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3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
I enjoyed both this & the first book. I love the imagination & the way the author writes.
adventurous
tense
medium-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:
No
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Jannoula is such a compelling villain/antagonist, I wish we had gotten more of her story or more of her beyond the antagonism. Pandowdy was VERY fun, as was Abdo.
In general this book was much slower than the previous, it lacked some of the vibrancy. The 'lets go on an adventure' just wasn't written to be super engaging, but the people always were.
I LOVED the Selda reveal (as if it weren't obvious), if this were any other genre however, these characters would have been SOOO down with murder much sooner.
In general this book was much slower than the previous, it lacked some of the vibrancy. The 'lets go on an adventure' just wasn't written to be super engaging, but the people always were.
I LOVED the Selda reveal (as if it weren't obvious), if this were any other genre however, these characters would have been SOOO down with murder much sooner.
I so enjoyed the first book full of rich characters and world building. It’s a shame this book was mainly war strategy and mind possession. It lacked the heart of the first. Disappointing.
Overall, I loved this book as much as I loved "Seraphina", but I felt, with all of the world building and the slow unfolding of the story (which was magical), that the ending was far too rushed. Conversations happened that we weren't privy too that I feel would answer some of my lingering questions. Kiggs and Seraphina have been patiently saying that they would someday be together and yet they don't exactly. There is a love triangle of sorts and it seems that once Kiggs supplies Glisselda with an heir he will be free to be with Seraphina, yet it seems that S loves Glisselda too and thus it is all too complicated for the 15 pages dedicated to tying up all the loose ends. Finally, the story begins with S's would-be biographer and that is left hanging...no coming full circle to say what S has been up to and how her life has unfolded. Idk now that I am writing this I think that too many loose ends are left and I know that Hartmann has spoken about more books in this world so maybe we will see Seraphina again from someone else's POV...still a magical and wonderful story full of lovely and vibrant characters, a great villain, and a message about acceptance that we all need to read :)
I wanted to give it 3 stars, but there were a number of characters that pushed this into a 4 star rating - there's a transfemme character! there's a queer female character! there's a recognition that marriage /=/ love!
I really like this literary world. And in this second of the series we find out so much more about the past! I thought the new characters were well written, and the old characters got even more multidimensional
We jump in right where the first book left off, with Seraphina starting her journey to recruit the other half-dragons from across the three human countries. The dragon civil war continues and the humans of Goredd have allied themselves with the newer generation who wants peace and unity with the humans against the old generation who wants to return to the old ways of killing humans and hoarding gold.
Seraphina eventually finds all the half-dragons, but Jannoula (another half-dragon with very strong mind powers) picks them off one by one and starts to control and brain wash them. She wants to destroy humans and dragons because she feels betrayed by them both. Pretty typical antagonist, but it works.
The plot really picks up when Seraphina returns to Goredd to stop Jannoula. Seraphina has mind powers too, but she's been blocking hers since she was little because they were so powerful. She had to figure out how to unblock them, and there was this cool concept of the "outside" of her mind being located in the center of her mind. So the "outside" was encompassed by the "inside".
Then Jannoula is defeated a little anti-climatically when the last remaining living Saint comes and takes her away. And he's like this giant now cause he just kept growing and growing through the centuries. And he's basically like "Well you did all that hard work to unblock your mind, now I'm going to just pick up this little rascal and take her away to teach her manners".
There was another noteworthy at the end. The whole book it was pretty obvious that there was a love triangle going on in-between Seraphina, Queen Glissinda, and Prince Kiggs. Which is funny because Kiggs and Glissinda weren't around much. But Glissinda totally backed off because Seraphina liked Kiggs. But Glissinda and Kings still had to get married, cause politics. Which is kinda more realistic though, than other fantasy books with princesses and princes and stuff.
It was a good book, I enjoyed it.
We jump in right where the first book left off, with Seraphina starting her journey to recruit the other half-dragons from across the three human countries. The dragon civil war continues and the humans of Goredd have allied themselves with the newer generation who wants peace and unity with the humans against the old generation who wants to return to the old ways of killing humans and hoarding gold.
Seraphina eventually finds all the half-dragons, but Jannoula (another half-dragon with very strong mind powers) picks them off one by one and starts to control and brain wash them. She wants to destroy humans and dragons because she feels betrayed by them both. Pretty typical antagonist, but it works.
The plot really picks up when Seraphina returns to Goredd to stop Jannoula. Seraphina has mind powers too, but she's been blocking hers since she was little because they were so powerful. She had to figure out how to unblock them, and there was this cool concept of the "outside" of her mind being located in the center of her mind. So the "outside" was encompassed by the "inside".
Then Jannoula is defeated a little anti-climatically when the last remaining living Saint comes and takes her away. And he's like this giant now cause he just kept growing and growing through the centuries. And he's basically like "Well you did all that hard work to unblock your mind, now I'm going to just pick up this little rascal and take her away to teach her manners".
There was another noteworthy at the end. The whole book it was pretty obvious that there was a love triangle going on in-between Seraphina, Queen Glissinda, and Prince Kiggs. Which is funny because Kiggs and Glissinda weren't around much. But Glissinda totally backed off because Seraphina liked Kiggs. But Glissinda and Kings still had to get married, cause politics. Which is kinda more realistic though, than other fantasy books with princesses and princes and stuff.
It was a good book, I enjoyed it.
I liked it, although it lacked the tension I felt on the first book.
I liked how Janoula was introduced, although it seemed a bit rushed and disconnected with the first book as she was not there. Despite that, her development from annoyance (in my eyes) to full on villain was great. I loved how little by little her machinations became less of a plot deviation and more of a serious threat, till you got to the point that she have everyone completely at her mercy with absolutely no chance of escaping.
I did not like the plot's resolution much, to tell the truth. The saints' revelation was nice despite being a little predictable, but the whole Deus Ex Machina thing with the giant saint saving the day seemed too miraculous for my taste. We hadn't heard from him at all and suddenly he's saving the show? Seems weird to say the least.
Character-wise, most of them were great. Seraphina's ending relationship with both prince and princess was quite interesting and refreshing, and felt coherent with each character involved. I liked how there was still a bit of tension there, or at least possible ramifications in their future, but because it had little to do with the main plot it was left open. I'd like it if the author decided to make some kind of follow up on that.
All in all I found the book quite entertaining, especially at the end, although not as engaging as the previous installment. Despite that, I really recommend it and I'll be looking into other titles by the author in the future.
I liked how Janoula was introduced, although it seemed a bit rushed and disconnected with the first book as she was not there. Despite that, her development from annoyance (in my eyes) to full on villain was great. I loved how little by little her machinations became less of a plot deviation and more of a serious threat, till you got to the point that she have everyone completely at her mercy with absolutely no chance of escaping.
I did not like the plot's resolution much, to tell the truth. The saints' revelation was nice despite being a little predictable, but the whole Deus Ex Machina thing with the giant saint saving the day seemed too miraculous for my taste. We hadn't heard from him at all and suddenly he's saving the show? Seems weird to say the least.
Character-wise, most of them were great. Seraphina's ending relationship with both prince and princess was quite interesting and refreshing, and felt coherent with each character involved. I liked how there was still a bit of tension there, or at least possible ramifications in their future, but because it had little to do with the main plot it was left open. I'd like it if the author decided to make some kind of follow up on that.
All in all I found the book quite entertaining, especially at the end, although not as engaging as the previous installment. Despite that, I really recommend it and I'll be looking into other titles by the author in the future.
adventurous
mysterious
slow-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:
Complicated
I loved the world of Seraphina -- the dragons, the castle, the music -- but what I loved most was the characters themselves, all compelling and dynamic, and of course, Seraphina's own story and wonderful voice. Yet in the sequel, as excited as I was for it, so much of this was lost. It's focus was almost entirely on the war itself, and while that's important on a plot sense, it wasn't interesting. In fact, it was boring as heck, and even my enthusiasm for the story couldn't force me through the story without skipping a few pages here and there. Realistically, undertaking a war requires work and effort, is time-consuming and not quite grand.
But this isn't about reality. It's about a fantasy that's supposed to sweep you off your feet like the first book did on every re-read. The characters were lost in the overly stacked events and plot. Seraphina's voice is lost in this war. I like the ending and wrap-up in itself, but I didn't enjoy the experience of reading it. The destination was fine, but the road getting there? Awful
But this isn't about reality. It's about a fantasy that's supposed to sweep you off your feet like the first book did on every re-read. The characters were lost in the overly stacked events and plot. Seraphina's voice is lost in this war. I like the ending and wrap-up in itself, but I didn't enjoy the experience of reading it. The destination was fine, but the road getting there? Awful