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Shadow Scale Seraphina Series Rachel Hartman Books

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Shadow Scale Seraphina Series Rachel Hartman Books

Incredibly unsatisfying follow up to Seraphina, which instantly became a favorite of mine. It feels like it was forced or that she was pressured to get the book done in a time frame that didn't enable her to shine to the best of her abilities. While Seraphina gave us action, social and political commentary, and many engaging characters, it seemed like Shadow Scale simply plodded along, trapped in a plot outside of what should have really been the focus. The trip to gather up the other half-dragons was painstakingly slow and took up the majority of the book; the conclusion was highly unsatisfactory, with none of the characters ending up truly contented at the end. Hartman attempted, I believe, to maneuver the text into a place so that readers could understand and embrace that duty comes first.... but it didn't feel like there was heart behind that decision. So instead, we see an ending with many beloved characters pretty miserable and without much purpose in their lives.


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Shadow Scale Seraphina Series Rachel Hartman Books Reviews

With its logic-driven shape-shifting dragons, arcane saint-filled religion, and music permeated, culturally rich, Medieval-like setting, Seraphina by Rachel Hartman is easily of my favorite books of all time. I love its sequel, Shadow Scale, almost as much.

The world building continues to be among the most wonderful I've encountered. In Shadow Scale, Seraphina is on a quest to collect other half human/half dragons like herself, which takes her away from her homeland of Goredd and into the surrounding countryside. She travels around three human kingdoms, Ninys, Samsam and Porphyry, each with its own history, culture, landscapes, politics, traditions, and relationship with the dragons, and all so vividly imagined that I feel I've walked through those lands myself. Seraphina also spends time in Tanamoot, the mountainous home range of dragons, where the immense ash-scented reptiles soar through the skies and lumber on land in their natural forms.

A lot of things introduced in the first book are explained further in Shadow Scale. During her journey around the kingdoms Seraphina discovers more about the origin of the saint based religion that all the humans have some connection to, though it's interpreted with interesting differences in the various lands she visits. She also learns more about the many forms and unique abilities of her fellow half dragons, and each of the curious beings in her mental garden plays some role in the story.

Shadow Scale opens with a Prelude you can skip if you've recently read Seraphina. It goes over information from the first book that readers might have forgotten, but because it's written as if it's by someone living far in the future, long after the events of both books, there were a few bits of implied information about how Shadow Scale ends that I would have preferred not to know, though they weren't major spoilers.

My only complaint about Shadow Scale is I wish there was more. The resolution of the triangulated relationship between Glisselda, Kiggs, and Seraphina is bold but rushed over right at the end and not completely satisfying. I also felt that with a little more time some of the individual powers of half dragons could have been put to more use--I had hoped the soul or mind animated mechanicals shy Blanche surrounds herself with could have played more of a role in the plot. And at the end of the story I was left wanting to know more about what happens with the people and dragons back in Goredd after the resolution of the conflict, since we hadn't spent much time there or with any of them.

Basically I love the series so much I greedily want another book, so I was very happy to learn Hartman is planning another duology in the same world--it's a world she's been creating stories about for many years, first in a series of comic books. For now at least we have these two books--both Seraphina and Shadow Scale are so rich and immersive I know I'll be re-reading them again and again.
I read Seraphina and enjoyed it. It was a moving story with strong characters and plot development. I had high hopes that this sequel story would be a good conclusion to all the loose ends and cliff hangers. Boy was I wrong. I spent days reading (since I am a busy mother of many children and have limited time), at first avidly, slowly excusing the increasing shortcomings, growing more concerned, and then the ending confirmed all my fears. I can't tell you a single thing done right. I was very disappointed.
Shadow Scale opens up the world of Seraphina on a much more epic scale. The story begins with the dragon civil war, but it also takes us through the different kingdoms as Seraphina goes around gathering other ityasaari (half-dragons) like her. While the dragons are fighting their war, the human kingdoms are also having upheavals regarding their leadership and how their relations with Tanamoot would be continued. The story takes into it several threads, and brings them all together in an amazing finale.

Seraphina's story had begun with her getting caught up in human-dragon politics and now she is becoming sort of an ityasaari ambassador of Goredd to other kingdoms. She ventures out, along with the others, to collect the other ityasaari so that they can protect the kingdom and aid in the civil war. At first, I thought it was a thin excuse to have her going around meeting everyone, but soon as one of the half-dragons from her garden starts to take centrestage, the real stakes of the story are established. Jannoula, who Seraphina had locked away in her mind, is reaching out to the other half-dragons, and her presence during the dragon civil war is not a good sign. Seraphina faces the challenge of standing against a powerful ityasaari whom she had barely outwitted the last time, and as Jannoula's influence spreads, Seraphina's allies keep dwindling. Coupled with this is the question that we had been asking in Seraphina about how rare the ityasaari are.

While Seraphina takes us through each kingdom, Ninys, Sam Sam and then Porphyria, we see how the attitudes towards the dragons shapes the ityasaari in each kingdom. Ninys and Sam Sam are vehemently anti-dragon, the latter more so, and the half-dragons there live a life of seclusion. In Porphyria, however, they are given amnesty, so their treatment is different. Even so, existing political ties to Tanamoot mean that the saars living in exile there also are invested in the outcome of the dragon civil war. Seraphina's challenge is to get her allies to cooperate on a single objective, and to prevent Goredd from being ravaged by dragon armies and the new leadership of Sam Sam. The ending was a bit surprising, and considering the way it was basically a Deus Ex Machina, I also felt it was wrapped up too easily. The buildup until that point had promised a much more intense climactic scene than we got, but that worked, too, in a way.

As for the world, as I said before, we get a much more complex and detailed building in this one. Much of what had already been established in Seraphina is now further examined in the light of new revelations. Also, I loved Porphyria very much, particularly because of their more open attitude towards dragons, and a much more inclusive society. In Seraphina, we had come across Lars and Viridius being Daanites (as in, gay) but here, in Porphyria, seven genders are accepted, and there is also a trans secondary character. There is also, in fact, a minor arc about gender identity and asking for pronouns, and not assuming anyone's gender, which I really liked.

When it came to the romance, however, Shadow Scale took the less is more approach. Yes, Kiggs is still a love interest for Seraphina but their relationship is on the DL for Glisselda's sake. Even so, at the end, that part is resolved in a very nice manner, befitting the relationship these three characters have with each other. I wish it had been more explicit about it, rather than leave it to subtext and one line that had me going - umm, please explain? Suffice to say, I agree with Seraphina that it is their business but still, as a reader, I can't help but feel a little robbed of a clearly defined resolution to that love triangle.

Overall, this book is an epic journey and a fitting sequel/finale to Seraphina
Incredibly unsatisfying follow up to Seraphina, which instantly became a favorite of mine. It feels like it was forced or that she was pressured to get the book done in a time frame that didn't enable her to shine to the best of her abilities. While Seraphina gave us action, social and political commentary, and many engaging characters, it seemed like Shadow Scale simply plodded along, trapped in a plot outside of what should have really been the focus. The trip to gather up the other half-dragons was painstakingly slow and took up the majority of the book; the conclusion was highly unsatisfactory, with none of the characters ending up truly contented at the end. Hartman attempted, I believe, to maneuver the text into a place so that readers could understand and embrace that duty comes first.... but it didn't feel like there was heart behind that decision. So instead, we see an ending with many beloved characters pretty miserable and without much purpose in their lives.