Seraphina

Every now and then, I come across a book that was just so fan-freaking-tastic that I can barely put into words why. Seraphina was one of those books. The world building is complete and unique. The characters are fully developed, sometimes flawed and remarkably human (even when they are not). The writing is polished and elegant, begging you to savor every word. The plot never lags or races but maintains a pace that keeps the reader enthralled (seriously - as soon as the baby went to bed I begged my husband to just leave me alone and go watch sports or something so that I could read).

Seraphina is easily one of my favorite characters. She is intelligent, talented, brave, vulnerable, and loyal. She struggles with her own self worth and undergoes remarkable growth. The secondary characters are also not to be missed. Hartman has not allowed for one dimensional characters here. Between the members of Seraphina's garden, the dignitaries at court and the dragons in human form, there was always someone intriguing to watch and someone else to wonder about.

Hartman creates a world that is wonderfully strange yet oddly familiar. Though the people and dragons of Goredd negotiated a peace treaty nearly 40 years ago, there is still a great deal of animosity and racism on both sides. The hatred and anger between these peoples was palpable and created some of the most tense scenes in the novel.

The writing in Seraphina flows beautifully and leaves the reader anxiously awaiting the next installement in this phenomenol new series.

Rachel Hartmann’s astounding debut novel, SERAPHINA, is an utter joy. Set in a refreshingly original world of dragons, music, princes and revolution, the book unfolds organically – and compellingly. Like the title character, the tale seems quiet, almost unassuming, at least at the beginning, but it quickly swells to full volume, until you find yourself immersed in a symphony of story too powerful and beautiful to let you do anything but read.

Seraphina means “the fiery [or] burning one,” a dangerously apt name for a half-dragon girl. Her secret is a terrible one, as the dragon race (which in this world can assume human form) are both loathed and feared by most humans, and tensions between the races are mounting fast.

Seraphina knows how crucial it is to keep her lineage secret, but she is a remarkably talented musician, which gift draws her to court, and to the notice of the royal family, including the insightful, intelligent – and dashing – Prince Lucian. Seraphina is an unusual heroine in that she is an often reluctant participant in her own story. She never sets out to “save the day” but just does the job she sees as hers to do. Ideally, she would truly prefer to quietly play and teach music without a spotlight, but she is too perceptive, and the hints of coming disaster are too strong to let her rest.

Seraphina believes herself to be utterly alone in the world, as humans and dragons alike find the prospect of a half-breed abhorrent. Indeed, her father only discovered that his wife, Seraphina’s mother, was a sarantraas (a human-shaped dragon) after she died in childbirth, her silver blood staining the sheets. Over time, as Seraphina taps into her mother’s memories buried within her own mind, she begins to understand the love that drove her dragon mother to stay with her father despite the taboo, and thus comes closer to accepting both halves of her nature.

This is rather more plot summary than is necessary for a review, but it seemed important to provide a quick taste of the beautiful complexity of SERAPHINA, its many interwoven threads of plot and theme. The writing is beautiful, the plotting and characterizations equally so. Indeed, the book is so well-crafted the craft itself vanishes entirely, leaving only the story without the distraction of the writer’s lingering presence, trying to draw attention to itself. That is the mark of a truly well-written book, I believe – that it doesn’t actually seem written at all, but as if it solidified from the ether.

The end is sufficiently satisfying, or at least satisfying enough so I didn’t have to stomp on the book or throw it out the window, but it is utterly clear there is more story to come. It had better come soon, because I long to spend more time in this world, and with Seraphina.

If somebody were to ask me to recommend a good story for teens that sheds light on race relations I never would have thought I would someday be suggesting a book about dragons. After reading Rachel Hartman’s “Seraphina,” however, that’s exactly what I’m going to do.

“Seraphina” follows a girl by the same name who lives in a world populated by humans and dragons. The catch with these dragons is that they don’t necessarily have to be fire-breathing beasts (although they can be) because of their ability to shape shift and walk the streets of human towns looking just like any other guy or gal. The only problem is that not all humans are jazzed about the idea of dragons walking their streets, and despite a peace that has been going on between the two races for 40 years, there is still rampant racism going with racial epithets and intense violence typically directed toward dragons.

The problem for Seraphina in all of this is that she is half-dragon. An even bigger problem is that inter-species breeding is against the law, and she can only imagine the atrocities that could happen to her if her secret is discovered. That, in essence, is what this book is all about: Seraphina doing all she can to keep her half-dragon status a secret, yet struggling to prove to herself and society at large that her race is not the trait that makes her who she is on the inside, and that it should not be the one trait used to judge her character.

This theme is extremely applicable to the real world right now. We still live in a society where all people are not created equal. We are still judged by our gender, sexuality, race, religion, and so forth. Hartman delivers this often heard but still not fully practiced message of judging a person by their character and not by their demographics, yet does it in such a completely unique way that the message seems entirely her own. Hartman’s emphasis on music during the tale, her addition of a love story, as well as a cast of eccentric characters make “Seraphina” a beautiful story with an even more beautiful message.

It never fails that if I am super excited about reading a book that everyone loves, and then I finally read it like 2 years later, I will probably not be getting what I expected.

Yet, I still haven’t learned to give up hope. I relentlessly crave books with rave reviews and then wonder what all the hullabaloo was about.

Hence, the case with Seraphina. I don’t know if it was just the fact that it was loaded with dragons or if the headstrong female presence is what drove everyone to this book. Maybe it was the beautiful, descriptive writing. Maybe it was Prince Kiggs. Maybe it was the awesome world building. Maybe it was Phina’s mind palace full of “grotesques”.

Whatever it was, I apparently only got half of it. It took a lifetime (half the book) to finally get interesting and pick up pace. I did enjoy the fantasy element and was impressed by the world building. But people turning into dragons wasn’t something new to me. (The Sweetest Dark by Shana Abe. I read it before Seraphina and it blew me away!)

But once it got interesting, I was captivated. And now I need to read the second one pronto.

I loved Orma. LOVED HIM! And the females in this book. Holy crap, this was a powerful action book with strong women! And of course, the adorable Lucian Kiggs.

Great characters. Awesome high fantasy. Slow buildup to an excellent finish. And Dragons. A shload of dragons.