicated enough, or I'm seriously out of practice because I did not see the big reveal coming at all. At that point I was so hooked on the story I couldn't wait to see what would happen next. However, it was sort of your typical first book where a lot of different things are happening and you don't really learn what they all mean until much later into the book. And despite being warned about it, I did find the pacing to be a lot slower than I usually like. It wasn't exactly dull but it didn't have a lot of thrilling action until the very end. There was a lot of set up and exposition. It set the stage for what I can only assume will be happening in Shadow Scale and any future books.

And what I assume will be the future of the story was what surprised me most about the book, and that is the amount of depth to the story. I was expecting a story about dragons and people not getting along but it was more than that. It looked at this really complex idea of race relationships and xenophobia. There are some real cultural differences between these people but the disagreements went deeper than that. The stereotypes and history of disagreement between dragons and people led to some really interesting political intrigue. That kind of complex fantasy that incorporates a lot of politics and cultural struggle is something I always enjoy.

I was trying to decide what I thought about the characters in this book. It's kind of a bit of a throwback for me because while I loved a lot of the secondary characters, the main character didn't make much of an impression. Not that Seraphina wasn't likable, she just didn't seem as special as some of the other cast of characters, both human and dragon. That being said, I am kind of surprised to say that I enjoyed the romance in this book a lot. One could argue that it's a bit of a love triangle but it works. Both guys are likable and swoonworthy and there are some great moments with both. And while things lean one way pretty quickly the actual romantic moments don't happen till much later in the book. It was a good slowburn which is always appreciated.

Seraphina is an interesting and complex fantasy read that feels like a well-researched historical fiction with the very cool addition of dragons. It's got some complex themes that I can't wait to address in later books and some intriguing characters that made the story all the more enjoyable.

I give Seraphina by Rachel Hartman 8.5 out of 10

Buy/Borrow/Bypass: Buy/Borrow. Definitely worth the read for fantasy fans, especially if you like historical fiction. If you don't mind the slower pace and a lot of mystery then check this one out. I would definitely suggest grabbing it the next time you are at the library.

Have you read Seraphina? What did you think? Leave me a comment with your thoughts. Thanks for stopping by and HAPPY READING!