Seraphina
Author: Rachel Hartman
Series: Seraphina (#1)
Publisher: Random House
How Received: bought
Four decades of peace have done little to ease the mistrust between humans and dragons in the kingdom of Goredd. Folding themselves into human shape, dragons attend court as ambassadors, and lend their rational, mathematical minds to universities as scholars and teachers. As the treaty's anniversary draws near, however, tensions are high.
Seraphina Dombegh has reason to fear both sides. An unusually gifted musician, she joins the court just as a member of the royal family is murdered—in suspiciously draconian fashion. Seraphina is drawn into the investigation, partnering with the captain of the Queen's Guard, the dangerously perceptive Prince Lucian Kiggs. While they begin to uncover hints of a sinister plot to destroy the peace, Seraphina struggles to protect her own secret, the secret behind her musical gift, one so terrible that its discovery could mean her very life.
In a surprise to no one, I liked Seraphina.
I think perhaps the reason I didn't love it as much as the rest of the blogosphere is the fact that it was entirely hyped up before I got to read it. I have a sneaking suspicion that I'll be loving it a lot more on the second read around.
And yes, I will be reading it again. The world and the characters are too fascinating not too.
The world itself - the country, the court hierarchy, the type of dragons - was fascinating. I loved learning everything about all of it. Watching dragons have to deal with emotions in human form was awesome. But on the other hand, I'm dragon obsessed; any new thing with dragons is fun for me to look at.
The story and the world wouldn't have worked at all without Seraphina at its helm; I wasn't initially attached to her in any sort of way, but about 100 pages into it I fell in love. Her struggle with being half dragon and her own fears and passions were lovely to watch; her bravery, her courage, and just - all of it made for an amazing protagonist.
And the love plot had equal footing with the friendship plot, which earned major points for me.
A reread is definitely in order.
Overall Rating & Final Comments: 10/10. Beautiful writing, world, characters.
I'm not sure what I think to this being a series -- I really love where this one ended, and I like the open ended nature of it. I'm tempted to pick up the sequel when it comes out, but it's not necessary. And I kind of love that.
What did you guys think?