Review: Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

Title: Seraphina
Author: Rachel Hartman
Pages: 467
Publisher: Random House
Series: Seraphina #1
Released: July 10th 2012

 

 

The Story

"Forty years," interrupted Eskar. "We've had forty years of peace...Only your elders remember the war, but it is not the old who join the Sons of St. Ogdo or riot in the streets. How can there be deep-seated distrust in people who've never been through the fires of war?" (p. 26)

In a world where dragons can take human form, the kingdom of Goredd and dragonkind have been at peace for forty years. As the anniversary of the treaty draws near, tension between humans and dragons mount after Prince Rufus is murdered--and all evidence points to the work of a dragon.

Seraphina, a gifted musician living at the court, joins forces with the captain of the guard Prince Lucian Kiggs to try to find Rufus's murderer and uncover the plot to destroy the peace. But Prince Lucian is a shrewd investigator and Seraphina has her own secret to hide...one that could put her life in danger.

Our Heroine: Seraphina

"I present: Seraphina," Orma said.

Undersecretary Eskar looked down her aquiline nose as if checking human features off a list. Two arms: check. Two legs: unconfirmed due to long houppelande. Two eyes, bovine brown: check. Hair the color of strong tea, escaping its plait: check...Furious or embarrassed redness upon cheeks: check." (p. 28-29)

We find out early on into the book that Seraphina is a half-dragon. She is smart, bold enough to speak up to the princess when need be, has a passion and talent for music, is uncomfortable in crowds of strangers, and though she can be 'prickly' she is kind towards others. Seraphina was a well-developed, interesting, and strong heroine, yet flawed at the same time. I loved her!

Seraphina has scales on her wrist and back that she hides and despises, and she feels like she is a monster. Throughout the story she has this internal struggle of trying to accept what she is and not be ashamed of it, and I really like the way this was developed.

There is one scene that was particularly heart-wrenching where Seraphina tries to pry off one of her scales, and my heart just went out to her. But at the same time I could relate.Who hasn't wished that they could change something physical about themselves? I loved the theme of self-acceptance in this book!

One thing I wasn't too crazy about was Seraphina's 'mental garden' where she keeps her 'grotesques' (strange looking people who appear in her visions). She has to tend to them every night to keep them content so they don't cause her to have visions and black out. It was just really weird to me, and had an Alice in Wonderland feel to it.

Also, I love the name Serapina, it's so cool! But throughout the book the author has the characters call her Phina. Why give your character such an awesome name and then not take advantage of it??

Main Characters

• Orma

"Orma had a scholar's exception from the bell, so few people ever realized he was a dragon. He had his quirks, certainly: he never laughed; he had little comprehension of fashion, manners, or art; he had a taste for difficult mathematics and fabrics that didn't itch...To the rest of Goredd, he was just a man: tall, spare, bearded, and bespectacled." (p. 16)

Orma was such a fun, interesting character! There were lots of funny moments with him that helped to lighten the more serious mood of the story, and you can't help falling in love with him. Dragons don't feel/understand emotions or sarcasm, so a lot of things went over his head which lead to giggles. He was one of my favorites in this book :]

• Prince Lucian Kiggs

"I'd glimpsed the bastard prince across halls at court. He had a reputatin as a shrew and dogged investigator; he worked all the time and was not as outgoing as his uncle Rufus had been. He was also not as handsome--no bear, alas--but seeing him up close, I realized that the intelligence of his gaze more than made up for that." (p. 21)

 I really really loved how the romance between Lucian and Seraphina developed. It was very slow and natural, and I felt everything that Seraphina felt. I swooned. I ached. I yearned. One of the things that I really appreciated was how Seraphina fell in love with him because of his personality, not his looks. No insta-love! Thank you Rachel Hartman!

In fact, we only get a few snippets describing Lucian's physical appearance, and the only time he is described as beautiful is on p. 176: "His enthusiasm made him beautiful." Now to me, that is a thousand times more romantic that a hundred descriptions of how perfect and gorgeous a guy looks!

However, I was annoyed that the author gave him as sexy a name as Lucian but then throughout the book had the characters call him Kiggs. Why??

The Setting: The Kingdom of Goredd

"My eyes flicked invoulentarily toward the dragon ambassador and the goodwill contingent from his embassy, seated behind the nobility but ahead of the common rabble. They were in their saarantrai--their human forms--but were immediately recognizable by the silver bells at their shoulders, the empty seats around them, and their disinclination to bow their heads during a prayer." (p. 8)

 Rachel Hartman has created a very interesting, vivid, and well-developed world. I was wholly convinced that Goredd was a real place.

I loved the idea of dragons being able to take human form, like in Sophie Jordan's Firelight series, but these dragons are very different. Dragons don't feel emotions except for when they are in their human forms. They don't understand emotions and think they are useless, and are forbidden from letting human emotions take over while in human form. If they are suspected of being too influence by their emotions--like falling in love--then they are taken to the Censors who erase their emotions and the memories attached to them.

At times Seraphina can be confusing to keep up with because names of things/places/people are sometimes thrown out without explaining what they are. Thankfully there is a glossary at the back of the book which I took full use of, though sometimes it was annoying to have to stop reading to flip to the back to get more information.

One thing I thought was silly was some of the exclamations of the characters: "St. Daan in a pan" and "Blue St. Prue".  Wasn't too crazy about those x]

To Read Or Not To Read? 

Overall, Seraphina was a very interesting, engrossing read! However, sometimes the plot did get a little complicated/confusing to follow, and it seemed to stray off at times. The description is also misleading because Seraphina and Lucian don't really investigate Rufus's death as much as they try to uncover the plot to destroy the treaty.

In fact, I realized hours after finishing the book that though we found out who was behind everything, Rufus's murder was never fully explained. Though the loose ends still tied up well, this really frustrated me for some reason, I suppose because I thought this was supposed to be the main storyline of the book.

If you are a fan of High Fantasy or dragons, you won't want to miss out on Seraphina! Looking forward to the sequel :]

Writing: 5/5
Characters: 5/5
Plot: 4/5
Creativity/Originality: 5/5
Kept me interested: 5/5

Review: Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

Title: Shadow and Bone 
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Pages: 358
Publisher: Henry Holt & Co.
Series: The Grisha #1
Released: June 5th, 2012

 *Note:* I'm trying out a new review format! Love it? Hate it? I would really really appreciate it if you would leave me some feedback in the comments if you read this review :]

I. The Story

"My great-great-great-grandfather was the Black Heretic, the Darkling who created the Shadow Fold. It was a mistake, an experiment born of his greed, maybe his evil...I've spent my life searching for a way to make things right. You're the first glimmer of hope I've had in a long time." (p. 81)

Alina Starkov and her best friend Mal were orphaned during the border wars. When they are drafted into the First Army, they are sent on a dangerous mission to cross the Shadow Fold, an unnatural darkness that divides the land of Ravka and is home to the man-eating volcra. During the crossing they are attacked, and Alina inadvertently saves them when in her desperation she discovers a power within her that had lain dormant. Alina is taken away to be trained as a Grisha, powerful magic-users who are led by the Darkling. The Darkling believes that Alina is the one person who can destroy the Shadow Fold.

II. Our Heroine: Alina Starkov

"Hey!" shouted the soldier. "Watch yourself!"
"Why don't you watch your fat feet?" I snapped, and took some satisfaction from the surprise that came over his broad face. People, particularly big men carrying big rifles, don't expect lip from a scrawny thing like me. They always look a bit dazed when they get it. (p.8)

Alina is a strong character with lots of internal struggles. As an orphan she has never felt that she belongs anywhere, except with her friend Mal. When she discovers she is a Grisha, she has to come to terms with her new power and figure out how to use it and where she fits into this new world. She was a great heroine with both strengths and weaknesses, virtues and flaws, and I really liked her! However I was annoyed by her poor self-image--what is up with all these YA heroines hating on their physical appearance? :P

III. Our Villain: The Shadow Fold (Or Unsea)

"Somewhere in the crowd, someone was singing. Singing? What idiot is singing on his way into the Fold? I glanced again at that smudge on the horizon and had to suppress a shudder...I looked down onto the ruined farms of the Tula...One day it was a place where farmers tended crops and sheep grazed in fields. The next, a dark slash had appeared on the landscape, a swath of nearly impenetrable darkness that grew with every passing year and crawled with horrors." (p. 9-10)

In Shadow and Bone the villain isn't a who so much as it is a what. The idea of the Shadow Fold was interesting, and definitely not a place I'd like to go! The author did a good job of creating tension/foreboding so that when the characters are in the Fold you are on the edge of your seat. I mean, its ever-present darkness filled with hundred upon hundreds of winged, man-eating monsters--that's at least a little creepy!

IV. Main Characters

• Mal (Malyen Oretsev)

 "No fainting in the middle of the road." said a voice close to my ear as a heavy arm landed across my shoulders and gave me a squeeze. I looked up to see Mal's familiar face, a smile in his bright eyes as he fell into step beside me. (p. 10)

 Mal was an easy-going, sarcastic, likable guy, and an extremely talented tracker. I really liked the relationship between him and Alina, how as orphans they always stuck together. The romance took a little longer to grow on me, mostly because Mal isn't present during the middle part of the book so I didn't get to know his character as well as I would have liked, but by the end he won me over ;]

• The Darkling

"I stared, torn between fear and fascination. He's too young, I thought. This Darkling had been commanding the the Grisha since before I was born, but the man seated above me on the dais didn't look much older than I did. He had a sharp, beautiful face, a shock of thick black hair, and clear gray eyes that glimmered like quartz. I knew that the more powerful Grishas were said to live long lives, and Darklings were the most powerful of them all. But I felt the wrongness of it and I remembered Eva's words: He's not natural. None of them are. (p.41)

I found the Darkling to be a very intriguing character. He was brooding, handsome, charming, and, well...dark. And it only adds to his mystery that no one knows his real name. I wasn't sure whether I should fear him or love him, and that combination made him even more attractive to me.

V. The Setting: The Little Palace in Ravka

"It was a strange name, because though it was smaller than the Grand Palace, the "Little" Palace was still huge. It rose from the trees surrounding it like something carved from an enchanted forest, a cluster of dark wood walls and golden domes. As we drew closer, I saw that every inch of it was covered in intricate carvings of birds and flowers, twisting vines, and magical beasts." (p. 86)

The world that Leigh Bardugo creates in Shadow and Bone (Ravka) is not only interesting and captivating, but it is full of details that makes it come alive. By the end of the book, I felt as though it was a real place. I especially loved the Russian feel to the book with the character's and places names, some of the dialect, the cold climate, and fur clothing.

The Grisha live in the Little Palace and are led by the Darkling. The whole order of the different types of Grisha was difficult to grasp at first and I wish it had been better explained what all they could do, but overall I thought the idea was very interesting. Basically there is the Order of the Living and the Dead (Corporalki), made up of Grisha whose power allows them to heal or kill. Then there is the Order of Summoners (Etherealki), who can summon elements such as wind, water, and fire. Lastly, there is the Order of Fabrikators (Materialki), who use their powers to create things. Each Grisha wears a different colored robe called a kefta depending on what they can do.

VI. To Read Or Not To Read? 

Shadow and Bone is a little confusing at first, but it sucks you right in. I'll be honest, at first I was a little uncertain because I didn't think the book was living up to all of the hype. But in the second half it really delivers! That's all I'll say about that ;] I loved the interesting world Leigh Bardugo created, and I can't wait to visit it again in the sequel, Seige and Storm!

Writing: 4/5
Characters: 4/5
Plot: 5/5
Creativity/Originality: 4/5
Kept me interested: 5/5

Review: Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore

Title: Bitterblue

Author: Kristin Cashore

Pages: 563

Publisher: Dial

Series: Graceling Realm #3

Released: May 1, 2012

From Goodreads: "Eight years after Graceling, Bitterblue is now queen of Monsea. But the influence of her father, a violent psychopath with mind-altering abilities, lives on. Her advisors, who have run things since Leck died, believe in a forward-thinking plan: Pardon all who committed terrible acts under Leck’s reign, and forget anything bad ever happened. But when Bitterblue begins sneaking outside the castle—disguised and alone—to walk the streets of her own city, she starts realizing that the kingdom has been under the thirty-five-year spell of a madman, and the only way to move forward is to revisit the past.

Two thieves, who only steal what has already been stolen, change her life forever. They hold a key to the truth of Leck’s reign. And one of them, with an extreme skill called a Grace that he hasn’t yet identified, holds a key to her heart."

My thoughts:
Oh, bother. Just like with the previous installment, Graceling, I'm struggling with how I feel about this book. I did enjoy it, but there were some problems I had with the book that kept me from loving it.

Some readers may be wondering if you absolutely must read Fire to follow Bitterblue. I didn't read Fire before reading Bitterblue as I wasn't certain if I wanted to invest time into reading it after my mixed feelings with Graceling, and it was merely a companion novel, not the sequel. Bitterblue can easily be read without first reading Fire, and I didn't feel as though I had missed anything.

In this book the story is told from the point of view of Bitterblue instead of Katsa, and she is now twenty and dealing with the aftermath of King Leck's reign. We still get to see characters we were introduced to us in Graceling, such as Katsa, Po, Raffin, Giddon, and Bann. They are involved in the story though they play more minor parts. Out of them, I think Po and then Giddon got the most page time. I really liked the characters, especially some of the new ones like the grouchy librarian Death (pronounced to rhyme with 'teeth'), Saf, and Teddy. But Po is easily my favorite character--he is very likable, kind, vulnerable, and strong.

There were a couple of things I liked better about Bitterblue than Graceling. First, I liked it being told from Bitterblue's perspective better, because Katsa often got on my nerves in Graceling. Second, there were far fewer glaring feminism themes; in Graceling I felt as though I was being pounded over the head with them and being preached a sermon about feminism. However, there were also things that I felt were better in Graceling. For one, the romance between Katsa and Po was MUCH better than the romance between Bitteblue and Saf. I'm so glad we get to still see both Katsa and Po in this book because they make an absolutely adorable couple, I love their romance! Also, I felt that the plot in Graceling was better and had more action.

Which brings me to the main problem I had with this book: the plot. I'm not quite sure how to explain it... First, I think that the book was just too long and it dragged in places. More and more questions kept being raised without others first being answered so that it was difficult to keep track of them all. And by the time one was answered it had been sitting on the back burner for so long that you had already forgotten about that piece of information. The plot to me felt somewhat jumbled and disconjointed, and I often wasn't sure what the main goal of the plot that the characters were working toward was supposed to be.

I was also disappointed in the romance. From the description I thought there would be more of it. In the beginning of the book it Saf and Teddy are constantly present, but then by the end they sort of fell into the background. After Bitterblue and Saf have an argument near the middle of the book, Saf isn't as present and other plot points in the story become more prominent and take up most of the page time, so that there really wasn't much romance. (Furthermore, Saf and Bitterblue's relationship frustrated me, but I can't explain why without spoiling things). Overall, I really liked Saf but I felt that he and Bitterblue were better as friends.

Recommendations:
Overall, I enjoyed this book. It was well-written with likable characters, some nice surprises/twists, and set in a creative world that feels real. I would recommend it to fans of Graceling and Fire, or fans of High Fantasy. However, those who don't like long reads might want to skip this one. After finishing Bitterblue I decided that I do want to read Fire after all, and I will read any future books in this series.

My Rating:

Writing: 5/5
Characters: 5/5
Plot: 3/5
Creativity/Originailty: 5/5
Kept me interested: 4/5