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3.98 AVERAGE
3.98 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
A little boring, I had an awful time connecting with the characters 😅
Okay dragon book?? I didn't know you had it in you! This was a fresh take for me on dragons in fantasy, because all I've read up to this point either treated dragons as slightly more sentient animals, or had the main character as a human and the love interest as a dragon. I really enjoyed the world building in this story. The character growth that basically everyone goes through throughout the book was very refreshing as well. Ash is right, those early 2010s books hit different T.T I wish Phina had been aged up a bit, especially since Kiggs is apparently around 19? That 3 year age gap isn't crazy or anything, but the way Phina acted was definitely older than her age in the book. Lowkey the romance could have burned a little slower, or at least until Kiggs was out of his engagement??? Though I guess we're supposed to feel better about this since he is engaged to his cousin, which no one mentions as weird in the book.... those two have a sibling relationship anyways I guess. Seriously though, these characters were so fun to read about, and the way the "big reveal" went was perfectly surprising and interesting. It was also lovely to see a reverence for the arts in this book - like these people do not mess around about their musicians!! Here's to hoping dragons are treated better in the second book with Phina's help!
Fun, light read. The world building was interesting. I could have done without the romance bit, but it is very minimal. I'll eventually be picking up the sequel to see where this story is going.
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
4.5!
It took me forever to actually read this one after I got it.. Dragons are one of those fantasy elements that I either love or hate most of the time, so I wasn't sure how it would go....
I loved Seraphina for the most part. The few elements I didn't like about the book had to do with the language. I know it is a made up fantasy world, but I had to look up so much stuff to get through it that I started getting annoyed and just skipped things to get by.
That being said, I really enjoyed Phina's story! She is great heroine that is easy to get behind. The little bit of romance mixed in with the action was the perfect fit for this story as well. (you know, sometimes it is a bit much!)
It took me forever to actually read this one after I got it.. Dragons are one of those fantasy elements that I either love or hate most of the time, so I wasn't sure how it would go....
I loved Seraphina for the most part. The few elements I didn't like about the book had to do with the language. I know it is a made up fantasy world, but I had to look up so much stuff to get through it that I started getting annoyed and just skipped things to get by.
That being said, I really enjoyed Phina's story! She is great heroine that is easy to get behind. The little bit of romance mixed in with the action was the perfect fit for this story as well. (you know, sometimes it is a bit much!)
DNF fueled rant to follow. You have been warned.
Okay, so let me explain things. Earlier this year I started going through all my books that have been packed away, deciding which ones I want to keep, which ones I want to get rid of and which ones I need a reread of before deciding. This book easily falls into the latter category. It is a book that I know I tried to read once and marked it as DNF and moved on. However, it's something that has long been in my thoughts. Like, there are so many things that people say are in this book that makes it sound like it's for me, that I had to try again with it.
So I sat down with it and let me tell you, the prologue? Sucks. The first two lines in the book:
I remember being born.
In fact, I remember a time before that.
No. Just no. That right there is enough to make me stop reading just about any book. So I figured that was probably what made me stop the first time. I figured I read something like six pages and just stopped. This time I forced my way through the prologue. The five page prologue that seemed three times that length and then took a breather. Set the book down and came back to it a day or two later so that I wouldn't feel such ire.
Didn't help.
I was treated to a reference to someone's 'dark complexion.' Now, I have been told several times as a white person that is attempting to write and maybe even one day be a published author, do not call black or brown people 'dark' skinned. I don't know. It bothered me because I've been told by people that it's not a good word to use and I understand why. Do with that what you will.
Now, in short order, I got 'It wasn't his fault; he assumed I was a normal person, whose arm might be touched with impunity. ... Okay, first of all, I don't like being touched by people I don't know really well. Like, the only people I have zero problems touching me is my mom and my brother. I've been hugged by people that don't ask first and the majority of the time, I wish they hadn't have. So, for me, this is not only a breach of consent (because no one is owed touching with 'impunity') but also me being told because I don't want random people touching me that I'm not 'normal.'
Let me tell you, by this point, this book and I were on our last legs. But I pressed on. Only to be treated to an angry mob attacking a young dragon in their human form. I'm not even going to unpack this - and how I've heard it mentioned that this war has been over forty years and how this is all some allegory for racial tensions in our world and the fact that detractors of this book have brandished the word 'Nazi' around.
To save my sanity, my ever shrinking time to read, my patience, and my own stress level, this is where I bow out.
Now, for numbers: I made it to page 21 before I gave up, removed my bookmark and prepare to shove this book in a box to sell to some poor, unsuspecting someone.
That all being said, imagine my shock (utter, severe amazement) that I made it to page 88 the first time around. I have no idea how I did, but, in truth, I've gotten a lot more impatient with books and my own personal problems with them in the four years it's been since I first tried this book.
Okay, so let me explain things. Earlier this year I started going through all my books that have been packed away, deciding which ones I want to keep, which ones I want to get rid of and which ones I need a reread of before deciding. This book easily falls into the latter category. It is a book that I know I tried to read once and marked it as DNF and moved on. However, it's something that has long been in my thoughts. Like, there are so many things that people say are in this book that makes it sound like it's for me, that I had to try again with it.
So I sat down with it and let me tell you, the prologue? Sucks. The first two lines in the book:
I remember being born.
In fact, I remember a time before that.
No. Just no. That right there is enough to make me stop reading just about any book. So I figured that was probably what made me stop the first time. I figured I read something like six pages and just stopped. This time I forced my way through the prologue. The five page prologue that seemed three times that length and then took a breather. Set the book down and came back to it a day or two later so that I wouldn't feel such ire.
Didn't help.
I was treated to a reference to someone's 'dark complexion.' Now, I have been told several times as a white person that is attempting to write and maybe even one day be a published author, do not call black or brown people 'dark' skinned. I don't know. It bothered me because I've been told by people that it's not a good word to use and I understand why. Do with that what you will.
Now, in short order, I got 'It wasn't his fault; he assumed I was a normal person, whose arm might be touched with impunity. ... Okay, first of all, I don't like being touched by people I don't know really well. Like, the only people I have zero problems touching me is my mom and my brother. I've been hugged by people that don't ask first and the majority of the time, I wish they hadn't have. So, for me, this is not only a breach of consent (because no one is owed touching with 'impunity') but also me being told because I don't want random people touching me that I'm not 'normal.'
Let me tell you, by this point, this book and I were on our last legs. But I pressed on. Only to be treated to an angry mob attacking a young dragon in their human form. I'm not even going to unpack this - and how I've heard it mentioned that this war has been over forty years and how this is all some allegory for racial tensions in our world and the fact that detractors of this book have brandished the word 'Nazi' around.
To save my sanity, my ever shrinking time to read, my patience, and my own stress level, this is where I bow out.
Now, for numbers: I made it to page 21 before I gave up, removed my bookmark and prepare to shove this book in a box to sell to some poor, unsuspecting someone.
That all being said, imagine my shock (utter, severe amazement) that I made it to page 88 the first time around. I have no idea how I did, but, in truth, I've gotten a lot more impatient with books and my own personal problems with them in the four years it's been since I first tried this book.
It was slow and few things happened, but the characters were interesting enough, although the worldbuilding didn't catch my attention. The names of the characters were pretty weird as well.
I finished, finally.
I'm very surprised that I didn't give up on this much sooner, but I suppose there were enough intriguing elements to keep me invested, though by the end I was a tad annoyed. The whole monster/love angle is so much more heartfelt and intense than the whole political mystery, which lacked the proper build-up needed to raise the stakes, and it was only fully realized in the last twenty pages, or so!
I don't have a dislike for any of the characters, besides Bassind and Corogni, but I didn't have strong feelings for any of the characters except for Fruit Bat, who is too darn endearing and Orma, who embodied the transformative concept that was the only redeeming quality of this book.
Ultimately I think that pages upon pages could have been cut, it dragged and drooped and there was no romance, no insta-love, just, suddenly, Seraphina decides she's in love... okay, then, I am not invested in your happily ever after, only in the pages that separate the reader from it.
I'm very surprised that I didn't give up on this much sooner, but I suppose there were enough intriguing elements to keep me invested, though by the end I was a tad annoyed. The whole monster/love angle is so much more heartfelt and intense than the whole political mystery, which lacked the proper build-up needed to raise the stakes, and it was only fully realized in the last twenty pages, or so!
I don't have a dislike for any of the characters, besides Bassind and Corogni, but I didn't have strong feelings for any of the characters except for Fruit Bat, who is too darn endearing and Orma, who embodied the transformative concept that was the only redeeming quality of this book.
Ultimately I think that pages upon pages could have been cut, it dragged and drooped and there was no romance, no insta-love, just, suddenly, Seraphina decides she's in love... okay, then, I am not invested in your happily ever after, only in the pages that separate the reader from it.
