Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

Seraphina came out way back in 2012, so I'm a little behind the times with this one. In fact, Rachel Hartman has already written a sequel, Shadow Scale, as well as a sister series. Seraphina is one of Amazon's Best Young Adult novels and won the Morris Award in 2013. It is a young adult novel, so there's not too much to worry about, but it does deal with body shaming and bullying, as well as grief, war, death, injury, and self harm, but nothing graphic.

Seraphina has a secret. Where she lives, in the land of Goredd, dragons and humans live and work side by side. The dragons are able to shape shift and, therefore, working next to them is not quite as terrifying. But just under the surface of geniality and tranquility, hostilities run high. The humans are not as accepting of the dragons as they appear. And even though dragons appear just like humans when they transform, relationships between the two groups are forbidden. A rule which is never broken. Except that Seraphina knows that it has been broken, at least once before. Because while her father is a human, her mother was not. Seraphina herself is half dragon, not that you can tell when looking at her, and if anyone ever found out, Seraphina's life would be in jeopardy. When a prince of Goredd is found dead, without a head, suspicions immediately turn to the dragons. Seraphina's secret becomes harder and harder to keep hidden as she is brought in to help with the investigation. She can no longer keep to herself. But as she meets new people she realizes something startling, she may not be the only one of her kind after all.

I had never heard of this book, which surprises me since it seems right up my alley. Dragons, shape shifting, and a murder plot? Say less, I'm in already. But in fact, I only heard of this novel because I was looking for a book with a purple cover to finish my rainbow cover challenge. And at first, I was not impressed. I found the beginning to be confusing, mostly because they use words specific to the world they're building without much explanation. But once I got going, I really enjoyed the book! Seraphina is a wonderful protagonist. She always has moxie, willing to make her own way against the wishes of her protective father, but at the beginning she was still very nervous and unwilling to attract any attention. You get to watch her grow and learn to trust people and what may happen when you can't trust those who deserve it. The side characters are quite charming, full of their own strengths and weaknesses. The story went in a direction I did not expect and I ended up really enjoying.

I'm giving Seraphina by Rachel Hartman 3.75 out of 5. It did not rate as high as I'd like simply because it was so confusing at the beginning. I will be reading the sequel, Shadow Scale, soon and I'm hoping that it is a bit smoother. Seraphina was Rachel Hartman's debut novel, I'd love to find that her subsequent novels were a little better assembled.

For more from Rachel Hartman, check out https://rachelhartmanbooks.com/

Pairs well with butter tarts and learning to play an instrument, maybe a flute?