The story of the titular character, a gifted artist raised by a lawyer suspicious of music, who rises to the position of Music Mistress in the royal court of Goredd just as her country is about to celebrate an important anniversary of its treaty with a nation of dragons, some of whom now live among humans in disguises known as saarantri, Seraphina is a deft exploration of coming-of-age and self-acceptance. And what is going on with that relationship at the end? I'm not impressed with your choices, kids.On the recommendation of a number of readers who, familiar with my deep affection for the works of Tamora Pierce, insisted I’d love it, I ripped through Rachel Hartman’s Seraphina while I was on vacation.

That was like reading an allegory where the author knows all the words without knowing who they apply to in real life.

The dragons, in human form, also bear some linguistic (passing, outing) and experiential similarities to transgender people. Because they are not capable of feelings. The dragons are emotionless like Vulcans are emotionless-as is convenient to the plot, and without much regard for how animals and their feelings tend to work in the real world, and sometimes humans make them feel things they never felt before. Promise! Unsure about a few things, noted here for my future reference. To my friends who are YA fans, I highly recommend this. I also think there are a few logic problems with some of the more science fiction (rather than fantasy) elements of the story, but not enough to bother me too much. more e as a 16-year-old, and I would find all this a bit more plausible if she and a few other characters were aged up two or three years. My only problem, really, is that she does not read to m. The main character is not your average YA Plucky Teen Girl - she's a complicated, prickly, funny character who has a rich emotional past and present, and her connections with other characters are also complex and well-drawn. And the human world is a little like medieval/early modern Western Europe, but in other ways is very different. Imagine Vulcans who can shoot fire from their mouths. Here dragons are an intelligent, highly organised society that disdain emotions and have advanced technology. This does something genuinely new and interesting with the dragon mythos. Review 1: This is really, really great! I'm not into dragons - I wasn't an Anne McCaffrey fan, and the Daenerys parts of Game of Thrones mostly bore me.

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman