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4.0 AVERAGE
4.0 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Vomit, Grief, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Colonisation
Sometimes a book is slow and not bad. That’s this book. I started it and returned to it three separate times, but it worked. Tess takes to the road to work through her pain, and her adventures reveal her back story slowly. The language is lovely and sarcastic and funny and painful, and the characters are the same. I’m hugely impressed by the author’s ability to make characters I loved from Seraphina into villains who I detested when experienced from Tess’s point of view. I’m a little disappointed that this wasn’t a standalone, but will at least try the second book ... whenever that may appear.
3,5⭐
"Tess of the Road", even if it is a continuation of Seraphina's story, is absolutely not like Seraphina's story.
Where Seraphina stood by a great plot and world-building, Tess focuses on character development and the path of person's change. It's about thinking outside the burdens, disagreeing with society and its roles, but most importantly it's about finding yourself.
And while I do appreciate a lot such story and know that Tess's trip from home to herself is amazing, I cannot say I wasn't bored. There was action, but it wasn't as fantasy and as adventurous as previous books. I did wished that dragons will be important here too, but turns out it's not that kind of story.
"Tess of the Road" is really serious and "calm" trip, where character development stands higher than anything. It's not bad, in fact it's actually pretty brilliant - but in the same time it's not what I expected. It's not exactly what I wanted, and while everything here was interesting, I couldn't exactly go with it and let the book enchant me.
"Tess of the Road", even if it is a continuation of Seraphina's story, is absolutely not like Seraphina's story.
Where Seraphina stood by a great plot and world-building, Tess focuses on character development and the path of person's change. It's about thinking outside the burdens, disagreeing with society and its roles, but most importantly it's about finding yourself.
And while I do appreciate a lot such story and know that Tess's trip from home to herself is amazing, I cannot say I wasn't bored. There was action, but it wasn't as fantasy and as adventurous as previous books. I did wished that dragons will be important here too, but turns out it's not that kind of story.
"Tess of the Road" is really serious and "calm" trip, where character development stands higher than anything. It's not bad, in fact it's actually pretty brilliant - but in the same time it's not what I expected. It's not exactly what I wanted, and while everything here was interesting, I couldn't exactly go with it and let the book enchant me.
adventurous
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
quietly profound and beautifully written
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
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: Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Toxic relationship, Dementia
Rachel Hartman's world-building is nothing but impressive. As in her two other books, she includes the familiar dragon characters, and her other fantasy characters, the quigutls which are closely related to dragons, are fascinating fully-developed characters in themselves. Tess is a fascinating character from the beginning; it's immediately clear that she is not well-suited to her immediate family and environment and watching her fight and fail and fight again and finally escape to the open road is one terrific journey. This is about self-discovery and self-forgiveness and becoming a whole person. Tess is curious and stubborn and finds her own way to continue her determination to be mistress of her own fate. Hope there's going to be another!
Another visit to the world of Seraphina and Shadow Scale, with dragons, quigutl, royalty, but with different characters! (You're sold already right?)
It took a while for me to understand and cope with Tess - and to be interested in her literal and emotional journey. I found the slow build worth it, but a fair warning to some, this is a slow, character-building story for the vast majority of its vast amount of pages (500+?). However, by the time Tess is talking to nuns, working on road crews, and realizing all she doesn't know (about her friend's pilgrimage, about other people's relationships with their family, about sex and pleasure, on and on), I was hooked. A few discussions were heavy-handed, but actually in a way I find appropriate and enjoyable in YA novels. If this book was published a few years ago, past-me would have been vehemently dog-earring or copying some quotes into my journal.
read alikes
The biggest comparison would be Kristin Cashore, especially Fire and Bitterblue.
Trigger warning *
A significant amount of the conflict concerns sex, consent, violence, and pleasure, especially where religion and societal norms set restrictions and expectations by gender. The women's experiences and perspectives were respectfully handled, and how they learned, recovered, or did or did not seek revenge were entirely relatable and believable to me, without causing undue upset or hurt. Best of all, these aspects were crucial to the story, without being a callous plot device. Well done, Hartman, well done.
It took a while for me to understand and cope with Tess - and to be interested in her literal and emotional journey. I found the slow build worth it, but a fair warning to some, this is a slow, character-building story for the vast majority of its vast amount of pages (500+?). However, by the time Tess is talking to nuns, working on road crews, and realizing all she doesn't know (about her friend's pilgrimage, about other people's relationships with their family, about sex and pleasure, on and on), I was hooked. A few discussions were heavy-handed, but actually in a way I find appropriate and enjoyable in YA novels. If this book was published a few years ago, past-me would have been vehemently dog-earring or copying some quotes into my journal.
read alikes
The biggest comparison would be Kristin Cashore, especially Fire and Bitterblue.
Trigger warning *
A significant amount of the conflict concerns sex, consent, violence, and pleasure, especially where religion and societal norms set restrictions and expectations by gender. The women's experiences and perspectives were respectfully handled, and how they learned, recovered, or did or did not seek revenge were entirely relatable and believable to me, without causing undue upset or hurt. Best of all, these aspects were crucial to the story, without being a callous plot device. Well done, Hartman, well done.
Characters are so unlikeable and the world is depressing. Overall not the mood I'm looking for right now.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexism
Minor: Rape