Seraphina (2012)

Seraphina. Rachel Hartman. 2012. Random House. 499 pages. [Source: Library]

 From the prologue:

I remember being born. In fact, I remember a time before that. There was no light, but there was music: joints creaking, blood rushing, the heart's staccato lullaby, a rich symphony of indigestion. Sound enfolded me, and I was safe. Then my world split open, and I was thrust into a cold and silent brightness. I tried to fill the emptiness with my screams, but the space was too vast. I raged, but there was no going back. I remember nothing more; I was a baby, however peculiar. Blood and panic meant little to me. I do not recall the horrified midwife, my father weeping, or the priest's benediction for my mother's soul. My mother left me a complicated and burdensome inheritance.

I loved, loved, LOVED Rachel Hartman's Seraphina. Part of me regrets not having read it before now. The other part is just HAPPY that I don't have to wait for the sequel. Though to be honest, I wouldn't have minded at all rereading this one in 'celebration' of the sequel's release. (If I had read it in 2012, how many times would I have reread it by now?!)

Is Seraphina my favorite dragon fantasy? Perhaps. At least I feel that way now, so soon after reading it.

Can peace be kept in the kingdom between dragons and humans? That is what Seraphina is about, in a way. For forty years, peace has been maintained. That doesn't mean that dragons "like" humans, or, that humans "like" dragons. There's certainly tension--lack of trust--between the two. And it will get worse before it gets better...if it gets better. (I haven't read the sequel yet after all!) Seraphina begins with a funeral--Prince Rufus never returned from the hunt, his decapitated body was found.

But it's also "about" Seraphina coming to terms with WHO she is, the "burdensome inheritance" of her mother.

I love so many things about it. I love the characterization. I love, love, love Seraphina, the heroine. I love the other characters too. Especially Orma and Lucian Kiggs. I love the world-building and the relationship-building. (And I don't just mean romantic relationships). I love the level of suspense and the amount of detail.  


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