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alternai's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
sharonsm_28's review against another edition
4.0
Actual Rating: 4.25
This was an enjoyable read. The pace was a bit slow. However, the plot did make up for it as it was more plot-driven than Seraphina. The characters were extremely enjoyable. I really liked Abdo and Kiggs. Also, I enjoyed the half-dragons and their development. The romance was really interesting. I thought that Rachel Hartman had great talent to make the story very engaging and entertaining. Overall, a great read.
This was an enjoyable read. The pace was a bit slow. However, the plot did make up for it as it was more plot-driven than Seraphina. The characters were extremely enjoyable. I really liked Abdo and Kiggs. Also, I enjoyed the half-dragons and their development. The romance was really interesting. I thought that Rachel Hartman had great talent to make the story very engaging and entertaining. Overall, a great read.
writings_of_a_reader's review against another edition
1.0
What happened? I loved Seraphina. I gave it 5 stars. But Shadow Scale has left me so bitterly disappointed I could cry. All the things I loved about the first book were gone in this one.
This book was so slow, and so long and just dull. It was hard to get through, and it took me forever to read it. Seraphina was slow paced as well, but it wasn't dull.
In this book Seraphina spends the whole book blaming herself for things that aren't her fault and not doing what needs to be done. She was very much a pacifist because she was so guilt ridden over her treatment of someone who was just plain bad. What Seraphina did to Janoula had to be done because of Janoula's behavior. There was nothing wrong with what Seraphina did, she had to protect herself and she should have protected everyone else as well, so I don't get the guilt over it. She just wasn't the Seraphina from the first book at all.
I thought Janoula was very villainous and well done. I truly hated her, which is what all good villains cause me to do. I just wish the heroine would have been her match. She just really wasn't.
There was a lot of world building in this book done mostly through Seraphina traveling. The traveling got old after a while. We get to meet all of the characters that are in her mental garden and I enjoyed meeting most of them, however the character development was not there. This was partly because of Janoula invading their minds and taking over, but not entirely. There was one character that was thrown from his horse and terribly injured and Seraphina was upset about it, but I wasn't because he wasn't developed enough as a character for me to care.
The ending makes me kind of angry. After reading all those pages there couldn't have been a resolution to the whole thing with Orma? And the romance was just a huge disappointment the way it ends up.
On top of the way the romance ends up, the resolution to their problems is a huge deus ex machina. How disappointing! I looked forward to reading this for three years and now I wish I had not read it. It pretty much ruined all the good things about Seraphina.
Oh and one more thing, I have no idea why this book is called Shadow Scale. I found nothing that eluded to the title in the book, but maybe I missed it.
Review also posted at Writings of a Reader
This book was so slow, and so long and just dull. It was hard to get through, and it took me forever to read it. Seraphina was slow paced as well, but it wasn't dull.
In this book Seraphina spends the whole book blaming herself for things that aren't her fault and not doing what needs to be done. She was very much a pacifist because she was so guilt ridden over her treatment of someone who was just plain bad. What Seraphina did to Janoula had to be done because of Janoula's behavior. There was nothing wrong with what Seraphina did, she had to protect herself and she should have protected everyone else as well, so I don't get the guilt over it. She just wasn't the Seraphina from the first book at all.
I thought Janoula was very villainous and well done. I truly hated her, which is what all good villains cause me to do. I just wish the heroine would have been her match. She just really wasn't.
There was a lot of world building in this book done mostly through Seraphina traveling. The traveling got old after a while. We get to meet all of the characters that are in her mental garden and I enjoyed meeting most of them, however the character development was not there. This was partly because of Janoula invading their minds and taking over, but not entirely. There was one character that was thrown from his horse and terribly injured and Seraphina was upset about it, but I wasn't because he wasn't developed enough as a character for me to care.
The ending makes me kind of angry. After reading all those pages there couldn't have been a resolution to the whole thing with Orma? And the romance was just a huge disappointment the way it ends up.
Spoiler
Kiggs and Glisselda who really have a brother-sister type relationship, marry near the end of the book for the good of the kingdom, and because they promised the Queen they would before she died. And it seems as though Kiggs and Seraphina are to become lovers. Glisselda has revealed that she is also in love with Seraphina. She revealed this after she finds out that Kiggs and Seraphina are in love with each other. This seemed to come out of nowhere. There were no hints to it at all, ever that Glisselda had those sorts of feelings for Seraphina. It felt forced into the story. She kisses Seraphina at this point and tells her she and Kiggs have her blessing. Seraphina then realizes something about herself, but we are not told what that is. In the end it is stated that they are all fine with the arrangement they have made and the way they feel about each other is between them. It made me wonder if they weren't going to have some weird sort of threesome. I seriously don't want to have thoughts of threesomes in my head while reading a YA book. Hopefully I was reading too much into it. Regardless, I don't like the idea of Seraphina being Kiggs's mistress and not his wife.On top of the way the romance ends up, the resolution to their problems is a huge deus ex machina. How disappointing! I looked forward to reading this for three years and now I wish I had not read it. It pretty much ruined all the good things about Seraphina.
Oh and one more thing, I have no idea why this book is called Shadow Scale. I found nothing that eluded to the title in the book, but maybe I missed it.
Review also posted at Writings of a Reader
frannieman's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
3.25
amydieg's review against another edition
5.0
I'll just be over here crying over how perfect this was.
starfire1003's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
11kjmarie's review against another edition
4.0
The ending didn't feel like the end. This needs to be a trilogy...
bridge_enginerd's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
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
4.0
It was the romance that made me like Seraphina, but it was the friendships that shone in this sequel.
lesserjoke's review against another edition
3.0
I adored Rachel Hartman's earlier novel Seraphina, and this sequel coasts by on a lot of borrowed good will from that. Unfortunately, Hartman has jettisoned the parts of Seraphina that I found most engaging (namely the cultural differences between humans and dragons, her heroine's secret status as a mixed child of both species, and the ensuing court intrigue and interpersonal drama) and built this next book largely around the parts that I liked the least (namely the magical mental powers of her characters and the protagonist's quest to find people from her dreams).
The ensuing book is fine if a little aimless -- and I do appreciate the added diversity of characters -- but it's a disappointing follow-up to the wonder of Seraphina.
The ensuing book is fine if a little aimless -- and I do appreciate the added diversity of characters -- but it's a disappointing follow-up to the wonder of Seraphina.