Book #4 of 2015: Seraphina (Bonus British question at the end!)

[thistlechaser]

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman
Rating: Loved (Hated-Disliked-Okay-Liked-Loved)



Holy cow, guys, this has been a good year for books so far. Each book I read is better than the last, and I suspect it's going to go on for at least the next book.

I've been sitting here for a few minutes now, trying to decide what was the very best part of this book so I could start the review with that, but I just can't narrow it down. So, in no special order:

- The worldbuilding: So often this is my favorite thing about a good book, and it was done so very well in Seraphina! While it was set in a fantasy world where dragons exist and often walk around looking like people, it couldn't have been more believable. I especially loved the religious system and how it worked itself into the world. Examples: When a baby is born, a book containing all of the many, many saints is dropped, and the page it opens to is that baby's patron saint. Also, whenever someone who died is mentioned, the speaker always includes a bit about the saint in the comment. "We lost dear dad last year, may his soul forever rest on Saint Whoever's hearth, and so all of us kids had to take over tending the farm." Just a short phrase, only part of a sentence, but it gave such an interesting glimpse into their religious system.

- The dragons: Really part of the worldbuilding, I guess, but they were a big enough part of the book that they deserve mention on their own. I 100% bought the dragons as both an alien species, fully different than people, but also individuals within that species. I loved the idea that they were able to walk around as human as well (though almost none of them could act convincingly human, they just didn't understand or value humans enough to learn how).

- The human characters: Gah! The main character was so believable and realistic, strong yet flawed. I loved her love interest, and the romance did not bother me even one tiny little bit (so rare in a YA book!). I bought every character, from minor to major.

- The writing: Wow. Rachel Hartman can write so well! I feel like I should be able to phrase that better "writes so well" seems so generic and boring. I had not one issue with her writing (again, so rare), and in the entire book only spotted one error (more of an editing miss than a problem with the writing). A section near the ending made me tear up and laugh at the same time -- I cannot remember the last time a book did that.

Plot-wise, Seraphina is the story of a post-war nation. Once humans and dragons were at war, but it ended and now both races are trying to move forward... except some are not happy about that peace and the idea of working together with the other race. Hm, writing that out here, it sounds kind of generic, but the plotline really works. The main character is caught in the middle of the two groups, and the focus is on her trying to navigate through it all.

I highly recommend this book!

Next up: Shadow Scale (Seraphina, #2) by Rachel Hartman.

Edit: This author did something I've seen before, though rarely. She often used the phrase "quit the room" as in "left the room". Is that a British-English phrase? I've only seen it in a couple other books.

Comments

[changeling72.livejournal.com]

Um. I don't know to be honest. I have never thought of it as an English term, but maybe it is? It's certainly the sort of thing that wouldn't be out of place in Austen.

I rarely read fantasy novels, but I might give this one a look.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Hope you enjoy it, if you do read it!

Do you hear it in everyday life? If so, maybe it is. I never, ever hear it in person, and only very rarely have I seen it in books, so I figured it must be some other kind of non-American English.

Hm, from her bio page: "Rachel was born in Kentucky, but has lived a variety of places including Chicago, Philadelphia, St. Louis, England, and Japan". So it's possible she picked it up in England... or elsehwere.

[ms-manic.livejournal.com]

No definitely not a British term. I don't think I've ever heard anyone say that over here.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Hmm very odd. If she had been the only author who used it, I'd think it was something she made up... But there have been one or two others.

[morgan-lafaye.livejournal.com]

Off topic, I LOVE your icon.

[hamsterwoman]

A couple of people I recommended the book to complained about the religion aspect while enjoying it overall, so I'm especially happy to see you mention religion as a positive aspect of the worldbuilding 'cos I really liked the way that was done but was feeling in a distinct minority there :P

And agreed with everything else in your review -- this was one of my very favorite books last year :)

Re: quit the room -- maybe an outdated usage? I've seen it before, too, but I think maybe in Regency era sort of texts?

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Huh. Usually I'm quite sensitive to religious stuff in a negative way, but religion in this book did not bother me one little bit. I'm surprised to hear there were people who didn't like it!

It's possible it's an outdated term. The book had a couple new-to-me words (love it when that happens!) and turns out all of them were British or antiquated. I'm not at all sure where I've seen it before, I just know I have.

[hamsterwoman]

I've learned the word "sackbutt" from it, for instance! There may have been other ones, but definitely that one -- and I got a chance to show off knowing it to L, too, because they were listening to a medieval music thing in choir and the teacher told them one of the instruments was a sackbutt :)

The treatment of religion criticism was that the religion felt too simplistically negative, basically just a vehicle of prejudice... but I didn't feel that way, so *shrug*

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Yeah! I had thought she made up 'sackbut', but nope! It's a real thing! (Even if LJ's spellchecker puts a red squiggle under the word. But then, it puts it under LJ as well...)

The opinion on the religion part is really odd. I didn't feel that way at all either.

By the way, the second book looks like it's going to be expensive. It had a US price listed as $19.99! I assume that's for hardcover, but that seems really high even for that. (But I've not bought a physical book in years, so maybe that's the normal price now?) There was a blurb that prices and such were "subject to change" though.

[postingwhore.livejournal.com]

I don't recall hearing that term in the UK ever.

And I'll have to add that book to my to-read list, thanks :)

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Oddness!

Hope you enjoy it!

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

this has been on my to-read list for awhile and I'm always recommending it to people based on the positive reviews I've seen. SOME DAY I WILL READ IT! :)

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Yay! I hope you enjoy it, once you get to read it yourself! :)

[morgan-lafaye.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a trip to the bookstore is in order for me.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

It's worth getting! I hope you enjoy it, too. :)

[socksofjello.livejournal.com]

Picked this up at the library on your recommendation. I haven't gotten far in yet, but I'm digging the writing style and premise so far! I sorta have a thing for alien intelligences and transformation.

Tangentially, I thought you might get a kick out of this twitter.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Yay! Can't wait to hear what you think of it when you're further in!

And huh, thanks for the link! This is the second time I've seen someone writing a story through tweets. (Though the other one was serious, not a parody.) Amusing! And now I want to know more about that story too, parody though it is. :P