Monday, July 2, 2012

Review: Seraphina

Seraphina
by Rachel Hartman
Published July 10th 2012
by Random House Children's Books
ARC from Netgalley

Summary from Goodreads:
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.

Thoughts:
Seraphina; a half born dragon is a talented musician but was shunned most of her life by her human father. Thankfully her somewhat reluctant uncle who just happens to be a brilliant dragon took her under his wing. Just when the celebration to commemorate the peace between the dragons and humans are under way, certain situations arise and Seraphina must work together with the bastard prince to solve the mysterious murder.

Seraphina is simply a delightful story with its clever and unconventional depiction of dragons. I just love the dragons in this book. They can change to human form and disguised themselves as scholars with a talent for solving difficult math problems and they converse in such a straight forward manner that can be so funny and downright sarcastic at times. And Seraphina's relationship with her dragon mentor/uncle Orma really touch my heart.

The colourful characters, the delicious romance and the heart warming relationship just made me fell in love with this book completely!

Recommended for: fans of epic &high fantasy
Verdict: 4 stars.

In my Début Author Reading Challenge 
Available on: Amazon

2 comments:

  1. I've seen SERAPHINA around. Love the cover. I can't pass up on dragons.

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  2. Wow, this sounds like my kind of book! I love that the dragons can shift into human form. I've only read one other book like that (Dragon's Bait by Vivian Vande Velde—love!) and it's a feature I'd definitely like to read more about. Glad to hear you recommend it!

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