Seraphina

Title: Seraphina

 

Author: Rachel Hartman

Publisher: Random House (2012)

 

Genre(s): Fiction, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Young Adult Fiction

Length: 451 pages

Synopsis: Seraphina has spent her life on the fringes.  She's an embarrassment to her father and a walking cultural taboo... or she would be, if anyone found out her secret.  Now that she's earned a place as the assistant music mistress for the royal family, it's harder than ever to stay in the shadows.  But being invisible in the castle does have its benefits.  In less than a week, the leader of the dragons will arrive to celebrate forty years of peace with the kingdom, but lately relations have been anything by peaceful.  The prince was murdered on a hunting trip in a suspiciously draconian manner, and now the anti-dragon league known as the Brothers of St. Ogdo is wreaking havoc in the streets.  Only Seraphina is positioned to see the plot underlying it all.  Trapped between two cultures and used to avoiding the spotlight, Seraphina knows that she can't remain silent with the entire kingdom at stake.  But to stop a war, she'll have to risk revealing her own secret.

 

My Rating: 5 Stars

My Opinion: This book is delightfully clever.  Seraphina's voice is unique and real, and her passion for music rings particularly true.  Hartman's dragons, capable of folding themselves into human shape, provide a surprising commentary at what it means to be human.  In fact, that's the real basis of this story.  What does it mean to be normal?  What are the qualities we have deemed culturally acceptable?  And for those who don't meet that standard, how can they make a life for themselves that's really worth living?  Seraphina's story is an intriguing framework for these questions, but it doesn't come across as moralizing.  It's a mystery and an adventure, all told by a singularly fascinating narrator and an innovative author.  This doesn't read like your average fantasy novel; despite the dragons and re-imagined medieval setting, it borders on science fiction.  The dragons (and their cousins the quigutl) are technologically advanced and (if I may reveal my inner nerd) as emotionally disciplined as Vulcans.  Despite its genre-bending qualities, Hartman seems to have drawn on the best of both worlds.  The result is a smart, pleasantly complex, and thought-provoking new read that's worth your time if you enjoy either genre.