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Title | The Audition
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Author | Rachel Hartman
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Cover Art | ---
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Publisher | Free ebook - 2012
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First Printing | ---
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Title | Seraphina
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Author | Rachel Hartman
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Cover Art | Andrew Davidson
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Publisher | Doubleday - 2012
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First Printing | 2012
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Title | Shadow Scale
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Author | Rachel Hartman
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Cover Art | Andrew Davidson
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Publisher | Doubleday - 2015
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First Printing | 2015
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Category | Young Adult
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Warnings | None
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Main Characters | Seraphina, Orma, Lucian Kiggs, Glisselda, Lars, Abdo, Dame Okra, Comonot
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Main Elements | Dragons
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Website | Rachel Hartman - Official Site
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 The Audition
The Audition is a free prequel to Seraphina available online. It takes place a few weeks prior to Seraphina, covering Seraphina Dombegh's audition to become Viridius's assistant and thus Glisselda's music tutor.
Seraphina
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 her exquisitely written fantasy debut, Rachel Hartman creates a rich, complex, and utterly original world. Seraphina's tortuous journey to self-acceptance is one readers will remember long after they've turned the final page.
Shadow Scale
Seraphina is tangled amid the grapple for power between the dragon rebels and the human court. The dark secret of her true identity - half-dragon, half-human - has now become her advantage. Only she has the power to unite the kingdom of Goredd, and she intends to use it. She scours the land for the rest of her half-dragon brethren, whose unique gifts may make the difference in the struggle.
But gathering her people is no straightforward task, and the more Seraphina learns, uncovering hidden histories and outright lies, the more she comes to realize that someone is working against her. What hope is there for brokering peace between dragons and humans when one of her own is determined to see both worlds go up in flames?
William C. Morris YA Debut Award-winner Rachel Hartman continues Seraphina's story with an adventure that will chart new frontiers of the soul.
I picked this up in the library because when it first came it out it had a fair amount of publicity and I was curious what all the fuss was about. I didn't really have high expectations, but having read it, it deserved any praise it might have gotten.
A beautifully written novel about a young girl on the verge of becoming a woman who has a terrible secret, one so awful it would put anyone who knew of it at risk. But unlike so many other young adult novels Seraphina never sits in a corner and mopes about crying "woe is me" and complaining that life is not fair. She deals with this secret she was born with. It keeps her apart, but she refuses to let it keep her from living.
In this world, dragons were at war with the humans, but some dragons thought the humans interesting enough that they should have peace instead, to share and learn from each other. See, dragons in this world are a bit like Vulcans in Star Trek, low on emotion and high on logic, and decided that they'd rather hoard knowledge than gold. Dragons can also take human form, which allows them to pass amongst the rest of us, though their eccentric behaviour tends to make them stick out anyway. They are also adept at technology, which is an interesting counterpart to their seemingly magical physical transformations, especially as the humans around them tend to shy away from any fancy tech.
I can praise this book in so many ways. I fell in love with the characters, I wanted to know them, to spend more time with them. I loved the worldbuilding, Hartman gave her land a history, different cultures and languages, religion, music and architecture. Also the setting it not your usual dragon story, which tends toward the medieval, this is more Victorian.
And if nothing else, read this book for the glossary. Yes, you heard me right. This is not a funny book, but the glossary was the most amazing and amusing one I'd ever read with entries like "Loud Lad - the noisy one" or "scrawny sackbut player - exactly as you imagine" or even "Regent of Samsam - the regent of samsam" since there wasn't much else to say about him, he didn't even have a name.
It drew me in from the very first page, and you really have to pay attention those first few pages, there are characters there you will learn interesting things about. I had to even go back and reread some parts so shocked I was by the reveals! Without hesitation I started reading the second book.
It was also excellent, though being at nearly 600 pages long I found by the end of reading the two books back-to-back it was getting a little much, even though I can't really point to one particular section and say it was too long and could be trimmed out. I did enjoy travelling to all the other regions of the world, it is an essential part of worldbuilding for me that the world feels real, that there are different cultures each with their own quirks (though the fact that some languages were clearly Italian-esque and others German-esque was a bit odd for me). And while you learn a lot more about the beings that people the world, about what is lost when you take what are essentially regular people and turn them into legends, and what they learn about Jannoula keeps you guessing about her motives right to the end because, well, if you are crazy because you were tortured, can people really hate you since it wasn't your fault? Are you truly evil if you were driven to it, broken and damaged? A tragic tale in some ways, and with a bittersweet ending. This certainly doesn't wrap up with a happily ever after, and things can never really go back to the way they once were. The road was never, ever easy, with each perfectly laid plan and ideal dream, foiled over and over again. I very, very highly recommend this pair of books, it covers a wide range of serious topics, and there never any easy answers.
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