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3.98 AVERAGE
3.98 AVERAGE
I'd rate this between 3.5 and 4. It started really slow, but picked up halfway through, and the ending was nice.
3.5 stars had a hard time getting into the story and warming upto Seraphina.
adventurous
emotional
funny
inspiring
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Sevdim. Farklı bir ruh hali ile okusaydım daha çok severdim.
Seraphina içten bir anlatıcı, çok sevdim. Kiggs en sevdiğim piç prens!
Kitabın dünyasını ve Phina'nın zihnini anlamakta biraz zorluk çektim, çok geç oturttum belki de sorun bendeydi.
Fantastik bir hikayeden fazlası olduğunu düşünüyorum, çok derin benzetmeler vardı bence.
Seraphina içten bir anlatıcı, çok sevdim. Kiggs en sevdiğim piç prens!
Kitabın dünyasını ve Phina'nın zihnini anlamakta biraz zorluk çektim, çok geç oturttum belki de sorun bendeydi.
Fantastik bir hikayeden fazlası olduğunu düşünüyorum, çok derin benzetmeler vardı bence.
Seraphina Dombegh, assistant Music Mistress in the royal court, is a girl full of secrets. Born to a dragon mother, who kept her true identity a secret until her death in childbirth, and a human father, Seraphina must hide her mixed heritage from the court. Plagued by “pearls” of memories left in her mind by her mother, Seraphina struggles to maintain an unruly and unstable band of misfits that she can only visit in the garden of her mind. Her teacher, a dragon named Orma, is yet another secret she must protect, as Orma lives almost exclusively in his human form. To all of her personal troubles, Seraphina must also negotiate through a court on edge; the upcoming anniversary of the human royals’ treaty with dragon kind is putting a strain on life within royal walls. When the Prince is murdered and dragons are suspected, Seraphina is thrown into a tight web of intrigue, distrust, old prejudices, and new allies. Her ties to both the human and the dragon worlds are brought to the light, and her allegiances to both sides are put to the test.
Seraphina is a masterful novel, weaving the elements of fantasy together with long standing themes of loyalty, trust, and sense of self. Seraphina herself is a complex, developed character whose strength is unbounded when it is given a chance to shine. Rachel Hartman has created a world the reader can get lost in, and her epic tale will undoubtedly provide a lasting impact on the realm of fantasy literature.
This book is highly recommended.
Only 20% of the books I read gain a 5* rating. This book makes me wish the rating system went higher so that it would be in even more exclusive company. This is an absolutely incredible book by an author I'll be sure to follow much more closely now that I know that she exists.
Where do I begin with this review? There are soooo many books on my read later shelf that it is rare for me to move a book straight from hearing about it to actually reading it. Someone I follow happened to mention that they had a preview of some books to read. I was momentarily bored and curious enough to click the link and saw [b:Shadow Scale|16085457|Shadow Scale (Seraphina, #2)|Rachel Hartman|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1405355942s/16085457.jpg|21451371]. I may be shallow, but I've always had a soft spot for dragons (I worked with [a:Anne McCaffrey|26|Anne McCaffrey|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1323715139p2/26.jpg]'s son while I was in college) so I came here to goodreads to see who this [a:Rachel Hartman|357601|Rachel Hartman|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1307116804p2/357601.jpg] was and what this series was about).
So....then I read this phrase "dragons ... lend their rational, mathematical minds" and I was hooked. I love mathematics. Mathematical dragons? Yes. Please. Now.
Now I am excited and I take the unusual step of immediately sending a book to my kindle despite the fact that this is the author's first published book. So, I tempered my excitement with the realism that I might abandon the book in the first 20 pages and go on to one of the other 400 books in my "read later" queue.
On to the book itself. This author does a wonderful job setting up the universe of the book. She does so by first drawing you into the character itself. Within the first few pages, I wanted to know more of Seraphina and her struggles and what makes her special.
The supporting cast of characters in the book are also done superbly. I recently read another book by a mega-author that I enjoy that aimed high and fell short by using secondary characters in much too flat a manner. The supporting cast in this book are strong. I cannot really recall a single one-dimensional character in this story. The characters are so vivid that you can easily imagine them moving around behind the scenes living their own lives while you are reading about the current scene.
Tensions are slowly revealed. Stakes are raised. I may have had some inklings of plot directions, but I never knew how things would develop. And, trust me, how they develop is 99% of the journey with this book. The author does not take the easy way out of anything. Just as any life is not straightforward, so the lives of these characters are not straightforward. And trust me, the ending. Wow. I cannot wait for book two.
Where do I begin with this review? There are soooo many books on my read later shelf that it is rare for me to move a book straight from hearing about it to actually reading it. Someone I follow happened to mention that they had a preview of some books to read. I was momentarily bored and curious enough to click the link and saw [b:Shadow Scale|16085457|Shadow Scale (Seraphina, #2)|Rachel Hartman|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1405355942s/16085457.jpg|21451371]. I may be shallow, but I've always had a soft spot for dragons (I worked with [a:Anne McCaffrey|26|Anne McCaffrey|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1323715139p2/26.jpg]'s son while I was in college) so I came here to goodreads to see who this [a:Rachel Hartman|357601|Rachel Hartman|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1307116804p2/357601.jpg] was and what this series was about).
So....then I read this phrase "dragons ... lend their rational, mathematical minds" and I was hooked. I love mathematics. Mathematical dragons? Yes. Please. Now.
Now I am excited and I take the unusual step of immediately sending a book to my kindle despite the fact that this is the author's first published book. So, I tempered my excitement with the realism that I might abandon the book in the first 20 pages and go on to one of the other 400 books in my "read later" queue.
On to the book itself. This author does a wonderful job setting up the universe of the book. She does so by first drawing you into the character itself. Within the first few pages, I wanted to know more of Seraphina and her struggles and what makes her special.
The supporting cast of characters in the book are also done superbly. I recently read another book by a mega-author that I enjoy that aimed high and fell short by using secondary characters in much too flat a manner. The supporting cast in this book are strong. I cannot really recall a single one-dimensional character in this story. The characters are so vivid that you can easily imagine them moving around behind the scenes living their own lives while you are reading about the current scene.
Tensions are slowly revealed. Stakes are raised. I may have had some inklings of plot directions, but I never knew how things would develop. And, trust me, how they develop is 99% of the journey with this book. The author does not take the easy way out of anything. Just as any life is not straightforward, so the lives of these characters are not straightforward. And trust me, the ending. Wow. I cannot wait for book two.
I really wanted to love this book, I just didn’t. It’s not a bad book! It’s actually good! Good story, characters, writing. I just don’t usually read fantasy books, but I took a chance with this one. Overall a good book, just wasn’t my cup of tea.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Self harm, Dysphoria
So I started this book with great expectations. And they were all attended.
Seraphina has that intricate writing of fantasy, and it has dragons, and it has layers upon layers of explaining and world building, all that stuff we come to expect out of fantasy. All that world building sometimes can get a little info dump-y, but Rachel Hartman has a way of building that I felt so immersed, it was like being under water.
There were some things that were a bit too much, like the romance in it was like out of nowhere, like things are ending all pretty and nice
But well, I am indeed helpless when it comes to beauty, and this book is filled with that.
Seraphina has that intricate writing of fantasy, and it has dragons, and it has layers upon layers of explaining and world building, all that stuff we come to expect out of fantasy. All that world building sometimes can get a little info dump-y, but Rachel Hartman has a way of building that I felt so immersed, it was like being under water.
There were some things that were a bit too much, like the romance in it was like out of nowhere, like things are ending all pretty and nice
Spoiler
and then that nice dude just kisses her and they get to be together forever??? That was really lame, sorry.But well, I am indeed helpless when it comes to beauty, and this book is filled with that.