A Companion to Seraphina by Hartman Rachel (2015-03-10) Audio CD

Disappointed in the sequel. The original was wonderfully different and fun to read. The second was dull and pedestrian, as if the author felt obligated to continue. I appreciate how difficult it is to persevere on with a series. But if the writer isn't up for it, they shouldn't do it. At the very least the editor should have offered some sage advice.

This book had a very different feel from Seraphina. It ignored most of the great characters (and their interactions) from the first book and the music aspect which I really enjoyed in the first book was pretty much missing. That said, it did have good parts but the story was not as engaging and a bit of a chore to get through.

I really liked Seraphina and was looking forward to the sequel but now I can barely get through it. I'm stuck at 68%. Seraphina had a lot of unconventional, colloquial and bookish language but it didn't bother me. Shadow scale takes using pretentions language to new heights. I'm constantly having to check the meanings of some super archaic words. And the pacing is pedestrian. Kiggs is barely in the book so far and Orma hasnt appeared yet. Instead it's all about a bunch of half dragons from the garden in Seraphina's head. This is interesting and definitely has its moments but if I'm 2/3rds of the way through the book with no sign of some of the main characters then it's difficult to sustain interest. I'm also struggling to see where the broader arc of the story is going. It's like we're waiting for something to happen while being fed a load of unimportant details. There is a good story in there but this probably needed more editing. And how and why are both Seraphina and Kiggs so annoying about their feelings for each other. Lying or concealing it from Selda is hardly honest and all this waiting for the right moment to break it to her sends a very bad message to young girls reading this book. Why be with someone who's engaged, lying to or concealing critical information about his feelings from his fiance and asking Seraphina to do the same? That's a horrible message. Someone who isn't single is off limits. If they won't be honest and break off with whoever they're with to be with you, then that's a relationship to avoid. Whatever happened to being valued and loved and acknowledged openly? I'm still going to try to slog through this but I'm super bored and read 2 other books (The winners crime and The book of Ivy) while trying to get through this. Both are significantly more engaging.

Rachel Hartman’s Seraphina was a subtle, exquisitely quiet novel, nuanced and filled with sharply realized characters. I absolutely fell in love with it, placing it on my list of top reads that year, so it kills me to report that the eagerly-awaited sequel, Shadow Scale, not only failed to meet my (admittedly high) expectations, but really disappointed across the board.

Shadow Scale picks up shortly after the events of Seraphina, with dragons involved in an all-out civil war and their ousted leader Comonot allied with the human land of Goredd. While Princess Glisselda and Prince Kiggs prepare for war, Seraphina travels to find other ityasaari (half-dragons) such as herself, prompted by a discovery by Orma (her full dragon uncle) that the half-dragons might be able to provide a magical defense against dragon attacks. Her antagonist in this endeavor is Jannoula, the ityasaari who nearly possessed her mind in the prior novel and who uses that talent to take over other nearly all the half-dragons in this one

I had several issues with Shadow Scale. One is the pacing felt way off. The novel comes in at about 600 pages, which felt over-long by several hundred pages. The story started off slowly, then plodded along from place to place, much as Seraphina herself did, with little variation — no sense of urgency even when the storyline seemed to call for it, no slowing down for quieter moments. That isn’t to say there were no quiet moments, but it all felt apace; those moments didn’t stand out at all. The whole thing just dragged for me, and it never really felt like the author was fully in control or cognizant of the pacing.

This plodding sense attached itself as well to both the main character, who was surprisingly passive throughout most of the novel, and to the plot, which felt quite repetitive for the first half or more. Seraphina would travel to a new land in search of some half-dragons, find them, then Jannoula would possess them, Seraphina would bemoan their possession, then move on to the next land, where the process would repeat itself. Throughout it all, Seraphina was inexplicably removed from it all, paying lip service to the horror of it all, and to the real-world implications, but it never felt like she tried (really tried) to do much about it. Part of the problem here I think is that the solution is tied so much to her coming-of-age epiphany, which Hartman clearly wants to save for the climactic ending, but 500+ pages is a long time for the sort of delayed agency (I had other issues with that ending as well—its abruptness, its ease, the way it comes somewhat out of left field, etc., but I won’t go into those issues more so as to avoid spoilers).

If the protagonist was one issue, her antagonist was equally problematic. For one, the half-dragons’ mental powers just felt muddy to me. Jannoula can possess other ityasaari and basically wholly charm humans. How is never made clear, or why she is so distinct from the others in this capability. It also seems a matter of authorial convenience when she can fully charm people and when they can resist, or when she uses her possession to learn things and when she does not. And her pretty much unfailing ability robbed the book of much of its potential suspense. Finally, her backstory, which is meant to offer up some complexity to her villainy, never felt wholly connected to her.

Here I think it would have helped matters if Hartman had chosen a different narrative POV, using multiple narrators rather than focusing solely on Seraphina. Putting us in the head of Jannoula would have deepened her character, while giving us some other POVs — some of the possessed half-dragon, the full dragon Eskar, young Abdo — would have allowed us to break out of the repetitive plot cycle as well as created some of that painful urgency the book needed in places.

Shadow Scale has its moments, and Hartman does a nice job with some bittersweet endings, but it isn’t near enough to overcome its many issues: too great a length, a passive main character and overly effective villain, uneven pacing, a repetitive plot structure, unclear abilities/goals, and a problematic climax. It kills me to say it, but not recommended.

Rachel Hartman’s Seraphina was a subtle, exquisitely quiet novel, nuanced and filled with sharply realized characters. I absolutely fell in love with it, placing it on my list of top reads that year, so it kills me to report that the eagerly-awaited sequel, Shadow Scale, not only failed to meet my (admittedly high) expectations, but really disappointed across the board.

Shadow Scale picks up shortly after the events of Seraphina, with dragons involved in an all-out civil war and their ousted leader Comonot allied with the human land of Goredd. While Princess Glisselda and Prince Kiggs prepare for war, Seraphina travels to find other ityasaari (half-dragons) such as herself, prompted by a discovery by Orma (her full dragon uncle) that the half-dragons might be able to provide a magical defense against dragon attacks. Her antagonist in this endeavor is Jannoula, the ityasaari who nearly possessed her mind in the prior novel and who uses that talent to take over other nearly all the half-dragons in this one

I had several issues with Shadow Scale. One is the pacing felt way off. The novel comes in at about 600 pages, which felt over-long by several hundred pages. The story started off slowly, then plodded along from place to place, much as Seraphina herself did, with little variation — no sense of urgency even when the storyline seemed to call for it, no slowing down for quieter moments. That isn’t to say there were no quiet moments, but it all felt apace; those moments didn’t stand out at all. The whole thing just dragged for me, and it never really felt like the author was fully in control or cognizant of the pacing.

This plodding sense attached itself as well to both the main character, who was surprisingly passive throughout most of the novel, and to the plot, which felt quite repetitive for the first half or more. Seraphina would travel to a new land in search of some half-dragons, find them, then Jannoula would possess them, Seraphina would bemoan their possession, then move on to the next land, where the process would repeat itself. Throughout it all, Seraphina was inexplicably removed from it all, paying lip service to the horror of it all, and to the real-world implications, but it never felt like she tried (really tried) to do much about it. Part of the problem here I think is that the solution is tied so much to her coming-of-age epiphany, which Hartman clearly wants to save for the climactic ending, but 500+ pages is a long time for the sort of delayed agency (I had other issues with that ending as well—its abruptness, its ease, the way it comes somewhat out of left field, etc., but I won’t go into those issues more so as to avoid spoilers).

If the protagonist was one issue, her antagonist was equally problematic. For one, the half-dragons’ mental powers just felt muddy to me. Jannoula can possess other ityasaari and basically wholly charm humans. How is never made clear, or why she is so distinct from the others in this capability. It also seems a matter of authorial convenience when she can fully charm people and when they can resist, or when she uses her possession to learn things and when she does not. And her pretty much unfailing ability robbed the book of much of its potential suspense. Finally, her backstory, which is meant to offer up some complexity to her villainy, never felt wholly connected to her.

Here I think it would have helped matters if Hartman had chosen a different narrative POV, using multiple narrators rather than focusing solely on Seraphina. Putting us in the head of Jannoula would have deepened her character, while giving us some other POVs — some of the possessed half-dragon, the full dragon Eskar, young Abdo — would have allowed us to break out of the repetitive plot cycle as well as created some of that painful urgency the book needed in places.

Shadow Scale has its moments, and Hartman does a nice job with some bittersweet endings, but it isn’t near enough to overcome its many issues: too great a length, a passive main character and overly effective villain, uneven pacing, a repetitive plot structure, unclear abilities/goals, and a problematic climax. It kills me to say it, but not recommended.

Book two started with a prologue written by a future scholar who was looking back on past events, recalling the very events that made up book two. Right away I got this gut feeling that a certain plotline was going to turn out in a way I wasn’t particularly fond of. So I started reading this book with a hesitant mindset.
This book was all about preparing for war and assembling the pieces to the puzzle of the human-dragon hybrids that we started to uncover back in book one. Shadow Scale takes place a few months after book one ends, but you do not really feel like much time has passed between the two books.
I hated the romance in this book. While I never got the feeling the romance was going to be the main plot after reading book one, I wanted something more -anything- to happen in this one. Neither Prince Kiggs nor Seraphina wanted to overstep that line that would end our suffering from watching their longing. He was promised to marry his cousin, whom both he and Seraphina were fond of, and neither felt it was the right time to hurt her by sharing their newfound feelings with each other. So we waited. We sent covert glances to each other. We ignored the other. We waited. We did our duty.
It was like we have this fiery explosion at the end of book one, and then reality sat back in and it was over. I wanted them to get together. I wanted them to make it work. But as the story continued, we lost that focus and it became all about the half-dragons and the saints of old.
Which isn't to say it took a bad turn, because I loved meeting the rest from her garden. Even if there were parts in her journey that felt redundant because of the sheer number of characters. There were things about their religions and saints and the dragons from book one that I glossed over when I read Seraphina because it was a lot to take in. But reading this book, it was apparent how things were woven together from the start. I really enjoyed that aspect of the story.
But I think the book was a bit too long. Shadow Scale really felt like it was two books put together in a sense. We had about 90% of the book with her off looking for her fellow half dragons, then we had the bit at the end when she returned to her city. And Seraphina from part a, is not the girl from part b. It's like she looses a part of herself and becomes passive. So she just goes about her days while everyone else is where they've becomes trapped. It wasn't this girl who went off to brave angry dragons, and wander off on a foolish hope she can find the hiding half dragons.

Words To Live By
"He smiled again. I felt a little guilty for cultivating those smiles; I wasn't allowed."
"No casualties but my dignity. Some might say that's no loss at all."
"Logic can lead to many ends, citizen. No one likes to admit that- not even your philosophers. Dragons revere its incorruptible purity, but logic will coldly lead you over a cliff. It all depends on where you begin, on first principles."
Overall
I liked Shadow Scale overall, but I am a little disappointed. The book wasn't bad, but I am not in a hurry to reread.

One can only speculate what drove Hartman to write Shadow Scale the way she did, be it an emotional shakeup or just running out of time or space. But the end result was a book which is not only boring to read but which also has a negative impact on the Seraphina series as a whole.
Shadow Scale is a huge book but sadly is very repetitve. Seraphina sets out to find the other half dragons, leaving behind the well established setting of Castle Orison and many of the characters you came to like in the first book. Instead we get several hundered pages of the following scenario: Seraphina travels to a new country, gets a small introduction in its local culture. She finds several half dragons, each getting a short paragraph to establish their basic personalitiy, then the villain comes in and snatches them away and increasing its power. Seraphine monologues a bit about what happened, then goes to the next country, knowing fully well that she will lead the villain to the other half dragons and the scenario repeats itself.
The first 2/3 of the book is basically this with a different window dressing and gets stale very quickly. Whats worse, Seraphina does not learn anything from those events and not once tries to prevent the villain to steal the half dragons. Instead she follows her initial plan to the letter. This is one of the main problems of the book. Seraphina is completely passive and does not do anything for the most parts of it. If instead of following Seraphina we would have observed the entire story as an incorporate watcher it would not have played out differently as all actions are taken either by the villain or one of Seraphinas friends. Even worse is the extreme amount of naivity Seraphina displays. While the characters in YA novels are generally expected to be a bit naive Seraphina uses up any goodwill ten times over.
I do not know what message Hartman tried to send, but over the whole book Seraphina cares more about the villain than about her friends which said villain continues to hurt and even kill which Seraphina hardly acknowledges. And not once does Seraphina take responsibility or even register the consequences of her inactions even whe she was flat out told what they are.
Then there are the LGBT issues which were introduced. While that in itself is not a problem Hartman does it extremly clumsily and with a sledgehammer and you cant shake the feeling that she at some point during writing Shadow Scale started to associate with the LGBT movement and then rewrote sections of the book to include them, so out of place do they feel.
Not only do you learn everything about the 5 genders in Prophyry which adds notning to the plot and bloats the alredy oversized book even more, several established characters turn lesbian/bi/transsexual out of the blue without any hints or warning and it looks like Hartman decided retroactively to make them that way instead of having planned it from the beginning.

The book gets a lot of praise for its world building and there is certainly a lot of it. Page upon page of world building pile ontop of each other, but the result is a huge mess which breaks apart as soon as you look at it.
Despite the existence of half dragons being a secret in the first book the half dragons prove incredibly easy to find, some of them living rather openly and not even hiding their draconic features. And a few countries later their existence is even common knowledge.
The nations we get to visit are the usual remix of real life cultures one by now expects from fantasy novels. For example Samsams is basically Germany with a bit of Scottland thrown into the mix. It is workable, but not very exciting and far from"magical"
You also get a closer look at the dragons, but not only do all dragons behave very emotionally, contradicting everything the first book told you about them, they are also technologically so advanced to have computers. And you can't tell met that someone with this technological edge can be stopped by knights with pikes. It makes no sense at all.
A special mention goes to the ending of this book as it becomes very clear that Hartman ran out of time, pages or interest, possibly all of them.
The villain gets stopped by a literal Deus Ex Machina. Thats right, in the last few chapters of the book a god (or the closest thing to a god this series has) gets introduced and takes care of the villain without Seraphina doing anything. Thats the epitome of lazy writing.

But it only gets worse from there. The way Seraphinas personal quest and her romance gets resolved is what damages the whole series.
Instead of Seraphina coming out of this whole ordeal stronger than before and finally being able to live a normal life now that she no longer has to hide her nature, you know, that what she always wanted in the first book, she voluntarily continues living a different lie and playing 2nd fiddle for the rest of her life. That completely contradicts and destroys the character you got to know from the first book. And like with the LGBT themes this also seems very forced, artifical and is also very unsatisfying to the reader.

Sadly there are a lot of blind 5 star review for this book which hide the true extend of its failure. Still one can only hope that Hartman learns something from it instead of being blinded by gushing fans. But whatever she does, it is too late for Seraphina.
I can only repeat my initial warning. If you liked the first book and for some reason have not read this one yet, don't do it! Finish the story with your own imagination instead. Whatever you come up with will be better than Shadow Scale.

love this world. I love the dragons who shrink themselves down into people. I love the odd half-dragons and their magical abilities. I love the young Queen and analytically cousin. And I love Seraphina, who she is and who she finds herself to be. This book is so expansive, however, I feel like I miss out on some of the very things I grew to love in the first book, Seraphina. There was just not enough Abdo, Orma and certainly not enough Kiggs (seriously though, there could never be enough Kiggs for my liking). But oh was there adventure! And the perfect unraveling of Seraphina at the core, both literally and figuratively. She is one of my favorite characters baring none. The worst thing I can say about this sequel is that I waited too long for its awesomeness and now am forlorn at the fact that I think it is the end. I could read ten more smart, funny, introspective fantasies about these fantastic characters. But, alas, I do not believe this is in fact a trilogy. My heart is heavy.

Final recommendations: if you like fantastic females, epic adventures, heart-breakingly evil adversaries, and a wee bit of romance

I, like many of you, loved “Seraphina” so much I could hardly stand it. I loved Phina herself, was more than a little IN love with Kiggs, loved the dragons, loved the Goreddi culture, loved everything. So I went into “Shadow Scale” expecting to love it, too, but also fearing that I wouldn’t. My fears were (mostly) unfounded. “Shadow Scale” may not be quite as good as its predecessor, but it still managed to keep me from getting anything done until I finished it. And it was well worth it.

This book is all about Seraphina’s journey to find her half-dragon brethren in hopes that they might help to save Goredd from a dragon invasion. With Abdo and Dame Okra in tow (not Kiggs, unfortunately), Phina sets out to Ninysh, Samsam, and Porphyry, where her fellow ityasaari are located. Some are completely receptive to her plans, others are hesitant, and still others are downright belligerent. But worst of all is an old enemy of Phina’s, an enemy she thought she’d gotten rid of years ago when she locked the fiend in a little house in her garden. Jannoula is controlling the half-dragons’ minds, but why? What does she stand to gain? And will Phina ever stop her?

In this volume, Hartman continues to be strong on character development and world building. Although I missed Kiggs, Orma, and most of our other favorite Goreddi characters, I enjoyed many of the new half-dragons. They’ve all had to suffer plenty and will have to suffer more if they join Phina – which is why I understood why some didn’t want to. And I especially give props to Hartman for Jannoula’s character; she’s one of the better-developed villains I’ve read in a while.

And oh, the places we go! I tried to categorize the countries in terms of the familiar – Ninysh felt Mediterranean, Samsam seemed vaguely Scandinavian, and Porphyry Middle Eastern – but they’re all so original and mismatched that those descriptions aren’t at all apt. If I can’t travel to real places, the next best thing is visiting Hartman’s.

However, this book wasn’t perfect. It dragged ever so slightly in a few places. There were characters I would have liked to have seen more of or known more about. There were a few plot points that came out of nowhere. There’s definitely some heartbreak in this book, which isn’t BAD, necessarily, but some of it could have been avoided.

Even so, “Shadow Scale” is well written and generally well characterized. It also offers a little extra background I wasn’t expecting (about the Saints, specifically). And that epilogue is so, so good. I don’t know what else to say except to tell you to read it for yourself. Maybe it could have been better, but it’s still pretty darned good.

**Review courtesy of All Things Urban Fantasy**

When there is a significant wait between two related books, such as the wait (almost three years!) between SERAPHINA and SHADOW SCALE, I begin to doubt my impressions of the first book. This was the case here, as I began to worry that I had imagined how wonderful I thought SERAPHINA was and how there was no way that SHADOW SCALE could live up to the expectations I'd set up in my head. Luckily, SHADOW SCALE delivered on all my expectations and more.

Hartman's writing is amazingly smooth and almost lyrical, making the reading experience very enjoyable, despite the length of the book. There were some parts I felt could have been cut down a bit, but all in all, everything contributed to the plot and I loved all the detail we got into Seraphina's world. Though I would love to compare SHADOW SCALE to some other young adult fantasy to help you decide whether or not you'll like it, I feel that it almost defies comparisons, standing in a class of its own.

It's hard to go into too much detail without ruining any key points of the story, but needless to say, SHADOW SCALE made me laugh, with the wry humor of the dragons and it made me cry, with the losses that Seraphina endured. There were twists I never saw coming, that were amazing and surprising, including one which warmed my heart. The fullness of the world and writing allowed me to feel all those emotions when I was reading, and it was spectacular to be allowed to spend the time with the characters and be welcomed into their world.

With amazing world building, excellent characterization of a multitude of characters (no cliches or 2D characters here) and beautiful writing, SHADOW SCALE is a book for readers of all ages. With its coming of age story and heroine journey, there is enough to keep even the most reluctant reader occupied. As wondering and fascinating as SERAPHINA and SHADOW SCALE are, I wish there were move books in this series, but I've only my imagination to guess what may happen next.

I adored Rachel Hartman's earlier novel Seraphina, and this sequel coasts by on a lot of borrowed good will from that. Unfortunately, Hartman has jettisoned the parts of Seraphina that I found most engaging (namely the cultural differences between humans and dragons, her heroine's secret status as a mixed child of both species, and the ensuing court intrigue and interpersonal drama) and built this next book largely around the parts that I liked the least (namely the magical mental powers of her characters and the protagonist's quest to find people from her dreams).

The ensuing book is fine if a little aimless -- and I do appreciate the added diversity of characters -- but it's a disappointing follow-up to the wonder of Seraphina.

I think Shadow Scale is a worthy successor to Seraphina, which I absolutely loved. However, it’s not quite as good as the first in my opinion, although it is still head and shoulders above a lot of other young adult (adult, too) epic fantasy novels that get published.

The action of the book picks up 3 months after the first book ends. (If you haven’t read the first book recently, there’s a helpful recap at the beginning to remind you what happened.) The war between the human-hating dragons and the ousted leader and his loyal dragons is in full swing, with bitter fighting between the two factions. Seraphina’s homeland of Goredd is a target because they have allied themselves with the overthrown Ardmagar. When they learn that Seraphina and other half-dragons like her may be able to use mental powers to defend Goredd from the dragons, Princess Glisselda sends Seraphina out to gather them in. Troubles abound, however, not least that Jannoula, who had tried to take over Seraphina’s mind and body, is able to exert her influence over the other half-dragons, gathering power to herself to serve her own ends. And when her full nature is finally revealed, those ends turn out to be terrible for Seraphina and everyone she cares for.

Everything I loved about Seraphina is present in Shadow Scale. The worldbuilding is really tremendous; I’ve read a lot of fantasy novels, and it’s really hard to be original, but Rachel Hartman has created a world that is fresh and fascinating and very richly detailed. And because Seraphina has to travel to find the other half-dragons, we get to see a lot of Seraphina's world this time around. There is some action in the story (Seraphina gets caught up in a battle between dragons at one point), but the novel is very much character-driven, and Seraphina is certainly an engaging character. She continues to struggle with what it means to be a half-dragon, both for herself and for others like her. Seraphina has had an idealized notion of what the other half-dragons and their relationship to each other would be like, and she’s forced to realize that they aren’t going to conform to her expectations--they haven't all been sitting around waiting for her to show up and change their lives. In fact, much of the book consists of Seraphina struggling to achieve various goals and failing, which is much more interesting than when successes come too easily to a character.

However, that failure is also a point of weakness in the story for me. In the last quarter of the book, Seraphina is constantly thwarted in her attempts to make a difference, to the point that the pace of the action slows almost to a standstill. This gives the reader lots of time to learn how horrible Jannoula really is, but I started to get frustrated. I don’t want to give away too much about the plot, but . . . Seraphina learns that, like all the other half-dragons, she has mental powers, but hers have been blocked. The problem for me was that her attempts to free her powers during the course of the book seem half-hearted at best, even when every other course of action has failed. There are clues about things she could try, but it takes her forever to connect the dots. I think that Hartman could have at least had Seraphina try a little harder to heal herself, because just giving up doesn’t seem natural to Seraphina’s character.

I think some readers may have a problem with the romance between Seraphina and Prince Lucien Kiggs as portrayed in this book. They spend a lot of the book separated by necessity, so that doesn't give a lot of time for their relationship to develop. And the resolution to their romance certainly isn’t a conventional happy ending. I’m not entirely sure I like the choice the author makes there myself; it seems an awfully convenient resolution, in a way, neatly avoiding heartache for all involved. Still, it is consistent with Seraphina’s nature and the way she sees herself as a bridge between others.

Those quibbles aside, I enjoyed Shadow Scale a lot and absolutely devoured the book. If you liked Seraphina, this follow up is required reading. If you like character-driven epic fantasy novels and you somehow missed Seraphina when it was published, you should give both books a try!

An ARC of this novel was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This sequel started slowly for me. Traveling with Seraphina to other lands was a bit interesting but it seemed to drag in parts. SPOILER ALERT: I was not happy with the ending of the love triangle! How could they decide to let Lucian marry Selda after all? I got the impression that Seraphina and Lucian were still able to be together (sort of) but I hated that conclusion! I also disliked the fact that her Uncle Orma’s condition was left ambiguous (yes you get the impression that in time he retrieved his memories but still...). So overall the conclusion of the war and defeat of Jannoula was satisfying but the relationships not so much.

Shadow Scale had me a bit worried towards the beginning. I had a difficult time getting into it and readjusting to all of the odd words and concepts, but in the end I have fully remembered why I enjoyed the first book so much and now I have nothing but love for it.

Shadow Scale picks up around three months after the events of Seraphina and starts off rather slow. The tension between Goredd and the Old Ard is becoming increasingly violent and a plan has been formed to find all of the half dragons they can and try to put a stop to the fighting. Most of this book focuses on Seraphina’s travels to find the others and we get a look at the rest of the world other than Goredd. I loved seeing the differences in each place as well as how differently each treated the half-dragons, and of all of the Polyphria shines the brightest. We also get to see other half dragons besides those we finally met in the latter half of Seraphina (Abdo, Dame Okra, and Lars), and they are incredibly varied in their appearances and personalities. One such the half dragon who can worm her way into other people’s minds. I don’t want to say too much about her, for fear of spoilers, but she is one seriously fierce and messed up woman and part of me really loves her for it.

There were some surprisingly additions to this which basically made me want to kiss the book and buy tons of copies to give to people, which I will also refrain from mentioning in detail but have to do with diversity and progression.I will say that the pacing in the book is comparable to a rollercoaster. It takes a while for it to make it’s way up the largest hill but once it does it sets off on a pace that absolutely refused to let me set it down for too long. I wouldn’t recommend these books to a casual fantasy reader though. If you don’t enjoy a ton of world-building, new vocabulary and a lot of characters you might want to borrow it or simply skip it for the time being. I also really appreciated the fact that the romance is not a focus in these, and that while it is present both characters involved know there are much bigger things to deal with.

I would say that Shadow Scale is a very strong sequel to Seraphina, but does require some reacquainting since it has been so long since the first book. The world building is still fantastic and the depth of the emotion and ‘humanity’ (for the lack of a better word) was more than enough to endear me to most of the characters involved. Shadow Scale is a stunning conclusion.

When Seraphina finds out that there are other people of her kind, she embarks on a mission to find them so they can help end the Dragon Civil War. At first, it starts out successful. Later, she realizes that Jannoula, her enemy and another of her kind, becomes a major obstacle in her path. With her immense power, she manages to lure them, and soon one by one they all fall under her spell. Seraphina must find a way to stop her, or else all will be lost.

Because many of the characters are absent in this novel, it mostly focuses on Seraphina’s loneliness and suffering. At first, she is hopeful and it seems like there is a bright future ahead of her. However, eventually her hopes are dashed and she is broken. Throughout the novel, Seraphina is trying to recover from her hardships and is trying to cope with her loneliness. Throughout her obstacles, Seraphina grows stronger, more mature, and wiser. Unlike the first novel, Seraphina must solve the problems and find the solution herself.

I also liked the villain, Jannoula. I found her to be a perfect match. I like her backstory, and I began to pity her, even though she made ruthless actions. She was very intelligent and was able to counterattack Seraphina’s attempts. She was a formidable nemesis and was really hard to defeat. One thing - I did wish the author would elaborate more fully on Jannoula’s power. She never fully described what it was or how she used it.

Overall, the story is about friendship, choices, and redemption. The novel is about a woman trying to find her role in the world. Because I am a fan of Seraphina, and having been anticipatedly waiting years to read this sequel, I did have a few disappointments. One of the disappointments was that all my favorite characters were largely absent in the story. I hoped to revisit some of my favorite characters and to see how they grow, but sadly there was no growth development in the story with them. This lead to my second disappointment, the love story between Prince Lucien and Seraphina did not grow because Prince Lucien was only in a quarter of the novel, and Seraphina rarely made any conversation with him. Third, I did not like the ending. The ending not only felt rushed, but it also was very unhappy. I felt that it was unhappy not because it was sad, but because there seemed to be no reason to make it unhappy. I believe that the ending could have been prevented if they were true to themselves. The author could have truly give them a happy ending. Despite my disappointments, the story still kept me captivated. Rachel Hartman’s writing seemed to breathe a life of her own, and I soon became more fascinated with her creative expansion of her world. There was also a strong protagonist and a strong antagonist, and I loved the battle of wits between Seraphina and Jannoula. While this sequel is not as good as Seraphina, it is still enjoyable.

There's no question about Hartman's writing abilities, but from someone who loved Seraphina, I have a number of complaints.

1. In the first book, Seraphina was a smart, capable young lady (though sometimes far too wise to be believable in a 16-year-old). In Shadow Scale, she makes terrible decisions at every turn and seems to have lost some IQ points. There are some good plot twists, granted, but you'll figure out the answer to Seraphina's main problem and be banging your head on your Kindle for pages and pages as Seraphina grapples with this obvious solution.

2. My second, and largest, complaint is the relationships. In this book, you will encounter:
a. A young, handsome guy in love with a gout-riddled, seemingly unattractive old man.
b. A half-dragon transgender man who falls for another old and unattractive, winged man (see a pattern here?).
c. A female dragon who was devoted to one dragon before another asked her to make an egg with him. Surprise! She said yes, even though she could have made en egg with the first dragon and "done her duty."
d. An incredibly random, bisexual element you won't see, and won't want to see, coming.

Before someone starts shaking their fist at me, the intrinsic literary problem is these relationships are all terribly unbelievable. I left a similar review on a book called Winterspell that employed this same tactic of showering the reader with every thinkable sexual minority. Not only was there little literary purpose besides pushing the author's position on the reader, the main relationships weren't satisfying in the end.

3. This book desperately needed editing for length's sake. I try to respect the author and rarely skim. Toward the end of Shadow Scale, however, I skimmed like crazy just to get this over with. Landscape and architectural description was especially abundant. World building is fantastic. I just don't need to know every detail.

After reading Seraphina earlier this year, I was really excited to read Shadow Scale. I really liked Seraphina so my expectations for the sequel were pretty high. And in most departments Shadow Scale fulfilled my expectations.

Shadow Scale picks up a couple of months after the final events of Seraphina. The country is on the brink of a civil war. And Seraphina is sent on a mission to find all the other half-dragons by her prince and queen. The first half of the book mainly focusses on this aspect. Seraphina travels the kingdom in her search to find all of her kin not only so that they can stop this war but also because she wants to give them a home. Rachel Hartman has a true talent when it comes to world-building. She described all the different landscapes and regions so vividly. I could imagine myself traveling in those regions; I could clearly see what everything would look like.

Each half-dragon was unique in its own way. They all had a different experience being one; some were outcasts of the society while others were perceived as gods. I really loved meeting all of them. But because I loved most of them I also found it a shame that we didn’t spend a lot of time with them. Before we could really get to know them we moved on to some new place and new character. I especially missed the characters from the first book: Lars, Viridius, Dame Okra… They were still a part of this book but we didn’t get to see them enough. But the character I missed the most was Kiggs. I loved him in the first book, certainly when he was around Seraphina. Together they are like a master mind. And in this book I had to miss him way too much. So the romance was also pushed to the background and I kind of missed it.

The first half of this novel was rather slow. There was a lot of travelling and meeting a lot of new characters. But it didn’t bother me like it normally does. And this build-up was necessary for the later parts in the book. As with the first book I couldn’t have predicted the plot twists that were revealed later on in the book. I believe that this series would have been better as a trilogy. The whole last part of the book could have been a book on itself. At times I felt like it was all a bit rushed at the end. But the biggest disappointment for me was the ending. I felt so sorry for Seraphina, it looked like she was the only one that had to make sacrifices. She lost everything, while others still had everything. It just seemed a bit unfair to me.

Overall I really liked this book. If not for a couple of things I would have given this book five stars. But now it still gets a solid four stars. If you haven’t read this series yet I would highly recommend that you do because it’s an amazing duology.

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman was one of those wonderfully charming, wholly fascinating fantasy novels that caught my eye at work one day and would not leave me alone. This happens occasionally--I see a book in the flesh (in the pages?) and even though I've already talked myself into waiting until it comes out in paperback, or the library gets, or at least waiting until pay day, that's it. It must come home with me. Seraphina was that kind of book.

So I've been waiting and waiting and waiting for the follow-up (because the ending was so maddeningly, wonderfully wide open) for almost three years, and finally, it came. Shadow Scale. Finally.

Shadow Scale picks up only a few weeks after Seraphina left off. The dragon civil war has left the human populations in the Southlands feeling very uneasy, and Glisselda and Lucian fear that Goredd could suffer heavy collateral damage. They send Seraphina and Abdo south to find the rest of the halflings, using Seraphim's mental connection to locate them. Seraphina quickly discovers that her old enemy Jannoula has terrifying mental powers of her own, and she's using them to force each of the halflings to her will. Seraphina finds herself unable to fight Jannoula on her own, she she must turn to the rebel dragons and her own troubled past to discover the truth about her own nature and how to defeat Jannoula.

Shadow Scale does all of the things that a great fantasy sequel should do: expand the world on multiple levels, add depth to the protagonists, and make use of the many interesting, diverse supporting characters. Although the very beginning is a tad slow, as soon as Seraphina and Abdo have set off on their journey, the story moves quickly. Hartman takes readers to all of the three countries she only mentions in the first book--Ninys, Samsam, and Porphyry--and introduces all of the members of Seraphim's mental garden. There are plenty of twists and turns to keep the plot tilting and re-arranging, and the multitude of characters hold their own surprises and secrets.

The trajectory of the plot allows Hartman to really dig deep into the geography, history, politics, and theology of the various nations that made up the Southlands. She uses little details to make the cultures and cities come to life, and follows up on informations she first introduced in Seraphina. She layers new information and details about the history of both humans and dragons into the narrative, pointing to a surprising revelation about the history of humankind and the existence of the halflings.

There are no easy answers for Seraphina, and she runs up against obstacles at nearly every point in the story. Hartman isn't afraid to hurt her characters, but Seraphina doesn't give up easily. She learns that there are no answers to the challenges she faces, and that unless history is to (disastrously) repeat itself, it's up to her to find new solutions and connections between the human and dragon worlds.

Shadow Scale is diverse and compelling, and Hartman's writing is elegant and witty. Seraphina's delightfully charming voice holds steady throughout her trials, although by the end she has changed: she recognizes her own value despite her mistakes and makes great sacrifices for her people.

So now my only question is: Will there be a book three? I think yes. I have too many important questions about Seraphina's world for this to be the end, although I'm willing to give her a brief rest before her next adventure. After the events of Shadow Scale, she's earned it.

ARC provided by publisher.

The nation of Gorred--a place of dragons, half-dragons and a plethora of Saints. A nation where one moment you are fearing the Censors will take away your mentor and perform the equivalent of a dragon lobotomy, the next you are fighting for freedom from a powerful group of dragons, the Loyalists who want to return dragons to their rightful place, to be able to take dragon rather than human form. The Censors are those dragons who excise all those dragons who threaten the status quo. The Loyalist group seems able to track your every move and want to annihilate all half-dragons--the ityarsarri. Agreements and long held treatises are broken. Rules of behaviour for dragons are challenged. At Lab Four, a secret Censor facility Seraphina meets the quigutl when she attempts to rescue Orma. A sub species small dragon like creatures, they are quite fascinating.
The secret of half-dragons is revealed and it is truly terrible. Half-dragon and musician Seraphina has a connection to all. Her walled off mental garden where contained mythic like personalities just might be the key. As dream becomes reality Seraphina is forced to face her own fears and her dragon heritage. How to hold all that knowing and unknowing, how to hold onto your inner self into your own inside your head and heart, how to protect your consciousness from the denizens of your mind garden is truly a dangerous puzzle. Jannoula is one such garden inhabitant. Seraphina was right to fear her. Jannoula is chaos unbound, charming, innocent and the mistress of deception. As one by one her friends fall under Jannoula sway, Seraphina is powerless to counteract. Plans are ruthlessly overturned and loved ones become foes. Complex, thrilling and sometimes confusing, the story strides forward. Seraphina has for so long been afraid, has locked down her abilities that all is nearly lost. Diplomacy and battles, searches in the subterranean paths in the Censors' laboratories for her mentor Orma, the action overwhelmingly moves forward. Seraphina's belief in herself is a long time coming, but when it arrives she is a dragon unscaled! Her relationship with the Queen and Prince Lucien is a continual underlying tension that seems to taper off. Given the angst and the action that combine in this companion volume, Shadow Scale is indeed an exciting sequel to Seraphina.

A NetGalley ARC

Shadow Scale bring us back to Goredd, the city where Seraphina lives, which is preparing for war against the dragons who want to break the treaty with humans, so the Queen Glissenda decide to try to bring together all the half-dragons in order to see if they can help in the war, because is suspected that most of them have unique powers that could be useful in combat against dragons. And because Seraphina is a half-dragon and also has a link with others like her, through visions, she's sent on a mission in order to collect them and bring them to Goredd, so she must look for them in the other Kingdoms, and during her journey she finds allies and friends, but also finds people who see the half-dragons as aberrations, so that her mission will not be easy. On this journey, her constant companion is Abdo a 12-year-old half-dragon boy that can see the "light" emanating from his race.

During her trip Seraphina start having problems with a half-dragon that can influence and take over the mind of the other half-dragons, with whom Seraphina had had a confrontation before when she was a little girl and at that time she could successfully ban her from her mind . But now it seems she has become mentally stronger and has her own agenda in the war that is about to happen between humans and dragons.

I loved this book, the only thing I had issue was the romance, which although it isn't the main part of the plot, at least for me it was important, because Seraphina and Lucian are great together and they had not enough interaction during the book (this is my opinion), but the few interactions they had were great and loved them.

And for the epilogue, I can only say that it was bittersweet with a touch of hope. I liked it although it saddened me. And I would greatly appreciate if in the future the author decides to write a short story or novella.

Overall, Shadow Scale is an amazing book, the plot is fascinating and unforgettable, it's beautifully written, has its fair share of action, interesting twists and turns in the plot and lost of intrigue ... there were times when Seraphina could not trust anyone. I loved it! It makes me sad to know that this is the conclusion of Seraphina's story. I highly recommend this duology for fans of epic fantasy books.

Shadow Scale (Seraphina, #2)
Hartman, Rachel

When I started this book, barely into the pages a young girl in one of my classes had only a few remaining pages. She finished the book during class that day; she had to talk to her friend about the elation and devastation she felt with the end of the book. I could see it would be an awesome read right then and there.

As I got into the story, reading the loneliness and terrible conditions that the Ityasaari (half-dragon) endured made me yearn to have things turn out right. The love story of Seraphina and Prince Kibbs was endearing and challenging. The events unfolding in Goredd and the rest of the Southlands on the edge of another war, are complicated by the Ityasaari Jannoula a banished half-dragon who has hatred in her heart to destroy all Saar (dragons) and ityasaari and humans alike. The dynamics and breath of the story is amazing. I found that I was inspired by this work, and hope the author is able to print more stories in this great literary world.

We waited a while for the sequel to Seraphina but the wait was worth it. Shadow Scale is a very entertaining epic fantasy story. The world has such depth that I could almost feel that I had been there. The characters were well-rounded individuals with both strengths and weaknesses.

Seraphina is determined to locate the other half dragons who are in her mind garden in the hopes that they could help Goredd survive in the up-coming war between the dragons. She travels to other lands - Samsam and Ninys - and visits the city of Porphyry to locate the others. She is accompanied by Dame Okra and her young friend Abdo who are also half dragons. Along the way she sees how half dragons are treated in other countries. She also gets to meet the people who had been part of her mind garden since she was a child.

One of the denizens of her mind garden was Jannoula. She was one of the first to join the garden but Seraphina had to eject her because she was taking over Seraphina's life. Now it turns out that Jannoula isn't safely locked away as Seraphina had hoped but is free and causing all sorts of mischief among humans and dragons alike.

Much of the story deals with Seraphina trying to unlock gifts she had locked away in order to thwart Jannoula's plans before Jannoula managed to destroy everything Seraphina loved. Among her loves are the young queen Glisselda and her fiance Prince Lucian Kiggs. Seraphina and Kiggs are in love but neither wants to hurt Glisselda. Putting distance between herself and Kiggs was one of the reasons Seraphina was so eager to set off on her journey to find other half dragons.

The story sucked me in and I couldn't put it down. I really cared for Seraphina and wanted things to work out for her. Fans of epic fantasy won't want to miss this book.

SHADOW SCALE by Rachel Hartman is the sequel to the popular dragon vs humans fantasy SERAPHINA.

In the first book, Seraphina discovers her true identity as half-dragon, half-human. In this gripping followup, Seraphina goes on a quest to gather together other half-breeds with the hope of bringing peace to a world at war. However, she comes to realize that dark forces are against her and many would like to see both dragons and humans destroyed.

The refined characters, intricate world-building, and multi-layered backstory make this a much more sophisticated fantasy novel than many other young adult works. Although some readers will enjoy the details, others may find that the detail slows down the story.

Hartman’s amazing descriptions of Seraphina’s mental garden are a unique and compelling alternative to telepathic communication found in many other books featuring dragons.

Readers who enjoy dragon fantasy will be impressed by both the first book as well as the sequel. However, librarians should keep in mind that this is a young adult novel rather than a middle grades fantasy. The elaborate world-building and multitude of characters may not appeal to readers looking for a fast-paced fantasy and the complexity may be overwhelming for younger children.

Fans who have been waiting to return to the kingdom of Goredd will enjoy revisiting their favorite characters and meeting new half-dragons. The two books were intended to be a duet with a clear ending, so don’t expect to revisit this kingdom again unless the author explores a different facet of the world.

To learn more about the author, go to http://rachelhartmanbooks.com/.

Published by Random House on March 15, 2015.

Beginnings and endings are often the most difficult parts of any book, and Rachel Hartman isn’t the first author who has rolled along quite nicely for several hundred pages and then suddenly can’t figure out how to wrap things up.

“Shadow Scale” (Random House, $18.99, 596 pages) has the right setup (dragons, discriminated-against half-dragons and humans in a preindustrial world) and solid plot (the villain has her justification and things aren’t quite what they seem), but the only way Hartman could end this young adult effort was with a deus ex machina – or in this case, from a swamp – to make it all work.

That said, with room for another sequel or two, the story of Seraphina, the teen-age protagonist, is a good one, and as Hartman doesn’t settle for tying up each loose end in a neatly wrapped bow, there’s promise here. But better endings are a must.

Dragons and music and conspiracy oh my! In this latest installment about the life of Seraphina, she has to stop a civil war between dragons in hopes that Goredd will in turn not be destroyed. To do this, she has to travel far to gather others like her, and some of the people she meets along the way cause more problems then the dreaded dragon civil war, they might even cause a worse war. As Seraphina meets new friends and old enemies, she also has to deal with her romantic feelings. Even though they are there, I really appreciate how they do not take up the entire story, but that they are just there. At first the book was a little overwhelming, but eventually as I got further into the book, it got better. The ending was conclusive and satisfying, but it left it open to more. I found myself really missing the characters and the world that was created after I finished it. I would recommend this to people who liked Beka Cooper by Tamora Pierce and Thrown of Glass by Sarah J Maas. They all are similar in the world that is created. I gave this book four stars because it was slow at times and had too many names, but the story and world was really good. I really missed it once I finished it.

With the city of Goredd preparing to battle its dragon enemies, Seraphina is called upon to travel to various lands to find the ityasaari, which have been dwelling in her mind garden. These ityasaari are rumored to have the means of saving Goredd, and Seraphina is the only one who can convince them to help the Queen.

However, Seraphina soon finds out that one of the ityasaari has a unique ability to infiltrate minds. Soon, almost everyone she knows is under powerful mind controls, and it will be up to Seraphina to release them before it’s too late for Goredd.

“Shadow Scale” is an ingenuously written, fantastical tale of love and betrayal as seen through the eyes of dragons and half dragons. Humans are secondary to the story, since Seraphina is half dragon and “Shadow Scale” is her story.

I am not a big fantasy fan and, in the past, have enjoyed some fantasy books I was sure I wouldn’t enjoy. However, I had a really hard time making it through this book. The abundance of philosophical thoughts from Seraphina and her dragon friends may have played a part, as well as the lack of real action. It really doesn’t matter because Seraphina’s true fans will enjoy reading about her latest adventure.

Recommended for ages 13-16.

Shadow Scale, the sequel to Seraphina, is a very different book than its predecessor in mood and theme. Superbly written, Shadow Scale follows Seraphina as she travels to other lands, including the homeland of the dragons itself, to search for other half-dragons like herself to aid in the war. As a result, prominent characters from the first book like Orma and Lars have much smaller roles, but we are introduced to a much larger cast of complex, fully developed new characters. Characterization is where Hartman excels the most, and each of the new half-dragons we are introduced to is richly portrayed. The setup as we meet these people goes a long way to explaining the length of this book.

It would probably have been very easy for Hartman to have simply written another book just like Seraphina and give her readers more of what they loved in the first book and many will expect in the second: court intrigue, the same set of beloved characters, and a tidy, fairytale ending. While the relationship and continuity with the first book is evident, especially in the lush descriptions, leisurely pace, and deft characterizations, Hartman has eschewed the easy path, and has written a very challenging book. She takes Seraphina (and the reader) outside her comfort zone to new places and new challenges, and as a result this book has a very different and rather darker feel than the first book. I expect that most readers who had strong expectations for what would be in the second book will be very surprised. If they are open-minded to the book that Hartman wrote rather than what they may have expected, however, they will not be disappointed.

We see a lot of the rich, different cultures outside of Goredd. Porphyry in particular is delightful. Quigutls steal the show at one point. The villain that Seraphina confronts is far more terrifying and powerful than I could have ever imagined, and if I could pick one quibble, the villain is probably too powerful, and I would have liked to have seen a bit more weakness from her in the interest of leavening the grimness.

There is no fairytale ending, but instead a very lifelike ending, in which some characters suffer terrible fates, others come out surprisingly well, and the happy ending, when it does arrive, is tempered with compromises and a sense of "not perfect, but good enough": I felt the resolution of the romance subplot was especially well done, although some things are left to our imagination.

In the end, Shadow Scale is a surprising, strongly written sequel and concluding chapter to Seraphina's story that will surprise you, and is a very different child from its predecessor.

Seraphina is different from most of the people around her. She has a very big secret. Her secret is that she is only half human on her father’s side. Her mother was a dragon. The silver scales surrounding her torso and on her arms are kept well hidden. Of all her fellow Goreddians only a select few know who or what she truly is. For if they did know she would be avoided and feared. Seraphina longs to be with others of her kind, and with war imminent, Seraphina is soon dispatched on a special mission to find others like herself and return with them to Goredd.

This YA fantasy, sequel to Seraphina, is not your usual dragon tale. Even if you haven’t read the first book, you will have no problem reading this one. It seems to be about celebrating our differences and acceptance of others regardless of their ethnicity. It’s a tale brimming with secrets and intrigue. The characters are highly likable. I especially thought the author did an excellent job with the story’s conniving villain. Loads of tension right up to the very end.

There is a helpful guide to characters/terms in the back of the book. A pronunciation guide would have been nice, too.