I'll be honest. I loved, loved, loved Seraphina, and I didn't really like Shadow Scale. I found the sequel to be disappointing. Every reader who read and loved (or read and liked) Seraphina, I imagine, has expectations for the sequel. Other readers may love it and find it to be a wonderfully satisfying read. I wasn't one of them.
Shadow Scale and Seraphina are very different books. Yes, they're both narrated by Seraphina and focus on the conflict between dragons and humans and half-dragons. But all the things I loved about the first book seemed to be missing completely from the second book. Seraphina herself seems quite different. Yes, she's under pressure and great stress. Yes, her life has been turned upside down since the ending of the first book. So some change, of course, is welcome. But I missed the old Serpahina. I missed the world she used to live in. I missed the people she used to spend time with.
The book also feels longer than it actually is--and it's a long book. The first book was just a joy to read. I read it in two days. I mean it was an absorbing WOW book. Shadow Scale was not a joy to read. I kept reading it for several reasons. I kept hoping it would get better. Since I had loved the first book so much, I felt I should keep giving it chance after chance to improve. I didn't stop caring about the main characters just because the story was dragging. A part of me still cared about what happened in the end.
The book never improved for me. (I think other readers liked the ending better than I did.)
© 2015 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews
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