3.5 Stars
Book Rating: PG
Language: PG (Uses of the word bas****)
Violence: PG (Vague descriptions of fights, people attempt to poison others, etc).
Sex: G
Substance Use: G
Seraphina is a fantasy YA novel about a girl who is half dragon and half human and tries to hide her heritage seeing that being a "Saar" is basically a death sentence.
Seraphina is the music mistress in the court of Goredd. She's the harpsichord tutor to princess Glisselda who is third in line for the throne and favorite to the music master of the city, Viridius.
I found this book hard to get into at first. There were a lot of words I had to look up to understand the meaning. The majority of the book was world building, character development, and political practices, along with the everyday routine at court. Usually, if a book doesn't have more action to it, it will automatically get three stars, like Shatter Me by Tarehah Mafi. The reason that I gave this book four stars is because the author kept the tone light. It was easy to read, even with the long descriptions and the long histories of the world she created. It kept me interested, and that's really all that matters.
My favorite part, along with what I think is he most creative part on the author's side, was the Garden of Grotesques. I absolutely loved the concept and the parallelism to the fact that we all need to take some time for ourselves and tame the creatures inside of our brains that give us stress or anxiety. The visual as Seraphina mentally walks through her garden is vivid and bright. She has to go and "tend" to her garden as her teacher, (and uncle), Orma tells her. She takes time with each of the grotesques, making sure they're doing what they need to do and not getting into the deepest parts of her mind. In a way, she's protecting her mind from any attacks, be it from memories, anxiety, or stress.
The whole Treaty between the Saarantras (dragons) and humans was interesting. Most of the time it takes me a long while to understand the politics of a world that I don't know. For example, as I was reading Game of Thrones, I had to take several days away from the book so I could process all that was going on and why one group hated another and why they went to war and how so and so became king, etc. In this book, however, it felt completely natural, like I had been living in the world my whole life. I understood the treaty that stood between dragons and men and why it was penned in the first place and why it was a necessity to the survival of all races.
The only thing this book really needs is a map of the country of Goredd. I found myself reading about a county quite a distance away or was reading about the customs of another county or picturing the Porphyrion dancers and I found myself flipping to the front of the book on several occasions looking for a map to tell me where the heck everything is! I'd totally lose my way.
The novel lacked action. There was a lot of "what-ifs" floating around the palace, but never was something done, except for the time that Kiggs and Seraphina went out to look for the traitor dragon. I could've used a bit more interest in the imposing threat of a rogue dragon that could burn the entire city to the ground. Mostly, it was a lot of speculation as to where he was and what he was doing. The downfall of this entire plot was anticlimactic and lacked any real detail, which kind of annoyed me. I was looking forward to seeing dragons in action, but really, the whole thing lasted about two pages.
I'm sure the next book will have a bit more of what I'm looking for. There was mention of wars and betrayals and rallying other dragons and people to he Kingdom's cause. The book was a bit slow, yes, but overall, I enjoyed the characters and their political antics.
Definitely give it a try if you're unsure. I just happen to follow these following guidelines for the perfect book. Got Action, Got Comedy, Got Romance. And all need to be spaced out evenly, not too much of one or the other. But just the right amount.
Book Rating: PG
Language: PG (Uses of the word bas****)
Violence: PG (Vague descriptions of fights, people attempt to poison others, etc).
Sex: G
Substance Use: G
Seraphina is a fantasy YA novel about a girl who is half dragon and half human and tries to hide her heritage seeing that being a "Saar" is basically a death sentence.
Seraphina is the music mistress in the court of Goredd. She's the harpsichord tutor to princess Glisselda who is third in line for the throne and favorite to the music master of the city, Viridius.
I found this book hard to get into at first. There were a lot of words I had to look up to understand the meaning. The majority of the book was world building, character development, and political practices, along with the everyday routine at court. Usually, if a book doesn't have more action to it, it will automatically get three stars, like Shatter Me by Tarehah Mafi. The reason that I gave this book four stars is because the author kept the tone light. It was easy to read, even with the long descriptions and the long histories of the world she created. It kept me interested, and that's really all that matters.
My favorite part, along with what I think is he most creative part on the author's side, was the Garden of Grotesques. I absolutely loved the concept and the parallelism to the fact that we all need to take some time for ourselves and tame the creatures inside of our brains that give us stress or anxiety. The visual as Seraphina mentally walks through her garden is vivid and bright. She has to go and "tend" to her garden as her teacher, (and uncle), Orma tells her. She takes time with each of the grotesques, making sure they're doing what they need to do and not getting into the deepest parts of her mind. In a way, she's protecting her mind from any attacks, be it from memories, anxiety, or stress.
The whole Treaty between the Saarantras (dragons) and humans was interesting. Most of the time it takes me a long while to understand the politics of a world that I don't know. For example, as I was reading Game of Thrones, I had to take several days away from the book so I could process all that was going on and why one group hated another and why they went to war and how so and so became king, etc. In this book, however, it felt completely natural, like I had been living in the world my whole life. I understood the treaty that stood between dragons and men and why it was penned in the first place and why it was a necessity to the survival of all races.
The only thing this book really needs is a map of the country of Goredd. I found myself reading about a county quite a distance away or was reading about the customs of another county or picturing the Porphyrion dancers and I found myself flipping to the front of the book on several occasions looking for a map to tell me where the heck everything is! I'd totally lose my way.
The novel lacked action. There was a lot of "what-ifs" floating around the palace, but never was something done, except for the time that Kiggs and Seraphina went out to look for the traitor dragon. I could've used a bit more interest in the imposing threat of a rogue dragon that could burn the entire city to the ground. Mostly, it was a lot of speculation as to where he was and what he was doing. The downfall of this entire plot was anticlimactic and lacked any real detail, which kind of annoyed me. I was looking forward to seeing dragons in action, but really, the whole thing lasted about two pages.
I'm sure the next book will have a bit more of what I'm looking for. There was mention of wars and betrayals and rallying other dragons and people to he Kingdom's cause. The book was a bit slow, yes, but overall, I enjoyed the characters and their political antics.
Definitely give it a try if you're unsure. I just happen to follow these following guidelines for the perfect book. Got Action, Got Comedy, Got Romance. And all need to be spaced out evenly, not too much of one or the other. But just the right amount.
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