Seraphina

by Rachel Hartman

Grade: 4 stars
Story summary: Dragons, music, and politics. How much better can you get? Murder mystery, family, betrayal, and small amounts of romance you say? Well, go no further!

Thoughts: I liked pretty much everything about this one. It deserves the adulation its been getting.

--Seraphina is a great heroine. For one thing, she is a prickly main character that is actually prickly. Sometimes it seems to me that main female characters can be described as prickly or feisty or something, but are actually rather boring. Seraphina was faulty and grumpy and clever.
--The dragons are the coolest. I mean, dragons are cool on their own, but when you add shapeshifting, a highly unusual form of hording (they're basically the ultimate Ravenclaws), a propensity for higher mathematics, a Spock-like view of emotions, and a precarious relationship with humans...you just get pure awesomeness.
--I didn't even mind the romance! It wasn't too cliched, and had a bit of backbone to it (not the instant love (which the heroine somehow doesn't realize is love for ages) with sexy, teasing boy that happens waaaay to often in YA books).
--Ok, the religious stuff was a bit weird. It had a remarkable similarity to Catholicism in many ways...but wasn't. It was some slightly strange made up religion that had saints and monks and cathedrals. Most people wouldn't care too much, but for me as a Catholic, it was a bit weird.
--Rachel Hartman is Canadian! Go Canada!