Title: Seraphina
Author: Rachel Hartman
Series: Seraphina, Book 1
Number of Pages: 464
Date Read: 6/17/13
Genre: Fantasy, Dragons, Paranormal
Rating: C+
Synopsis (Found on Goodreads.com)
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.
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.
My Review:
This book was ok. It wasn't what I expected. I saw that this book got so many great reviews so I was expecting something spectacular...add to the fact that I love dragons I thought I was in for a great read. I'm disappointed that this book fell flat for me.
I like the concept of dragons and half dragons in a world with humans and living peacefully with them. I guess the word I'm looking for when it comes to this book is Boring.
It was just so dry without anything really happening. The whole first half of the book is about the coming of the head of the dragons to celebrate the 40 years that the peace treaty upheld. Nothing really happened in those pages. The book opens up with the funeral of the prince..We only hear about what happened instead of reading his murder as it happened. There was a half-hearted investigation by Seraphina (the Main C.) and Prince Lucian Kiggs (bastard son and head of the queens guard). They actually go to talk with some banished knights but after than nothing really happens. They figured out who killed him way to easily that it was laughable. The rest of the book is about a coo to kill the head of the dragons by dragons who don't agree with him and the humans have to protect him. Right cuz there's a lot that the humans can do against a fleet of dragons. The book was just way too long.
Seraphina was ok..she was boring. She was the assistant music mistress in the palace and was in charge of planning and setting up the festivities for the arrival of the King Dragon (just gonna call him that..its easier). I got bored of her saying how much work she had to do and yada yada yada. I do like the fact that she is half dragon with scales on parts of her body. I have to applaud her for dealing with those crippling visions because they sound a like a huge pain in the ass. The whole thing with her garden and tending her grotesques that lived there in her head was weird. At times I was like "What the hell am I reading?" I also was so over her complaining about being half dragon and her self-wallowing. Get over it already...
The rest of the characters were bland as well. Prince Lucian Kiggs was boring too. Don't get me wrong he's a nice sweet guy and I like him but hes so blah..but perfect for Seraphina. He didn't really have much to do in the book except guard the palace and his royal family. He was another one who was hung up on himself being a bastard. Like I said..get over it already. There was hardly any romance and when it was acknowledge it popped as soon as it bloomed.
I really like Orma though who is Seraphina's uncle and a dragon. He is hilarious in the way he talks and acts because the dragons in this book are cold and unaware of how to act socially around people. Dragons pride themselves on being emotionless. I like Orma because he acted like a dragon but at the same time he felt love for Seraphina and his sister (Seraphina's mother) even when he wasn't supposed to and he didn't want to give that feeling up. He goes out of his way to help Seraphina even changing into a dragon (they're not supposed to so that) to fly to her aid. It was touching.
I also liked Princess Glisselda. She was funny, cheerful and silly but at the same time had a regal power to her as well. She really likes Seraphina and the two become friends. Glisselda and Kiggs are engaged (they're cousins..gross) and Glisselda wants Kiggs and Seraphina to be friends too. Its funny because she's always throwing Kiggs and Seraphina together so she's kind of playing matchmaker without even knowing it.
I also liked Seraphina's father even though he wasn't always there for his daughter. I feel for her father because the man married a dragon and didn't even know it until she died giving birth to Seraphina. He was also a lawyer in the palace so it would be very bad for him if anyone found out he married a dragon and had a half dragon daughter. The poor man was in a bad predicament. One thing Seraphina has are visions that her mother left her...basically they are her mothers memories. I loved the memory of her mother and father when they kissed. Its more than the kiss...its the thing they say before the kiss like "I didn't know what to do when you said you didn't want to see me again" kinda stuff. It was sweet and one of my favorite parts.
One thing I did like about the book was Seraphina's grotesques. I like how we find out that they are all half dragons and that she actually meets 3 of them in real life (there are 17/18 in all). You get to meet them but you don't get to learn a lot about them. You get to know their personalities but not their stories which is something I wanna know. That is probably one of the only reasons I'm going to read the next book because I want to know more about the half dragons and I wanna meet the others. I'm given to understand that the next book is about Seraphina finding the other half dragons. I hope I'll like that one better than this one.
I like the concept of dragons and half dragons in a world with humans and living peacefully with them. I guess the word I'm looking for when it comes to this book is Boring.
It was just so dry without anything really happening. The whole first half of the book is about the coming of the head of the dragons to celebrate the 40 years that the peace treaty upheld. Nothing really happened in those pages. The book opens up with the funeral of the prince..We only hear about what happened instead of reading his murder as it happened. There was a half-hearted investigation by Seraphina (the Main C.) and Prince Lucian Kiggs (bastard son and head of the queens guard). They actually go to talk with some banished knights but after than nothing really happens. They figured out who killed him way to easily that it was laughable. The rest of the book is about a coo to kill the head of the dragons by dragons who don't agree with him and the humans have to protect him. Right cuz there's a lot that the humans can do against a fleet of dragons. The book was just way too long.
Seraphina was ok..she was boring. She was the assistant music mistress in the palace and was in charge of planning and setting up the festivities for the arrival of the King Dragon (just gonna call him that..its easier). I got bored of her saying how much work she had to do and yada yada yada. I do like the fact that she is half dragon with scales on parts of her body. I have to applaud her for dealing with those crippling visions because they sound a like a huge pain in the ass. The whole thing with her garden and tending her grotesques that lived there in her head was weird. At times I was like "What the hell am I reading?" I also was so over her complaining about being half dragon and her self-wallowing. Get over it already...
The rest of the characters were bland as well. Prince Lucian Kiggs was boring too. Don't get me wrong he's a nice sweet guy and I like him but hes so blah..but perfect for Seraphina. He didn't really have much to do in the book except guard the palace and his royal family. He was another one who was hung up on himself being a bastard. Like I said..get over it already. There was hardly any romance and when it was acknowledge it popped as soon as it bloomed.
I really like Orma though who is Seraphina's uncle and a dragon. He is hilarious in the way he talks and acts because the dragons in this book are cold and unaware of how to act socially around people. Dragons pride themselves on being emotionless. I like Orma because he acted like a dragon but at the same time he felt love for Seraphina and his sister (Seraphina's mother) even when he wasn't supposed to and he didn't want to give that feeling up. He goes out of his way to help Seraphina even changing into a dragon (they're not supposed to so that) to fly to her aid. It was touching.
I also liked Princess Glisselda. She was funny, cheerful and silly but at the same time had a regal power to her as well. She really likes Seraphina and the two become friends. Glisselda and Kiggs are engaged (they're cousins..gross) and Glisselda wants Kiggs and Seraphina to be friends too. Its funny because she's always throwing Kiggs and Seraphina together so she's kind of playing matchmaker without even knowing it.
I also liked Seraphina's father even though he wasn't always there for his daughter. I feel for her father because the man married a dragon and didn't even know it until she died giving birth to Seraphina. He was also a lawyer in the palace so it would be very bad for him if anyone found out he married a dragon and had a half dragon daughter. The poor man was in a bad predicament. One thing Seraphina has are visions that her mother left her...basically they are her mothers memories. I loved the memory of her mother and father when they kissed. Its more than the kiss...its the thing they say before the kiss like "I didn't know what to do when you said you didn't want to see me again" kinda stuff. It was sweet and one of my favorite parts.
One thing I did like about the book was Seraphina's grotesques. I like how we find out that they are all half dragons and that she actually meets 3 of them in real life (there are 17/18 in all). You get to meet them but you don't get to learn a lot about them. You get to know their personalities but not their stories which is something I wanna know. That is probably one of the only reasons I'm going to read the next book because I want to know more about the half dragons and I wanna meet the others. I'm given to understand that the next book is about Seraphina finding the other half dragons. I hope I'll like that one better than this one.
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