Thursday, March 07, 2013

March's Reader's Advisory Challenge Pick: Seraphina by Rachel Hartman



(I love this new purple cover!) 

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman 

Published July 10, 2012 by Random House Books for Young Readers

Summary:

Seraphina lives in a world inhabited by both humans and dragons, and there is an uneasy peace between the two. In her job as assistant to the royal music master, Seraphina must be careful not to reveal her true nature as a half-dragon. This becomes increasingly difficult to do as she is drawn into the mystery surrounding the murder of a prince. Rumors are swirling that he was killed by a dragon, and anti-draconian sentiment is on the rise.

What I liked:

I loved this book. Something about it really got to my emotions in a way I couldn't have predicted. I have always been squeamish about scars, rashes, and other skin maladies, so imagining her scales was a very visceral experience for me. I didn't have any problem getting into the world Hartman created, and I can't wait for the sequel(s).

Reader’s Advisory Challenge

High Fantasy is a struggle for me because I can bogged down with the maps of different lands, strange settings, names, and customs. My imagination is not very good at thinking about anything other than Earth, humans, and other familiar things. I know I can get into the stories if I'm just patient enough, but sometimes my flakiness wins out in the end. A title like Seraphina gives me hope to try some more books in this genre. 

Kimberly at Stacked wrote a wonderful guide to the (sub)genre.

I’ll be back next month with a pick for Mystery!

Click to read more about the Reader's Advisory Challenge.